After COVID-19 caused last year’s Fresno State commencement ceremonies to be canceled, 2020 and 2021 graduates and their families will be able to enjoy in-person celebrations at Bulldog Stadium this year. It is the first time commencement ceremonies will be held at the football stadium since 2003. After the Save Mart Center was built, it became the new home for commencement in 2004.

Fresno County’s improved ranking in the state’s COVID-19 tier system allows Fresno State to offer smaller-scale, in-person commencement ceremonies May 14, 15 and 16 outdoors for the two classes of graduates.

Honorary keynote

Those in attendance will hear a special message to students from keynote speaker Dr. Lynda Resnick, entrepreneur, philanthropist and co-owner of The Wonderful Company. She will deliver her pre-recorded keynote address at all six of the commencement ceremonies.

Dr. Lynda Resnick is vice-chairman and co-owner of The Wonderful Company, along with her husband, Dr. Stewart Resnick, who serves as chairman. The Wonderful Company is a privately held, Los Angeles-based global enterprise that produces a diverse range of high-quality, healthy products, including such iconic brands as Wonderful Pistachios, Wonderful Halos, Wonderful Seedless Lemons, POM Wonderful, FIJI Water, JUSTIN and Landmark wines and Teleflora.

Throughout her career, as her commercial success has grown, so has her dedication to philanthropy. She personally guides The Wonderful Company’s innovative philanthropic endeavors, the heart of which focus on wide-ranging efforts to enhance the lives of people in the communities where its employees live and work.

Dr. Resnick understands that a thriving society is built on attacking the cycle of poverty by addressing the social determinants of health. Because of this, the company invests tens of millions of dollars each year into its paradigm-changing, place-based approach focused on education, health and wellness, and community building in California’s Central Valley, where the majority of its products are grown and where the majority of its workforce resides, as well as throughout the island nation of Fiji.

The Resnicks made a $10 million investment in 2019 toward the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Student Union, currently under construction at Fresno State, the largest-ever philanthropic gift made to a student-life initiative at the University. A portion of this investment will be used to create The Wonderful Scholar Center within the new student union, a dedicated space where more than 200 Wonderful Scholars scholarship recipients attending Fresno State will receive tutoring and counseling. The Resnick Student Union is expected to be completed in 2022.

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