Neil Dion (Jumpstart Fresno) has been recognized as a 2017 Big Fresno Fair Community Champion. The award recognizes Neil for his service over the last 13 years, during which he “has dedicated his time and energy to serving Fresno through the early education efforts of Jumpstart Fresno, a program that is part of Fresno State’s Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning that empowers and teaches college students to tutor children to build their language and literacy skills.”

Over the years, Neil has impacted thousands of young children enrolled in the Jumpstart Program, and hundreds of Fresno State students. He has hired, trained and managed more than 900 Fresno State students who have served as Jumpstart Corps Members, tutors and role models and have helped over 2,000 children in under-resourced preschool classrooms meet and exceed academic benchmarks. Neil has been the catalyst in helping children make tremendous language, literacy and social-emotional gains, which has developed their confidence and engagement in learning in a way that better prepares them for their educational career.

Daniel Espinoza and Estella Saldivar, both faculty in the Department of Social Work Education's Title IV-E program, received the Latino Social Work Network of Fresno's Comadre and Compadre Award for their contributions to the Latino community in Fresno.

Karen Nephew (Physical Therapy)'s painting of Yosemite received first place in the Fine Arts Watercolor category at the Big Fresno Fair! Karen has been painting for about seven years and regularly shows her artwork, of coastal landscapes and marine life, in Morro Bay and Arroyo Grande.

See painting

Faculty from the College of Health and Human Services — Dr. Nupur Hajela (Physical Therapy), Dr. Fran Pomaville (Communicative Sciences and Deaf Studies) and Dr. Scott Sailor (Kinesiology) — presented at the Central Valley Concussion Symposium, which focused on treatment of brain trauma in youth sports. Read more.