Washington Monthly ranks Fresno State 22 in the United States and second among California colleges on service, social mobility and research.

Washington Monthly’s 2010 master’s granting university rankings are determined by how well schools recruit and graduate low-income students, produce “cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs” and encourage students to give something back to their country.

In 2009-10, Fresno State documented 1.16 million hours of volunteer time from 12,168 Fresno State students, faculty, staff and administrators. The help at scores of programs, agencies and events during the academic year provided from Fresno State was valued at $28 million to a central San Joaquin Valley region hit hard by the nation’s economic malaise.

In just the past two weekends, hundreds of students from Fresno State helped remove debris from the San Joaquin River and its banks, staffed the student-established Bulldog Pantry food bank and played many roles at the gubernatorial debate hosted on campus.