The history graduate program at Fresno State will host the 14th-annual History Graduate Student Association Symposium on April 28, inviting universities from across the nation to attend.

Separating this symposium from others put on by Fresno State graduate programs is that it attracts other universites to attend.

“It attracts graduate students not just from Fresno State, but from Berkeley, Davis and Emory in Atlanta. We draw outside our own community,” graduate coordinator Brad Jones said.

History is a profession built upon writing and research.

“Giving papers in our profession is absolutely critical,” Jones said. “It’s the best opportunity to get good feedback and present new ideas and refine your research.”

Another major difference is the totality of the thesis being completed by graduate students rather than a team attached with a Ph. D. affiliate, William Mask, senior editor of Hindsight Graduate History Journal, said.

“You have a writing committee,­ your advisor and your mentors that you can get constant feedback from but in the end it’s your work,” Mask said. “You want your curriculum to be airtight. You want it to be the best you can possibly get it to be so that you get serious consideration for dissertation programs.”

Keynote speakers have included a Pulitzer Prize winner in the past. This year includes Lorena Oropeza, speaking on the current and relevant issues of the illegal immigrant issue in Arizona.

“I wanted to reach out and get somebody that would enhance our program and at the same time enhance our whole community,” Mask said. “Not just a historian that’s speaking on history’s sake, but Dr. Oropeza who happens to be coming to share gender issues, cultural issues, immigration issues.”

Hindsight Journal, a scholarly publication will be presented at the symposium, senior editor Whitney Thompson said.

“We have submissions from all over the world and it has become an acknowledgement to get in this magazine because we had 42 submissions this year and we had to chose six or seven,” Thompson said. “We had submissions from African, Hungary, Afghanistan, Italy, Spain and a Marine over serving his country,” Thompson said.

Submissions are chosen by a collaborative decision on the strength and depth of their argument, the relevance of the topics and validity Mask and Thompson said.

“These symposiums help graduate students to hone their skills or to have questions posed to them that they wouldn’t normally get through their daily research,” Mask said.

The symposium will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:15 p.m. in the Peters Business Building. Five Fresno State students will be presenting this year.