By Crea Jackson

This year will be Dr. Francine Oputa’s 25th year working at Fresno State. Oputa has done a large amount of service for the Fresno State community over the past 25 years. She continues to serve the Fresno State community as the director of the Cross Cultural and Gender Center.

Oputa is from the San Fernando Valley, in the Los Angeles Valley. She came to Fresno with her husband after they graduated from Stanislaus State.

Oputa said they were looking for a school that had graduate programs each wanted to be in. She said it was narrowed down between Fresno State and San Jose State.

“What made Fresno State win was the beauty of Fresno State’s campus, the green, the grass, the space as opposed to San Jose, which is in the downtown area,” Oputa said.

Oputa got her masters in media, communications and journalism (formerly known as mass communication and journalism) and her doctorate in Educational Leadership at Fresno State. She started working at Fresno State in 1991. She got hired as the director of what was formerly known as the Women’s Resource Center.

Oputa said that a significant part of working at Fresno State is being able to be a part of establishing programs and services that have a real impact on the students.

“You know what I’ve appreciated most about? The people, the colleagues, the students. The students are just the best, you know?” Oputa said. “The challenge is as much progress as we make around racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, as much as we grow, there’s just still so much work to do.”

Oputa said she didn’t see herself working at Fresno State for 25 years.

“I’m not really one who looks at my life like that. It’s day by day,” Oputa said.

Oputa was asked what advice would she give someone just getting hired onto Fresno State’s campus.

“Have high expectations of our students because they’re brilliant,” Oputa said.

Cherella Nicholson unsuccessfully ran for State Center Community College District Trustee Area 2. She worked with Oputa about 10 years ago when she was attending Fresno State. Nicholson started working with Oputa when the name of the building became the Central Valley Cultural Heritage Institute as well as the Women’s Resource Center.  

Nicholson worked for Oputa for two years.

“She’s the reason I got so involved in education and why I’m running for this seat. And how I even got started on everything,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson said that significant points about working with Oputa were her being such a visionary and giving Nicholson so much responsibility.

“It forced me to grow and she trusted me. And that has shaped me in my professional career and personal life so much because now I’m very proactive at work,” Nicholson said. “People can like it or not but I push my ideas forward because that’s what the center is all about, creating an idea and doing it. Just from working there, I’ve been very intentional with working with other women, other black women to empower, to be inclusive, to be aware and to be sensitive to the diverse culture.”

Pastor Henry Oputa has been married to Francine Oputa for 39 years. He is from Nigeria. Henry Oputa said he met his future wife at Stanislaus State, at a party.

“She caught my attention and I said, ‘I need to talk to this sistah,’” he said.

Henry Oputa said he is glad and grateful that Oputa will be celebrating her 25th year at Fresno State.

“I have to give glory and praise to God for Francine being able to celebrate her 25th year at Fresno State. It’s evidence of God’s love and provisions, not just for Francine but for our family,” Henry Oputa said.

He said he didn’t have any sense of how long Oputa would be working at Fresno State. He said one thing knew was that whatever she did at Fresno State, she would excel in it. Henry Oputa said her excellence would be brought to her work.

“The fact that she was able to make something out of the little she had is impressive and amazing. She kept developing her programs and that is evidence in where she is now in the size and extent of the Cross Cultural and Gender Center,” he said.

Oputa started out as the director of the Women’s Resource Center, transitioned to the director of the CVCHI, and is now the director of the Cross Cultural and Gender Center. Over the years, Oputa has helped these programs develop and expand into what they are today. This center is a place with many resources for students.

He said, “I just want to thank God for Francine.”