The Division of Research and Graduate Studies will be hosting a Graduate Student Resource Fair and Mixer on Thursday, Sept. 5 from 4-6 p.m. at the Ruiz Event Plaza outside of the Resnick Student Union (RSU).
The research and graduate studies team’s goal was to create an event that could transcend the graduate program orientations and bring the diverse student population of graduated students together.
“Our intent is to create an early fall semester celebration that would provide free food, music and information about Fresno State’s vast resources that would allow graduate students to feel a sense of community at Fresno State,” said Ronald Dzerigian, coordinator of graduate student success and financial opportunities.
New and incoming graduate students along with their families are invited to attend the second annual fall semester fair.
“The essential purpose of this event is to be a social gathering for our student population that also showcases on-campus Fresno State graduate resources,” Dzerigian said.
On-campus resources including the Fresno State Library, Student Health and Counseling Center, Learning Center, Richter Center and others will be at the fair to talk to students about how the services can best serve individual graduates.
“Essentially, this is an opportunity to create some additional visibility for services available to graduate students at Fresno State,” Dzerigian said.
The event will be serving free tacos and hosting intermittent giveaways during the duration of the fair.
Music will be provided by the Fresno State Jazz Ensemble, led by Richard Lloyd Giddens Jr., director of jazz studies at Fresno State.
Brian Gowan, local artisan, recreated a film accurate “Star Wars” R2-D2 that will be roaming around the event, taking photos and greeting guests with friendly beeps.
The chemistry department will be hosting a surprise demonstration that is intended to engage both children and adults attending the event.
“We are excited to see what Morgan Hawker and [the] team will come up with for this year’s presentation,” Dzerigian said.
This event is intended for graduate students as well as graduate program faculty and coordinators.
“We expect to see a similar level of attendance as we saw during the Fall 2023 Graduate Student Resource Fair and Mixer: 250-300 students,” Dzerigian said.
To attend the fair, graduate students can RSVP online by the end of the day today.
