2024 Commencement Special Recognitions Announced
2024 Dean's Medallion Winners
Fresno City College is pleased to announce the 2024 Dean’s Medallion of Excellence Award recipients. This year, seven graduating students chosen by their division dean will receive the award. The students will receive their medallions at a ceremony on Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. in the Old Administration Building, Room 251.
The award is bestowed each year to Fresno City College students whose academic achievements, service to the community, and general excellence have brought honor to the College and distinction among their peers.
Each recipient will receive a $500 scholarship. One of the students will also receive the Tony Cantú President’s Medallion and an additional $500 scholarship. This honor is named for former FCC President Tony Cantú who passed away in 2015, FCC President Dr. Robert Pimentel makes the selection from the group of recipients.
2024 Dean's Medallion Winners
Allied Health, Physical Education and Athletics Division
Mr. Juan Portillo
of Fresno
Respiratory Care Practitioner (AS)
Applied Technology Division
Mr. David Kglyan
of Fresno
Mathematics for Transfer (AS-T)
Physics for Transfer (AS-T)
Architecture (AS)
Business Education Division
Ms. Lakesha Smith
of Fresno
Business Administration (AA)
Counseling and Guidance Division
Ms. Vanessa Marie Lopez
of Fresno
Human Services: Pre-Social Work Option (AS)
Fine, Performing and Communication Arts Division
Mx. Ja'rae Thiessen
of Madera
Studio Arts for Transfer (AA-T)
Humanities Division
Mr. Gavin "Gavino" Garza
of Fresno
English for Transfer (AA-T)
Social Sciences Division
Mr. Rafael Sebastian Gomez
of Fresno
American Indian Studies (AA)
Social Justice Studies, General for Transfer (AA-T)
2024 Distinguished Alumnus
Comencement Ceremony
Monday, May 20, 2024 6:30 pm
Save Mart Center 2650 E. Shaw, Fresno
This year’s Commencement speaker and Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient is Dr. Lance V. Truong, a 2012 graduate and Dean’s Medallion Award recipient. Dr. Truong earned a bachelor's degree in entomology from U.C. Davis and in 2020 a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Touro University Nevada. He then embarked on residency training in Anatomical and Clinical Pathology at Brown University/Rhode Island Hospital amidst the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and earned the position of chief resident physician with clinical, administrative, and teaching responsibilities.
The Fresno native who was once told he was not “college material,” will begin his one-year subspecialty fellowship training in Pediatric Pathology at Harvard University/Boston Children's Hospital in July and later, Forensic Pathology at the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory in 2025. He will eventually practice as likely the only physician-entomologist in the world, and board-certified in pediatric pathology, forensic pathology, and forensic entomology.
The Nicaraguan and Vietnamese American is fluent in Spanish and, as he puts it, has functional knowledge of Vietnamese. He is also an avid insect collector and aquascaper.
