Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, Fresno State’s president since May 2021, articulated his goals for the university on Friday afternoon at a Save Mart Center event in his honor.

He called his vision “ambitious” yet “fully realizable.”

“The goal of my presidency is to take Fresno State from the regional powerhouse that we currently are to a national and internationally recognized bastion of knowledge in matters of water, agriculture, engineering, business, STEM and healthcare,” he said.

Jiménez-Sandoval’s comments were heard by over 1,000 people gathered for his investiture ceremony. The event didn’t change Jiménez-Sandoval’s status as the university’s ninth president but celebrated it via a practice in academia that “has symbolized the pursuit of knowledge since the Middle Ages,” according to Fresno State.

In the spirit of the longstanding tradition, the interim chancellor of the California State University system, Jolene Koester, presented Jiménez-Sandoval with a distinct presidential medallion. Designed by Fresno State art students at the president’s request, it depicts symbols of the Valley’s agriculture, including hands working the soil and a tomato flower, as well as the university’s seal.

The president emphasized the critical role the San Joaquin Valley already plays in feeding the world through its robust agricultural activity — and that with the world’s growing population, there is need for careful solutions to the threats of food insecurity.

This echoed his remarks at an August news conference from Congressman Jim Costa, proposing legislation that would bring millions of dollars to colleges like Fresno State in poorer areas.

But Friday’s formal ceremony was about more than the president’s ambitious plans from the region’s most influential university. It also was a celebration of Jiménez-Sandoval himself.

The president grew up in the region, working on his father’s farm. He first came to the San Joaquin Valley at 10 years old, migrating from Mexico with his family. He entered Fowler schools not knowing a word of English.

In his remarks Friday afternoon, he praised the diversity of Fresno State’s student body and expressed solidarity with other students who, like him, navigated the system as an outsider.

“My journey is both unique and reflective of so many of the histories of migration, displacement, and struggle that has shaped the history of this Valley,” he said.

Friday’s ceremony included nearly a dozen CSU presidents from around the state and more than half a dozen CSU board trustees, including board chair Wenda Fong, who called Jiménez-Sandoval “the right leader at the right time for Fresno State.”

“President Jiménez-Sandoval is a visionary leader with a deep love for and understanding of the Central Valley — and of the university that is its crown jewel,” Fong said. “Fresno State and its current and future students will long benefit from his commitment to inclusive academic excellence to modernizing vital areas of the university, to forging consequential community partnerships, and to leading with integrity and with heart.”

An eventful first year

Jiménez-Sandoval first took office at a tumultuous time for the university.

He saw Fresno State through year two of the COVID-19 pandemic, backing policies mandating booster vaccines for all students in the spring 2022 semester and moving classes online in January in response to a surge of cases fueled by the omicron variant.

The president also succeeded Fresno State’s eighth president Joseph I. Castro, who vacated the presidency to become CSU chancellor in September 2020 — only to resign less than two years later in February 2022. Castro’s resignation came in the wake of criticism for his handling of allegations of sexual harassment against Fresno State’s former vice president of student affairs, Frank Lamas, while Castro was still president.

Jiménez-Sandoval apologized to the university community for past administrations’ wrongdoing in a February 2022 letter, saying those who were subjected to harassment, bullying and abuse “deserved better.”

The president also convened a task force in April to evaluate Fresno State’s processes for reporting and investigating sexual and gender-based harassment.

Jiménez-Sandoval created a different task force in November 2021, charged with digging deeper into the history of the late Henry Madden, who was the former namesake of Fresno State’s library and a Nazi sympathizer. The president recommended removing Madden’s name from the library, which ultimately happened this July.

He has also championed renovations for Bulldog Stadium and other athletics facilities.

Before becoming president of the university, he taught Spanish and Portuguese poetry at Fresno State, was dean of arts and humanities and also served as provost.

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