Some 732 Fresno Pacific University students are expected at commencement Saturday, May 6, 2023.
In all, 329 students from bachelor’s degree completion programs, 251 graduate students, 126 students from traditional undergraduate programs and 26 students from Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary have indicated that they will be participating in commencement. The ceremony begins at 10:00 a.m. in Selland Arena, 700 M St., Fresno.
Lynne Ashbeck, FPU graduate and Mayor of Clovis will be the guest speaker. University President André Stephens, Ph.D., and Joshua Wilson, J.D., M.A., chair of the Fresno Pacific University Board of Trustees, will participate, along with the deans of each school of the university and student nd faculty musicians.
Traditional and seminary graduates attended class on the main FPU campus, 1717 S. Chestnut Ave., Fresno. Degree completion and graduate students attended regional campuses in North Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield and Merced.
Currently in her 22nd year on the Clovis City Council and third term as Mayor of the City of Clovis, Lynne Ashbeck approaches local government and daily life as a mission of service. In her work today and in 12 years before that on the Clovis Planning Commission, she has been a champion for local government that is judged by outcomes rather than partisanship, relying on her belief that a focus on the common good is the highest expression of faith.
Ashbeck serves the community in her professional work, as well. As senior vice president and chief community impact officer for Valley Children’s Healthcare, she leads efforts to improve children’s health in their neighborhoods, schools and community. Several of her many community leadership roles have been at FPU: she was a trustee from 2008-2014 and the first director of what is now the B.A. in Health Care Administration program. Fresno Pacific changed her life, Lynne says. “FPU allowed me the opportunity to explore the role of faith in my own life and in my community life more deeply—and to give words to the work I had been privileged to do for many years.” In honor of all she has done, FPU named Ashbeck a Distinguished Alumni in 2019.