Last ceremony for retiring President Joseph Jones/Address by Clovis City Councilmember Vong Mouanoutoua
Fresno Pacific University will be back in familiar territory for the May 2022 Commencement.
The in-person ceremony will be at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, May 7, 2022, in the Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center, 700 M St., Fresno, the event’s home since 2015, after virtual ceremonies and one outdoors at Paul Paul Theater at the Fresno Fairgrounds thanks to COVID. Some 714 students are eligible to participate: 310 from the bachelor’s degree completion programs, 244 from graduate programs (including Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary); and 160 from traditional undergraduate programs.
Watch the ceremony live at https://youtu.be/DeEuu9fpKv8
In addition to seeing off new graduates, the ceremony will be the last from FPU President Joseph Jones, Ph.D., who is retiring. He has led the university for about five years with the help of First Lady Yvette Jones.
Clovis City Councilmember Vong Mouanoutoua will give the commencement address. Mouanoutoua came to the United States in 1976, one of over 150,000 Hmong refugees who fled Laos after the “Secret War,” in which Hmong people rescued downed pilots and conducted special operations in support of the U.S. Mouanoutoua moved to Clovis from Huntington Beach in 1996 and today is director of external relations & project development at Community Medical Centers and a lecturer at Fresno State University.
Among Mouanoutoua’s many acts of service are more than 10 years on the Clovis Planning Commission—the last four as chair. Elected to the Clovis City Council in 2017, he has also been involved with the Foundation at Fresno County Office of Education, Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, Central Valley Children’s Services Network, Clovis Unified School District Southeast Asian Conference, Boys and Girls Club and many more agencies. After studying at UCLA, he obtained his Juris Doctorate degree from San Joaquin College of Law. Mouanoutoua and his wife, Jane, have five children. On Sundays, he teaches the children at his church.
Other speakers will include Joshua Wilson, J.D., chair of the FPU Board of Trustees, and D. Gayle Copeland, Ph.D., provost/senior vice president and chief academic officer. Student ensembles and faculty will provide music.
Masking and testing are not required. More information at fpu.edu/commencement