College of Social Sciences Commencement Ceremony

Graduate Dean's Medalist:

Adam Hiett
Master of Arts, History

Raised in Fresno, he focused his master’s thesis on 19th-century British missionaries in the Pacific and presented his research at Fresno State’s History Graduate Student Symposium in 2025. 

By reading texts from these subjects, he has studied the knowledge missionaries created from their experiences alongside Pacific Peoples about tropical medicine, climates, and race. His research employed a cross-disciplinary approach tied to anthropology, fashion studies, and history, with an additional focus on climate, emotions, and medical history.

He has also shared his passion for education through an internship on a digital public history project and as a graduate teaching assistant for the Department of History. Hiett also worked as a social science tutor at Fresno State’s Learning Center. Throughout these experiences, Hiett learned to navigate archives, deliver data, facilitate classroom discussions, and meet student needs. As vice president of the History Graduate Student Association, he has helped host social events and academic conferences that have enabled students to present their research.

Graduating with a 4.0 GPA, he previously earned a B.A. degree in History at Fresno State. 

Undergraduate Dean’s Medalist:

Camalah Saleh
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science

Raised in Sanger, she is a first-generation college student with a 4.0 GPA and an additional undergraduate degree in communications. She is a Smittcamp Presidential Honors Scholar and has served as the Fresno State ASI President for the past year.

Saleh had previously worked at the Maddy Institute on campus, and as an intern for Senator Alex Padilla and Representative Linda Sanchez in Congress, and for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, and the Fresno City Council.

She helped start the Students for Palestinian Liberation campus organization, which now numbers over 1,000 students, and served as its treasurer and president. She also helped form the campus Muslim Leadership Advisory Council.

As a first-generation American who emigrated from Yemen, her family’s experience navigating the U.S. immigration system has inspired Saleh’s long-term goal of earning a joint Master of Public Policy/Juris Doctorate and serving her community in Sanger as an immigration attorney.

Her academic and professional credentials helped her become Fresno State’s first Schwarzman Scholar and one of 150 students from around the world who will begin a master’s program in global affairs this fall at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.