A stack of books with a mortarboard cap with shelves of books in the background

The Library Graduating Students Selections honors the essential contribution student assistants make to our work during their time at Fresno State. Their hard work and dedication make this library a better place every year. Typically the largest employer of students on campus, the library could not function without their gifts and talents.

Upon graduation, student assistants select a book that is meaningful to them and the book is given a digital bookplate in their honor. Even long after graduation, students will always be able to search their name in our catalog and find their digital bookplate, a reminder of their time in the library and as a Fresno State Bulldog.

Library graduating student assistants are also gifted Library stoles to honor their contributions to the Library during their employment here. It is with heartfelt thanks and bittersweet feelings that we wish our 2024 student assistant graduates well in their endeavors!

Graduating Student Assistants in 2025:

Mercedez Olvera Espino

Degree: M.F.A Creative Writing, Fiction

Future Plans: Library School: Archival Management Concentration at Simmons University 

Library Departments: Research Services and the Arne Nixon Center

Supervisor(s): Karina Cardenas, Ginny Barnes, sam hidde tripp

Book choice: Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado

Alicia Bennett

Degree: B.S. Earth and Environmental Science

Future Plans: Environmental Consulting

Library Departments: Tech Lending

Supervisor: Alexander Durant

Book choice: Structural context and variation of ocean plate stratigraphy, Franciscan Complex, California: insight into mélange origins and subduction-accretion processes

Tommy Tran

Degree: B.S.N. (Nursing)

Future Plans: Clinical Registered Nurse

Library Departments: Research Services (Research Help Desk)

Supervisor: Maria Jurado

Book choice: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow (2024)

Angel Papikian

Degree: B.S. in Forensic Behavioral Sciences

Future Plans: I’m off to grad school and looking to become an advocate for restorative justice.

Library Departments: Teacher’s Resource Center, Arne Nixon Center

Supervisor: Taylor Smith

Book choice: Any Day Now

Madison Scalise

Degree: B.S. Social Work

Future Plans: I am looking to continue my education in the master’s program for social work. 

Library Departments: Interlibrary Loan Unit & Cataloging

Supervisor(s): Marissa Lopez & Rebecca Reid Johansson

Book choice: Heat by Mike Lupica

Madison poses in her mortar board abd dress for her graduation photo

Eduardo Espinoza-Gonzalez

Degree: B.A. English-Creative writing

Future Plans: After graduation I have lots of paths I want to explore, from teaching to screenwriting to entering the publishing industry and getting something published.

Library Departments: Special Collections Research Center

Supervisor: Suzanne Lopez

Book choice: The Arrival

Kaitlin Yang

Degree: B.S. in Nursing (BSN)

Future Plans: Kaitlin plans on beginning her nursing career in an intensive care unit, where she can apply her critical care skills and knowledge. In the future she intends to pursue advanced education to build upon her clinical expertise and leadership capabilities in healthcare.

Library Departments: Research Services

Supervisor: Maria Juardo

Book choice: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Kaitlin Yang in scrubs and with graduation stole