Tania Castillo: “It was a proud moment, I think, for me and my family.”
For Fresno State’s Tania Castillo, being selected as the graduate dean’s medalist for the College of Social Sciences was completely unexpected but at the same time very rewarding.
“I really felt very honored to receive the recognition. I wasn’t expecting to get another recognition on top of my departmental recognition,” said Castillo, who earned her master’s degree in criminology with a 4.0 GPA.
“So, the College of Social Sciences recognizing me as the outstanding student for the graduate division was very rewarding, for one, and just it was a proud moment, I think, for me and my family.”
Castillo said when she was notified of the honor, she was ecstatic.
“I wasn’t really expecting too much because I know that the department is good, and that means that they produce really good students as well. And I see that every time I go to class, so I knew that a lot of other people might have been up for consideration,” Castillo said.
“But I was very happy to know that that the department supported that nomination and that they also shared that sentiment of me being up for recognition, so I was very grateful for that initial nomination and for the ongoing support after that.”
When Castillo applied for graduate school, she didn’t know the COVID-19 pandemic would be changing everyone’s life and the program would transition to be online.
“I was still very eager to continue to learn and expand my education,” Castillo said. “It was very, very challenging. So, it just took a lot more from me as far as efforts, but I learned to adjust like my other classmates did. We did it together. My cohort grew very close because we were in the same circumstances.”
Castillo was one of me many graduating college students who took part in the College of Social Sciences graduation ceremony Friday (May 20) morning at the Save Mart Center.
Castillo, of Fresno, previously earned her bachelor’s degree in criminology in 2020 from Fresno State too and was selected as the 2020 outstanding student for the law enforcement option of the criminology honors program.
Castillo is also a first-generation college student in her family.
Castillo grew up in México, where she graduated from high school in 2014.
“I was born in Los Ángeles and then went back at the age of five because my parents decided to go back to México. And when I graduated from high school, I came here without my parents because they couldn’t, they didn’t have a legal status at that time,” said Castillo who came to Fresno seven years ago to pursue a higher education and better life opportunities.
“I lived with my family members for about three years, and then they got their residency and they got to come back four years ago,” Castillo said of her parents.
Castillo, who aspires to serve and give back to the community, said her exposure to criminal justice systems in other countries and its effect on vulnerable populations led her to study criminology.
“I think been just very influenced by what I’ve seen,” Castillo said of the criminal justice system in México and the United States. “The need for reform in different criminal justice systems. I think I’ve been exposed to seeing different populations, vulnerabilities, and I really just want to be able to contribute to possibly making a change in the future through legislation.”
Castillo said she has also been very community centered and wanted to pursue an education and a career that would help her “give back to the community and not just the community but my community, my Mexican community as well.”
At Fresno State, Castillo served as president of Alpha Phi Sigma, a criminal justice honors organization that participates in community service events, academic conferences and provides networking opportunities for its members.
She also volunteered with the City of Fresno’s Citizens’ Public Safety Advisory Board and serves as a full-time immigration liaison at the Consulate of México in Fresno.
“Not a lot of people know that we actually have a protective services unit,” Castillo said of her work at the consulate, adding that as the immigration matters liaison, she coordinates DACA events with nonprofit organizations that come to the consulate and assist in renewals.
“We have a legal assistance program to connect people with immigration lawyers and have them get information about specific things from their cases or situations that they need evaluated,” Castillo said, adding that she gets to visit detention centers in Fresno to interview and take requests for assistance from Mexican nationals that are detained.
“We give them at least the legal consultation to make sure that they are understanding the situation that they’re in,” Castillo said. “Our services are sometimes very limited. But when it comes to individuals that are in a renewable proceeding, and they’re particularly vulnerable, those are the cases where we get involved the most, making sure that they have a support system to return to Mexico.”
“Sometimes we provide financial assistance, documentation so they we can ease their return to Mexico somehow. Given that that is at the end, the last thing we could do for them,” Castillo said.
Her goal is to become a criminology professor and to conduct research that informs evidence-based policy.
Tania Castillo
Honor: College of Social Sciences graduate dean’s medalist
Family: Parents Consuelo Jauregui and Francisco Javier Castillo; Siblings: 2, Francisco Javier Castillo Jr. ,and Marco Fernando Castillo
Born: Los Ángeles
Age: 25
High school: Preparatoria Regional de Tecolotlán, Jalisco, México (2014)
Hobby: “Not at the moment, no time for hobbies between school and work, but reading a lot, I would say.”
Music: Pop en Español
Food: Mexican food. “My mom is such a great cook.”
