Camalah Saleh is a senior Smittcamp Family Honors College scholar double majoring in political science and communication. She has interned for Fresno City Councilmember Tyler Maxwell, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla. In the fall, she represented Fresno State as an intern on Capitol Hill in the office of Congresswoman Linda Sánchez through the Panetta Institute Congressional Internship Program.
On campus, Saleh held leadership roles in Students for Palestinian Liberation, League of Women Voters and Camp Kesem. She is also a member of the Barking Bulldogs Debate Team, competing both regionally and nationally. For over two years, she worked as a student assistant at The Maddy Institute. Most recently, she was elected president of the Fresno State Associated Students, Inc. for the 2025-26 academic year.
Saleh was also a recipient of various scholarships and program opportunities. In March 2025, she traveled to San Francisco to interview as a finalist for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, the premier graduate fellowship in the United States for those pursuing careers as public service leaders. She is the first Fresno State student to be named a finalist for this prestigious scholarship.
“[The interviewers] gave me two minutes to say any last remarks, and I just thanked them for allowing me this opportunity, as people from the Central Valley and my background don’t tend to be in rooms like this,” Saleh said. “I admit, I got emotional because I realized at that moment that it was over and regardless of the outcome, I made it that far.
“The rest of the day we spent in the courthouse until everyone was done. The other finalists and I played card games, discussed our different schools, exchanged social media and took a group picture. I left that room with 11 new friends who never once made me feel as if they were better than me or like they viewed me as competition — and vice versa. Every single one of us deserved to be in that room. While I didn’t feel the best after my interview, I did feel good just knowing that whoever gets it is kind.”
In June, Saleh was one of eight Fresno State students to attend the Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders, an all-expenses-paid program that provides sophomore and junior undergraduates at historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions with hands-on business and leadership experience. Alumni qualify for two years of full tuition and fee fellowships at any of the six University of California graduate business schools.
Currently, Saleh is participating in the Junior Summer Public Policy and International Affairs Program at the University of California, Berkeley, which is an innovative, fully-funded, three-week program for college juniors who demonstrate an interest in public service and can contribute to more diverse perspectives in public policy. One week of the program took place in Washington, D.C. with the NextGen Summer Policy Academy which connects participants with policymakers and policy frameworks, giving them a firsthand understanding of how public policy can be used to build a more equitable, sustainable and just world.
After graduating from Fresno State, Saleh plans to pursue a joint Master of Public Policy and Juris Doctor focused on immigration. She plans to open an immigration law firm in Sanger — the California city her family migrated to when she was three years old.
