News and Announcements
The Discover SF State Open House will be held on Saturday, Oct. 21, 9 a.m. – noon. This University-wide event is geared toward encouraging high school and community college students to apply for fall 2024 admission, as well as for the campus community to provide a sneak peek of all that we have to offer to students and their loved ones!
Please consider serving as a university ambassador to assist colleagues in making this a great experience for our guests and a great success for SF State. Sign up to serve as a university ambassador.
Asian American Studies Professor Russell Jeung received a Healthy Neighborhoods Pillar Leadership award from the East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. on Sept. 7. Jeung was honored for his work as a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and advocacy for immigrant renters. In the 1990s he organized neighbors — largely Lao and Cambodian refugees — at an apartment building in Oakland to win a lawsuit against the landlord and helped shepherd the eventual sale and rehab of the property.
Jeung’s other recent activities:
- He joined the Aspen Institute’s Racial Justice and Religion Collective and will travel to Alabama in October to work on racial justice initiatives.
- Jeung was a guest on “Disrupted” on Connecticut Public Radio on Sept. 13 for a discussion on the long history of Chinese American exclusion and resistance.
- On Sept. 27, Jeung will present on a virtual panel titled “Organizing for Climate Action: The Opportunities for U.S.-China Cooperation” with U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman and other opinion leaders.
Photo by Malcolm Wallace/East Bay Asian Local Development Corp.
Free events throughout October include mural painting, poetry and guest lectures. Presenters include Associated Students Inc.; Division of Equity and Community Inclusion; Office of Diversity, Equity and Student Interfaith Programs; the Dream Resource Center; and IDEAS.
Register on Google Docs. For questions or reasonable accommodations, contact Griselda Madrigal Lara.
The Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) is a student service at SF State and throughout the University of California, California State University and community college systems. It provides support and resources to disadvantaged students to help them succeed in their education.
In 2003, the California State Legislature passed Assembly Concurrent Resolution 124. It commended the EOP for its achievements and designated September as EOP Month. EOP had been established for quite some time and has produced many accomplished alumni of SF State and other educational institutions.
Student Service Professional Rudy Herrera would like to congratulate all the successful graduates and thank the entire SF State community for contributing to the program's success.
October is coming, which means its time again for Cybersecurity Awareness Month! This year marks the 20th anniversary of the global effort to help everyone stay safe and protected when using technology however, wherever and wherever people connect.
The cybersecurity and digital privacy of University employees and students are of the utmost importance at SF State. Information Technology Services (ITS) will share activities and awareness materials weekly throughout the month, each with its unique theme.
Please visit the ITS website for more information on events and resources. More details will appear in each October issue of CampusMemo.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is led by the National Cybersecurity Alliance and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Human Resources has deployed the new W-2 Paperless Statement feature. It allows employees to download current and previous years’ official W-2 statements using any internet-connected device.
Employees who opt-in will be able to view and download their 2023 official W-2 statement earlier than those who are receive their printed version by mail.
The enrollment period is Feb. 1 – Nov. 30 only. Those who have already opted in to W-2 paperless this year may not opt-out until the next calendar year.
The campus community is invited to join the International Relations and Journalism departments for a virtual presentation on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 10 a.m. Africa-based global correspondents will share perspectives surrounding conflicts and affairs in Africa. Moderators are anthropologist and journalist Julienne Gage and Professor and Chair of International Relations Burcu Ellis. The talk will feature insights from Anne Soy, Douglas Okwatch and Ruud Elmendorp.
Admission is free. Please register to obtain tickets.
The SF State Academic Senate will meet Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2 – 5 p.m., in person at Seven Hills Conference Center and virtually via Zoom for its third meeting of the academic year. Visitors who wish to attend please contact the Senate office for a Zoom link.
The agenda includes the following:
- Recommendation from the Executive Committee: Resolution on Faculty Trustee Attendance Academic Senate Meetings, in first reading.
- Recommendation from Academic Policies Committee: Resolution in Support of Deepening and Re-Imagining the Senior Capstone, in first reading.
- Recommendation from the Campus Curriculum Committee: Distance Education Authorization for M.A. in International Relations, in first reading.
- Recommendation from the Campus Curriculum Committee: New Minor in Disability Studies, in second reading.
- The Academic Senate will hear a formal presentation from Dylan Mooney, chair of Staff Council, “Staff Council update.”
View the full agenda, meeting materials and minutes on the senate website.
Professor of Biology Zheng-Hui (Zachary) He is the next speaker in the Estuary and Ocean Science Center’s Rosenberg Institute Seminar Series on Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 3:30 p.m. via Zoom. He will discuss one class of small molecules produced in seaweeds called bromoform that can reduce methane emissions in ruminants when bromoform-containing seaweed is used as a feed supplement. Since it’s unclear how seaweed retain bromoform, He’s group is studying local seaweeds with the potential for high bromoform retention in hopes of developing approaches to provide bromoform-rich seaweed locally.
The All University Committee on International Programs hosts its first coffee hour for international and internationally minded faculty, staff and administrators on Thursday, Sept. 28, noon – 1:30 p.m., in Library 286.
Please drop by for light refreshments and a chat about all things international with your fellow faculty, administrators and staff. This event will occur twice each semester. The College of Professional & Global Education provides refreshments.
The Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CEETL) and Academic Technology invites the campus community to a series of discussion circles focusing on adapting and emerging bast practices around use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom.
Discussion circles are intended to meet faculty where they are in their response to AI technology as it impacts their instruction — whether curious, concerned, already using AI in assignments, prohibiting AI or those in between and looking for path forward. The facilitator is CEETL Fellow and Professor of English Jennifer Trainor.
The Willie L. Brown, Jr. Fellowship Program is accepting applications for spring 2024. The Fellowship provides SF State students who have faced barriers pursuing a college education with an opportunity to gain professional experience in the public sector while developing a lifelong commitment to public service. Recipients receive a $3,000 stipend.
The deadline for applications is Wednesday, Oct. 11. An information session takes place Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 3 p.m. in Library 286.
For more information, including links to the application and information sessions, please visit the School of Public Affairs and Civic Engagement website. For questions, please email Tony Sparks or Jennifer Shea.
The College of Ethnic Studies DJ Series “Liberation Vibes” will be held on Malcolm X Plaza from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3; Tuesday, Oct. 17; and Thursday, Oct. 19. Snacks will be served.
This series will feature “vibes” by faculty members including Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies Baligh Ben Taleb, Associate Professor of Latinx Studies Melissa Guzman-Garcia, Associate Professor of Latinx Studies Leticia Hernandez, Assistant Professor of Race and Resistance Studies Leora Kava and Associate Professor of Latinx Studies Carolina Prado. The host is Assistant Professor Michael De Anda Muñiz.
Persons with disabilities are welcome. Reasonable accommodations can be provided upon request. Please contact Professor Muñiz.
Join School of Design Lecturer Josie Iselin and the Estuary & Ocean Science Center on Saturday, Oct. 7, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., for a free workshop on how to create cyanotype prints using dried seaweed.
Following the in-person workshop, Iselin — an artist, author, book designer and activist — will discuss her process of making algal imagery, writing and designing books about seaweed and her current projects. She is a partner of Above/Below, a collective committed to sharing kelp forest stories, and maintains a comprehensive website about bull kelp.
Seats are limited for the in-person “Art & Algae” workshop, and the in-person lecture and Zoom lecture require separate registrations.
Register online for the in-person in-person workshop and Zoom lecture.
The Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CEETL) hosts a Lecturer Faculty Teaching and Learning Community from Monday, Oct. 9, to Friday, Nov. 17. This learning community supports new and early-career lecturer faculty (1 – 2 years) in their pedagogy, provides a space for connection with other more recent lecturer faculty, and shares resources to support student success.
Lecturer faculty who complete the criteria by Friday, Nov. 17, will receive a $500 stipend. (Those who completed the program in fall 2022 are not recommended to participate.)
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by spending your afternoon with scholars whose work reveals Latinx literature’s expansive reach from the 19th century to the present. Three scholars will present Thursday, Oct. 12, 2 – 3:30 p.m. in Humanities 485 and via Zoom.
Gabriela Valenzuela, assistant professor in CSU Los Angeles’ College of Ethnic Studies, will discuss how 19th-century periodical writings complicate both established timelines of US Central American literary studies and categorizations of literariness.
Crystal R. Perez, assistant professor in CSU East Bay’s English Department, will discuss the study of genre, specifically Chicana historical detective fiction, as a platform for teaching local histories of resistance.
Will Clark, assistant professor in SF State’s English Language and Literature Department, will facilitate the speaker discussion and an audience Q&A.
The panel will reflect on their own scholarly trajectories, pedagogical methods and models aimed at serving the needs of California’s diverse classrooms, and their own experiences navigating the higher education job market.
A light reception will follow. Please register for the Zoom.
The Ninth Annual Women’s Emerging Leadership Forum, hosted by the Lam Family College of Business, will be held Friday, Nov. 3, 8:45 a.m. – 2:45 p.m. at KPMG LLP, 55 Second St., 11th floor, San Francisco. This year’s theme is “Embracing Change and Alchemizing the Future.”
The event features inspiring, dynamic speakers who will share their one-of-a-kind stories, having lived through, managed, envisioned and materialized various forms of change in their professional and personal lives.
Speakers:
- Rebecca Tierney, co-founder and CEO, AdaMarie
- Sally Thornton, CEO and founder, Forshay
- Thuy Vu, co-founder and CEO, Global Mentor Network
- Chia-Lin Simmons, CEO, LogicMark Inc.
- Jessica Appelgren, marcomms lead, X, The Moonshot Co. (formerly Google X)
- Heather Watkins, co-founder and COO, Bold Reuse
A special two-for-one ticket offer is available. This event sells out every year, so buy your tickets now to reserve your seat.
Learn more about the event schedule and speakers on the Lam Family College of Business website.
Martha Klironomos, professor emerita of Modern Greek Studies, Comparative Literature and Literature in English, passed away in New York on Sept. 9 after a long illness. She was 64 years old.
Klironomos joined the SF State faculty in 1996 with a Ph.D. from Ohio State University in English and a specialization in modern Greek literature and literary theory. For two decades, she served as the director of the Center for Modern Greek Studies, which strengthened the University’s connection with the local Greek community. Under her leadership, Modern Greek Studies offered a minor with classes in language, literature and culture.
Her scholarship focused on writers of the Modernist era in Greece; she also published on British women writers who traveled to Greece, including Virginia Woolf. Klironomos taught Modern Greek classes such as “Biography of a City: Athens” for the Humanities Department and literature classes with Creative Writing. She taught in the English Language and Literature Department, where she revitalized the curriculum with courses such as “Greek and Roman Myth and Modern Literature,” “Literature of Exile and Migration” and “Greek American Literature.”
“A rigorous teacher, she truly cared about her students,” Professor Emerita Ellen Peel said. “Since Martha’s scholarship has often focused on the representation of one culture in the imagination, especially the literary imagination, of another, she was a pioneer in studying migration, hybridity and memory before those fields became widely known… her work has managed to offer broad theoretical insights while rooting them in specific traditions, such as the Hellenic diaspora in the United States, England, and Canada.”
Widely appreciated as a caring person, a great listener and a gentle soul, but with wit and a sense of fun, Klironomos will be missed greatly at SF State and in the wider community.
SF State Spotlight
“Evolution Earth” on PBS recently visited the Galápagos Islands to cover research by Biology Associate Professor Jaime Chaves. He studies the ever-changing sizes of the beaks of Darwin’s finches, birds that are endemic to the area.
The sizes evolve from one generation to the next, as opposed to over millions of years. Chaves notes even a 1-millimeter difference in beak length can affect the survival of a Darwin’s finch.
“A dramatic environmental event can wipe out half of the population because those birds didn’t have the beak shape to respond to that dramatic change,” he said.
A new San Francisco Chronicle special report on the 1972 murder of Mohawk activist and SF State alumnus Richard Oakes uses historical footage from the J. Paul Leonard Library’s Bay Area Television Archive. It includes moving tributes from his daughter Fawn and grandson Elijah and also takes a detailed look at how Oakes was shot to death in Sonoma County.
Alex Cherian, Library services specialist and Bay Area television archivist, worked closely with Chronicle reporter Brontë Wittpenn to help honor Oakes.
Accounting Professor Theresa Hammond is among three inductees this year into The PhD Project Hall of Fame. The PhD Project is a nonprofit organization aimed at diversifying college business schools and the business world.
“Her research into diversity and accounting provided one of the original scholarly sparks for The PhD Project,” a press release stated. “Dozens of publications later, she believes The PhD Project remains strong because it has played the long game of putting faculty in place on college campuses who can make a difference for decades for their students. She continues to research, write and teach about the underrepresentation of African Americans, Latinos and LBGTQI+ individuals across the accounting field. She has also extensively studied the accounting industry in South Africa, making a global impact.”
Asian American Studies Professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales co-hosted a promotional event for “Larry: The Musical” on Sept. 10 at Arthaus Studios in Oakland.
“Larry: The Musical” is a production based on the life of Filipino American farmworker union leader Larry Itliong. It is inspired by a book by History Professor Emerita Dawn Bohulano Mabalon and Gayle Romasanta. The Philippine Daily Inquirer covered the event on Sept. 15.
“Larry: The Musical” debuts in March at the Brava Theater in San Francisco.
“Breaking Down Your Script” (Nick Hern Books) is a new pocket-sized book by Theatre Arts Professor Laura Wayth. It provides a step-by-step guide for actors with a structured and effective method for breaking down and understanding a performance script.
In a Sept. 14 review, Broadway World described “Breaking Down Your Script” as “‘a small but mighty guidebook for actors ... easy-to-follow. ... Wayth’s style is clear, engaging and personable, and her questions are thought-provoking and make it easy for actors to develop playable objectives for individual scenes or even individual lines.”
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. quotes Persis Karim, director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, in a Sept. 16 article on the Woman Life Freedom movement in Iran.
“Art, both in the visual sense, but also music ... and performance art as well have been essential in keeping the struggle going, but also creating opportunities for people outside of Iran to understand the stakes in this protest movement,” said Karim, who holds the Neda Nobari Distinguished Chair and is a professor of Comparative and World Literature. “Murals appeared all over the country in the United States where people wanted to highlight the significance of the Woman Life Freedom movement as a woman-led revolutionary protest movement.
“This is a moment where a global solidarity around the struggle for women’s rights and human rights is absolutely essential.”
History Professor Charles Postel was a guest on KALW-FM’s “Your Call” on Sept. 19 for a discussion of the significance and impact of far-right extremism in the U.S.
Postel notes that fascist groups from the 1960s adopted the slogan of white power.
“All of these groups share a common and ... fascist outlook and are part of a broader fascist movement,” said Postel, the author of “Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866 – 1896” and “The Populist Vision.” “ … They always have been able to attract people who have the fascist, authoritarian mentality.”
Better known as “Dr. Loco,” Raza Studies Professor Emeritus José Cuéllar is the subject of a KQED profile published Sept. 18. He is featured in KQED’s “8 over 80” series celebrating artists and cultural figures over age 80 who continue to shape the Bay Area.
“A groundbreaking anthropologist who spent two decades as chair and director of San Francisco State’s César E. Chavéz Institute for Public Policy, Cuéllar hasn’t just studied and documented Chicano culture,” the article stated. “He’s embodied the creative frisson generated by cultural evolution as the leader of the Rockin’ Jalapeño Band, a vehicle through which he’s explored the verdant possibilities of Mexican American life and identity.”