News & Announcements
On Sept. 14, one day before the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, San Francisco State University marked a milestone of its own: The University’s new Latinx Student Center officially opened its doors with a bienvenida/opening celebration. The center’s inaugural director, San Francisco native Emmanuel Padilla, might be relatively new on the job, but he’s already got lots of thoughts about Latinx students, San Francisco State and Latino culture and heritage. He recently shared his insights with SF State News.
What’s the mission of the Latinx Student Center, and how’s it been going so far?
The mission of the Latinx Student Center is to authentically establish visibility for Latinx-identifying students. My vision is for students to have autonomy when they come into the center, where they step into their comfort zones and develop a sense of agency needed to navigate higher education. Autonomy, authenticity and humor is the energy one feels at the center. The goal is for that energy to be translated to other parts of campus.
It has been going great. There is a lot of foot traffic at the center and students are taking ownership of it. I learn something new every day, and so do folks that visit the center. My intention is for students to not only come visit, but to come back.
Why do you think the Latinx Student Center is important?
Students need to be affirmed. Be it first-year students, transfer students or re-entry students, students need to be seen as people. Navigating higher education is confusing for all, especially those that identify as first-generation and/or first in their family to attend college. Thus, the Latinx Student Center is important to create a confidence and reaffirm identities.
The Latinx Student Center has been holding National Hispanic Heritage Month events each Wednesday at 4 p.m. Send an email to EmmanuelPadilla@sfsu.edu for details.
Monday, Oct. 3, the University marked a milestone with a topping out ceremony for the Science & Engineering Innovation Center (SEIC). Representatives from the College of Science & Engineering (CoSE), UCorp, Advancement, DPR Construction, the SmithGroup design firm and more were present at the event, held near the construction site on 19th Ave. Attendees had the opportunity to sign the final beam, which was overflowing with signatures and messages. President Lynn Mahoney and CoSE Dean Carmen Domingo, among others, made short remarks thanking everyone for their work and shared their enthusiasm for what this new building will bring to campus.
“This building is a game changer for us,” President Mahoney said during the ceremony. She notes that in addition to positively changing the campus, it will continue to support our students, many of whom are first-generation college students of color. “We are particularly proud of the work we’ve done building a diverse pipeline in STEM.”
SF State’s fourth Campus Safety Week is coming up Oct. 17 – 21. Co-sponsored by the Office of Emergency Services (OES), Enterprise Risk Management, Environment Health & Safety and the University Police Department, Campus Safety Week will feature a week of various training sessions focused on promoting health and safety both on campus and off.
Campus Safety Day will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Campus departments will be tabling on the Quad and providing information designed to promote health and safety in our everyday lives. Stop by the Quad to learn more about campus health and safety offerings or to participate in hands-on fire-extinguisher training! Other events include:
-
First Aid, CPR and AED Certification Training
Monday, Oct. 17, 1 – 4:30 p.m., Mashouf Wellness Center -
Field Research Risk Management
Tuesday, Oct. 18, 11 a.m. to noon, LIB 121 -
Stay Safe in Cyber Space
Tuesday, Oct. 18, 3 – 4 p.m., LIB 121 -
Self-Defense Workshop
Wednesday, Oct. 19, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., GYM 149 -
Outdoor Trip Management
Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2 – 3 p.m., Mashouf Wellness Center classroom -
Student Personal Safety
Thursday, Oct. 20, noon to 1 p.m., LIB 121
Learn more and see the full Campus Safety Week schedule on the OES website.
The J. Paul Leonard Library is pleased to announce that The New York Times Digital Edition (NYTimes.com) is now available for all current SF State students, faculty and staff via the Library’s new subscription. Visit the Library’s New York Times Guide or watch an instructional video on YouTube to learn more about creating an SF State NYTimes.com account or switching from a personal Times subscription to free SF State access.
Creating an SF State NYTimes.com account will avoid the free article monthly limit placed on non-subscribers. Please note that the Library subscription does not include access to NYT stand-alone services (Cooking, Games, Wirecutter and The Athletic).
Have additional questions? Ask a librarian!
Erica Almaguer, director of the Associated Students Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC), has won the grant competition for the U.S. Department of Education, Childcare Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) 2022- 2026, in the amount of $1,631,020. This will provide eligible students with free to reduced cost childcare at the ECEC.
Spring 2023 begins the second phase of our campus’ transition from iLearn to Canvas. Beginning in spring 2023, all officially scheduled courses will be created in Canvas automatically instead of iLearn. Faculty not ready to transition to Canvas who wish to continue teaching in iLearn can elect to use iLearn instead of Canvas via the Class Data Management website by following the steps in an online Academic Technology guide. Instructors who wish to use Canvas will not need to do anything. Their courses will automatically appear in Canvas once they are assigned on the official class schedule.
Note that the last day to choose iLearn over Canvas is Feb. 17, 2023, the add/drop deadline date for the Spring 2023 Semester.
Creating, storing and remembering passwords can be a pain, but the fact is that passwords are your first line of defense against cybercriminals and data breaches. Also, it has never been easier to maintain your passwords with free, simple-to-use password managers. With a few moments of forethought today, you can stay safe online for years to come. Check out more tips on SF State’s Information Technology Services week 2 information page.
The 2023 CSU International Programs (CSU IP) International Faculty Partnership Seminar will take place in Tokyo, Japan, at Waseda University and Tsukuba University from June 19 – 23, 2023. The seminar provides international experiences for faculty of diverse disciplines from the CSU campuses. Participants will learn more about CSU IP and the experiences of students participating in them while interacting with faculty colleagues from our partner universities and campuses.
The 2023 seminar will focus on interdisciplinary dialogues. The theme for the seminar is “Challenges and Transitions: Japan, California, and the World.” Faculty are invited to apply as a participant or presenter. The presenter can submit proposals to present their research related to the theme.
Through participation in the CSU IP International Faculty Partnership Seminar, CSU faculty will have the following opportunities:
-
Engage with colleagues and explore the seminar theme within their own and related disciplines
-
Learn more about international opportunities available through CSU IP for themselves and their students
-
Establish professional connections and contacts with colleagues from the host institutions
-
Familiarize themselves with international partner institutions
Faculty interested in applying for the seminar can complete the application by Tuesday, Nov. 15.
Seminar expenses in Japan, including housing and some meals, will be provided by CSU IP. The Chancellor’s Office will also provide each participant a subsidy of $1,000 towards their round-trip ticket to Japan.
Students can teach their passion — and earn units for doing it! Through SF State’s Experimental College (EXCO), students can earn up to four units for teaching a class on any topic they choose. EXCO courses create a space for SF State students to develop leadership skills as they share their voices, backgrounds and passions in a mutually supportive community of peers.
Current EXCO courses include “Critical Character Study within Anime,” “The Philosophy of ‘Star Wars,’” “Basic Music Theory,” “Lucid Dreaming,” “Adventures in San Francisco,” “Introduction to New Queer Cinema,” “Writing on the Muni,” “Sleep Health and Hygiene,” “Genealogy” and many more unusual and fascinating topics, all taught by undergraduate students. If you know a student who’d like to propose a class, tell them to fill out an EXCO teacher application on the Experimental College website. For more information, feel free to contact EXCO Director Dan Curtis-Cummins.
The Academic Senate met Tuesday, Oct. 4, via Zoom. The senate:
- Adopted by general consent the Resolution in Support of Voter Registration Campaign and the Ballot Bowl, Fall 2022.
- Passed Changes to Master of Science in Business Analytics, Master of Business Administration and Master of Arts in Classics.
- Heard in first reading Proposed College of Extended Learning (CEL) name change to the “College of Professional and Global Education (CPAGE).”
- Heard in first reading Resolution on Campus Response to Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates (ICAS) Cal-GETC Proposal. This may have significant impact on General Education throughout the CSU system.
- Heard in first reading Proposed Change the Minor in Management from 21 to 15 units.
The full agenda, meeting materials and minutes can be found on the senate website. Relevant documents may be found in the Senate box folder.
Senate policies and resolutions are now on PolicyStat, a new platform to facilitate searching. Please remember to go directly to the the PolicyStat page rather than use Google the next time you’re searching, and let the Academic Senate know if you are having any trouble. Some older policies may not have made it into the new system. Contact the senate at senate@sfsu.edu.
Please encourage your students to learn more about their study abroad opportunities at the University of Dundee in Scotland today (Monday, Oct. 10) at 3 p.m. A bilateral exchange partner, the University of Dundee has sent a representative to visit SF State. This student will be giving a presentation on his university in the Ethnic Studies Building, room 101. The session is open to everyone but would be especially beneficial for students studying Civil Engineering, Economics; Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, Geography, History, Humanities/Humanistic Studies, International Relations, Liberal Arts, Literature, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Philosophy, Physics and Political Science.
The next campuswide Staff Forum is Wednesday, Oct. 12, from 10 to 11 a.m. on Zoom and welcomes University President Lynn Mahoney and AVP of Human Resources Ingrid Williams. Vice presidents of Administration & Finance, Academic Affairs and University Advancement will present information on their cabinet divisions. All campus staff, both represented and non-represented (who are not MPP/faculty), may attend. RSVP for the Zoom link via Qualtrics.
Celebrate National Coming Out Day with a presentation by Professor of History Marc Stein: “Queer Transformations at San Francisco State, 1969-1972.” Stein’s talk will explore the early emergence of LGBT activism at SF State, including queer support for the Third World Liberation Front and faculty strikes, the formation of the Gay Liberation Front, LGBT labor activism, the police shooting of a student at a gay bar, protests of an airline that refused to board a student wearing a “Homosexuals for Peace” button, the hiring of an openly lesbian professor and the first LGBT studies courses.
This presentation will be on Tuesday, Oct. 11, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Special Collections Reading Room, LIB 460 (4th floor). It is co-sponsored by the Labor Archives and Research Center, the Department of History and the Queer & Trans Resource Center. The Jamie and Phyllis Pasker Professor of History at SF State, Stein is the author of five books, including “The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History” (NYU Press, 2019), “Queer Public History: Essays on Scholarly Activism” (University of California Press, 2022) and “Rethinking the Gay and Lesbian Movement,” 2nd edition (Routledge, 2023).
Please encourage your students to learn more about their study abroad opportunities in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, by attending an information session Thursday, Oct. 13, at 4 p.m. Through the CSU system, SF State enjoys a state-to-state study abroad agreement with the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Their CSU representative will be on campus this Thursday to hold an info session in LIB 121. The session is open to everyone but would be especially beneficial for students studying Business (all areas), Communication, Design (Visual Communication), Cinema, Linguistics, Literature, Political Science, Psychology, American Studies, Anthropology, Economics, History, Sociology, German and Music.
San Franciscans will cast ballots in November to choose a new district attorney. John Hamasaki, Brooke Jenkins and Joe Alioto Veronese, three candidates for the position, will be on campus Thursday, Oct. 20, to take part in a question-and-answer session organized by Project Rebound, the Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, the Department of Criminal Justice Studies and the Juvenile Justice Providers' Association (a group of nonprofit justice advocates in San Francisco). You will have the opportunity to hear how candidates respond to many of the essential concerns for those who have first-hand experience with the juvenile and criminal legal systems through questions posed by justice-involved persons.
This free event will be held in Jack Adams Hall inside the Cesar Chavez Student Center. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The program will begin promptly at 6 p.m. and run until 7:30 p.m. RSVP via Eventbrite.
Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning’s (CEETL) Fall 2022 Discussion Circles series continues with “Bend without Breaking: Flexible, Sustainable Course Design for Faculty and Student Success” on Wednesday, Oct. 26, from 3 to 4 p.m. in CEETL’s classroom, LIB 242. This discussion will be hosted by CEETL Faculty Director of Multimodal Excellence in Teaching & Learning (METL) Stephanie Sisk-Hilton. Register to join this in-person discussion.
Over the past three years, faculty have developed flexible practices to support student engagement and success during a time of crisis. As we move into a time when we are “back open” but can anticipate ongoing, unpredictable disruptions to learning environments, how can we continue flexible practices that allow us to maintain high-impact teaching and learning without remaining in crisis mode? Please join CEETL in a collaborative discussion to learn with and from one another.
There’s also still time to register for this week’s Discussion Circle: “Beyond Accommodations: Disability Inclusive Pedagogies & Lessons from the Pandemic” on Tuesday, Oct. 11, from 10 to 11 a.m. in LIB 242.
Visit the CEETL website to learn more about the CEETL Discussion Circle series.
Are your eyes tired, irritated and sometimes dry or do you have neck and shoulder discomfort at the end of the day? If yes, join the Institute for Holistic Health Studies for a two-session inperson workshop, “There’s Hope for Tight Neck and Shoulders, and Tired, Irritated Eyes.” Participants will learn skills to reduce symptoms and increase health and hear about pragmatic techniques they can integrate immediately at work and at home. The workshop will be offered from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, and Wednesday, Nov. 2, in HSS 306.
The Holistic Health Workshop Series is sponsored by the Institute for Holistic Health Studies and the Department of Recreation, Parks, Tourism and Holistic Health and is open to staff, faculty, students and members of the University community.
The University Budget Committee (UBC) will meet virtually via Zoom from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Oct. 26. These meetings welcome members of the campus community to attend and learn about the University budgeting process and provide an open forum at the end of each meeting for public comment. The UBC is comprised of SF State faculty, staff, students and administrators and is charged with serving as a deliberative body that provides the SF State president with ongoing advice and recommendations related to budget policy, planning and assessment. Information about the UBC can be found on the Administration & Finance website.
UBC meetings welcome persons with disabilities and may provide reasonable accommodations upon request. If you would like to RSVP to the Zoom meeting as a guest or have other questions, please email ubc@sfsu.edu.
The All-University Committee on International Programs (AUCIP) invites faculty and staff to an international faculty and staff engagement event in recognition of International Education Month. The event will be held 2 – 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, on the fifth floor patio of the Administration Building. Come join your colleagues for refreshments as International Education Month kicks off! RSVP to Susan Zieff, chair of AUCIP, at susangz@sfsu.edu.
Spotlight
On Sept. 30, SFGate published a feature on the SF State FogCam, which is the world’s oldest operating webcam. Graduate students Jeff Schwartz and Dan Wong — now an information technology consultant in Academic Technology — launched the FogCam in 1994 from Burk Hall. It now broadcasts from a windowsill in the Business building.
The story includes quotes from Academic Technology’s Assistant Vice President Andrew Roderick, Product Service Success Specialist Robyn Ollodort and Systems Administrator Daniel Johnson as well as Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts Lecturer Elaine Leung, among others.
“It was technology we likened to ‘The Jetsons’ at the time,” Roderick told SF Gate. “Webcams represented the first point in time where you could have a camera that was made to distribute images in an intentional way on the internet. It created that first idea that we could connect on a screen and sort of predicted the Zoom thing that we came to rely upon during the pandemic.”
“It reminds me of when I was a college student,” added Leung, a BECA alumna who utilizes the FogCam for her weather reports at her job with iHeart Media. “It’s precious to me, and I hope it stays around forever.”
A Sept. 30 story from American Heart Association News explored the reasons why maternal mortality among Hispanic woman increased by 44 percent in 2020, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Public Health Professor Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh said Hispanic women previously had low maternity mortality rates due to healthful behavior: “For example, they are less likely to smoke and drink alcohol during pregnancy.” The pandemic’s disproportionate effect on the Latina work force, combined with existing socioeconomic issues, reduces access to healthy food and safe, green places for recreation and exercise, she added, “serving as sort of a ‘perfect storm’ that can give rise to more ill health and death in this group.”
Africana Studies Professor Dorothy Tsuruta joined the National Coalition of 100 Black Women on Sept. 24. The coalition is committed to be the united voice for over 20 million Black women in the United States. The San Francisco chapter represents women who are passionate about making a difference.
Political Science Professor Aaron Belkin was the subject of a Sept. 28 profile in the Huffington Post, focusing on his success as a progressive activist. He is credited for helping the U.S. military end its homophobic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. He also is active in efforts to expand the number of Supreme Court justices.
“Aaron has made an immense contribution in an almost unsung, quiet way, that reflects in a way that twin, great strengths he has,” said Evan Wolfson, a longtime leader in the LGBTQ rights movement. “He has such substance and smarts ― a commitment to marshaling facts and evidence and arguments and reason. But he’s also very skilled at getting things to happen and thinking about how to use that substance, to engage people and to deploy in the world and to mobilize.”
American Indian Studies Chair and Associate Professor John-Carlos Perea moderated a panel discussion following the Oct. 8 world premiere of “Town Destroyer” at the Mill Valley Film Festival. The documentary explores the history and recent actions surrounding the Victor Arnautoff mural at George Washington High School in San Francisco.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton (MPA, ’10) recently announced a new proposal to establish a Pacific Islander Cultural District spanning the Visitacion Valley and Sunnydale neighborhoods.
Race and Resistance Studies Assistant Professor Ponipate Rokolekutu told SFBay on Sept. 30 that this is a pivotal moment for the Pacific Islander community: “This initiative is a fight against the erasure of our culture to ensure that there is visibility to uplift the community.”
Christine Fogarty, associate director of the Global Museum and lecturer in Museum Studies, participated in a panel discussion, “Land That Job! What Will This Degree Get Me,” on Sept. 10. Bay Area Emerging Museum Professionals presented the event.
KRON-TV interviewed Bárbara Abadía-Rexach, assistant professor of Latina/Latino Studies, on Oct. 1 about Afro-Latinx representation in the media. She says representation remains lacking.
“Even when they appear, [it is] usually through stereotyped characters and with few exceptions,” she said. “… You can see examples of colorism and how certain features [and] physical characteristics associated with our Hispanic/Spanish heritage and whiteness are privileged.”
The New York Times reviewed Creative Writing Associate Professor and Chair May-lee Chai’s new book “Tomorrow in Shanghai and Other Stories” (Blair) on Sept. 21.
“Chai has a remarkable skill for building tension, masterfully arranging all the pieces on the board to hook the reader,” Weiki Wang wrote.
Marc Stein, the Jamie and Phyllis Pasker Professor of History, wrote an opinion piece on Sept. 25 for the History News Network focused on the specter of a future Supreme Court ban on same-sex marriages. Stein writes that he believes there is potential for several conservative justices to be persuaded to preserve same-sex marriage rights, citing research for his book “Sexual Injustice: Supreme Court Decisions from Griswold to Roe” (The University of North Carolina Press, 2010).