College of Liberal & Creative Arts

Brianna Montserrat Miranda helms ‘Essential,’ on display in the Fine Arts Gallery through Sept. 2 

“I also worked for a short while at a sorting factory, as have some of my relatives who are around my age,” Miranda added. “I’m from the Central Valley, where about 25% of the country’s food is produced — but most importantly, I’m from a small farming, low-income community that is often under-represented and overlooked.” 

Each semester, students in Lecturer Faculty Kevin B. Chen’s “Exhibition Design” class create a proposal for an original exhibition, but this is the first time that the Fine Arts Gallery has selected one for its shows of professional, non-student artists.  

“We have been so impressed with Brianna’s artistic sagacity and commitment to sharing lived experiences with our community at SF State, shedding light on the hard labor necessary to provide food on all of our tables,” Chen said. “Collaborating with her has been a highlight of the year!”

Sharon E. Bliss, the Fine Arts Gallery director, says she is excited for visitors to experience what came from Miranda’s vision: “Watching her bring ‘Essential’ to fruition — from planning meetings through studio visits with artists and working with essayist Marcial González and graphic designer Madeline Ko — has been an amazing journey, and now we’re just getting started with sharing it with a public audience.” 

Major support for “Essential” is provided by the Zellerbach Family Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. 

“Receiving the opportunity to curate ‘Essential’ has definitely been the most pivotal moment I’ve had at SF State,” Miranda said. “I’m still a little shocked but most really grateful for the opportunity. I know how important this exhibition is for me, my family and the Latino/a/x community who have experienced the effects of the agriculture business in the U.S.” 

Learn more about SF State’s School of Art. 

Nelson Mitchell developed his design mind as a graduate student at SF State 

Learning to design furniture at San Francisco State University can lead to more careers than one may expect. For Nelson Mitchell, his master’s degree was the pathway to creating an innovative mobile app to treat fibromyalgia. 

Mitchell, a user-experience designer, is head of design and co-founder of Swing Therapeutics. Earlier this year the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) authorized its app, Stanza, to be marketed to treat symptoms of fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition that affects 10 million Americans. It is the first fibromyalgia digital therapeutic approved by the FDA. Available only by prescription, Stanza employs a form of cognitive behavioral therapy called acceptance and commitment therapy. It has proven effective in extensive randomized controlled trials and real-world studies, with 73% of patients demonstrating improvement in symptoms. 

Stanza provides patients with a customized schedule of treatment, incorporating practices such as mindfulness and self-reflection throughout their daily routine. “It’s the therapist in your pocket,” Mitchell said.  

Mitchell (M.A., ’10) entered San Francisco State as smartphones started to become a near necessity for daily life. Faculty and students already knew that enduring product design concepts would be key to success in the mobile software space. 

“I was designing chairs and lamps and stuff like that, but SF State’s program was really great at teaching me the design process and how to think like a designer — how to come up with a hypothesis, test, iterate and refine the idea,” Mitchell said. “I took that and applied it to software and interface design.” 

School of Design faculty such as Ricardo Gomes, Shirl Buss, Hsiao-Yun Chu and Nancy Noble gave Mitchell the tools and the freedom to explore his interests in depth. 

“I felt like I had a new kernel, a new framework,” he said. “SF State gave me the chance to build it — and really build it in a way that I understood it. It’s like the difference between owning a bike and having someone else fix it versus being able to take it apart and put it back together.” 

At his company, Mitchell is spreading the word about the Gator work ethic: “Nobody is going to work as hard for you as graduates from SF State,” he told his team. “These are people that we need to create opportunities for.” 

One of Swing Therapeutics’ first in-house software engineers, Mantasha Khan, joined the company after completing her Computer Science degree from SF State. Khan (B.S., ’21) has a passion for creating technology solutions for health. She notes that Lecturer Jose Ortiz-Costa’s “Introduction to Database Systems” course provided her with an invaluable foundation of skills. 

“I’ve been meaning to reach out to [Ortiz-Costa], just throw it out there, [to say that] you have helped me so much,’” said Khan, who attended SF State as an international student from India. “Everything you have taught has been helping me every single day in my work, so I’m very grateful.”  

Learn more about the SF State School of Design and Computer Science Department. 

Rina Ayuyang’s new graphic novel and comic posters explore Filipino American culture and history — including on campus 

One evening in the 1990s, Rina Ayuyang was passing through the Creative Arts building at San Francisco State University. In a small recital hall, she discovered a Filipino ensemble performing a ballad, “Dahil Sayo (Because of You).” She recognized the song because her parents would dance to it in the living room of her childhood home. 

“I lived near campus and would walk down the halls a lot, and I’d just stumble upon things that were happening,” Ayayung recalled. “It was a very film-noir scene actually, this woman singing this Filipino romantic ballad that I just came and found myself in. And it was a very magical experience.”  

It was one of the many life-changing experiences for Ayuyang at San Francisco State to influence her as a comics artist and shape her as a human being. 

New graphic novel 

“The Man in the McIntosh Suit” (Drawn and Quarterly, 2023) is Ayuyang’s new graphic novel, presenting a Filipino American take on the Great Depression. Mistaken identities, speakeasies and lost love intersect from strawberry farms on the Central Coast to Manilatown in San Francisco. 

Kirkus Reviews writes: “Ayuyang spins a captivating tale that is both an homage to starry-eyed Hollywood movies of the period and a corrective that highlights the anti-Asian racism faced by immigrants as well as the thriving communities they formed.” 

Throughout her work, Ayuyang (B.A., ’98) aims not only to increase representation of Filipino Americans in the arts, but awareness of their key roles in U.S. history. 

“We always feel like we’ve come a long way, but there are still things that need to be addressed. We like to bury things in our history that aren’t as pretty,” Ayuyang said. “I feel like as an artist, we need to continue to use our platform to share ideas, motivate and inspire.” 

‘Finding Filipino’ and the ‘CIA’ 

Ayuyang was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and chose to attend SF State because she had deep family roots in the Bay Area. She majored in Art with an emphasis in Conceptual and Information Arts, an experimental program where she says everybody made their own rules and embraced a do-it-yourself ethos that prepared her well for a career in comic arts. 

“They called it the ‘CIA’,” Ayuyang said. “It was a little fun rag-tag artist operation going on. It had this grassroots feeling that felt very San Francisco, bohemian-like. It was very much my jam.” 

The courses that Ayuyang took in the College of Ethnic Studies from professors such as Dan Begonia taught her about the hidden histories of Filipino farmworkers and activists in California. She met lifelong friends in the Asian American Studies Department and participated in the Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor, a student organization.  

SF State has had such an impact on Ayuyang that she dedicated a comic to the University in her new poster series, “Finding Filipino.” Presented by the San Francisco Arts Commission for the Art on Market Street Poster Series, the nine posters are on display at 30 bus shelters in downtown San Francisco through June.  

On the “Finding Filipino at SF State” poster, she shares her Gator story: “Here, I learned that I was more than a ‘model minority,’ that I could be an artist, a writer, an athlete — anything I wanted to be.” 

Learn more about the SF State School of Art and College of Ethnic Studies. 

Lluvia Castillo is passionate about a career in public service, beginning in her hometown near the California/Oregon border 

A San Francisco State University student received real-life civics lessons on the Beltway every day this semester, thanks to her participation in a leadership program. Selected for The Fund for American Studies’ Capital Semester internship, Lluvia Castillo worked at the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C. 

As an administrative intern, Castillo served as the assistant to Mary Ann Gomez Orta, CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute, a nonprofit organization founded by members of Congress to advance the Hispanic community’s economic progress with a focus on social responsibility and global competitiveness. Castillo shadowed the CEO at meetings and events with elected officials, took notes and updated financial documents. When not at work, Castillo took classes at George Mason University and lived several blocks from the U.S. Capitol. She also enjoyed visiting the historic monuments and having the opportunity to meet Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Latina to be elected to Congress, and others. 

“Not only do they work with a lot of people in diverse backgrounds, but with Congress,” Castillo said. “I felt like I can learn new skills and take them back home and implement them in my community. That way I can help my community out.” 

Castillo, a Political Science major, plans to pursue a career in public service, beginning in her hometown of Dorris. The agricultural town in rural Siskiyou County sits along Highway 5 near the Oregon border. It is in California, but geographically and culturally a world away from San Francisco. Its population is 860 according to the U.S. Census, down 8% from 2010. Castillo describes the area as lacking overall support for its immigrant farmworker population in addition to convenient access to healthful food and other resources. 

“People have to drive if they want to even get fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, fresh anything. We would have to drive up to Oregon,” said Castillo, a first-generation college student. 

This summer, she’ll go home to Dorris and volunteer with Ore-Cal Resources and Conservation Development, where she has helped develop a community garden, before returning to SF State for her final year. 

She says a San Francisco State class, “The Politics of Immigration in the United States” taught by Professor of Political Science Ron Hayduk, motivated her to pursue a career in public service.  

“He’s the reason why I’m here in D.C. He would email us about internships, and he was that professor,” Castillo said. “His way of listening and encouraging us was one thing that changed me. He was out there pushing us, but also teaching us why immigration is important and why we should go out there and do things for the people who don’t have any voices.” 

Learn more about the SF State Political Science Department. 

‘Teacher-servant-leader-scholar’ most recently served as vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion at Sarah Lawrence College 

Following a national search, Ifeoma Kiddoe Nwankwo has been appointed dean of the College of Liberal & Creative Arts at San Francisco State University effective Aug. 15. She is vice president for diversity equity and inclusion at Sarah Lawrence College. Prior, she served as an associate professor of English at Vanderbilt University, where she was also an affiliate in the Latinx Studies Program, Center for Latin American Studies and Center for Medicine, Health and Society. 

At San Francisco State, Nwankwo will oversee all academic, financial and administrative functions of the College, which has one of the largest and most comprehensive academic programs devoted to the liberal and creative arts in Northern California. Comprised of disciplines in the literary, media, performing and visual arts, the College provides unique opportunities for specialized focus, collaboration, interdisciplinary learning and multidisciplinary pursuits. Nwankwo will also guide initiatives focused on excellence in the liberal arts funded by a transformational $25 million gift from alumni George and Judy Marcus. 

“Dr. Nwankwo is the consummate teacher-servant-leader-scholar with a wealth of experience in many areas of academia,” said Amy Sueyoshi, SF State’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. “The entire San Francisco State community is poised to benefit from her expertise in diversity, equity and inclusion as well as the liberal arts. Thank you to the search committee and the larger College community for their commitment and service in identifying the new dean.”

Nwankwo’s extensive administrative experience includes serving as director of the American studies program and associate provost for strategic initiatives and partnerships at Vanderbilt, as well as co-director of the Atlantic Studies Initiative at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her in-depth research focuses on U.S. African American, Caribbean and Afro-Latin American literature, music and popular culture. Her publications include the monograph “Black Cosmopolitanism” and the co-edited volume “Rhythms of the Afro-Atlantic World.” She is founding director of Voices from Our America, an international research, curriculum development and community engagement project.  

“I have long admired SF State’s unwavering commitment to social justice that is central to the work of the University,” Nwankwo said. “I am excited to join the College of Liberal & Creative Arts, where our world-class faculty are dedicated to inspiring the next generation of thinkers, makers and doers, as well as to providing an excellent education for students of all backgrounds.”  

Nwankwo earned her B.A. in English and Spanish from Rutgers University and her Ph.D. in English with certificates in Latin American Studies and African and African American Studies from Duke University. 

She replaces Andrew Harris, who left SF State to become executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Sophie Clavier, the dean of Graduate Studies, has served as interim dean this academic year. 

Learn more about the SF State College of Liberal & Creative Arts. 

Jae Hamilton wrote raucous speculative episode of U.K. teen sitcom ‘Derry Girls’ 

What started as a class assignment has turned into a national award for a San Francisco State University student who has since graduated. Jae Hamilton is a first-place winner in the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts. Her speculative script for an episode of the U.K. teen sitcom “Derry Girls” brings a raucous yet thoughtful twist to a Catholic girls school in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. 

Hamilton (B.A./B.S., ’22) is among 300 student winners, representing 82 colleges and universities nationwide. They were honored at an awards ceremony at the festival on April 17 in Las Vegas. BEA is a leading international academic media organization that drives insights, excellence in media production and career advancement for educators, students and professionals. 

Hamilton wrote the script last fall as an assignment in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts (BECA) 470: “Dramatic Writing for Television and Electronic Media.” The plot takes the “Derry Girls” protagonists to a shop in town where one of the characters gets in a dispute with the owner for overcharging for candy. In the episode’s secondary plotline, Hamilton takes the Derry girls as far from their comfort zone as she thought possible: to a museum exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs, showcasing his trademark provocative images of nude men. 

“It’s hijinks, but the basis is taking care of your own and standing up for what you feel is injustice,” Hamilton said. “I wrote it because it’s funny, but it’s also about self-acceptance. Even though they are very simple characters, they deal with lots of different emotions and themes.” 

A double major in Visual Communication Design and Creative Writing, Hamilton entered San Francisco State as a transfer student after a career as a theatre props technician in Atlanta. She is pursuing a career in video game design, and her passion is writing plays.  

“Writing is my happy place. It always has been,” Hamilton said.  

Hamilton is not the only member of the SF State community to be honored at the BEA festival. Her BECA 470 instructor from last fall, Associate Professor Marie Drennan, garnered Best of Competition in the Mini-Episodic/Webisode category of the faculty scriptwriting competition. 

Learn more about the SF State Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts and Creative Writing departments and the SF State School of Design. 

Students gain hands-on experience in state-of-the-art studios in new Marcus Hall  

With the quarantine of 2020 long in the rear-view mirror, students at San Francisco State University are back to developing skills and making friends the old-fashioned way — in the flesh. Better yet, a new energy has emerged in George and Judy Marcus Hall for the Liberal and Creative Arts, the new building where students use state-of-the-art studios and labs to operate a radio station, produce television programs and much more. 

KSFS radio  

KSFS is the online student-run station based in the Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts (BECA) Department, representing the best of college radio with programming as diverse as San Francisco State itself. Students have the freedom to play and say pretty much whatever they like, leading to avant-garde playlists from all music genres (one DJ is still dedicated to spinning vinyl) and talk shows and podcasts on a range of topics.  

Samantha Ferro, Jennifer Gee and Alexandra Lopez host “Crave Radio”, airing Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. this semester. Each brings her own perspective and passion to her segment: Ferro focuses on the culture of her home country of Italy, Gee explores soul searching and Lopez discusses the San Francisco 49ers. 

“The BECA program has provided me with hands-on experience that you just can’t get outside of college. You can do radio, podcasting, video or script writing,” Gee said. “I get to learn with different people and see how they work and also learn about myself and how I work. You also go out of your comfort zone and grow as a person.” 

The three hosts only met last fall but already are completing each other’s sentences as if they’ve been lifelong besties.  

“Without SF State we could not do this,” Lopez and Ferro said in unison.  

Listen online 24/7 at BECA Media or download the app.

‘Under SF’ 

Things can get zany in Marcus Hall when “Under SF” is filming at Studio One. The weekly variety show, produced by two BECA classes, brings in artists, musicians and social justice advocates, even sending in the clowns of the Finelli Circus. 

The hosts, producers, directors, writers and crew members — all students — operate in a professional television environment, preparing them for careers in the television industry. 

“It’s a really good experience learning how to work with a crew in a studio … having fun together while also being able to make mistakes and learning from our mistakes,” student Luna Cardenas said. “When it was my turn to direct, [we] came together with the production group. … We just worked together a lot. We all cared about each other and our work.” 

Watch “Under SF” on the BECA Media YouTube channel. 

‘State of Events’ 

Every Tuesday, BECA student journalists present a full-length television news program, “State of Events.” Broadcast from a set with a street-level view of Holloway Avenue, the show covers news from the SF State campus to the greater Bay Area. 

Watch “State of Events” on the BECA Media YouTube channel. 

BECAfest 

BECAfest is the annual showcase and celebration of the work produced by BECA students. Emulating Hollywood’s top award shows, the event features award-winning work in video, audio, writing and radio, among other categories. This year’s event takes place Friday, May 19, at 7 p.m. in Studio One. 

Film Finals 

At SF State, the media arts are on display beyond BECA and Marcus Hall. In the Fine Arts building, students in the School of Cinema — recognized as one of the nation’s top film schools — enjoy a soundstage, editing rooms and recording facilities developed with guidance from industry legends including Francis Ford Coppola.  

A Gator tradition for more than half a century, Film Finals is the juried showcase of the year’s best student films — and the city’s premier student cinema showcase. It returns to the Roxie Theater, at 16th and Valencia streets in San Francisco, on Tuesday, May 16, at 6 p.m.  

Related screenings of SF State Cinema student films include the Queer Film Finals, scheduled for the Roxie Theater on Monday, May 15, at 6:30 p.m., and the Animation Finals on Thursday, May 25, at 6 p.m. in the August Coppola Theatre on campus. 

Visit the SF State calendar for a full list of events. 

Learn more about the SF State BECA Department and School of Cinema. 

Political Science major’s speech garners standing ovation from judges and peers moved to tears 

A member of the San Francisco State University Forensics team made school history this month with several top honors at a national tournament, including an All-American award. But it’s the impassioned performance that may have the longest-lasting impact.  

Student Kivraj “Ki” Singh (pronouns: that/that’s), San Francisco State’s sole representative at the American Forensics Association National Speech Tournament in Santa Ana, earned third place nationwide in After-Dinner Speaking, among 126 competitors including Ivy League schools. In addition, that was named an All-American and an Oral Interpretation semifinalist.  

“Each of Ki’s speeches was written and performed from the deepest parts of that’s soul, and it’s heartening to know that so many others were able to witness and celebrate that’s work,” said Sage Russo, a Forensics coach and a Communication Studies lecturer. “The team couldn’t be more proud.” 

Singh (pictured at top left, holding trophy) delivered a speech advocating for safe injection and consumption sites for drug users, based on their lived experiences as well as case studies and research. That garnered a standing ovation from judges and peers who were moved to tears. 

“After coming out in high school, I struggled with alcoholism, homelessness, weed and tobacco use and some hard drugs as well,” Singh said. “I had a lot of personal insight into the subject, but my speech also came at a time that was very exigent because Gov. Gavin Newsom had just vetoed a bill that was going to include safe injection sites in many California cities. It gave it a fresh and unique spin.” 

Singh graduates this May with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. That entered SF State after competing in forensics at Chabot College and at James Logan High School in Union City. A class discussion on source citation from Singh’s first semester at SF State invigorated Singh, introducing a more advanced curriculum and setting the tone for an inspirational University experience. 

“I really had this revelation sitting in class, like whoa! This is going to change the game for me! This is what I’ve been waiting for!” Singh said. “This is where it gets technical and it becomes political science.” 

On campus this year, Singh has enjoyed a George and Judy Marcus Undergraduate Fellowship. This donor-funded program has funded that’s research paper, “Democratic Queer Theory: Extending LGBTQ+ Civil and Social Rights Globally,” in partnership with a faculty mentor, Assistant Professor of Political Science Amanda Roberti. Singh plans to use it as a sample paper in applying to doctoral programs in political science.  

Learn more about the SF State departments of Political Science and Communication Studies and the George and Judy Marcus Funds for Excellence in the Liberal Arts. 

Annual concert, March 30 – April 2, pairs student dancers with renowned choreographers to perform rigorous, expressive works 

As a student, he would spend 12 hours a day dancing, beginning with an 8 a.m. Pilates class at SF State and ending with evening classes off campus at Alonzo King LINES Ballet, with other Dance courses on campus in between.  

“I definitely remember my first time being in rehearsal as a student, and I was overwhelmed,” he said. “Now I look at it and I really see what everybody was trying to tell me.” 

‘SFSU has made me into the artist that I am today’ 

Johan Casal, double majoring in Dance and Cinema, is one of the latest successes. He is performing in two pieces at University Dance Theatre: Tadio’s Keith Haring tribute “Roxy” and guest choreographer Marlayna Locklear’s new contemporary/jazz work. Casal is also directing a short film based on the “Roxy” performance.  

He says this year’s event marks a true comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic, full of fresh ways to present dance as an in-person and on-screen experience. 

“There’s been such a great sense of collaboration and a new feeling,” Casal said, “and a new energy that comes out of iust being so stationary for the past two to three years." 

Casal has parlayed his SF State projects into a fast-rising career. He was hired as the lead dancer for Netflix’s “The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience” in San Francisco last year and has launched his own film company, Kuya Johan Productions. He credits faculty and peers for helping establish connections, in both film and Filipino folk dance. 

“SFSU has made me into the artist that I am today,” he said. “Now I am ready to step beyond the campus.”  

Purchase tickets to University Dance Theatre. 

Learn more about the SF State School of Theatre and Dance. 

The researchers say their study documents the very civil rights events that politicians seek to ban from school curricula today

In the first comprehensive survey of its kind, a San Francisco State University History professor and three graduate students have discovered that more than 600 LGBTQ+ protests took place in the United States between 1965 and 1973. The researchers say that the study documents the very direct-action events for civil rights — demonstrations, marches, parades, rallies, riots and sit-ins — that some politicians seek to ban from being taught in schools. 

OutHistory and Queer Pasts published the study jointly on March 1. Marc Stein, San Francisco State’s Jamie and Phyllis Pasker Chair in History, led the study with graduate student researchers Dylan Weir, Mario Burrus and Adam Joseph Nichols. Stein says that “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies want to cancel, censor and closet” these types of events from U.S. history. 

“We’re seeing a wave of conservative campaigns that target the way we teach history in the United States, especially when it comes to teaching about race, gender and sexual orientation,” Stein said. “While it’s important that we respond, we also need to move forward with the necessary work of reconstructing the way we understand the past. For queer history, it’s not enough to only reference the Stonewall rebellion of 1969; we need to understand the mobilization and radicalization of a large social movement that lasted for years, organized in diverse locations, engaged millions of people and targeted multiple institutions in society.” 

The study identifies 646 direct-action protests, with more than 200,000 participants and nearly 200 arrests. Protests weren’t limited to New York and California: They took place in 20 states and the District of Columbia. The researchers pored over more than 1,800 media sources, going beyond well-known events such as the Stonewall Inn rebellion of 1969 in New York City and the transgender-led Compton’s Cafeteria riot in 1966 in San Francisco.  

In the nine years they reviewed, Stein and the students found San Francisco was the location of the most LGBTQ+ protests with 148, followed by New York City with 142 and Los Angeles with 93. Many smaller events they cite recall forgotten controversies of the era. A 1969 demonstration against restroom arrests at Macy’s in San Francisco lasted 21 days. The same year, the Committee for Homosexual Freedom led a continuous four-month protest against States Steamship Company in the city for firing its only openly gay employee. 

Weir credits a core group of activists with strengthening the LGBTQ+ movement following Stonewall and throughout the 1970s. 

“It is largely thanks to them that we have a society that is more inclusive and accepting today,” Weir (M.A., ’22) said. “This lesson is more relevant today than ever as we see political movements across the country that are trying to roll back the progress that the gay rights movement has made. If these activists could fight for inclusion in the extremely homophobic society of America in the 1960s and 1970s and make real progress, then we can stand up for those rights today.” 

Stein and his students will next document LGBTQ+ protests between 1974 and 1976. 

Learn more about the SF State History Department.