Students

Class partners with Nature Conservancy, creates products to present at BioDesign Challenge 

Early one rainy morning in March, more than 25 San Francisco State University students departed together from campus for an all-day field trip to Mendocino County. Covering over 300 miles round trip, the excursion gave a School of Design class a hands-on view of the combative relationship between bull kelp and predatory sea urchins, teaming with The Nature Conservancy to design solutions restoring their natural habitat. 

 As the shoreline came into the horizon near the end of the bus trip up north, the wet weather suddenly turned sunny, clearing the way for a bright day of visits to the Noyo Center for Marine Science, the Mendocino Art Center, art galleries and studios and Portuguese Beach. Late in the afternoon, the bus turned around, reaching SFSU for drop-off after dark.  

“It was exhausting, but inspiring and invigorating,” student Jonathan Blythe said. “It put the wind in our sails.”  

The “Product Design II” class, offered in two sections, is dedicated this semester to developing new, sustainable ways to solve a problem on the North Coast tinted by climate-change: overpopulated sea urchins are preying on the bull kelp, destroying the ecosystem. Research by The Nature Conservancy finds that 96% of the kelp forest have disappeared in 10 years. 

The students’ group projects have discovered a range of innovations. Blythe’s group is developing sea-wall traps to reintroduce more starfish into the Pacific Ocean near kelp restoration sites, where the starfish can prey on the sea urchin.  

“I’ve always been interested in sustainable materials. This class has been a crash course in it,” said Blythe, a graduate student in Design. “It’s been helpful to gain the experience of bringing a product to fruition, by that means, that is less harmful to the planet.” 

Another student, Huan Chang, is in a group creating an aquaculture system that converts the atmospheric carbon dioxide within sea urchins into calcium carbonate, which wineries can use in the fermentation process with efficiency and ecological sustainability. The group adds that uni, the edible portion of the urchin used to make sushi and other delicacies, makes a delightful pairing with wine. 

“For the field trip, we prepared ahead of time what we needed to bring, what kinds of questions we should ask and how we can do field research,” Chang said. “It really excited me because talking with your classmates and the professors is quite different from what you feel and what you learn on site, especially from the scientists, the divers and the specialists in the field. It’s a totally different experience.” 

The opportunity to conduct fieldwork attracted Design graduate student Blane Asrat to take “Product Design II” as an elective.  

“We were able to examine the holdfasts of the bull kelp attached to the rocks. That attachment to the rocks and to the ocean floor was a significant part of our research,” she said. “Being able to see that in real life and pull the bull kelp apart from the rock and realizing it’s not coming off. Whatever adhesion that this is producing in nature is so strong that it’s almost fused.” 

Student Damani “Phesto Dee” Thompson focused on documenting the day through sketches and photographs. As a platinum-selling recording artist with the Souls of Mischief and Hieroglyphics, he has traveled the world for decades, but from this field trip gained a deep appreciation for kelp and its importance in the ecosystem. 

“Design is a roadmap for solving problems,” said Thompson, an Industrial Design major. “We’re dealing with the problem of the loss of the kelp along the coast, so they’ve contacted us as designers — not to make something cute and beautiful, but to figure out some kind of solution thinking outside the box.” 

The course instructor, Assistant Professor Fernando F.S. Carvalho, aims to give students a deeper understanding of design processes and connect them with science. He has been impressed by the student groups for their confidence and ambition in engaging with scientific literature to develop products. 

“They are incorporating science into their learning,” said Carvalho, noting many of the students are studying for a Bachelor of Science degree. “It will take them to the next level.” 

Design Lecturer Faculty Josie Iselin (MFA, ’94) serves as a partner to the class through her ocean literacy campaign Above/Below. 

“It’s been transforming,” Iselin said. “You really see the growth of the students.” 

For the third straight year, one group from the class will travel to New York City in June to compete in the BioDesign Challenge, an annual international competition promoting integrated design, innovation and biotechnology. Funding from the MillerKnoll Foundation, SF State’s Institute for Civic and Community Engagement and donor Richard Ingalls have supported the class.  

Tristin McHugh, the kelp project director for The Nature Conservancy’s California Oceans Program, gave an in-person presentation during the field trip at a major restoration site in Fort Bragg.  

“I was really impressed with how bright and interested the students were. They showed up to the challenge,” she said. “They will have a very direct application in solving this problem now.” 

Learn more about the SFSU School of Design. 

Housing for 2025 – 2026 is guaranteed for all students who complete an application by April 6 

Imagine walking from bed to class in your pajamas. A near-zero commute is just one of the reasons that living on the San Francisco State University campus translates to academic success and a fast track to graduation. Application for student housing at SFSU for 2025 – 2026 opened March 3 at 9 a.m.  

All freshman applicants who have accepted their admission offer and submitted the housing application with their initial payment are guaranteed a bed in one of the University’s seven residential communities; new transfer students and continuing students must accept their admission offer and submit a housing application with their initial payment by Sunday, April 6, to receive a guarantee. All units are all-inclusive: fully furnished with Wi-Fi and utilities. They also offer exclusive student services, study spaces and shorter license terms than the standard 12-month duration on the rental market.  

“I feel it’s very beneficial to live on campus as a student — especially if it’s one of your first years away from home,” student Keely said. “It’s just nice to have others who are going through the same experience as you and who are able to relate with you about being a student and going through the college life.”  

SFSU research has found that students who live on campus are more likely to take additional units each semester. Their four-year graduation rate is 58% higher than students who live off campus. Additionally, first-year students who live on campus achieve a grade-point average 10% higher than those who live off campus.  

Based on a new survey of SFSU students and families compiled by Know Research and Lexicon & Line, more than two-thirds of first-year and returning residents find that living on campus has improved their academics. More than three-fourths of parents state that living on campus has improved their students’ academics. 

SFSU’s campus and residential community are equipped with security, including 24/7 availability for on-campus police and Residential Life staff, key access to all residential buildings, lighted pathways, emergency phones and a free accompanied safe-walking service. 

“At San Francisco State University, you can have peace of mind knowing that your student is in a safe living and learning environment where they are poised to grow professionally and personally,” said Jeny V. Patiño, associate vice president for Housing, Dining and Conference Services. “With a scenic location just one mile from the beach and free public transit throughout the Bay Area for students, a world of opportunity awaits outside your door.” 

A reduced-rate student housing program for first-time freshmen launched last year. The first program of its kind in the CSU system, it provides reduced rates for 725 students in any of the residential communities available to first-time freshmen who meet the qualifications to receive a Cal Grant A or B financial aid award.   

Photo Credit: Juan Montes

SFSU’s residential communities: 

• West Grove Commons opened in fall 2024. The 751-bed, six-story building for freshmen covers 120,000 square feet. Each floor is designed “pod-style,” including a shared all-gender bathroom and study and lounge spaces.  
• The Towers at Centennial Square is a 16-story high-rise with one- and two-bedroom suites for freshmen and sophomores. Rooms are double or triple occupancy with a private bathroom, kitchenette and a living and dining area.  
• Towers Junior Suites is a five-story building with partial suites, all for freshmen. Rooms are double occupancy and include a private bathroom. 
• The Village at Centennial Square, which opened in 2001, features two- and three-bedroom apartments for junior/senior transfer students and international students. Rooms are single or double occupancy with a private bathroom, full kitchen and a living and dining area.  
• Manzanita Square, built in 2020, is a mixed community for sophomores, juniors, seniors and transfer students interested in living year-round. This community offers apartment-style living: private bathrooms, full kitchen, and a living and dining area, with single and double occupancy available. The eight-story building also features lounge and study spaces, a gym and a community courtyard.  
• University Park North was built in the 1950s as the Stonestown Apartments before being purchased by SF State in 2005. It is a mixed community for junior and senior continuing students and graduate students. It has apartments of one, two and three bedrooms. Rooms are single or double occupancy with private bathroom(s), a full kitchen and a living and dining area.  
• University Park South, enmeshed with the Parkmerced apartment community next door to campus, is for junior and senior continuing students. It has apartments of one, two and three bedrooms. Rooms are single or double occupancy with private bathroom, a full kitchen and a living and dining area.  

 Students will move into their new campus residences at SFSU in mid-August. Apply early for on-campus housing, as spaces are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.   

Learn about on-campus housing and apply online. 

SFSU Fine Arts Gallery showcases findings from grant-funded Office for the Study of the Ordinary 

In these extraordinary times, we can learn something by stepping back and exploring the ordinary. At San Francisco State University, about 100 students led by an artist-in-residence have investigated the everyday, creating new works of art in a “fake” department called The Office for the Study of the Ordinary.  

A culminating exhibition in the SFSU Fine Arts Gallery showcases the processes, artifacts and printed material compiled over the past year by 150 overall participants. “Objects of Inquiry: The Office for the Study of the Ordinary” is on display Saturday, Feb. 22 – Saturday, April 5. Admission is free. 

“Bureaucracy and art seemingly wouldn’t mesh. Put them together and something weird comes out,” said Liz Hernández, the Harker Artist-in-Residence at SFSU, a position made possible by the Harker Fund at the San Francisco Foundation. “The ordinary can be extraordinary if you shift your focus.” 

Hernández worked alongside students in their classes for one to two weeks at a time to create collaborative art projects. Supplied with lab coats, magnifying glasses and measuring tape, students strolled the campus and took pictures of their observations. They created ID cards with fictional job titles for themselves: fantastical daydreamer, termite enthusiast, dust collector and so on.

Photo by Liz Hernández

Student Nanako Nirei has contributed an acrylic drawing for a large-scale comic about SFSU’s mascot, depicted as a fictional character named Al the Gator. Nirei is enrolled in the Art 619 “Exhibition Design” course that is responsible for installing and promoting “Objects of Inquiry.” 

“This is the first time I’ve been part of a big show,” she said. “I’m honored being in it and helping put everything up.” 

Upon entry to “Objects of Inquiry,” visitors are greeted at a reception desk assembled with old furniture from campus storage. They are then led on a self-guided tour highlighted by a false tale involving student protests against inhumane treatment of an alligator housed on the SFSU campus. (For the record, this never actually happened; fakeness and subversion are hallmarks of Hernández’s art). Hernández created a life-sized sculpture of an alligator with angel wings, laying on a stretcher.   

“I wanted to show the legacy of student-led protests at SF State. I was surprised that so many students didn’t know about it,” Hernández said. “I like to tell stories to the world through fiction in a way that doesn’t damage anyone, but gets you to think.” 

Collaborating with students has been the most rewarding part of Hernández’s residency, she says: “I’ve learned so much from the students. There are small moments of tenderness and vulnerability. I’d never expect students to open up that way.” 

An opening reception for “Objects of Inquiry” will be held Feb. 22, 1 – 3 p.m. Regular hours for the Fine Arts Gallery are Tuesdays – Fridays, noon – 4 p.m. 

Learn more about the SFSU School of Art. 

Pocket Opera collaboration brings Animation students into new film adaptation of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ 

The COVID-19 quarantines of 2020 forced educators and artists alike to work in new and creative ways. One such collaboration involving San Francisco State University’s School of Cinema just recently enjoyed its debut. “A Pocket Magic Flute” is an animated film adaptation of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” produced by the Pocket Opera company of San Francisco. It is a finalist for the Digital Excellence in Opera Award from Opera America. 

Nicolas A. Garcia, artistic director of the San Francisco Pocket Opera, conceived the film project and garnered funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and Opera America. He contacted SFSU Cinema Professor Martha Gorzycki to get students involved. Gorzycki (MFA, ’02), the director of the University’s Animation Program, mentored five student interns who worked on pre-production and production: Estrella Torres, Jacqueline “Rosie” Nares, Alex Wood, Madeline Ko and Jessie Plascencia. 

“It really helped me understand how the pipeline of production works in animation,” said Nares (B.A., ’22), now a library media assistant at an elementary school in Stockton. “I already had a bit of an idea just because I’m a huge animation fan. But being firsthand, I got to try a little bit of everything. Working in background, character and prop design, I was able to figure out where I fit in the pipeline, too, because it is my dream is to work in the industry.” 

Torres (B.A., ’21) helped create storyboards and design characters and props. She says working on “A Pocket Magic Flute” was a pivotal moment for her. 

“It gave me my first real opportunity to step into the animation world and feel confident in my skills,” Torres said. “When Martha reached out to me specifically because of my talents, it was such an honor. It gave me the encouragement I needed to believe in myself and my abilities as an artist. The class she created was small, with only five students, and I felt so fortunate to be one of them. 

“The experience not only helped me grow as an artist, but also reinforced my love for animation as a medium for storytelling,” added Torres, now an instructional aide for middle-school students with disabilities in Brentwood. “I’m truly excited to see how it resonates with audiences and how it might inspire others.” 

Shawneé Gibbs (B.A., ’02) and Shawnelle Gibbs (B.A., ’02) are the lead producers, screenwriters and animation directors on “A Pocket Magic Flute.” The siblings comprise a powerhouse team, writing scripts for cartoons for many of the major studios and networks. Miriam Lewis (MFA, ’12) is the lead costumer. They all attended the world-premiere screening, held in the August Coppola Theatre at SFSU on Sept. 25. 

“A Pocket Magic Flute” has brought together numerous arts organizations, including the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Oakland Youth Symphony, Sacramento Youth Symphony and Sirnare Animation Studio in Kenya. 

“A Pocket Magic Flute” is now traveling to classrooms of fourth to eighth graders, accompanied by a curriculum and appearances by the artists in person. 

“This was a local and international collaboration of diverse teams of scholars and artists coming together remotely to produce a 20-minute animated film,” Gorzycki said. “One of the primary goals of this project is to educate youth and especially BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and People of Color] youth on collaborative and creative career possibilities in the performing arts, fine arts and media arts.”  

Learn more about the SFSU School of Cinema. 

Gator Pass serves as a passport for students to travel within San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area 

With just a tap of their student ID card, San Francisco State University students now have the keys for traveling throughout the Bay Area for free. 

San Francisco State students now enjoy free unlimited rides on public transit throughout the Bay Area during the fall and spring semesters. All they have to do is tap their SF State One Card when boarding. 

As of Aug. 26, the expanded Gator Pass covers 22 transit agencies spanning all nine Bay Area counties. Attention, all Gators from the East Bay: Yes, it includes free Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), AC Transit and even the San Francisco Bay Ferry. And to the South Bay Gators: Yes, you can ride CalTrain for free, as well as Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Previously, the Gator Pass only included unlimited rides on San Francisco Muni and SamTrans, plus a discount on BART. 

Even with all of the new benefits, the Gator Pass student fee is now cheaper: $130 per semester, which is $50 less than previously. 

“Having majority commuter students, we see how beneficial it is already having the previous benefits,” Associated Students President Brandon Foley said. “We have a lot of students coming from all around the Bay Area and beyond, so we wanted to make sure that everyone is getting affordable transportation.”  

Students enjoy significant savings from the Gator Pass, as an adult pass for unlimited rides on Muni costs $81 per month. According to data from SF State’s Office of Sustainability, commuting 10 miles to campus four times a week by car costs $250 – $325 per month. 

Foley commutes to SF State from San Bruno, taking BART and Muni. He does not own a car. 

“I always love exploring around San Francisco. I love West Portal and Embarcadero, just going and finding new spots to eat around there,” he said. “I really love public transportation and I’m a super big advocate for high-speed rail. I’d love to see that in California.”  

The free rides are a result of student feedback and advocacy from SF State’s Associated Students, which surveyed students about expanding the Gator Pass in lieu of introducing a voter referendum. Associated Students was the original driving force behind establishing the Gator Pass, passing a transit pass resolution in 2015. The Gator Pass went into effect in fall 2017.

Visit the SFSU One-Card website to activate your Gator Pass and learn more.   

New six-story West Grove Commons adds 751 beds to University Housing 

Warm weather is far from the only thing that students brought to San Francisco State University on Aug. 21 when moving into campus residence halls. Under sunny skies at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, thousands of students pushed boxes on wheels full of their belongings, hauled from their hometowns into their new homes for the next nine months. 

Clothing, sheets, hampers, toiletries and school supplies are a must of course. But so are stuffed animals, plants and posters of their favorite bands. 

“I brought my footballs because I like to stay active. I have a fan because it helps me sleep, for the white noise,” said Patrick Mendoza, a Photojournalism major entering his fourth year in the residence halls at San Francisco State.  

Estefania Solis, moving into the Village at Centennial Square, made sure to pack photographs of her friends because she plans to decorate her wall with them. She also brought her new Dumbo stuffed animal to keep in her bed. 

“I wanted to move into a city — not super far, but not super close either,” said Solis, who is transferring to SF State from Folsom Lake College to study Accounting. “I’m excited to explore the city. I’ve never been on my own before. I look forward to meeting new people and finding new interests.” 

This year marks the opening of the West Grove Commons, a 751-bed building rising six stories high. It introduces a “pod-style” living environment to SF State’s residential community. There are an average of 12 rooms per pod and four pods per floor. Each floor includes a shared all-gender bathroom, and study and lounge spaces. An adjacent new building for the Gator Health Center and dining commons will open in early 2025. The project is supported by $116 million from California’s Affordable Student Housing Grant Program.    

A new reduced-rate student housing program also launched this fall. The first program of its kind in the California State University system, it offers housing at approximately 25% less than the traditional rate to students who meet the qualifications to receive a Cal Grant A or B financial aid award. 

SF State President Lynn Mahoney walked her way through the campus residential communities to greet families and University Housing staff. “The weather is always this nice,” she joked to a family from San Diego. This family was dropping off two of their triplets rooming together in the Towers at Centennial Square. “San Francisco was our only choice,” said Claire Gaines, a Kinesiology major. “In San Francisco, there are a lot of opportunities to grow your career.” 

Her sister Gianna Gaines, a Child and Adolescent Development major, added: “There is so much to do. It’s different than back home. There’s so much good food. I love Chinatown.”  

Learn more about on-campus housing and apply online. 

Through two peer mentor programs, students help students connect, learn and thrive

Whether you’re new or returning to San Francisco State University, you have access to a variety of resources, the most valuable being your peers. Students in San Francisco State’s Peer2Peer Mentor Collective and First-Year Experience (FYE) Peer Mentor program have a wealth of advice to offer on the key to balancing a college career and city living.

The mentors are continuing students who meet regularly with new students, most often virtually. In the Peer2Peer Mentor Collective, students text each other most frequently, while the FYE students most frequently meet in person. 

Kenya Bravo, an SF State student and FYE peer mentor, emphasizes the importance of keeping your life organized. She says students should use a planner (or a calendar or reminder app on their smartphone) to keep track of tasks, events and activities. Bravo also recommends reading the class syllabus as early as possible. 

“Not every professor is going to go over the syllabus,” she said. “It’ll tell you a lot of things you’d want to know, like dates for assignments and your grade breakdown.” To save money, she adds, students may be able to find free digital versions of textbooks. 

On the first day of classes, student mentor Rishika Patel likes to arrive to the classroom 10 minutes early. “You can pick out your seating, you can meet other students in the class and prepare yourself before the professor starts lecturing or explaining the syllabus,” she said. 

Funded by a California State University grant, the 12-unit pilot program is designed to diversify the field of art handling 

Cecilia Mellieon and her daughter sit outdoors at Fortaleza Indian Ruins, homeland of their ancestors, near the Tohono O’odham Nation’s San Lucy Village outside of Gila Bend, Arizona. Photo from 2001.

Grad student Cecilia Mellieon utilizes visual anthropology, a field of study founded at SF State, to tell stories of urban Native American life 

Born and raised in San Francisco, Mellieon is passionate about telling stories of urban Native American life with nuance and sensitivity. She uses a supportive, collaborative approach that aims to not only create an ethnography, but also a work that will benefit the subjects. 

Her approach is an application of visual anthropology, a field of study that was founded by late SF State faculty members John Adair and John Collier. SF State Anthropology Professor Peter Biella (B.A., ’72; M.A., ’75) was one of Collier’s students, and today he is Mellieon’s adviser. 

Mellieon entered SF State as an undergraduate in 2018 at age 42. She had just completed her associate’s degree from Los Medanos College while her third child had yet to start kindergarten.  

A new Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) extension to near her home in Antioch made the 50-mile commute to SF State feasible, with family help on child care. Now, one of her children, Tatihn Mellieon, also attends SF State, as a Creative Writing major and a student assistant in The Poetry Center. 

“It was the perfect grouping of coincidences that led to me to be able to go to State,” Cecilia Mellieon said. “If I had tried this at any other point in my life, I don’t think I would have had the life experiences. I don’t think I would have had the growth that I needed to be a confident student and be able to feel like I could tackle this.” 

Mellieon premiered “He told us the sky is blue” in November at Los Medanos College. She plans to take it to film festivals and make more anthropological films about big-city Indigenous life. 

Learn more about the Anthropology Department. 

Humanities class helps fill in equity gaps among STEM professionals from underrepresented groups 

Wikipedia is among the most visited websites in the world, with information on over 6 million topics. But much is missing, particularly in diversity. Through a partnership with the user-moderated online encyclopedia, students at San Francisco State University recently wrote original biographies for notable professionals in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) from underrepresented groups. 

Scientists from traditionally underrepresented groups comprise a small minority on Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, only about 8% of the site’s 275,000 biographies of scientists are women, with similar gaps across race and ethnicity. 

With support from the Broadcom Foundation, the Wikipedia Education group selected the San Francisco State Humanities class “History of Science from the Scientific Revolution,” taught by Associate Professor David M. Peña-Guzmán from the Department of Humanities and Comparative World Literature, as one of its partners this past summer. Wikipedia Education is a nonprofit organization that serves as the bridge between academia and Wikipedia throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

Nine of the biographies compiled by SF State students are live on Wikipedia. The students’ writing brings visibility to living professionals whose legacies have yet to be completed. They include chemical engineer Miguel Modestino, sustainable industrial engineer Enrique Lomnitz and Procter & Gamble executive and microbiologist Adrian Land. 

Maxwell Stephen Williams, a History graduate student who took the class, helped contribute the bio on Aaron Streets, a UC Berkeley bioengineering professor. Williams says the class taught him different ways to utilize Wikipedia in academic research. 

“It’s somewhat frowned upon to use Wikipedia as a source. But what’s not frowned upon, I found, was the sources that the people used for the Wikipedia article,” Williams said. “I don’t know if you should cite Wikipedia for a research paper, but it offers a general baseline. It gives you scholarly sources to further your own research.” 

Peña-Guzmán applied for the class to participate in the Wikipedia Student Program because it aligned with the themes he wanted to impart to students about the complex relationship between science and the histories of patriarchy, colonialism, classism and social bias. Writing the biographies of scientists of color who have made an impact in a scientific or technological domain was the class’ culminating project.  

“From the very beginning of the class, I built in questions about the politics of science,” he said. “Filling Wikipedia’s race gap through these biographies gave my students a very real, if minor, way of making a difference.” 

Peña-Guzmán will discuss his students’ projects on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at “Closing the gap for Black and Hispanic STEM professionals on Wikipedia,” a free virtual seminar presented by Wikipedia Education. 

The Wikipedia Student Program aims to make the broadly referenced site more inclusive and diverse. Since 2010, students from over 800 universities in the U.S. and Canada have worked on over 135,000 articles.  

“Evidence suggests that Wikipedia can influence trials in courts of law and significantly shape the world of science,” says Wikipedia Education Equity Outreach Coordinator Andrés Vera, citing two research papers led by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty member. “Teaching with Wikipedia can help spread awareness about any topic to a wide audience.” 

Learn more about the Department of Humanities and Comparative World Literature.