Timeline
Living Memories
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Pre-1940s
1940s
John Kikuchi, M.D., who attended in the early 1940s and later became a doctor in general practice
"San Francisco State at the old campus near the S.F. Mint was a very memorable place for me from 1940-42 when I was enrolled as a pre-med student. Dr. (Robert D.) Rowe and Maurice Amsden were very influential in the Chemistry Department and helped me take exams before the end of the semester as I was unfortunately ordered to a relocation camp because of my Japanese ancestry. I continued my studies at Drew University and graduated in 1944. When the war ended and I was no longer considered a threat to the government, I returned to California and finished my medical education at Stanford Medical School. When I graduated from med school the draft for doctors was still effective so I did a tour with the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon. Since then I have lived in Concord, CA where I did general practice for almost 40 years, raised a family of five children and retired in 1994."
Izzy Pivnik, B.A. education, 1947, assistant superintendent with the San Francisco Unified School District and now coordinator of volunteers for Contact 4 at KRON-TV
"What do I remember about attending San Francisco State? Good times, good friends, great professors and perhaps the best time of my life. Although there are so many exciting things that I can recall, what I remember most are playing football at Roberts Stadium, wrestling at Hamilton Field and serving in various student body capacities. And of course, the march down Market Street from the old campus to City Hall with a couple of thousand students to get more land for the new campus was really exciting. Dean of Men David J. Cox was the greatest, and being student body president while Dr. J. Paul Leonard was college president was a privilege."
1950s
Don DeMello received his teaching credential, 1952 while he was boxing coach at S.F. State; taught at Sequoia High School for 44 years before retiring in early 1999
"The location is what I will remember. Just the very location of the university made it possible for me to get my teaching credential. I was driving a Greyline tour bus and going to school at night. A lot of us worked during the day and were able to go to school around our work schedule. San Francisco State was known as a working man's or woman's school. That was the great strength of the school. One of the professors I remember was Dr. (S. Joseph) DeBrum, who was a business teacher. I had a kind of wild side and he helped influence me to do things that were right. I'll always remember him for that."
Dave McElhatton, B.A., liberal studies, 1951, anchor at KPIX-TV Channel 5 in San Francisco
"I'll always remember Dr. Fenton McKenna, whose greatest creation was the Creative Arts Department at San Francisco State. The former teachers college was expanding and Fenton amassed an amazing teaching staff. The facilities weren't much, just barracks left over from World War II, but the ideas and inspiration inside those dreary buildings was exciting. I was only interested in taking all the broadcast courses. I wanted to get into broadcasting as fast as my little talents would take me. It was Dr. McKenna who convinced me that first, I had to get a solid education that would carry me through life. I could study broadcasting along the way, but I was going to get a well-rounded education. It was the best advice anyone ever gave me. And I'll always remember Raymond Doyle. He was one the teachers Fenton recruited. Prof. Doyle created a broadcast department out of elbow grease and imagination and taught me how to become a broadcaster."
Myrtle Escort White, pre-med/pre-nursing major who attended from 1951-53.; worked in community-based nursing for 25 years and is now retired
"Of all my memories of S.F. State the most enduring is that of yellow school buses. The kind to this day used to transport elementary school children. In 1951, I began my journey into academia at this urban campus of higher learning on Buchanan St., known as the Old Campus. Part of this journey necessitated getting to the New Campus, then in the building stages, on 19th and Holloway. Thus the need to ride yellow school buses.
So after having survived 12 years of schooling riding school buses, including riding on the back of the bus, I found myself boarding a rickety yellow bus to attend classes! Somehow this seemed incongruous. College was supposed to be a step up. My daughter, an alumnus and now an associate professor of geology at S.F. State, has a similar phobia, only about MUNI. Is this a hereditary trait?
I often think of the illustrious people with whom I attended S.F. State and wonder if they ever wonder what would have happened if they had missed 'The Yellow School Bus?' Just to be on the safe side, whenever I see one, I salute."
John Burton, President Pro Tempore, California State Senate, B.A., social science, 1954
"One of my special memories of State College was standing next to a little black guy from Texas in my Air Force ROTC class. He told me his name was Willie Brown and he had come up from Mineola, Texas, and we shook hands and have been friends and allies since that day in 1951. The professor who had a great impact on me was Al Fisk of the philosophy department, who shared thoughts like, 'Sooner or later we all kick off, so what difference does it make?' Prof. George Outland was the government instructor who got me interested in politics. And of course, my basketball coach Dan Farmer, who when you kept telling him, `I tried coach,' would let us know that Skid Row was full of people who tried but getting it done was important. Lastly, I remember hours playing `Pedro' with my partner Stan Kroner. We would take on all comers and earn a very tidy living."
Willie L. Brown, Jr., Mayor of San Francisco, B.A. liberal studies, 1955
"At the State Capitol in Sacramento and City Hall in San Francisco, I've been surrounded by people with Ivy League pedigrees and big name diplomas. But I've always felt more than capable of holding my own, thanks for the excellent preparation I received at San Francisco State. The university is truly a shining jewel in the State's crown. It was, is and will continue to be a wonderful training ground for generations of leaders to come. And on a more personal note, I would like to mention that I'll always remember Prof. Duncan Gillies in psychology. He sort of took me under his wing and taught me important little skills such as memorization."
Joan Marie Shelley, teaching credential, 1955; taught French at Lincoln and Lowell high schools and later became head of the teachers union the United Educators of San Francisco
"What I remember best is that my education classes helped me so much in actually helping me learn how to teach a class. Our courses were more practical than theoretical. Dr. Somerville Thomson was wonderful. He had a sort of hands on approach to help students learn how to be teachers. He was would have teaching demonstrations in class. He was articulate in giving us good tips for teaching - things like how to grade a test. I was a French major and one class exercise called for us to teach a lesson on the subjective mood in the language we were going to teach. He called that one of greatest challenges for a foreign language teacher and it was a lesson I never forgot... I had graduated from Stanford with my undergraduate degree and, of course, when I came to State and I thought I already have taken superior education courses but I soon found out my classes at State compared very favorable to Stanford...And here is one thing I'll never forget: I had finished my degree requirements but the Health Center would not allow me to get my credential degree until I lost weight. I eventually did and they gave me my credential that summer."
Bessie Louise Davis Waldon, B.A., social science, 1956; retired supervisor in Child Protective Services Unit of the Contra Costa Department of Social Services
"I reminisce with a deep feeling of appreciation and pleasure for my many memorable experiences as a student at San Francisco State College. During my student years, our college was known as San Francisco State, not having acquired its subsequent title of "University."
I began my freshman year in the fall of 1949 on what we later called the "old campus," located on Buchanan Street. Our campus, by today's standards, was small and compact. There were two or three buildings and many bungalows with narrow passageways. The gymnasium housed our student body entertainment and meetings. Overall, "the old campus" was a great campus -- it provided students with a well-rounded and quality education. The small student population afforded us the opportunity to develop close and long-lasting friendships as well as establishing good student/instructor relationships. Campus life was very relaxed and quite affordable. Prior to my graduation from San Francisco State, we were relocated to a beautiful, sprawling campus environment on Holloway Ave. where it remains today. Throughout my fond memories of San Francisco State, the most exciting and beautiful experience was meeting my husband of 43 years, Donald Waldon [B.A., psychology, 1957], and preparing for my profession as a social worker. And I will always be thankful for my undergraduate professor in social welfare Dr. Bernice Madison Shapiro, who inspired and contributed to my success in the field of social work."
Ronnie Schell, actor/comedian, B.A., liberal studies, 1958
"The most memorable moment I had as a student at S.F. State was the afternoon the late Jules Irving asked me to audition for a small role in State's production of George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra." I was a sophomore and had already spent four years in the Air Force as a stand-up comedian traveling with the official Air Force dance band, "The Airmen of Note." This was my first try as an "actor" and Mr. Irving said the scene I was reading for was a funny one. As I nervously did my audition, I put every comic face, body contortion, and humorous accent I could into the scene. Mr. Irving took me aside and said, `Ronnie, this is a very funny scene ... but don't try to be funny. Just act as you would if you were scared to death of this lady and let the dialogue, situation and your predicament bring out the humor.'
I then did exactly what Mr. Irving suggested, got the role and received big laughs when we presented the play in the big theater on campus. It was truly the beginning of my first understanding of the acting profession and I will never forget that wonderful advice Jules Irving gave me that afternoon. I am forever grateful for my education in the Theater Arts Department at S.F. State."
1960s
Ben Fong-Torres, journalist, author and an early editor of "Rolling Stone" magazine, B.A., radio-television, 1966
"Out of Chinatown in Oakland, I landed a world away when I enrolled at San Francisco State in 1962 and, especially, when I became a reporter at the campus daily two years later. Once I'd shown the editors that I could write a story, they assigned me to cover one of the events during "Freedom Week," a celebration of civil rights. Students were being invited to take a version of the voter registration test that Mississippi was giving to black people. I walked in [to the test] with a B-plus average; I walked out a failure.
The people portraying Mississippi registration workers had instructed us to, among other things, 'fill out the form completely.' Under 'birthdate,' I'd used a '1' for January. That, the worker said, was an abbreviation -- I hadn't been 'complete.' When I copied a 14-word section of the Constitution of Mississippi onto a space of five lines, I didn't use all five lines. Incomplete. The message was clear. In Mississippi, you couldn't be both black and a voter. In reporting that story, I learned that education was all around me, and not only in the classroom."
David Walden, Internet co-founder and member of team of engineers that developed ARPANET, a precursor to the Internet; B.A., mathematics, 1964
"By the spring semester of my Junior year I was sure that engineering was too boring to be my life's work, and the only subject I could switch my major to and still graduate on time after four years was math. Frank Sheehan of the Math Department became my adviser and helped me with the transfer. Professor Sheehan was one of the two best teachers I had in my four years of undergraduate and two years of graduate education.
In the spring of my junior year, I signed up for a course in numerical analysis, which included a project on the IBM 1620 computer. As usual, I didn't study very hard and missed a lot of classes until late in the term when the due date of the computer project was looming. Not knowing what else to do, I wandered over to the computer center and asked for help. Several student assistants worked in the computer center including Stan Mazor [a leading microcomputer architect]. Quickly I learned that messing with the computer was fun, and began to split my enthusiasm and almost sleepless days and nights between bridge and hacking on the 1620. I had found my destiny - computers.
I also remember the involvement of San Francisco State students in the civil rights movement, the smell of marijuana in the (old) cafeteria, police barricades on campus and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. San Francisco State was my introduction to the wide-open possibilities of the information age and an age of social liberalism in our country."
David Sisk, professor of economics at SFSU, B.A., 1965; M.A. in 1966, both in economics
"Like many new graduate students at SFSU, I was enthusiastic but somewhat intimidated. And none of my professors was more intimidating than Lloyd Gallardo. Shortly after the first exam, Prof. Gallardo asked me to be his assistant in the 'Principles' courses in Economics. What an honor! But again, what terror. Yet, he was understanding and helpful, and I finally began to experience his true kindness and generosity. He brought out the best in me and others. He expected us to do our best, and in turn, he gave us his best. Whenever I think back to my days as a student at SFSU, I always think of Prof. Lloyd Gallardo: scowling, gruff, uncompromising -- a really great teacher."
1970s
Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee Nation, attended in the 1970s and studied political science
"In the mid-1970s the campus was alive with debates about the Vietnam War, free speech, the civil rights movement, black, brown and red power, and the women's movement. I remember a wonderfully lucid debate about whether a Ku Klux Klan member should be allowed to speak on campus. That debate caused me to think through important questions about free speech which served me well when, as an elected leader of the Cherokee nation, I was faced with dissenting voices. I remained a strong advocate of free expression and free speech in large part due to my experiences at San Francisco State."
Rupert Garcia, an internationally acclaimed artist, earned his BA in 1968 and his MA in 1970, both in art
"My best memory of S.F. State consists of a bundle of recollections from 1966-70 stemming from a single occurrence. In May of 1966 I was discharged from a one-year military security assignment at a secret air base in Indochina, as both the Vietnam War and opposition to it at home were on the rise. In fall 1966, I came from Stockton, California to S..F. State to enroll as an undergraduate art major. The anti-war movement and mood at this time in America generally was reflected also on campus. My confrontation with the anti-war viewpoint, expressed so passionately and eloquently by students and faculty, forced me to critically reexamine my agreement with the country and my own military involvement in the Vietnam War. Never before did I have to confront directly both the personal and social formations of my values. During this period at S.F. State, my heart and my mind were unsettled deeply, for what I was questioning ultimately was the fundamental and combined makeup of me as a human being. How do I know what I know about who I am and what I believe? These epistemological questions that were so profoundly distressing to me were no mere abstract philosophical concerns; they were concrete and immediate. My years at S.F. State, along with other concurrent off-campus events, served as a nucleus where I was able to work out meaningfully the problems that began as a panic but that ended as a dynamic and rewarding learning experience: life is both given and socially constructed, and therefore, I can do something about it."
Peter Casey, creator/executive producer "Wings" and "Frasier", B.A., radio-television, 1975
"Each spring the [Broadcast Communication Arts] department would hold a week-long Broadcast Industry Conference, or BIC... It was a wonderful event and gave the students a chance to rub shoulders with some pretty impressive people in the industry. Some of the guests at the two BIC's I attended were Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds [creators of M*A*S*H], Lily Tomlin, and Lee Rich [head of Lorimar Productions]... I had ambitions of becoming a television writer. One of my professors, Jan Miller, was conference organizer, and was also very aware of my ambitions. She arranged for me to be the driver for one of the guests of honor, Fay Kanin, an Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated writer and one of the most gracious ladies I've ever met.
As I drove her around the city over the next day and a half we spoke about writing. I listened and absorbed as much as I could. It was an unforgettable experience for a student to have someone of Fay Kanin's talent and stature in a one-on-one situation like that and it was all made possible by Jan Miller and San Francisco State."
Kent Nagano, Grammy award-winning conductor of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, M.A., music, 1976
"One of the singular most impressive and strongest musical encounters I have ever had the was with Laszlo Varga, professor of cello, conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra and teacher of the conducting class. At a time when education was going through the fashion of being sensitive to a student's creativity through flexibility... I recall what a shock to was to meet a professor who was relentless in demanding perfection. Compromise was not even a concept, and on matters of technique, levels of preparation, and standards of execution, Mr. Varga was simply dictatorial.
If I have been lucky enough to have had some success in my chosen profession, most certainly credit must go to the wonderful chance I had of encountering such a great teacher and artist during my formative years. I will always thank our university for making this chance possible."
Delores Johnson, Admissions Counselor at SFSU,
B.A., Psychology, 1976
"During the early 60s I remember how impressed I was at the fact that I could attend school so cheaply. I think tuition for the semester was only $33.00. Also, the make-up of the student body was totally different. Very few people of color, but I had a very pleasant and wonderful feeling just being on campus. I remember my drama class and my basic music class because they were very challenging. The year I graduated was a very memorable one. President Emeritus J. Paul Leonard was the commencement speaker. It was a proud day for my parents and children as well."
Lupe Arabolos, teaching credential, 1978; MA, educational administration, 1985; principal at Sequoia High School in Redwood City and former principal at Mission High School and former classroom teacher
"I'll never forget the strong support system at San Francisco State that was so helpful to me. It like was joining a family, a family of educators. You could call on faculty or your fellow students if you needed help. And I'll especially remember Jake Perea who acted as a mentor and role model for me. He was the type of teacher that I wanted to grow up to be. He has been totally committed to our youth. It is because of Jake that I wanted to continue in the field of education and do things as he has done. And I always remember San Francisco State as a place that reached out and gave everyone a chance to reach their potential."
1980s
Annette Bening, actress, B.A., theatre arts, 1980
"I knew I loved acting, but here at San Francisco State, I got the chance to develop that love. I am so grateful for the safe, challenging environment I had in which to educate myself, develop my aspirations and, most importantly, a place where I could practice and learn how to trust and value my own individual creative instincts."
Arthur Dong, independent filmmaker, B.A., cinema, 1982
"When I think of my days at San Francisco State, I'm reminded of how vital it is to receive encouragement from your teachers. SFSU cinema professor James Goldner gave me my first film award back when I was still in high school. Ten years after that, I decided to finally attend film school at SFSU and Prof. Goldner was there, ready to guide me through the entire process. Now whenever the tables are turned and I'm in the role of being a teacher, I try to be just as supportive when students look to me for advice. In a way, it's like passing on what Prof. Goldner gave to me over two decades ago: a little extra push in order to dive into a new challenge."
Lisa White, associate professor of geoscience at S.F. State, B.A., geology, 1984
"There were several professors that I encountered in my General Education classes that most influenced my early career path. Professors such as Raye Richardson exposed me to all of the great African American literature and inspired me to not only strive for success as an individual, but to also make significant contributions to my community. My first few years at State I was an art major [emphasis on photography] and Prof. Ralph Putzker helped me see the connections between the visual arts and the sciences, which eventually led me to geology. It is these interrelationships between knowledge and disciplines that I learned to value, and that I try to foster in my own geology students."
Gilman Louie, chief creative officer for Hasbro Interactive; B.S., business administration, 1983
"It was the spring of 1979 and I was in my first business computer programming class. My instructor was Dr. David Whitney and the computer language that was being taught for the introductory class was BASIC. In 1979, the computer lab in the business department was equipped with terminals and teletypes that were hooked up to one of two computers, a mainframe CDC Cyber system and a minicomputer, Digital PDP 11, located in the basement of the library. One of the first assignments was to write a simple program and I decided to write it on my brand new home computer, a Radio Shack TRS-80. When I turned in my assignment, Dr. Whitney immediately took notice that it was done on a home computer and that it was perhaps the ugliest bit of coding he ever saw-no spaces, no commas, no formatting. It was written to save memory because in those days, personal computers were shipped with only 4K of RAM. Dr. Whitney immediately offered me a part-time job in the computer lab to help other students which was the best job any student could get. Normally, lab assistants were either graduate students or seniors, and I was just a freshman.
Over the years, Dr. Whitney and Dr. (Sultan) Bhimjee, another BICS professor, helped me get part-time consulting jobs which helped me get through State... the Business Department was great, allowing me to tailor many of my classes and coursework around starting my company. The professors would spend many hours with me after classes giving me great advice and guiding me through my start-up years. By the time I was ready to graduate in the spring of 1983, Dr. Whitney and Dr. Bhimjee joked that I should give them a piece of the company for all the years of free consulting. Today I look back at my undergraduate years with great pride and fond memories, always remembering that I could not have started my company without the great help and guidance from my professors of San Francisco State University."
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