The American Poetry Archives is the largest, most comprehensive and heterogeneous collections of poetry on tape that's accessible to the public in the United States. Housing more than 2,000 audio and videotapes of writers performing their own works dating back to the Beat era, the collection features original recordings of William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes, Marianne Moore and the earliest recorded documentation of the Beats and the San Francisco Renaissance. Professor Ruth Witt-Diamant established the center in 1954 with encouragement from her friend, poet Dylan Thomas.

SF State's Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, located on the Tiburon peninsula, is the only academic research facility located on the San Francisco Bay. The marine field station and its research vessel, the R/V Questuary, give faculty and students unparalleled access to the largest estuary on the West Coast of the United States. RTC scientists conduct significant environmental research, educate and train the next generation of scientists and serve as an educational resource on estuarine and coastal environmental issues.

The Henry D. Thiers Herbarium houses the largest research and museum collection of mushrooms west of the Mississippi. The collection and its leader, biology professor Dennis Desjardin, are central to SF State's leadership role in training the world's next generation of mycologists.

SF State's J. Paul Leonard Library is ranked No. 1 among all California State University campuses in total expenditures for materials and annual growth in books and periodicals added to the collections, as well as No. 2 in total circulation. The Special Collections/Archives Department maintains the San Francisco Bay Area Television News Archives with KQED, KTVU and KPIX historical film footage as its core, along with other rare or unusual materials. It also includes the Frank V. de Bellis Collection of Italic and early Etruscan materials.

The Bay Area's lively labor history is preserved in primary source and vintage history materials at SF State's Labor Archives and Research Center, the only facility devoted to the history of the region's labor movement. Founded in 1985 by trade union leaders, historians, labor activists and University administrators, the collection includes more than 6,000 feet of primary source material including photographs, oral histories, cartoons, handbills, picket signs and buttons.

The Art Department's Print Collection and Archive covers the history of printmaking from the late 15th century through contemporary works. It houses more than 300 original prints.

The Treganza Museum of Anthropology specializes in ethnographic materials from non-Western societies around the world, including Native American and Polynesian baskets and textiles, African folk art, and collections of Asian and Austronesian materials.

The SF State Fine Arts Gallery showcases students' work in a professional context and presents professional exhibitions that explore developments in international contemporary art and multiethnic contributions to California art. Recent exhibitions of note include "The Erotic Life of Clay: Sex Pots," "Conceptual Color: In Albers' Afterimage," and "Chang dai-chien in California."

The Sutro Egyptian Collection includes more than 1,000 artifacts spanning 5,000 years. Originally owned by 19th century San Francisco Mayor Adolph Sutro, the collection focuses on typical articles of everyday life, including jewelry, pottery, stone vessels, linen fabric, headrests and gaming pieces.

The 50-seat SF State Planetarium houses a Spitz 512 star projector and is home to undergraduate astronomy classes, shows for visiting grade school students and occasional public shows.

The Conservation Genetics Laboratory provides molecular genetics equipment, computer analysis facilities and software for DNA extraction and sequencing, PCR, cloning and microsatellite analysis for students and faculty at SF State and other California State University and University of California campuses.

The department of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts (BECA) houses three color television studios, including Studio 1 -- one of the largest television studios of its kind in Northern California, allowing students and faculty to produce a full range of public affairs, dramatic and entertainment programming -- and Studio 3, a state-of-the-art facility for television news production.

Advanced Cinema facilities at SF State include the August Coppola Theatre with Dolby surround-sound system and 16mm, 35mm and video projection capabilities; a 2500-square-foot cinema sound stage; sound recording and mixing stages; digital cinema post-production facilities; and a computer and cell animation lab with Oxberry animation stands.

Physical Plant

The SF State campus is one of the best designed and maintained urban campuses in the United States according to the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS), an organization of park, playing field and campus grounds managers. Campus groundskeepers received the organization's 2006 Green Star Award, which recognizes both the aesthetic appeal of campus grounds and technical skill of its maintenance.

While the main campus of SF State is located on 106 acres in the southwest corner of San Francisco, SF State has facilities throughout Northern California for specialized teaching and research:

• SF State Downtown Center, operated through the College of Extended Learning, has 63,000 square feet of conference, classroom and computer laboratory space. The center offers a variety of professional and technical certificate programs and professional development and general interest courses.

• Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies is situated on 35 acres in Marin County on the San Francisco Bay. The center offers undergraduate and graduate courses and research opportunities for students, faculty and adjunct researchers on the San Francisco Bay-Delta region and the Pacific Ocean.

• Sierra Nevada Field Campus, located on nine acres in the Sierra Nevada foothills, offers courses open to the general public on the flora, fauna and geography of the foothills.

• University Center at Caņada College in Redwood City offers upper-division and graduate classes in business administration and child and adolescent development as well as graduate courses in teacher credential programs for elementary and secondary school teachers.

• Elk Grove Teacher Education Institute, operated through the College of Education, offers a teacher-credentialing program in the Elk Grove Unified School District near Sacramento.

• Outreach classes are offered at Delancey Street, a nationally recognized self-help residential treatment center in San Francisco.

Building for the Future

A $100 million renovation and expansion project of the J. Paul Leonard Library began in 2004, creating a larger, modernized facility for the campus community.

As part of an ongoing seismic retrofit of Hensill Hall, a $225,000 renovation will furnish science laboratories and classrooms with new desks, tables and equipment to better serve the many students and faculty who rely on the building's facilities. This project will provide students and faculty with better equipment to conduct research that furthers the evolving knowledge of, and care for, California's organisms and natural resources.

An $8.5 million renovation and enhancement campaign to refurbish the Romberg Tiburon Center's main teaching and research building began in 1996 with funding from the National Science Foundation. The University, private donors, the W.M. Keck Foundation and the Marin Community Foundation have also committed to the ongoing project to update lab and teaching areas and create an Information Technology and Training Center.