Resources & Collections
Creative arts and discovery thrive at SF State, supported by excellent facilities for developing and showcasing the work of students, faculty and visiting professionals. Each year, SF State sponsors hundreds of workshops, lectures, exhibits, debates and forums that entertain and enrich, many of them open to the public.
Collections and specialized facilities at SF State include:
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 includes master prints from the late 15th century through contemporary works. It houses more than 1,000 original prints and serves as a “teaching collection,” enabling printmaking students to view works in the various media within printmaking.
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. Regular shows include the Annual Stillwell Student Art Show, Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibitions, faculty exhibitions, as well as various topical exhibitions.
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 Charles F. Hagar Planetarium houses a Spitz Space System 512 star projector in a 26.5ft dome, capable of showing representations of 1,354 stars, the sun, moon and planets. In addition, the facility has a 360 degree panorama projection system with an 80 scene capability, plus numerous special effects projectors. It 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.
The School of Nursing's Technology Learning Classrooms (TLC) offer computer-controlled patient simulators, which allow faculty and students to address a full spectrum of nursing care scenarios. The high-fidelity simulators and computerized mannequins can be programmed to present a variety of health problems. The patient simulator technology, which has existed for about 10 years, continually advances in sophistication. The School of Nursing is pursuing more funding to keep up with the advancements, access more equipment and make further improvements to the classrooms.
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 141.61 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 125 ,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 Cañada 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.
Building for the Future
A three-year $100 million renovation and expansion project of the J. Paul Leonard Library is underway. It will create a larger, modernized facility for the campus community. The Library is slated for completion in 2011.
The planned Mashouf Creative Arts Center, named after SF State alumni Manny and Neda Mashouf, will house the College of Creative Arts' Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts Department, School of Music and Dance, Theatre Arts Department and dean's office. Groundbreaking is scheduled for 2010. Michael Maltzan’s achitecture firm was selected to design the new building. Maltzan has extensive experience designing creative arts spaces and theatres, having designed the Billy Wilder Theater and Hammer Museum, both at UCLA. The award-winning architect also worked on the renowned Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles when he worked with Gehry Partners.
Children's Campus opened in January 2009 and supports positive child development through quality care and education for approximately 85 infants, toddlers and preschool children. The Children's Campus also provides opportunities for student internships in a variety of disciplines such as teaching, nursing, child development, psychology, and social work. Faculty and student research is encouraged to improve best practices in early care and education, and the facility serves as a site for observation to augment classroom instruction. It is staffed with highly qualified professionals to meet state and federal licensing and accreditation requirements and has an advisory board of participating parents and faculty.
As part of its strategic vision to become "the nation's preeminent public urban university," SF State has completed a campus master plan that establishes a long-term vision for the physical environment and identifies improvements to occur through 2020. Improvements focus on how to accommodate increased enrollment and academic initiatives, and ways to best serve the many constituents—from students, faculty and staff to alumni, friends and neighbors—who contribute to the University's success. View the master plan here, http://www.sfsumasterplan.org/
