About The Department of Special Education
Welcome from the Chair
Welcome to the Department of Special Education at San Francisco State University. I am honored to lead a community of passionate faculty, staff and students dedicated to advancing opportunity, access and belonging for all learners including those with disabilities.
These are critical times to reaffirm our mission and values. Across the country, shifts in priorities and reductions in oversight threaten the very protections and resources that make equitable education possible. For example, workforce reductions at key federal offices such as the Office of Special Education Programs raise urgent questions about the capacity to uphold the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other civil rights laws. Meanwhile, cuts to special education grants and freezes on essential funding streams jeopardize the supports that our students, districts and states depend on.
In this national landscape, our responsibility is twofold:
- Excellence in teaching, research, and service. We remain committed to leading innovations in inclusive pedagogy, instructional strategies and assessment—ensuring that all individuals, including those with disabilities, have opportunities to thrive.
- Bold advocacy. We must continue to support families, collaborate with schools and communities, inform policy and amplify the voices of people with disabilities in shaping local, state, and national decisions.
Our work is grounded in the rights guaranteed by IDEA, Section 504, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—cornerstones of equity that ensure students’ access to a free and appropriate public education and protect against discrimination. Yet these laws are only as strong as our collective commitment to their full and fair implementation.
If you are visiting our site because you are considering studying, teaching, collaborating or advocating with us, know that you will be joining a community rooted in care, courage and action. Together, we prepare educators and leaders who transform schools and systems toward greater inclusion and justice.
Thank you for being part of this essential work. Together, we can protect access, deepen inclusion and build a more equitable future for all learners.
With commitment and hope,
Amber Friesen, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Special Education
*Both identify-first and person-first language are used interchangeably with the awareness that language use regarding identity should be chosen by an individual.
Why Choose Us?
The Department of Special Education is committed to actively lead in research, teaching and service that promotes and advocates for the inclusion, belonging and equity of disabled individuals within schools, communities, and society as a whole within our work and with future educators/ service providers.
Our department is one of the most comprehensive departments of special education in California. We offer an undergraduate Minor in Special Education, five stand-alone credential programs (e.g., Early Childhood Special Education, Mild to Moderate Support Needs, Extensive Support Needs, Visual Impairment, Orientation & Mobility) with an intern credential pathway, Masters in Special Education, and a Ph.D. in Special Education (joint doctoral program with UC Berkeley).
The result is that the Department of Special Education at SF State is one of the largest provider of K-12 and transition-age (18-22 years old) special education teachers, early childhood intervention specialists (birth to kindergarten), orientation and mobility specialists, and teachers of students with visual impairments (VI) for local school districts and partner agencies in the Bay Area and across the state. Our doctoral program also prepares special education faculty for the CSU system and other institutions of higher education.
Mission and Guiding Values
The Department of Special Education at SF State is committed to advancing equity, inclusion, and belonging for individuals with disabilities through research, teaching, service, and the preparation of future educators.
To actively lead in research, teaching and service that promotes and advocates for the inclusion, belonging and equity of disabled individuals* within schools, communities, and society as a whole within our work and with future educators/ service providers.
The guiding principles behind our decision-making:
- All individuals have the right to be acknowledged and valued as full members of the community that honor the diverse, intersecting identities that they hold including but not limited to, race, class, culture, gender, disability and language.
- We have a responsibility to consistently confront individual bias and advocate strongly for equity in acknowledgement of the historical and current inequities that exist in the systems including child care/ education/ service provision systems.
- There is a recognition that individuals’ experiences and ways in which they identify with disability are unique. In turn, a disabled individual’s support and services should be individualized, culturally-sustaining, collaborative, and interdisciplinary.
- The foundation of all instruction, support, and services should begin from a place of strength and assets, acknowledging an individual’s context/ ecosystem (e.g., their families, communities, schools, employment, etc.) and building from their values, priorities, and goals.
- Educators and service providers require knowledge and skills to promote access and participation for individuals with disabilities within inclusive learning environments and provide high-quality, meaningful instruction that supports all individuals learning and development.
- Educators and service providers require specialized expertise in facilitating the development of individualized learning goals for disabled individuals based on a wide range of support needs and disabilities across a lifespan
*Both identity-first and person-first language are used interchangeably with the awareness that language use regarding identity should be chosen by an individual, or in the case of young children, the family’s preference.
The Department of Special Education was established in 1948 as the first such academic unit in the state of California. Dr. Leo Cain, the first department chair, played a lead role developing federal policy for Special Education as a member of the President's Committee. With Dr. Cain, five faculty members led the development of a variety of program areas: Leon Lassers, Jerry Rothstein, Priscilla Pittinger, Mable Whitehead, and Florence Henderson.
Through the decades, the Department provided leadership in the field with prominent faculty members in the areas of Inclusive Education, Visual Impairments, Early Childhood Special Education, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Transition To Work, Sign Language Assessment, Deafness, and Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
In 1967, San Francisco State College began the Joint Doctoral Program (Ph.D) in Special Education with the University of California, Berkeley. The Joint PhD Program was the first such program approved in the state of California by the Joint Graduate Board and is now in its fifth decade. The program provides the opportunity for faculty members to mentor doctoral students in research, program model development, and train future university academicians.
Now in its seventh decade, the Department of Special Education continues our commitment to professional preparation, research, and scholarship. Professional training is informed and enhanced by faculty who are leading researchers in their areas of specialization with a long history of successful funding through internal and external grants and contracts.
The GCOE develops transformative and visionary educators, clinicians, and leaders for social justice, to effect change for good across the Bay Area and beyond, and to create an engaged, and productive democracy. Together we do the work necessary to understand and welcome all; to prepare equity-focused, caring, and highly skilled professionals; to identify and dismantle racist, ableist, and oppressive systems; and to build an equitable and accessible present and future.
Read full statement here.