President's Message: SF State Magazine Spring/Summer 2026
The President’s message for the Spring/Summer 2026 edition of SF State Magazine reflects on SFSU’s enduring mission of providing accessible, relevant education while adapting to a changing world. She celebrates the university’s impact on its alumni, their careers and the Bay Area.
- By President Lynn Mahoney
As a U.S. historian, I am keenly aware of how the U.S. and San Francisco have changed since the founding of SFSU and of the many ways our academic programs and students have changed. But I am more often struck by continuity. As higher education faces a daunting combination of demographic, political and economic pressures, SFSU’s mission remains the same — a comprehensive regional public university providing access to a high-quality educational experience and upward mobility for our students and an educated and enlightened workforce for the region. How we do that is always changing. In early decades, our role as a regional public university drove our work in teacher preparation. In the period after World War II, it drove the growth of the liberal arts. In the 1970s, it drove the birth of ethnic studies. In the 21st century, it has driven the creation of partnerships with companies like Genentech to fuel the development of biotechnology. And now it drives our work to better integrate career and leadership development into the educational experience and to create new academic areas like those focused on the critical development and use of generative artificial intelligence. We have always been driven to create relevant education, and that will continue.
What has also not changed is our role in providing upward mobility for our graduates and fueling the regional workforce. Yet again we have been ranked as one of the best universities in the U.S. for return on investment of an SFSU degree, with The Wall Street Journal ranking us in the top 25. A recent CSU study lauded us for the economic contributions our alumni make to the region. SFSU enhances regional economic capacity through a diverse and skilled alumni base numbering a mighty 150,000 in the Bay Area alone.
We fuel the Bay Area in many ways, most importantly through the meaningful impact an SFSU education has on the lives of our alumni and their families. The pages of this magazine are a celebration of an SFSU education and the transformative and impactful careers of our alumni. I know you will enjoy reading it just as I did.
Lynn Mahoney, Ph.D.
President