Celebrating the Class of 2026!
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Dear campus community,
The academic year concluded as it always does on the very high note of Commencement. Last week, more than 7,000 students earned their degrees—a remarkable accomplishment for them individually and for SFSU. Every member of the Gator family played a role in their academic journey and success and for that I thank you all.
In my remarks, I highlighted some of the remarkable members of the Class of 2026. Student leaders, honors students, student-athletes, student activists and others who took advantage of all the opportunities of an SFSU education and are embarking on exciting new journeys. We celebrated the remarkable life stories and accomplishments of our academic hoods. And three of our students shared their own stories of and advice for the Class of 2026.
Orlando Mayen-Castañeda, who earned his B.S. in Physics with a concentration in Astrophysics, shared the obstacles he faced along his academic journey, including housing insecurity and a failing grade in an early exam. But his persistence and the care of his SFSU “familia” enabled him to get past the darkness and “see the stars again.” Noting that he knows “…what it feels like to sit in a room thinking you’re not enough,” he reminded us that we are all enough. Taking advantage of many SFSU resources, Orlando concluded that “SF State didn’t just educate me: it transformed me.”
Tanya Aghazadeh, an immigrant from Iran, earned her M.S. in Business Analytics. She also shared the obstacles that she and many at SFSU face while earning degrees, including working full time and long nights spent studying. Tanya shared the uncertainties that face immigrant communities and immigrant students, the “…moments of loneliness, doubt, and uncertainty” that “…stepping in the unknown…” creates. And she celebrated the strength and fortitude that grew from these experiences that allowed her, and others like her, to complete their degrees. Tanya recognized the magnitude of the celebration we call Commencement: “Today, we’re not just celebrating what we achieved — we’re celebrating who we became along the way.”
Associated Students President Brandon Foley, who earned his M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, observed that the Class of 2026 “…didn't have a ‘typical college’ experience…living in a time only a short number of years after a once in a lifetime global pandemic, a once in a generation economic collapse, and during a time of unprecedented political division.” He spoke of their persistence and the connections they’ve made across cultures and beliefs, engaging in “difficult conversations, with our professors, our family, and friends about who we are and what we believe.” Acknowledging global tragedies, mental health crises, and local social problems like housing and food insecurity, he shared the success the Class of 2026 has had raising funds for the Gator Groceries and expanding student involvement in campus governance, and he expressed optimism about what they will do next: “We go to work. We show up and we build our communities into the ones that we want to see.”
When I meet with new students, I share the many ways in which an SFSU experience will be transformative, and I challenge them to think about how they will leave the University stronger and better for their participation. Class of 2026, thank you for doing just that!
I conclude, as I always do, with my great thanks to all my colleagues and to our students for all that you do to enable the success of our graduates and to make SFSU stronger every day. Wishing all a good summer!
Best,
Lynn Mahoney, Ph.D.
President
View Past Messages
2026
April 14, 2026
Dear Campus Community,
Last week demonstrated the incredible capacity of this community to work together in support of one another and our mission. As we excitedly prepared to welcome hundreds of prospective students and their families, the weather, after weeks of sunshine, took a turn for the worse and promised wind and rain. Over just a few short days, faculty, staff, students and administrators from just about every unit on campus worked together to modify the program and ensure that Explore SFSU, our Admitted Student Day, was a resounding success.
I offer my deepest thanks to all who helped last week and on Saturday. Despite the rain and with activities spread across campus, we welcomed over 1,700 prospective students and thousands of families and friends—almost 30 percent more than last year! I watched hundreds of my colleagues and current students answer questions, give directions, describe what makes an SFSU education special and, most importantly, demonstrate that we are a caring and welcoming community. Thank you.
As we experience a very welcome increase in applications, we will continue to do all we can to demonstrate to prospective students that SFSU is the place for them. I thank each and every one of you for what you are doing to make SFSU shine. And wish you all a good rest of the semester.
Best,
Lynn Mahoney, Ph.D.
President
March 26, 2026
Dear campus community,
As pundits and critics predict dire things for the future of higher education, I am increasingly convinced that this need not be true for regional public universities like SFSU. Our mission to provide access to transformative educational experiences and upward mobility in service to the SF Bay Area and California remains unchanged and critically needed as much today as it has been for generations. I apologize in advance for the length of this email, but the dire narratives that surround us need some correction.
At a recent Senate, I noted the myriad challenges facing higher education and SFSU—significant demographic changes driving enrollments down, growing skepticism about the value of a degree, and increased concerns about affordability, indebtedness, and the alignment between higher education and workforce needs. And then add to all this AI…
I do not want to minimize the headwinds we face nor how volatile the environment for higher education is, but, as I shared with the Senate, SFSU has strategic advantages that ensure our continued relevance and success. We will not look exactly as we did at the beginning of the 21st century, but our mission and our value will remain unchanged—we will continue to be the engine of educational equity that we always have been, producing a well-educated workforce and providing upward mobility to thousands of Californians.
Yes, higher education will look different in the future. Yes, we have a responsibility to make sure we graduate more students and launch them into rewarding careers. And, yes, we need to continuously align our educational experiences with the region’s and state’s workforce needs. But, contrary to the scary headlines, higher education has always been responsive to economic, social and historic changes. That need not be bad, as long as we work together across many internal and external constituencies, to shape higher education. But what won’t change is our overarching role and mission to serve as an engine of social change and economic mobility.
The pace of change, particularly AI, and the number of pressures facing higher education just now are making this moment uniquely hard. I do not want to minimize the challenges facing SFSU nor understate how much work we need to do, but I want to stress our strategic advantages—advantages that position us to remain a competitive regional public university.
In contrast to the concerns about affordability driven largely by the private institutions that dominate media narratives, an SFSU degree is affordable. Most of our students graduate with little or no debt—I yearn for the day when that fact becomes a media headline! I know that the cost of housing in SF pose challenges. We will continue to work hard to lobby the state for additional housing support and to build a more strategic scholarship program to reduce the total cost of attendance. But even in the context of our housing costs, our students continue to graduate with far less debt than most. We are accessible. And for our students, that means a future with a degree with a meaningful outcome at a manageable cost.
SFSU has always been attuned to the needs of the region, from the growth of the liberal arts in the wake of WWII to the emergence of ethnic studies in the 1960s to more recent innovations like our partnership with Genentech to provide a pipeline for the biotech field as it grew in the region. As the needs of our region and society change, so do we as demonstrated by the number of curricular innovations our faculty are currently driving.
I know many of us cringe when discussions of higher education are coupled with “return on investment.” But I encourage us to view this from a different lens. What better indicates a positive return than the decades of success we have had providing our graduates with upward mobility? We are regularly ranked in the top 5% of institutions for upward mobility, often near the top of all lists. We have launched thousands of students into rewarding careers even as the workforce was reshaped by historical forces, and we will continue to do so.
Our key strengths are our city and our people. There is no better city to study in than here. Our city provides a laboratory for students in a wide range of programs—education and healthcare, arts and culture, social services and civic engagement, bioscience and technology, business and tourism—name the field and there is an opportunity here in SF. Just recently, U.S. News and World Report declared SF’s job market the most robust in the country. We will capitalize on the city’s renaissance to recruit and retain students and continue to provide SF with the educated workforce and citizenry it requires to thrive.
Our greatest asset is our people—you. The last few years have been more than challenging. Just over six years ago, I sent an email moving the university remotely—a modality that lasted close to two years. The post pandemic world brought with it changes in student engagement, technology, enrollment declines, and attendant budget woes. To say it’s been hard is to understate our experiences. But I am most struck by the work you all do every day under extraordinary circumstances, the very work that fuels our success as an engine of educational equity and ensures our future success. As always, I am deeply grateful.
I encourage folks to review our strategic enrollment plan, watch the recording of the spring enrollment forum or reach out to my office or the provost’s to learn more about how we are leveraging these strengths to stabilize our enrollments. As we continue to chart a volatile environment, we have much to be proud of. Our affordability, our proven success at upward mobility, our dynamic location, our willingness to adapt, our talented students, and our exceptionally dedicated faculty, staff and administrators will ensure we remain an engine of educational equity serving a vital function in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the state.
Best,
Lynn Mahoney, Ph.D.
President
January 29, 2026
Dear Campus Community,
As the semester starts, I wanted to take a moment to welcome all to Spring 2026. I offer a particularly warm welcome to our new students. Spring semester is always special on campus as students and colleagues work toward the many culminating and academic activities that lead to Commencement. It is wonderful to see all back on campus!
I write this knowing that many in our community are deeply anxious and angry as we watch horrific violence abroad and in the U.S. This violence lands particularly painfully here given our rich and proud history of activism. There is also great concern about academic freedom and the safety of members of our community. Please know that there are resources available for students and employees seeking support, as well as guidance and information on what to do should federal agents be seen on campus. I encourage all to familiarize themselves with this information and be on the lookout for postcards that we will be distributing across campus summarizing key info. You can also learn more by watching this message from Associate Vice President of Campus Safety and Chief of Police Reggie Parson.
I had the pleasure of attending the annual University Retreat last week. As always, it was a pleasure to see so many colleagues. I am grateful to Academic Vice Chair Arezoo Islami and the planning committee for this year’s timely focus, “Caring for Ourselves, Caring for Each Other in Troubling Times.” The event opened with a performance by Kev Choice, assistant professor in the School of Music, focused in many ways on a celebration of our region with pieces on Oakland and references to the joys of being at SFSU. It was a very powerful way to start the semester.
The Retreat was an important reminder that amidst these “troubling times,” we are lucky to be at SF State—a welcoming and supportive intellectual community. I never take for granted what a privilege it is to serve here. I am deeply grateful for our location both in San Francisco and in California. The semester starts with some good news. Locally, the SF Board of Supervisors passed a resolution emphatically supporting academic freedom, echoing a sentiment that our state representatives have also made clear. On the federal level, the Trump administration dropped its appeal of a court ruling that blocked a campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion which threatened federal funding to schools across the nation. We remain steadfast in our core commitments to inclusive excellence and to being an academic community where all are free to learn and work free from censorship.
There is also good budget news for the CSU. The Governor’s preliminary budget increases the state’s investment in the CSU for the first time in several years. Early details were shared at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting this week. I look forward to working with you all to advocate that the state legislature adopt this budget in May. While this doesn’t mitigate our own local enrollment and budget challenges, it is very welcome support. We will continue to work together to address our own budget deficit and ensure that we continue to thrive even as we adapt to being a midsize university. I encourage folks to attend the University Budget Committee meetings or review the website for more detailed information.
There is much to look forward to this semester. I wish everyone a good start, and thank you, as always, for everything that you do to make an SF State education exceptional.
Best,
Lynn Mahoney, Ph.D.
President