San Francisco State University
university in San Francisco, California, United States
San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is part of the California State University system.
The university offers 125 bachelor's degree programs, 96 master's degree programs, 56 blended bachelor's and master's degree programs, and 3 doctoral degree programs, along with 23 teaching credential programs among seven colleges. The 144.1-acre main campus is located in the southwest part of the city, less than two miles from the Pacific coast. The university has 12 varsity athletic teams which compete at the NCAA Division II level.
SF State is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity." It is also a designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).
History
19th Century
In 1857, the San Francisco Board of Education created the San Francisco Weekly Normal School, also known as the Minns' Evening Normal School. In 1862, it became the California State Normal School, the first postsecondary institution established by the state. Only six students were enrolled on its first day. By 1866, enrollment increased to 384.
“San Francisco State University” enters the record as university in San Francisco, California, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Francisco, State and University can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“San Francisco State University” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Francisco, State and University provides the most credible route into that argument.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1256981. VIAF identifies the subject as 121997153. The Library of Congress control number is n80050781. Authority coordinates are 37.724, -122.480. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1899, 1857, 1862 and 1866.
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This entry incorporates text from “San Francisco State University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.