ABSTRACT

Founded in 1899 as a teachers’ college, San Francisco State University (SF State) became part of the California State University (CSU) system of 23 comprehensive, polytechnic, and maritime universities in 1960. Located in the southwestern corner of San Francisco, SF State has evolved into an urban comprehensive university that offers baccalaureate degrees in 119 areas; 27 credential programs; 34 certificate programs; 95 master’s degrees; and five doctoral degrees. San Francisco State University serves more than 30,000 students, including more than 24,000 undergraduates and nearly 6,000 graduate students. To serve its students, SF State employs more than 1,500 faculty. While there have always been contingent faculty over the years, the numbers have grown recently. In the fall of 2009, tenured and tenure-track faculty represented almost 58 percent of the institution’s faculty; but as of the fall of 2010, the numbers of contingent faculty and tenured and tenure-track faculty were roughly equal, with contingents slightly outnumbering their tenured and tenure-track colleagues, and that trend seems to be accelerating.