[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5660]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY: A CENTURY OF 
                              OPPORTUNITY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 24, 1999

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to invite my colleague to join 
me in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of San 
Francisco State University. The university was established on March 22, 
1899. For three decades I had the privilege of serving as a professor 
of economics at this august educational institution, possibly the most 
ethnically diverse university in America. Then, as now, it had a 
commitment to provide a first-rate education to those who could not 
easily achieve one elsewhere--first and second generation immigrants 
and the working class.
  My colleagues on the faculty of San Francisco State University are 
outstanding. They have received innumerable honors and awards over the 
years, including the Pulitzer Prize and the prestigious MacArthur 
``genius'' grant. The all-round excellence of the faculty has created a 
curriculum renowned for its diversity. The creative writing, poetry, 
performing arts, film, and journalism departments are all nationally 
acclaimed. The masters program in biology was ranked first in the 
nation by the National Science Foundation for graduates who went on to 
earn doctorates. In the astronomy department, Professor Goeff Marcy and 
Paul Butler discovered two planets orbiting stars beyond our solar 
system in 1996, and they have discovered 10 more planets since then.
  Though the faculty's academic strengths and excellent research are 
obvious, at San Francisco State teaching comes first. This school, 
which began as a teacher's college, retains its dedication to educating 
its students. Academic appointments are competitive, and as a result 
San Francisco State has been able to hire the best. Professors are 
hired for their teaching ability and dedication, generally carrying a 
course load of four classes.
  Assigning teaching the number one priority has paid off in the 
classroom. Robert Corrigan, the excellent president of San Francisco 
State, says of the student experience: ``Students get a better 
education here. They are in a classroom with someone with a doctoral 
degree and 20 years of teaching experience, and there might be only 25 
students in the class.''
  During its century of service to the Bay Area, San Francisco State 
University has awarded 185,020 degrees. Its students have gone on to 
successful careers in every conceivable field, and even our current 
Mayor of San Francisco is a former student of the university. Graduates 
and faculty of San Francisco State have also served with us here in the 
Congress.
  For the past hundred years San Francisco State University has 
educated and enriched the Bay area, the state of California, and our 
nation. I am honored to have contributed to this outstanding 
educational institution, Mr. Speaker, and I am delighted on this 
auspicious anniversary to pay tribute to its tradition of diversity and 
excellence. San Francisco State is truly American in the best possible 
sense of the word--it provides the opportunity for anyone to excel. As 
an educator, as a member of the San Francisco State community, and as a 
Californian, I congratulate San Francisco State University on its first 
century.

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