Media Policy & Information

• View general facts about SF State. 
• SF State Institutional Research also maintains data about student enrollment, graduation rates and other related data.

Find a Faculty Expert

More than 200 SF State faculty members are available to provide background and context on their fields of expertise. Go to the Faculty Experts page to find a full directory of authoritative sources.

View a list of all our Faculty Experts.

Find Photos

You can get general photos of the SF State Campus to include in your story by contacting the Media Relations Specialist.

Find Information on Students/Alumni

If you are writing a story and need to find out about a student or alumni and their graduation year and/or major, please reach out to our Media Relations Specialist.

Please read Student Privacy Rights Policy and Procedures.

The California Legislature passed the California Public Records Act (CPRA) in 1968 for government agencies and requires that government records be disclosed to the public, upon request, unless there are privacy and/or public safety exemptions that would prevent doing so. 

Public Records requests under the California Public Records Act should be submitted by mail to: 

        Public Records Coordinator 
        San Francisco State University 
        1600 Holloway Avenue, ADM 355 
        San Francisco, CA 94132 

Public Records requests may also be submitted via email to sfstatepra@sfsu.edu. The University will acknowledge each request within 10 days and advise the requester whether records exist and may be disclosed. If responsive records exist, SF State will, within a reasonable time frame, make public records available for inspection at no charge. If you wish to receive copies instead, California State University's document duplication cost is $0.20 per page. 

You generally do not need to alert Strategic Marketing and Communications when you want to talk to the press as a faculty expert, but we always appreciate a heads up. 

Please also send any media coverage stemming from your interviews to pubcom@sfsu.edu so that the SMC team can discuss ways we can potentially promote your coverage. 

What is the faculty experts database? 

Interested in talking to reporters? Join the SF State Faculty Experts database! 

News media often look to SF State for faculty experts who can provide context for a breaking news story or offer insights on a variety of topics. Joining our Faculty Experts Database will let reporters know you are interested in talking to media and sharing your expertise. Below are some interview tips if you agree to an interview in the future. 

The Five Cs of Communication: Keep your message... 

• Clear: Avoid jargon, acronyms and unfamiliar terms. If necessary, make it clear that you are speaking from your area of expertise and not representing the University. Don’t mumble. 

• Concise: Short, common words are best — as if you are explaining a concept to a friend. Try to answer in complete sentences. 

• Correct: Provide factual information. If you don’t know, don’t guess. Say “I don’t know, but I can find out for you.” Then follow up later. Do not speculate. 

• Considerate: Do not be condescending to the audience or in reference to anyone else. 

• Crowd-oriented: Know your audience. Think about the crowd you are trying to reach and cater your language to them.  

Additional Tips & Tricks 

• Put yourself in a reporter’s shoes and think of questions they may ask. From there, prepare your top messages that you want to get across along with anecdotes and statistics to back them up. 

• Reporters are on a time crunch, so don’t ramble. This is especially true for TV interviews when your airtime can last a few seconds. 

• If you have a certain point to make, don’t ignore a reporter’s question. Address it briefly, then add your point or pivot if the question wasn’t appropriate. For example, you can say, “There may be a misconception about that. Here is what we know.” 

• You’re usually interviewed for your academic expertise. If you don’t know the answer, do not guess. You can say “That’s not my area of expertise” or “That’s not one I can answer.” If needed, tell the reporter to contact the Strategic Marketing and Communications team at pubcom@sfsu.edu. They can connect journalists with the right expert. 

• You don’t have to answer questions immediately. Feel free to pause before answering. This allows time to think. If a question is unclear, will go in a tough direction or you want more time to think, ask the reporter to rephrase (not repeat) the question. 

• If the question includes a negative notion, do not repeat that notion in your answer. Continue with your talking points. 

• If it’s unclear, feel free to ask reporters if there is a specific angle they would like you to weigh in on. This may give you a better sense of what information you should provide or details you wouldn’t want to share.  

• For TV interviews, don’t nod your head to indicate that you understand or are ready to answer the question. Inadvertently, this may convey agreement with the questioner’s premise. Remain neutral and become animated only when you begin to speak. 

If you have research or a story that could be something to share with the press, you should contact our Media Relations Specialist to consult.