It is with great honor and immense pride that we announce the esteemed recipients of this year's Civic and Community Engagement Awards. 2023 Awardees were celebrated at our 2024 Awards Ceremony. For program and photos, please see the 2024 Awardee webpage.
This award recognizes the exceptional work of our faculty who demonstrate excellence in engagement with our communities through use of service-learning as a teaching method.
Julietta Hua, PhD.
Department of Women and Gender Studies | College of Liberal & Creative Arts
Julietta Hua has a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies in the Women and Gender Students Department. Courses taught include immigration, human rights, and law and politics. Professor Hua has pedagogical experience in making connections between the way Gender Studies is taught on our campus and the ways it is taught in China and Brazil. Professor Hua has been adamant that her students abroad drive the conversations around issues particularly important to them. Killy Millet, Associate Professor in the Department of Jewish Studies, shares that she has never known another colleague at SF State whose engagement with different constituencies is so broad, who engages where others might lecture and is committed to developing international dialogues between peers. Professor Hua has been the faculty coordinator and director for the last two years in the of the Equity, Social Justice, Leadership Development Program, which works to develop professional pathways for faculty of color, and women, particularly, in administrative positions for higher education. Professor Hua was instrumental in bringing the program from concept to praxis. She brought together University administrators with ten faculty in a series of challenging conversations around how models of leadership address and don’t address equity. In addition to her work on campus, Professor Hua is an active member of the board for a homeless shelter and serves in several community labor organizations.
This award recognizes the extraordinary work and the impact that SF State students have within our surrounding communities through their service-learning experience. Recipients of this award have made a significant contribution to our institution’s culture of engagement, further establishing and strengthening SF State’s commitment to supporting the communities we serve.
Aremi Cocom Pacheco
Department of Public Health | College of Health & Social Sciences
Aremi Cocom Pacheco is a Public Health student. Aremi interned with Clinic by the Bay through her academic internship course with Professor Victoria Quijano. As part of Aremi's internship, Aremi completed over 150 hours with the clinic within the first 2 months. Carla Giron, Volunteer Program Manager at Clinic by the Bay, describes Aremi as a team player who is eager to help out and learn new tasks, whether it's in office support, as interpreter, or in clinical support. During Aremi's time with the clinic, Aremi supported uninsured patients schedule appointments, complete eligibility screenings, and translate materials for Spanish speaking patients. Carla described Aremi as a perfect internship match for Clinic by the Bay and the organization is excited to have her as a regular volunteer now that she has completed her internship hours.
This award recognizes SF State students who have performed exceptional outreach and engagement with Bay Area communities through their personal commitment to service.
James Kreiss
Department of English Language & Literature | Labor & Employment Studies
James is in their senior year as an English major. James was the lead organizer at the Starbucks store at 18th and Castro (the so-called "Bearbucks" store) that became the first in the city in August 2022 to unionize with Starbucks Workers United. They got 80% of the workers in their store to sign union cards and they voted overwhelmingly for unionization in mid-August 2022, despite an aggressive anti-union campaign by Starbucks management. James has been quoted extensively in the media about the first election victory in San Francisco. James has appeared on local media to talk about the campaign and even appeared in Your Call KALW with their Professor and nominator John Logan, Department Chair of Labor and Employment Studies. James is currently involved in working with other Starbucks union activists in California and other LQBTQ+ Starbucks union activists nationwide and is currently working with Professor Logan on an independent study to write an article on organizing their Starbucks store set to be published in the Jacobin Magazine.
Daniel Tinajero
Department of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts | Department of Latina/Latino Studies
Daniel transferred to SF State during the pandemic and realized that there weren't many Latinos in the film industry. He is a senior majoring in both Cinema and BECA. Daniel took initiative to create the SF State Latinx Film Club in order to create a network of opportunities, fundraise through events and teach the community about various cultures within Latin America. Through the Film Club, Daniel and his colleagues created a film through the CSU Entertainment Alliance. Daniel also worked on a documentary Somos Essenciales, which highlighted how COVID-19 affected the San Francisco Mission District. The documentary focused on how the community came together by helping to create a food hub and the first-ever testing & vaccination center for those who were undocumented. Daniel's film was screened at the San Francisco Film Festival. Currently, Daniel is working on a film called Societies Cafe to honor the names of the victims who suffered by police brutality along with a documentary covering the problems of Richmond's Chevron refinery through a Latino lens.
This award recognizes SF State students who have performed exceptional outreach and engagement with Bay Area communities through their personal commitment to service.
Mika Okimura
Department of Biology | College of Science and Engineering
Mika an alumnus of the graduate program where she earned a Master of Science degree in Biology with a concentration in Marine Biology has had many different positions with SF State University i.e. graduate student, administrative staff and lecturer. As an Undergraduate Specialist with the Department of Biology, Mika supports the peer -to- peer mentoring program and is described both by her colleagues and Science Education Partnership & Assessment Laboratory Program Coordinator, Professor Lucy Luong, as an open and welcoming person that students feel comfortable to talk with. Mika approaches communication with students that allows for creative solutions, "Mika will spend months untangling administrative communication to get students graduated!" notes Professor Luong. Mika is also an advisor for the Student Kouncil of Intertribal Nations (SKINS). She works to remove any bureaucratic burdens from club management and supports academic pursuits among Indigenous students. Dr. Luong shares that Mika is genuinely passionate and committed to helping the SF State community and does so by supporting students and demystifying higher education's "invisible rules" to those who really need it.
This award recognizes the exceptional work of our community partners and one organization that demonstrates excellence in contributing to student learning outcomes and increased faculty awareness each year is honored. Enhancing faculty knowledge of community needs as well as their impact on course content is equally important.
San Francisco Disability Business Alliance
Lead: Peter DeHaas, Founder
Peter DeHaas, founder of San Francisco Disability Business Alliance (SFDBA) advances towards the foundations mission to support the attainment of economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities through entrepreneurship and business ownership. The SFDBA works to ensure that individuals with disabilities have an equal and inclusive opportunity to make their mark in the business world. The organizations precedence is that the Bay Area benefits fully from the expertise, diversity, and innovation that these businesses and individuals have to offer. The SFDBA Future Entrepreneur Development Program provides mentoring and educational training for disabled individuals and their families wishing to launch businesses. The SFDBA is currently creating opportunities for students who readily self-identify with their disability or learning difference to consider starting a small or micro enterprise as a pathway to a sustainable life. The SFDBA is also creating service-learning opportunities for students to become a part of their broader community by participating in the activities of the SFDBA and SFDBA Bay Area Disability Entrepreneurship week.