Annual Report 2023-2024

Our Vision

The Lam Family College of Business aspires to be a leader in advancing transformative change globally and locally. We strive to be an inclusive place to learn, teach, create, innovate and work.

Our Mission

Embracing the diversity, global outlook, and entrepreneurial spirit of the San Francisco Bay Area, we provide access to quality education. We empower students to succeed and contribute to society through innovative teaching and learning, impactful scholarship, and engagement with businesses and the community at large.

Our Seven Strategic Priorities

Curricular Innovation

We develop curricular innovations that meet the changing demands of the business world and streamline the path to graduation, while ensuring that our students are well-rounded and prepared for the challenges of the workplace. We recognize and celebrate each faculty member for the long-lasting impact their teaching and service contributions have on our students.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

We are proud of our University’s pioneering legacy in this space. We prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion and creating a sense of belonging in our classrooms and workplace to help our students, faculty and staff thrive and succeed. We commit ourselves to the continual, iterative process of removing systemic roadblocks in higher education.

Student Engagement

We create an inclusive college community by engaging students in meaningful experiences that provide exciting and enlightening opportunities to network and build skills. Our students help inform and shape impactful activities, including dynamic student organizations, professional development events with alumni and industry partners, and leadership opportunities.

Research Activity, Productivity, Orientation and Approaches

We invest in the scholarly work of our renowned faculty who have been trained in the leading doctoral programs and have published their research in leading journals in the field and authored influential books. Through faculty research, we generate new knowledge that impacts teaching, industry practices and society.

Community Engagement

We develop strong and sustained connections, and work collaboratively with the business, academic and alumni communities to execute specialized programs, events, research projects and other engaging activities that expand the knowledge, skills, opportunities and networks of our students, faculty and staff.

Build the Lam Family College of Business Brand

We invest in building our brand reputation to sustain a competitive advantage in the dynamic higher education market.  By increasing visibility and affinity for our brand, we attract new students, create new partnerships and maximize the success of our alumni and current students.

Friend-raising and Fundraising

We cultivate relationships with alumni, friends and the business community.  We value their commitment and engagement, which enhances student experiences and broadens opportunities for them through unique partnerships and transformative philanthropic investments that enable us to elevate the execution of our mission to new heights.

The Lam Family College of Business receives the majority of its funding from state support and student fees, but this covers only a portion of the full cost of delivering a high-quality education.  In addition to campus and endowment reserves, the college is also funded by non-state sources, such as graduate student professional fees, non-degree programs and philanthropy.  State funding has declined or remained flat over the last five years.  As this trend continues, the Lam Family College of Business is implementing new initiatives that focus on expanding non-state revenue sources.

The Lam-Larsen Community Engagement Initiative develops strong and sustained connections with business, academic and alumni communities. Through community collaborations, the Initiative organizes and supports specialized programs, events, research and other activities that expand the knowledge, skills, opportunities and networks of our students, faculty and staff. Below are some highlights from this year’s many activities.

Mini-Grants Program

Now in its third year, the Initiative's Mini-Grants program awarded mini-grants to three proposals to help fund a variety of projects benefiting our students and local communities, including the following:

(Photos, left to right:  Professor John Logan, Ph.D., Lecturer Faculty Camille Antinori, Ph.D., and Professor Yikuan Lee, Ph.D.)

• John Logan, Ph.D. (Labor & Employment Studies):  Labor and Employment Studies Program Director and Professor John Logan’s mini-grant project focuses on climate change as a labor issue at the national, state, and local levels. It will be one of the only studies to focus on impacts of climate change on outdoor workers’ health and wellbeing. His students will conduct interviews with workers while being supervised by his former students who are now senior labor compliance inspectors. The results of this study will increase awareness on climate and labor, will be used in union education programs and will support/lobby for stronger legislation to protect outdoor construction workers. 
• Camille Antinori, Ph.D. (Economics): Lecturer Faculty Camille Antinori’s mini-grant will develop an environmental valuation project based on a Martinez Chevron oil refinery incident that released a toxic plume of metallic ash in 2022. Students will gather, organize and analyze datasets related to this accident. They will further be involved in federal and state environmental policy and research on actual enforcement and management actions for the toxic releases. The highest quality projects will be shared with the representatives of the city of Martinez along with regulation proposals. This learning-by-doing exercise has students generating their social welfare measures for environmental damage and working directly with tools and concepts of environmental justice while interacting with related institutions.
• Yikuan Lee, Ph.D. (International Business): Professor Yikuan Lee has been a practitioner of mindfulness techniques in her classrooms and has been conducting workshops to outside communities. In her min-grant project, she will develop a pedagogical approach that would aim to significantly improve students’ learning experiences, academic performance and wellbeing. By developing experience and gaining expertise through outside community partners, Lee will also bring her expertise to Lam Family College of Business faculty and staff with an immersive workshop on overall wellbeing and mental health to benefit the participants.

Performance Awards

The annual Community Engagement Performance Awards recognize selected faculty of the Lam Family College of Business for outstanding achievements in community engagement activities that have a meaningful and positive impact on a community. This year's award recipient is:

(Photo:  Assistant Professor Lena Yang, Ph.D.)

• Lena Yang, Ph.D. (Accounting):  Accounting Assistant Professor Lena Yang received the 2023 Performance Award for her impactful contributions to the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. The program connects Accounting students with diverse community taxpayers and partners, such as United Way Bay Area and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), while facilitating students’ professional growth. VITA has grown exponentially under Yang’s advisory role over the past few years, growing from preparing over 100 federal tax returns each year to now over 750 returns. The SF State chapter of the VITA program has received a Certificate of Recognition from the IRS. 

Women’s Emerging Leadership Forum

The annual Women’s Emerging Leadership Forum (WELF) is a lively, and engaging event designed to help participants achieve their full potential in the workplace. Participants learn tools to help them enhance their leadership skills and learn insights that facilitate their career advancement while making meaningful connections and expanding their professional network. The event is open to everyone. Each year, WELF features a series of accomplished speakers and interactive activities that leave participants feeling inspired and empowered. 

On November 3, 2023, the Lam Family College of Business (LFCoB) at San Francisco State University welcomed a sold-out audience to its ninth annual Women’s Emerging Leadership Forum, hosted in collaboration with KPMG at their downtown San Francisco office. The event featured informative and motivational discussions tied to the event theme, Embracing Change and Alchemizing the Future, and delivered by prominent community thought leaders and top managers.

Representing a variety of industries and fields, the speakers included Kelly Wong Craven, Director and Associate General Counsel for Facebook, Meta; Sally Thornton, CEO and Founder, Forshay; Chia-Lin Simmons, CEO, LogicMark, Inc.; Rachel Konrad, Chief Brand Officer, The Production Board; Heather Watkins, Co-Founder and COO, Bold Reuse; and Thuy Vu, Co-Founder and CEO, Global Mentor Network. They shared their unique stories, which demonstrated how they materialized various forms of change in their professional and personal lives.

Craven shared an insightful presentation on the ways companies and employees think about change, especially within the context of Silicon Valley, in general, and Meta, in particular. Keynote speaker Sally Thornton shared a presentation on the future of teams, work, and well-being. She shared her personal story of change that led her to start Forshay and her insights on change with behavioral science references that captivated the audience. A three-person panel with Simmons, Konrad, and Watkins, moderated by Bahar Javadi, Assistant Professor of Management at the LFCoB, discussed their own perspectives on change in the world, in their professions, and in their personal lives, as they exchanged ideas about the different tools and strategies for dealing with challenges and change. The event included a fireside chat featuring Vu, with Guisselle Nunez, SFSU Associate VP of Strategic Marketing and Communications, as the moderator. Vu share her story of immigrating to the U.S. on a boat separated from her family, followed by a long and successful career. 

Coming from a wide range of businesses and professions, the 100 attendees had time to network with one another throughout the day.

One of the event attendees, Kelly Chuck from LinkedIn, said of the event, “It was special to take a step away from the day-to-day of work to network and invest in my own professional development.”

Photos (left to right): (first photo) WELF 2023 audience; (second photo) Gulnur Tumbat, Lam-Larsen Community Engagement Initiative Director and Marketing Professor, keynote speaker Sally Thornton, and Robert David, CSHRP, Silicon Valley Executive Education, Board Member, and Investor; (third photo) WELF 2023 panel moderator and speakers Bahar Javadi, Chia-Lin Simmons, Rachel Konrad, and Heather Watkins.

Other Activities

On January 24, 2024, the Community Engagement Initiative hosted the second Executive Development Community event sponsored by Robert David, Founder & Professional Faculty at Silicon Valley Executive Education, and Shelley Greenwald, Director of Global Leadership Development at Palo Alto Networks. The event, held at the SFSU Downtown Campus, featured a dynamic discussion with best-selling author and thought leader, John Hagel III, on his most recent book, The Journey Beyond Fear, which addresses the psychology of change and how to navigate through change, followed by an engaging fireside chat with Shulagna Dasgupta, Senior Managing Director at Accenture, on maximizing workforce potential while incorporating authentic compassion. 

To learn more, please visit the Lam-Larsen Community Engagement Initiative website. To explore partnering opportunities, please contact the Initiative Director and Marketing Professor Gulnur Tumbat at gulnur@sfsu.edu.

The Lam-Larsen Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Initiative held 12 events on campus during the 2023-2024 academic year, including Black History Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Eid al-Fitr, Dia de la Madre, Indigenous History Month and more.

We also continued our business-literacy workshops at Oakland public schools, visiting Dewey Academy three times, Oakland High nine times, and hosting Oakland High recent-immigrant students on the SF State campus in February 2024.

Our National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) students visited the headquarters of BDO LLP, Electronic Arts (EA) and Uber to enhance their career exploration activities. Three SF State NABA student chapter members attended the NABA Annual Convention in Las Vegas in June 2024 with support from the DEIB Initiative. Members of the SF State student organization, Association of Latino Professionals For America (ALPFA), attended events at accounting firm RSM and at the University of Southern California. By participating in these events and conferences, our students gain valuable exposure to the accounting profession and have an opportunity to develop leadership competencies.

Theresa Hammond, 2023-2024 Initiative Director and Accounting Professor, worked with LFCoB donors to establish and design two new scholarships at San Francisco State: the Franco Family Accounting Scholarship and the Young Professionals of San Francisco Scholarship. 

Hammond also helped the Marketing Department consider more effective ways to hire diverse faculty, advocated for the repair of the Business Building elevator, and disseminated relevant information on scholarships, employment opportunities, and DEIB events to diverse students within the LFCoB with the help of Assistant Dean Jeffrey Chun.

Maxine Lee, Associate Director of the DEIB Initiative and Associate Professor of Economics, worked with data from SF State Institutional Research to construct an alternative method to assess student success in courses offered by LFCoB, specifically focusing on the gaps between under-represented minority students and non-minority students. Lee also worked with the Metro College Success Program to brainstorm ideas regarding course access for students with academic holds and with the Tutoring and Academic Support Center (TASC) to create an easier way for instructors to credit students for attending tutoring sessions.

Our Visiting Assistant Professor, Cornell Verdeja-Woodson, increased our University's visibility by including SF State in his professional presentations and on his LinkedIn profile.  He also invited our students to visit Pixar to share his experiences as its Head of DEIB and Talent Development. Additionally, Cornell contributed to our Oakland public high schools volunteer activity by coordinating a Pixar donation to Dewey Academy.

If you are interested in partnering with us, please contact current Interim Initiative Director and Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management Professor Colin Johnson at cj7@sfsu.edu.

The Lam-Larsen Emerging Technologies Initiative's mission is to foster innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and leadership in emerging technologies while enhancing the competitiveness of the Lam Family College of Business (LFCOB) and its students. The Initiative was established to bridge the gap between technology and business education and to equip students and faculty with cutting-edge knowledge and skills in emerging areas such as generative AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and more.

In the 2023-2024 year, the Initiative achieved remarkable productivity and growth through our focus on student engagement, curriculum development, faculty research, and industry partnerships to prepare the LFCoB community for the rapidly evolving technology landscape. The following summary presents some of the highlights from our many activities this year.

Events and Workshops

We successfully launched five hands-on workshops for our students on cutting-edge technologies, such as Generative AI, Business Analytics, and Cloud Computing. These workshops provided valuable insights and hands-on experience on some of the most important emerging technologies and their applications in business. Additionally, we organized three outstanding, well-attended expert talks on Generative AI and Large Language Models, featuring five industry leaders from high-profile companies like Amazon, Capgemini, and Guidewire. These online events drew substantial attention from across SF State, with over 200 students, faculty and alumni attending the events, and increasing our college’s visibility across campus. The complete list of our workshops and their video recordings are available on our website.

Faculty Projects and Student Initiatives

We funded and supported six innovative projects and student initiatives, ranging from curriculum development and course enhancements to the NASA Minority University Research and Education Project’s (MUREP) Innovation and Tech Transfer Idea Competition (MITTIC).  The projects/initiatives came from faculty at different departments, including Information Systems, Decision Sciences, International Business, and Management.

One of the noteworthy projects the Initiative supported is called Harnessing AI to Empower Experiential Learning in Business Curriculum. This project, led by Professors Yikuan Lee (International Business) and Chenwei Li (Management), aims to explore the opportunities with the application and integration of the current AI tools and Large Language Models (LLM) in our business curriculum. The project has three phases and explores the possibility of integrating current LLMs and chatbots in two IBUS courses, including Management Leadership (MGMT 648) and IBUS Entrepreneurship (IBUS 590). Currently, the project has achieved some of its promised outcomes, including the successful implementation of workshops to prepare students for AI use, a pilot test of AI tools in the MGMT 648 class, and the data collection and experiences from these implementations. Future phases will involve scaling the project to the IBUS 590 class, synthesizing findings, and refining outcome assessment rubrics. Additionally, the project will explore further integration of AI learning into the BS in Business Administration program curriculum. More information about this project will be featured on our website soon.

The NASA MITTIC student competition is also worth highlighting because it is a highly prestigious competition that enables students from all fields of study (mainly STEM) to rise to the challenge of creating new and innovative technologies to benefit the community and the world. This project was a collaborative effort of LFCoB faculty and College of Science and Engineering (CoSE) faculty, and was led by Information Systems Assistant Professor Nasrin Mohabbati. Our team of multi-disciplinary students consisted of Erick Cordero (BS in Business Administration, Marketing); Emilio Mojica (BS in Business Administration, Management); El Julianna Embalzado (CoSE, Computer Science); and Gabriela Franco (CoSE, Biology). Professors Nasrin Mohabbati, Nasser Shahrasbi (Information Systems), and Archana Anand (Biology) served as faculty mentors. The team focused on leveraging NASA's intellectual property in carbon nanotubes to revolutionize renal failure treatment, addressing a critical healthcare challenge. The students made significant advancements and offered a brilliant idea, which they presented in their promo video and in a comprehensive report submitted to the competition. Although the team did not reach the final round, the experience resulted in meaningful outcomes, providing a platform for mutual learning and showcasing the power of multi-disciplinary and diverse STEM in tackling complex challenges.

All six projects successfully delivered valuable impacts by enhancing our students' academic environment and practical skills and strengthening our college's culture of innovation. More details about these projects are available on our website.

Photo:  Team Gator students who competed in the 2024 NASA Innovation and Tech Transfer Idea Competition with two of their faculty mentors. Shown in photo (left to right): Assistant Professor Nasrin Mohabbati (Information Systems); student Erick Cordero (Business Administration, Marketing); the third person is an unidentified student; student Emilio Mojica (Accounting); Assistant Professor Archana Anand (Biology); student El Julianna Embalzado (CoSE, Computer Science); Team Gator student Gabriela Franco (CoSE, Biology) does not appear in this photo.

SF Hacks 2024

SF Hacks is the annual SF State Hackathon with an international reputation. The 2024 SF Hacks was particularly important since it was the first year the event was held in-person post-pandemic and attracted hundreds of participants/hackers from all over the globe. Given the hackathon theme was Tackle the City Life Challenges with Emerging Technologies, our Initiative sponsored a special track prize focused on the best emerging technology solution, stamping our leadership and commitment to fostering innovation and practical application of new technologies on our campus. Given the limited spots available in the hackathon, we were fortunate to be able to negotiate and secure 30 dedicated spots for LFCoB students. Out of eight teams that participated in our track, the judges selected SOS Hub as the winner of our special prize. The winners offered an AI-powered emergency response platform leveraging computer vision and natural language processing to assist first responders and emergency services.

Photo:  SOS Hub student team who won the best emerging technology solution prize, sponsored by the Lam-Larsen Emerging Technologies Initiative, at the 2024 SF Hackathon.

SAP University Alliance – SAP Recognition Award Certificate 

In AY 2023-24, we continued supporting our valuable 12-year partnership with SAP University Alliance to integrate high tech skills into our curriculum, offering students the opportunity to earn the SAP Recognition Award Certificate, thereby enhancing their employment prospects. This year, we had eight additional recipients of this worthwhile award, which adds to the 350+ undergraduate and graduate students who have earned this credential and used it to their benefit. Many of them have secured jobs at high tech companies like SAP, Google, Apple, Meta, Salesforce, PayPal, Symantec, and Cisco, as well as other organizations in the biotech, healthcare, education, government, utilities, and non-profit sectors, such as Genentech, Kaiser Permanente, SFSU, SF Unified School District, City and County of San Francisco, PG&E, OpenGov Inc., and others.

To be eligible to receive the SAP certificate, students must complete a set of SAP-integrated courses (one set for undergraduates and a different set of courses for graduate students) with at least a C grade for undergraduates and at least a B- grade for graduates. The courses are meticulously designed to equip students with relevant, in-demand SAP ERP skills.

The students who received the SAP Recognition Award Certificate in AY 2023-2024 are:  Ada Lin, Jianbo Lin, Kayla Henderson, Nicolas Xern Hung Tan, Santiago Ricci Justo, Shriya Yegalapati, Wai Hong Lau, and Wendi Situ. 

Emerging Technologies Student Fellows Program

Our Student Fellowship program offers financial assistance to students with outstanding academic performance to help boost their CVs by propelling them toward obtaining respected professional certifications in cutting-edge fields. The Initiative helped and sponsored two of our distinguished students with their professional certification costs in the field of emerging technologies. While we are still experimenting with this through a pilot program, we expanded the nomination process to the whole college this year. LFCoB faculty can nominate students who demonstrate enthusiasm and potential in fields such as Generative AI, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Data Visualizations, Apple Swift Development, CompTIA, Cyber Security, and more.  Student self-nominations are not accepted. We are also consulting with faculty from different departments and industry experts to curate a list of approved certifications. The list will be featured on our website soon. Depending on the results of our pilot program, we hope to expand our outreach and support network to a broader pool of students in the coming year.

Website and Digital Media Presence

This year, we took significant strides in enhancing our digital presence by updating our website (with more work still to be done) and launching a new social media account on LinkedIn, which serves as a dynamic platform for advertising our events and programs, as well as for engaging with our students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community. By leveraging these digital platforms, we aim to expand our outreach, foster a greater sense of community, and showcase the significant contributions of the Lam Larsen Emerging Technologies Initiative.

Visit the Lam-Larsen Emerging Technologies Initiative webpage to learn more. If you’re interested in partnering with us, please contact Nasser Shahrasbi, Associate Professor of Information Systems and Lam-Larsen Emerging Technologies Initiative Director, at shahrasbi@sfsu.edu.

The Lam-Larsen Finance and Technology (Fintech) Initiative’s stated mission is to advance education of finance and technology in collaboration with Bay Area industry, academics, and policymakers through excellence in education, engagement and research. The Initiative's main objectives are to provide students with a fundamental understanding of the intersection between finance and technology, increase financial literacy in a technology-driven world, and improve students’ job prospects in the fintech industry. This Initiative offers a variety of programs and activities in the growing fintech field.

The Initiative had a successful year.  Of particular note, the Initiative conducted the following major activities:

Fintech Conference

The annual Fintech Conference’s theme this year was The Evolution of Fintech - AI, Payments and Financial Inclusion.  The conference was held on April 12, 2024, at the Federal Reserve of San Francisco’s downtown office on Market Street. The conference had 180 participants registered for in-person and 400 registered to join us virtually. Over 130 people ultimately attended the event in person and over 200 attended virtually, which was a higher attendance than last year’s conference (100+ in-person attendees and 150 online attendees in 2023). The keynote speaker was Mary Daly, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, who also sits on the Federal Open Market Committee. Twelve other respected speakers, representing other Federal Reserve Bank locations, other regulatory agencies, academia, fintech companies like Plaid and Modern Treasure, and economic/financial organizations, discussed topics including: Generative AI (GAI) and Its Impact on Financial Services; Potential of AI and Alternative Data; Tokenization of Real-World Assets; Central Bank Digital Currency; FedNow and Fintech; Financial Inclusion in Humanitarian Contexts; and Measuring Financial Health - Leveraging Bank Account Data. Feedback from attendees about the conference was tremendously positive. Ten SFSU students volunteered to assist with the conference, and they were all given an opportunity to apply for an internship at the Federal Reserve.

Fintech Fellows Program

The Fintech Fellowship Program completed its third year with slightly fewer students compared to last year. In Fall 2023, the number of students in the FIN 420 class was 26 students compared to 43 in Fall of 2022. The crash of the crypto markets may have led to less interest in the program. Ultimately, five Fintech Fellows out of twenty completed all the necessary steps to earn a Fellows award:  Maxwell Abad, Kevin J. Garcia Guan, David, Novosardian, Jennifer Nicole Valdez-Garcia, and Drashti Dhritiman Vanawala.

For the 2024-2025 academic year, we are planning to take students abroad to see fintech and crypto in action from a global perspective and excite them about the program.  Additional information sessions will be held in 2024-2025 and beyond to attract more students to the program. 

This year, we encouraged and supported Fintech Fellows students to find internships and jobs through career planning services from alumni Mohamed Saber and Paul Shulman. All Fintech Fellows students were connected with successful alumni who provided mentorship and shared valuable information on how to successfully establish and create a career. Five Fintech Fellows students were successfully hired for jobs in fintech.

Certified Financial Planning Program

The Initiative started researching a potential new Certified Financial Planning (CFP) Program. We spoke with private companies, Dalton and Kaplan, to possibly collaborate in creating a financial advisor program. The Initiative collaborated with Finance Associate Professor Xue Han to investigate the requirements to establish a Certified Financial Planner (CFP)-qualified program. We attended the CFP Conference in Washington, DC, to network and learn about other institutions' CFP programs. Such a program would require three new courses to be developed:  Estate Planning, Tax Planning, and Principals of Financial Planning. As a first step, we developed and submitted a proposal for CFP Certification to begin the internal input and review processes.

Photo:  On September 15, 2023, Todd Feldman (Faculty Advisor to the Sustainable Student Investment Fund Club, Finance Professor, and Fintech initiative Director) and LFCoB student investors Makaoi Lawely (Economics), Neil Harvey (Finance), Hannah Soloman (Finance), and Neema Esfandiari (Finance) presented the Sustainable Student Investment Fund's performance results to the SF State Foundation Board.

Visit the Lam-Larsen Fintech Initiative webpage to learn more. If you’re interested in partnering with us, please contact Todd Feldman, Professor of Finance and Lam-Larsen Fintech Initiative Director, at tfeldman@sfsu.edu.

The overall mission and goals of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) Programs Initiative is to find, nurture and maximize the viability of student innovation and entrepreneurship. This year, the I&E Programs Initiative developed new programming and continued to iterate on existing programming with the focus on creating a culture of innovation and building out a resource pipeline for SF State students to not only innovate, but to commercialize their innovations.

The Initiative finished its seventh year of programming, and we are proud of the strides we have made and are excited about our plans for the years to come. This past year was focused on building out a new, 1700 sq. ft. Innovation HUB and MakerSpace, and refining existing programming to better meet the needs of post-COVID era student entrepreneurs. 

Highlights from this year include the IncuGator-mentored concept PotionSlingers winning first place at the seventh annual SFSU Innovation Pitch Competition, and the second Annual Computer Science Pitch Competition winner, AccoAI, taking third place at the CSU-Sunstone Pitch Competition. See more details about our Pitch Competition winners farther below.

We also welcomed School of Design Lecturer Faculty Mark Citola, JD and SF State MBA, to the I&E Programs team. Mark has taken on the director role of all legal programming for the Initiative. Because of Mark’s efforts, starting this year, we have been able to provide in-house legal guidance and resources for our student entrepreneurs.

We also launched our first two micro-entrepreneurship bootcamps, which are designed to help students develop their small business ideas into a revenue-generating operation over the course of a weekend. Our Fall 2023 Bootcamp on eCommerce and eRetailing sold out with 22 participants attending two full days of workshops just before the fall break. Our Spring 2024 Bootcamp on Food & Beverage and Restaurant Entrepreneurship was also fully subscribed and was generously co-hosted by alumna and owner/founder of Cantoo SF, Christina Wu Feng (HTM, ‘18).

Photo:  Innovation Hub and MakerSpace grand opening on February 7, 2024.

The seventh annual 2024 SFSU Innovation Pitch Competition was held virtually on April 12, 2024. The competition winners were:

• First Place:  Potion Slingers - Matteo Fasano (B.A. in Broadcase and Electronic Communication Arts student), Denzill Loe (B.S. in Computer Science student)
• Second Place:  AccoAI - Alex Loughry (B.S. in Computer Science student)

Our LFCoB Pitch Contest was held virtually on March 15, 2024, with the following student teams winning:

• First Place and Voted Fan Favorite:  WagWay – Nishtha Korde (B.S. in Business Administration, Information Systems)
• Second Place:  OPTunity – Yoshitomo Mori (Certificate in International Business) Founder; Hiroki Terada; and Willy Sandi
• Third Place:  Worms Eco Solutions – Hossein Jamshidian (B.S. in Business Administration, Information Systems), Founder

Photos (left to right): 2024 LFCoB Pitch Competition student winners – First Place Winner Nishtha Korde (WagWay); Second Place Winners Yoshitomo Mori, Hiroki Terada, and Willy Sandi (OPTunity); and Third Place Winner Hossein Jamshidian (Worm Eco Solutions).

The Initiative collaborated with the SFSU chapter of the Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) to host the second annual Computer Science Pitch Competition held at the SFSU main campus on March 22, 2024. The following student teams won:

• First Place:  AlignAI - Westly Cho and Natalie Yam 
• Second Place:  FreshLens - Ronald Tieu, Jinwon Choi, Katie Junghyun Song
• Third Place:  AccoAI - Alex Loughry

Left photo:  In the center, holding certificates, are the 2024 Computer Science Pitch Competition First Place Winners Natalie Yam and Westly Cho. Center photo:  In the center, holding certificates, are Second Place Winners Ronald Tieu, Jinwon Choi, and Katie Junghyun Song. Right photo:  In the center, holding a certificate, is Third Place Winner Alex Loughry.

We are now in our third year as the Northern California regional host of the Junior Sciences & Humanities Symposium, a United States Department of Defense-sponsored, national STEM research competition and outreach program. Through the generous support of the national JSHS, we have established outreach partnerships with SF State’s division of Princeton University’s DataJAM project, as well as with the Japanese Community Youth Council's (JCYC) STEM mentoring program. Our goal is to utilize the JSHS network to engage the high school STEM community in an effort to develop a student talent pipeline, and to help establish SF State as a resource for commercializing STEM innovations.

To learn more about other programming not mentioned in this summary, please visit the Lam-Larsen Innovation & Entrepreneurship Programs Initiative webpage. If you are interested in partnering with us, please contact Sybil Yang, Associate Professor and Faculty Director of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative, at sybil@sfsu.edu.

The main goal of the Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Initiative is to support high-impact and rigorous scholarship in the realm of Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RI&E), such that it supports innovation and ethics-oriented elements of San Francisco State University’s mission. This initiative is the first of its kind in a business school in the United States.

Broadly, the Responsible Innovation & Entrepreneurship Research Initiative had two types of activities for 2023-2024: Research and Engagement.  Following are some highlights from our extensive research and engagement activities this past year:

Research Activities

Original Research

Two research papers are coming out of the Initiative this year. The first, an innovation-related paper using the recently released PDMA data, is under review as of May 2024 in the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM). The second paper, an analysis of Meta’s Responsible Innovation team, is currently being written as of May 2024. This paper is targeted to a practitioner-oriented audience. One publication in the Journal of Management Education and nine peer-reviewed conference papers were also published by the RI&E team. There are several other projects under review: one publication is undergoing a fourth round of revisions at the Journal of Marketing; another project about Innovation Portfolio Changes during the COVID-19 pandemic is under a first round of review at JPIM. Another is under a second round of review at the Journal of Marketing Communications. 

The Initiative is spearheading the acquisition of the Refinitiv Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) database from Refinitiv for use by our college. As of May 2024, 10 professors have shown interest in this database.

The Initiative is also investigating the disclosure of Responsible Innovation practices among U.S. publicly listed companies through their letters to shareholders. This research work is in the data collection practices as of May 2024, with data collected for 50 companies so far. The intention is to match data collected with Refinitiv ESG data.

Journal of Product Innovation Management Special Issue

The RI&E leadership team, in cooperation with Phil Macnaghten, is co-editing a special issue of the Journal of Product Innovation Management. The call for papers was released in Fall 2023 with twelve proposals received, and the leadership team was instrumental in providing feedback on these proposals. Twenty full manuscript submissions were received by the final submission deadline of May 31, 2024, and were being put through the Journal’s review process at the time of this writing.

Grants

Starting in AY 2022-23, the RI&E initiative began sponsoring SFSU faculty research by awarding grants to faculty whose interests align with the Initiative’s emphasis. There are two types of awards: Advance to Submission (AtS) and Revise and Resubmit (R&R). For the AtS grant, four applications were received in Fall 2023 and three were received in Spring 2023. One application was awarded in Fall 2023 to Assistant Professor Yiwen Chen and two applications were awarded in Spring 2023 to Associate Professors Lufie Ruan and Nara Jeong. Two applications were received for the R&R grant, one of which was awarded in Fall 2023 to Professor Lihua Wang. Three revised grant proposals benefitted from feedback as these resubmissions have subsequently been granted funding. Lihua Wang’s work, funded under the R&R grant, has been accepted in the Journal of Product Innovation Management. The works funded by the AtS grants are in different stages: Professor Antoaneta Petkova’s (Fall 2022 awardee) work is currently under review at the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (SEJ), Yiwen Chen’s (Fall 2023 awardee) work is currently under Revise and Resubmit in the International Journal of Electronic Commerce. The remaining sponsored AtS grant recipients are preparing drafts for submission. 

Responsible Innovation Tools

The collaboration with two non-SFSU researchers (Professor of Innovation Management Gina O’Connor, Babson University; Professor Tania Bucic, University of New South Wales) had been pursued and has become productive. In fall 2023, 138 preliminary items were generated to cover 12 constructs (the four dimensions of Responsible Innovation – anticipation, reflexivity, inclusion, and responsiveness – and the three sub-dimensions under each of these dimensions).  In spring 2024, the survey items were presented to nine experts, resulting in 75 items deployed in a first wave of survey in the summer of 2024.

Additionally, the Initiative created a Youtube channel which serves as a repository for workshop videos. These videos are available to any researcher who may be interested in this line of research in the future. Through May 2024, the channel has attracted 28 subscribers. The RI&E YouTube Channel was updated with various videos generated from the Initiative’s many engagement activities and have received over 1,200 views as of May 2024.

Research Partnerships in Development

RI&E-KIRI Partnership: We are steadily developing the partnership with Kiel Institute for Responsible Innovation (KIRI), developing research projects and a scholar exchange program. For example, Kiel University sponsored the summer travel and stay for LFCoB Assistant Professor of Accounting Wei Huang in summer 2023. They have also secured funds to hire a post-doc to work on Responsible Innovation research projects. This post-doc, Kristina Nickel, attended the RI&E Conference and is leading a collaborative project on the topic of Robo Taxis. 

RI&E-SEJ Partnership: The Paper Development Workshop (PDW), which was part of our 2024 RI&E Research Conference, was SEJ’s inaugural PDW.  It was such a success that the editors proposed a sustained partnership with us that includes conducting a workshop every other year. This is under RI&E’s consideration.

Engagement Activities

The following is a summary of key events organized in the past academic year. These events aimed to foster knowledge sharing, collaboration, and the development of research methods within our organization and the wider scholarly community in the field of Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RI&E).

Second Annual Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference

Photo: 2024 RI&E Conference Day 1, panel discussion speakers.

Our second annual RI&E Research Conference, held on April 19-20, 2024, at the SFSU Downtown Campus, was a great success thanks to the enthusiastic participation of scholars and attendees, a vibrant atmosphere, and delicious catering, which contributed to a memorable and impactful event. The theme this year was Responsible AI and Digital Ethics: Methods and Measures to Anticipate and Mitigate Harms. There were 19 distinguished speakers and a total of 77 registrants. Approximately 60 attendees joined day one of the event, which included a Keynote Speaker, Panel Discussion, Fireside Chat, and a networking session. Day two of the conference saw about 40 attendees who participated in the Research Symposium or the Paper Development Workshop. Many speakers and attendees shared positive experiences about the conference on LinkedIn posts. Speakers and topics included:

• Keynote Speaker Riitta Katila (Stanford University W.M. Keck Professor and Professor of Management Science and Engineering) discussed responsible innovation.  The discussion was interactive and informational.
• Rachel Gillum (Vice President of Ethical AI, Salesforce) was featured in a fireside chat with Ian Sinapuelas (RI&E Research Director and Professor of Marketing, LFCoB) on the topic of Responsible AI.
• Miles Brundage (Head of Policy Research, OpenAI) was featured in a discussion with Smita Trivedi (Associate Professor of Management, LFCoB, and Lam-Larsen Student Engagement Initiative Director).
• Jon Zieger (Responsible Innovation Labs), Meagan Mitchell (New Public), Chris McClean (Avanade), Neil Goldberg (Praxis Design), and Andrew Roderick (Asst. VP of Academic Technology, SFSU) were engaged in a panel discussion on the application of responsible AI across industries led by Nasser Shahrasbi (Associate Professor of Information Systems and Lam-Larsen Emerging Technologies Initiative Director, LFCoB). 
• The second day included a Research Symposium conducted in partnership with Keil University (Keil is San Francisco’s sister city in Germany) that was engaging and fun, making collaboration and sharing a joyful experience. The session featured research presentations by the following faculty who represented Kings College London, Keil University, and LFCoB:  Stefan Hoffmann; Chiahuei Wu; Denise Kleinrichert; Susanne Liebermann; Lihua Wang; Yiwen Chen; and Sungha Jang. Our partnership with Kiel University deepened this year, and the Initiative will further discuss collaborating with them to co-organize future events.
• The SEJ Paper Development Workshop was held on the second day.

Much positive feedback was received from attendees and speakers in our post-conference survey.

Photo: 2024 RI&E Research Conference Day 1 attendees.

SEJ Paper Development Workshop

Part of the RI&E Research Conference included a Paper Development Workshop (PDW). The Initiative collaborated with Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (SEJ, an FT 50 Journal) editors to conduct the PDW.  This was SEJ’s inaugural PDW. The Call for Papers garnered 23 high-quality scholarly papers from across the United States and internationally, including: Technical University Berlin, ESMT Berlin, and Kiel University in Germany; University of Wisconsin, Madison; Boston University; University of San Francisco; Tsinghua University, China; Clemson University; Georgia Institute of Technology; Southern Methodist University; University of Washington, Seattle; Maastricht University, Netherlands; McMaster University, Canada; University of Michigan, Ann Harbor; and California State University campuses in San Diego, Monterey Bay, Fresno, and San Francisco. A total of 17 submissions were accepted, and these scholars attended the PDW during the RI&E Research Conference. The submissions represented the following institutions:  Lam Family College of Business at SFSU; Aarhus University; Babson College; San Diego State University; University of North Dakota; Auckland University of Technology; and the University of Burgundy. The PDW was such a success that SEJ’s editors proposed a sustained partnership with the RI&E Initiative to conduct a workshop every other year.

Attendees appreciated the opportunity to meet people from different universities worldwide. Moving forward, we seek to build more collaboration with outside universities and companies and provide different opportunities for our SFSU faculty and students.

Photo:  A group of faculty who presented their research and RI&E Initiative directors at the 2024 RI&E Research Conference Day 2, Research Symposium.

Photo montage: 2024 RI&E Research Conference Day 2, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (SEJ) Paper Development Workshop and social activities in downtown San Francisco with SEJ editors, faculty and academic researchers from various institutions around the world.

Research Brown Bag Seminar Series

The Research Brown Bag Seminars serve as a platform for researchers to present their work, provide method training, and engage in stimulating discussions. 

This past year, we invited four esteemed scholars from R1 universities to be our guest speakers. A total of 323 scholars and students from Europe, Asia, and North America registered for these online events, with 171 of them actually attending the events. Three out of the four speakers allowed us to record their talks, which we subsequently uploaded to our new RI&E Initiative’s YouTube Channel. Adding video recordings of our talks to our YouTube channel has been a successful strategy in addressing scheduling conflicts for anyone interested but unavailable to attend the live event. Through May 2024, these three talks garnered over 600 views. We saw a significant increase in the attendance rate of our events, indicating a positive trend. Among the talks, Professor Jules White’s (Vanderbilt University) presentation on ChatGPT prompt engineering stood out as the most popular. Following are brief descriptions of the four Research Brown Bag Seminars:

RI&E Research Domain Talks

Topic and Date: The Future of Work: Thinking through Questions, Methods, and Epistemologies, held on Sept. 15, 2023

• Speakers: Professor Lindsey Cameron (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
• Number of registrants / attendees: 102 registrants (22% SFSU faculty/students + 78% outside scholars) / 35 attendees

Topic and Date: Responsible Leadership and Purpose: The Four Orientations that Determine Philosophy, Strategy, and Value Creation, held on May 6, 2024

• Speaker: Professor Nicola Pless (University of South Australia; University of Queensland)
• Number of registrants / attendees: 66 registrants (17% SFSU faculty/students + 83% outside scholars) / 23 attendees
• RI&E Youtube channel views: 64 views 

RI&E Research Method Talks

Topic and Date: A Megastudy Approach to Applied Behavioral Science, held on November 10, 2023

• Speaker: Professor Dena Gromet (University of Pennsylvania)
• Number of registrants / attendees: 55 registrants (31.5% SFSU faculty/students + 68.5% outside scholars) / 28 attendees
• RI&E Youtube channel views: 63 views 

Topic and Date: Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT, held on February 23, 2024

• Speaker: Professor Jules White (Vanderbilt University)
• Number of registrants: 100 registrants (41.4% SFSU faculty/students + 58.6% outside scholars) / 85 attendees
• RI&E Youtube channel views: 496 views

Please visit the RI&E Research Initiative website for more detailed information about these activities and more. If you are interested in partnering with us, please contact one of the Initiative leaders:

• Minu Kumar, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing and Founder-Director of the Lam-Larsen RI&E Research Initiative.  Email: mkumar@sfsu.edu
• Chenwei Li, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Management and Associate Director for Engagement for the Lam-Larsen RI&E Research Initiative. Email: cwli@sfsu.edu
• Ian Clark Sinapuelas, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing and Associate Director of Research Programs for the Lam-Larsen RI&E Research Initiative. Email: sinapuel@sfsu.edu

The Lam-Larsen Student Engagement Initiative is designed to help students find and participate in enriching college activities occurring virtually, on campus and in the Bay Area so they may develop to their full potential. This year, we expanded our major programs as summarized below to achieve this objective.

Leadership EDGE

The Lam Family College of Business Leadership EDGE Program, accessed through the Suitable app, is a co-curricular engagement program designed to help students find and participate in college activities. Through Leadership EDGE, the Student Engagement Initiative:

• Helps students create a peer-to-peer interactive, engaged community/culture
• Promotes a college co-curricular engaged culture and documents student participation in the college community in the Suitable app
• Creates rewards to motivate students to be engaged in co-curricular activities promoted on Leadership EDGE and by other Lam-Larsen Initiatives
• Develops more web accessibility to resources for students

The Initiative conducted four student organization round-table events (SORT), two each semester, to determine how to support student organization leaders and to allow them to interact with one another. Student ambassadors also attended these round-table events.

We trained student ambassadors to create, develop, market and promote an engaged peer-to-peer college culture.  We also supported and promoted student ambassadors’, student organizations’ and Career Services & Professional Development's (CSPD) events planned throughout the year.  In Fall 2023, the Initiative launched a yearly Business Student Organization Fair to help promote these organizations to all LFCoB students.  We also offered grants for student organizations to host events. All events open to students were posted in Leadership EDGE and were linked to four competencies (networking, community engagement, career and professional development, integrity and ethics). Twelve student ambassadors promoted Leadership EDGE and events to newly admitted students at the Explore SFSU weekend event and to new students at Student Orientation events. Student organizations were regularly reminded to promote Leadership EDGE at their own events to help drive increased adoption of Leadership EDGE and increased participation in events offered by the college and other departments at SFSU.

We offered incentives to student ambassadors to motivate them to sign up students to Leadership EDGE using ambassador-specific QR codes. We gave away SF State free t-shirts to those who completed the Discover the Competency badge on Leadership EDGE. We also gave all ambassadors jackets branded with the LFCoB logo to promote our college and featured their photos and short biographies on the LFCoB website. We built additional badges to support CSPD activities and collaborated with them so that CSPD student workers also promote Leadership EDGE. We taught faculty to integrate Leadership EDGE into their courses (some as a required component, some as an elective). 

Over 370 LFCoB events were promoted on the Leadership Edge app. There was a 17% LFCoB student engagement rate.

Student Ambassador Program

We successfully completed the first full year of the Student Ambassador Program to expand relevant co-curricular events and activities and increase interest among students, with 16 Student Ambassadors selected and trained. Twenty ambassador-led social events were held this year. One of the most attended events was a student ambassador refer-a-friend code, which resulted in 53 students signing up on Leadership EDGE. Over 120 students attended the Lam-Larsen Distinguished Lecture with Martin Chavez, and another well-attended event was Suits, Snaps and Snacks, with 39 students attending. We also partnered with the DEIB Initiative, CSPD, and many student organizations for the ambassador events. We promoted most events on the LFCoB Instagram page.

Many enriching social activities were planned and hosted by the student ambassadors during the fall 2023 semester, including: a Movie Night; a Hike with Mike; an off-campus event at Lands End in SF; a Museum Visit and Coffee (a trip to the De Young museum and coffee and snacks afterwards); an Ice Cream Social, which was a particularly successful networking event attended by over 100 students, many of whom requested more events like this one; 4 Pickleball events; ambassadors assisted with the SFSU Discover SF State event to welcome prospective students and their families; Student Organization Round Table (SORT) meetings with training for our ambassadors and a lunch with officers from business student organizations; a Badminton activity, which was also quite popular and was attended by over 100 students, faculty, staff, and deans; two Meet and Greet networking events, held at the SFSU Downtown Campus (DTC) for our graduate students, had large turnouts and received much positive feedback; and an End of Semester Open House with hot chocolate, coffee and tea.

The spring 2024 semester was just as busy, with many Student Engagement events for students to connect with each other, including:  a SORT event; a couple Pickleball activities; another Meet and Greet at the DTC with a large number of graduate students participating; SFSU’s Explore SF State outreach event for admitted students and their families, where several ambassadors assisted; Hiking with Keziah at Lake Merced and Fort Funston in San Francisco; a Picnic with self-care gifts (for the first 25 attendees) saw 75 business students stop by over the course of this 3-hour event; Dodge Ball at the Mashoulf Wellness Center attracted about 25 participants; lastly, another SORT meeting with business student organization leaders and student ambassadors, where LFCoB Dean Eugene Sivadas spoke and reflected on the past year and plans for the fall 2024 semester.

Photos of LFCoB Student Ambassadors (left to right): Top row: Jorge E. Aguilar, Kenneth Cook-McKnight, Jack Ho, and Elizaveta Kucherova. Middle row: Alexandra Mardirossian-Quinones, Pich Moni Lay, Emma Paquette, and Lais Priedols. Bottom row: Duy Tao, Sanjana Thiyagarajan, Julianna Wing, and Keziah Zuinghedau.

Mentorship Program

This year, we continued to expand the reach and scope of the Mentorship Program - a career-readiness program - through various strategies and tactics. The Mentorship Program brings together professionals, most of whom are LFCoB alumni, as mentors to our business students. We collaborated with LFCoB student organizations to build mentor spotlight events and increased our in-person events. We added the whole program to Leadership EDGE in order to track all assignments, as well as mentor spotlight events. The three tracks of the Mentorship Program were set up as three separate “badges,” which student mentees earn as they complete each track. The three tracks students can enter in the Mentorship Program are: (1) Setting up for Success; (2) Professional Engagement; and (3) Exploring Life and Career Goals. Additionally, all mentees were enrolled on Leadership EDGE. 

We organized and hosted six social-hour events this year. In October 2023, we held a face-to-face event, with 24 students on Leadership EDGE and 10 signed in. In November 2023, we held an online event with 21 students on Leadership EDGE and 13 signed in. In December 2023, we held a hybrid event with 20 students on Leadership EDGE and 18 signed in. To engage more with business student organizations, we collaborated with the Ascend and ASI student organizations who worked together on the November and December social events. In Spring 2024, we held three more social events. The first two events each had about 50 participants, and the third one had approximately 40 participants.

Photo:  Some of the 2024 Mentorship Program students, alumni, and faculty.

In addition to the major programs described above, we revamped and launched student-oriented webpages on the LFCoB website, including a Student Events calendar page, a Student Ambassador page, and a Student Resources page. We also trained a student organizations marketing coordinator to:  (a) create marketing materials for the student organizations and Student Ambassador program; (b) post events for all organizations on the LFCoB Instagram account; and (c) maintain a Career Services & Professional Development and Student Engagement monthly newsletter for students.

Overall Student Engagement Measured on the Suitable App 

• Highest Student Engagement Rate:  17%
• Total Number of Activities Completed:  3,300
• Number of Students with 1+ Activity Completion:  578
• Average Activity Completions per Student:  5.7

Please visit the Student Engagement Initiative website to learn more about our programs.  If you would like to partner with us, please reach out to Smita Trivedi, Director of the Lam-Larsen Student Engagement Initiative and Associate Professor of Business and Society/Sustainable Business, at strivedi@sfsu.edu.

Inaugural Event:  A Fireside Chat with Martin Chavez led by Chris Larsen (B.S., '84)

On Tuesday, October 31, 2023, the Lam Family College of Business hosted our Inaugural Lam-Larsen Distinguished Lecture Series with an event featuring a Fireside Chat with Martin Chavez, Vice Chairman of Sixth Street (a leading global investment firm), led by our alum Chris Larsen, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Ripple, Inc. 

Discussion topics included Mr. Chavez's personal and educational journey, his advice for students, and trends in the investment landscape. San Francisco State University President Lynn Mahoney, Ph.D., and LFCoB Dean Eugene Sivadas, Ph.D., delivered welcome and opening remarks. The event was held at the Seven Hills Conference Center at the SFSU main campus. 

Watch the one-hour event video below or on our college's YouTube channel at the following link: https://youtu.be/7d1hRG2w3pY.

The Lam-Larsen Distinguished Professorship Awards in Teaching, Research and Service are awarded once every two years and were most recently awarded in FY 2022-2023.  No new recipients were recognized with an award in FY 2023-2024.  However, if you didn't get a chance to read about the esteemed faculty at our college who were honored with these special awards for the 2023-2025 period, we invite you to do so now:

Distinguished Teaching Professorship Awards

The Distinguished Teaching Professorship Awards recognize faculty for their long and distinguished record of outstanding, high-impact teaching and mentoring, innovative instruction and significant contributions to improving the curriculum in our college. The three awardees for 2023 are:

• Robert Bonner, Ph.D., Management
• Stewart Liu, Ph.D., Decision Sciences
• Smita Trivedi, Ph.D., Management

Distinguished Research Professorship Awards 

The Distinguished Research Professorship Awards recognize faculty for their research impact, including productivity, publishing, and awards, as well as societal impact, and fostering multi‐disciplinary collaborations within the Lam Family College of Business, across San Francisco State University and broader society through community engagement, research, partnerships, and more. The five awardees for 2023 are:

• Foo-Nin Ho, Ph.D., Marketing
• Venoo Kakar, Ph.D., Economics
• Antoaneta “Toni” Petkova, Ph.D., Management
• Robert Saltzman, Ph.D., Management
• Lihua Wang, Ph.D., International Business

Distinguished Service Professorship Awards

The Distinguished Service Professorship Awards recognize faculty for their outstanding and diverse service contributions to our campus community and the general community at large. This year's two awardees are:

• Anoshua Chaudhuri, Ph.D., Economics
• Theresa Hammond, Ph.D., Accounting

Career Services and Professional Development (CPSD) had a successful year, providing a variety of services to our students and alumni, from career advising to career exploration events and professional development fellowships! We held close to 30 events, including “Personal Branding from a Recruiter’s Perspective,” hosted by Matty Simon of Bloomberg, which packed the sizable Library 121 auditorium, and where students were given in-depth insight on how recruiters utilize LinkedIn to find candidates. We also hosted several signature events, including “Suits, Snaps, and Snacks,” where over 200 students picked out free office attire (generously donated by BDO, KPMG, and Uber) and got professional headshots taken by LFCoB alum Jean-Michael Arraki. Our students were also treated to a professional development day at the San Francisco Zoo and Gardens, hosted by LFCoB alum Lamar Harris, where students learned about roles in marketing, HR, and finance, along with feeding a family of hungry giraffes. 

CSPD completed advising appointments with over 250 students, and we had another successful year in our Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Fellows program, with 31 students completing the year-long program that introduced them to pathways within commercial real estate, including property management, assets, and real estate development. Many of the students in the CRE Fellows program took advantage of mentorships and networking events and are well on their way to securing internships.

We had a good year solidifying partnerships with various external stakeholders and hope to continue seeing student engagement rise with our services. We partnered with representatives from companies like Bloomberg, TikTok, and Enterprise Mobility to create engaging workshops, panels, and information sessions. Our collaborative events, which were done in concert with other Lam-Larsen Initiatives, including the DEIB and Student Engagement Initiatives, as well as with professors, were some of our most successful. We plan to continue creating partnerships with external organizations and within our college.

We also plan to continue to form robust partnerships with employers who visit us on campus and encourage our students to apply for internships and jobs. In the future, we hope to host external stakeholders for organization-specific job fairs to showcase tangible pathways toward our students’ career goals. For example, in fall 2024, the California Department of Transportation will come to campus to speak with students about roles across their organization. We also have a fellowship in the pipeline that we hope to execute successfully, as we believe this will imbue our students with the necessary skills to be competitive in the job market.

Our students and alumni found jobs and internships at companies like TikTok, Provident Credit Union, Goldman Sachs, the University of California, Deloitte, Bloomberg, Blackrock, SamTrans, Kaiser, Health Velocity Capital, BDO, PWC, and more! 

Please visit the Career Services and Professional Development Center website to learn more about the advising services, career exploration and recruiting events, and skill-building workshops we offer to LFCoB students and alumni. You'll also find links to an array of valuable career resources and job/internship opportunities.

If you are an employer interested in partnering with us on career or professional development opportunities for our students and alumni, please contact Paul Glanting, Director of the CSPD Center at pbg@sfsu.edu.

Photo (left to right):  Carolynne Zimmerman and Irving Alatriste-Flores review a building blueprint on April 17, 2024, during a Commercial Real Estate Student Fellows Program meeting. The program is open to juniors, seniors, graduate students, and LFCOB alumni.

Photo:  On April 24, 2024, guest speaker and alum Manny Duenas gave a talk titled "From LinkedIn to Job Offer," which was open to all students.

The Center for Ethical and Sustainable Business’s (CESB) stated mission is to advance business ethics and sustainability in collaboration with Bay Area businesses and their stakeholders through excellence in education, engagement and research. Overall, the CESB focuses on three intersecting issues: Social Justice, Sustainability, and Innovation. At the heart of this intersection lies the possibility of hope, where capitalism is re-imagined, where innovation is inclusive and where ecosystems are regenerative.

This year, the CESB focused on the following objectives:

• Improve the quality, on-campus presence, and reach of our annual Business Ethics Week
• Encourage more faculty to embed ethics and sustainability into their teaching
• Motivate more faculty to engage in ethics and sustainability research
• Collaborate with other Lam-Larsen Initiative directors to promote ethics and sustainability in their initiatives
• Promote more student, alumni, and external community involvement in the CESB.

The following is a summary of major activities aimed at achieving these objectives.

Business Ethics Week (BEW)

Our 18th annual signature program, Business Ethics Week, was held on March 15 and 18-21, 2024. We planned, promoted, and conducted five separate on-campus BEW events, one on each day, which were open to the public and featured talks by prominent guest speakers from Google, Stanford University Law School, UC Berkeley, the finance sector, and consulting, with backgrounds in sustainable design, philanthropy and public policy, labor, capital markets and risk management, leadership development, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Three of these events were held at the SFSU Downtown Campus (DTC) and two were held on the University’s main campus. All five events were broadcast live on Zoom and were video recorded, with video links posted on our website for later viewing and future use in classes. 

The five BEW events attracted a total of 444 participants primarily made up of students, faculty, staff, and alumni. There were 149 in-person attendees (30 avg. attendees per event), 128 online attendees (26 avg. attendees per event), and 167 video views (33 avg. views per event video). Additionally, we collected 18 names and email addresses of students interested in joining the SFSU Net Impact San Francisco chapter.

2024 Business Ethics Week Events Calendar

Impact Investing Days Conference

On March 15-17, 2024, the CESB and the Lam-Larsen Fintech Initiative co-hosted the 2024 Impact Investing Days Research Conference, co-sponsored by the Copenhagen Business School. The three-day conference was held at the SFSU Downtown Campus. This recurring conference is a discussion forum for impact investors, social entrepreneurs, policymakers, philanthropists and academics to discuss research needs and priorities for inquiry with the aim to challenge current practice and encourage evidence-based research to develop better insights into the links between social/environmental impact, financial returns, and investment decisions. This, in turn, is intended to guide investors towards implementing impactful investment strategies that re-shape our society to be fairer, more inclusive, and more sustainable. This year's conference offered many opportunities for both formal discussions and informal discourse between participants.

CESB collaborated with the Fintech Initiative's director, Todd Feldman (Finance Professor), who helped recruit and mentor Ph.D. student attendees. Sixty-eight professors, executives, and graduate students attended and participated in the conference. Eleven Ph.D. students from around the world attended the workshop assisted by CESB stipends of $500 each.

International Business Ethics and Sustainability Student Case Competition

The CESB recruited, mentored and sponsored a team of three graduate students who competed in person at the 2024 International Business Ethics and Sustainability Case Competition at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on April 10-12, 2024. Teams of 3-5 graduate or undergraduate students representing various universities competed in three competitions during the event. The CESB team, made up of two MS in Data Analytics students and one MBA student, won first place in the 90-Second Competition. The LFCoB student team got valuable experience in collaboration, ideation, pitching and networking.

The three competitions included:

• The 25-Minute Competition:  Teams presented their chosen business problem, an analysis of the ethical, sustainable, legal and financial aspects of a problem, and a viable solution on all fronts.
• The 10-Minute Competition:  Teams incorporated the suggestions from judges during the 25-minute presentation to give a 10-minute presentation expanding on the ethical aspect of the problem.
• The 90-Second Competition:  Teams gave an elevator pitch explaining the importance of the sustainability component of the problem.

This event served as a dry-run for student teams to compete in an expanded number of such competitions in 2024-2025.

Net Impact San Francisco Chapter

The CESB attended the Net Impact (NI) Chapter Leaders meeting on November 1, 2023, to discuss recruitment strategies, event planning, and other topics.  The CESB also attended the NI Chapter Leaders networking mixer on June 5, 2024, resulting in building new connections with nine other NI chapter leaders. As a result, we began planning collaborative events for the future, such as the Net Impact Internship Fair, online Panel of Experts, and other events.

Earth Week and SFSU Climate HQ

Along with other SFSU organizations, CESB staffed an information table at the SFSU main campus during SF State's Earth Week Celebration (April 22-25, 2024), organized by the SFSU Climate HQ group. We also staffed an information table at the Climate Justice Jobs Mixer on April 23, 2024, at the SFSU main campus to inform students about the CESB and Net Impact as career networking resources. We collected eight names and email addresses of students interested in joining the Net Impact San Francisco chapter.

Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) Conference

The CESB attended the 16th annual ARCS Conference, hosted by the UCLA Anderson School of Management, held on June 2-5, 2024, to assess its potential as a venue for faculty research presentations and assess whether it would be advantageous to become an institutional member. We established new connections with ethics/sustainability center directors at other universities, including the University of Michigan's ERB Institute and Rutgers University's Institute for Ethical Leadership.

Auden Schendler Public Talk

The CESB attended an online public talk in November 2023 by Auden Schendler, Senior VP of Sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company and author of the book Getting Green Done. Mr. Schendler discussed the failure (and danger) of voluntary corporate sustainability efforts. Thirty students and faculty from LFCoB and other SFSU colleges attended the online talk.

Please visit the Center for Ethical and Sustainable Business website to learn more about the events and programs we offer. If you are interested in partnering with us, please contact the CESB Director and Management Professor Tom Thomas at tethomas@sfsu.edu.

SF State Undergraduate Advising Center and LFCoB Advising Team

Professional college advising teams are centralized within the University's Undergraduate Advising Center (UAC) and provide consistent, whole-degree advising support for all students throughout the year.  The LFCoB Advising team provides quality support services to all LFCoB students.

Key Services offered by the LFCoB Advising Team

• Academic Advising: Common services we provide include degree planning, choosing/registering for classes, major exploration, academic success strategies, and policy clarification and appeals. The availability of in-person support was also expanded.  
• Study Abroad: In keeping with the college’s focus on providing students with a global perspective, we encourage students to study abroad for one semester or a full year at one of our 20 partner universities worldwide.
• Graduation Applications: Supporting students with navigating the graduation application process, as well as collaborating with students on creating pathways to graduation when they receive denials.  

Dean’s List

Each semester, the University recognizes undergraduate students who have attained high scholastic achievement. The following criteria are used:

• The student registered for and completed a minimum of 12 semester units for the semester. Only those courses where A-F grades were assigned are counted.
• The student attained a GPA of 3.25 or better for the semester.
• Only resident courses are used in computing the grade point average.
• Only grades for the semester under consideration are used in computing the grade point average.

For the fall 2023 semester, 1,425 LFCoB undergraduate students made the Dean's List.

For the spring 2024 semester, 1,400 LFCoB undergraduate students made the Dean's List.

Beta Gamma Sigma

Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) is the prestigious International Business Honor Society. Since 1913, BGS has recognized and honored top performing students from around the world in business schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International.

Membership to Beta Gamma Sigma is by invitation only. Each September and January, eligible graduate business students and eligible seniors are invited to become members.

Eligibility Criteria

• Advanced master's students with:
  • 3.75 G.P.A. or above
  • 21 credits earned and recorded at San Francisco State University (SFSU)
  • Completed seven 800-level courses
• Advanced senior students with:
  • 3.50 G.P.A. or above
  • At least 105 credits earned and recorded at SFSU State
• Advanced-level juniors with:
  • 3.65 G.P.A. or above
  • 75-89 credits earned and recorded at SFSU

LFCoB Qualified Students Invited to join Beta Gamma Sigma:

The following 11 outstanding LFCoB undergraduate students in the graduating class of 2024 were selected by faculty as Honorees for their exceptional academic achievements and service contributions to the Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University, and their communities. In addition, one of them received special recognition as the Lam Family College of Business Undergraduate Hood Recipient and served as the college’s undergraduate representative at the Commencement ceremony on May 24, 2024.

• Hood Recipient:  Meliza Matute – Decision Sciences
• Raymius Cruz Aguilar – Accounting
• Brianna Dea – Management
• Benny Isaac Deloera – Hospitality and Tourism Management
• Eric Henerlau – Marketing
• James Kreiss – Labor and Employment Studies
• Michael Martinez — Information Systems
• Stanislav Shaposhnikov – Economics
• Yuchi Tung – Finance
• Adele Uchiyama-Cadorette – International Business
• Annisia Williams – General Business

Photos (left to right): Top row: Hood Recipient Meliza Matute, Decision Sciences; Raymius Cruz Aguilar, Accounting; Brianna Dea, Management; Benny Isaac Deloera – Hospitality and Tourism Management. Middle row: Eric Henerlau, Marketing; James Kreiss, Labor and Employment Studies; Michael Martinez, Information Systems. Bottom row: Stanislav Shaposhnikov, Economics; Yuchi Tung, Finance; Adele Uchiyama-Cadorette, International Business; Annisia Williams, General Business.

Please visit the 2024 Undergraduate Hood Recipient and Honorees page to read more about these outstanding students.

The following seven distinguished LFCoB graduate students in the graduating class of 2024 were selected by faculty as Honorees for their impressive academic achievements and service contributions to the Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University, and their communities. In addition, one of them received special recognition as the Lam Family College of Business Graduate Hood Recipient and served as the college’s graduate representative at the Commencement ceremony on May 24, 2024.

• Hood Recipient:  Son Hai Nguyen, Master of Business Administration
• Songhong Beng, Master of Science in Accountancy
• Madison Cecilio, Master of Business Administration
• Rutwij Daptardar, Master of Science in Business Analytics
• Daniel Dubrovsky, Master of Science in Quantitative Economics
• Yao Fang, Master of Science in Accountancy
• Lila Zermeno, Master of Business Administration

Photos (left to right): Top row: Hood Recipient Son Hai Nguyen, Master of Business Administration (MBA); Songhong Beng, Master of Science in Accountancy (MSA). Middle row: Madison Cecilio, MBA; Rutwij Daptardar, Master of Science in Business Analytics; Daniel Dubrovsky, Master of Science in Quantitative Economics. Bottom row: Yao Fang, MSA; Lila Zermeno, MBA.

Please visit the 2024 Graduate Hood Recipient and Honorees page to read more about these outstanding students.

Review the list of this year's Faculty Research Accomplishments, which include awards, seminars and publications. Our respected faculty's latest scholarly works cover a wide array of current and leading-edge topics, including: cybersecurity. artificial intelligence, business analytics, wine labels, surveillance at work, counterfeit luxury, investor transaction costs, brand influencers, production, corruption, foreign direct investment, currency exchange rates, firefighter and police trust and service quality, customer revenge behavior, vaccine responsiveness, information technology and retail, aircraft maintenance logistics, empathy and AI, financial statement fraud, and so much more.

The research publications are conveniently presented by academic department and faculty name.

The Lam Family College of Business warmly welcomes the following new faculty members who join us in the fall 2024 semester, further enhancing the diverse group of highly regarded scholars and experts who make up our distinguished faculty:

Assistant Professor Arrow Minster, Ph.D. – Management Department

Arrow Minster is an assistant professor of management in the Lam Family College of Business. They earned their Ph.D. in Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Arrow's research, which largely uses ethnographic and other field methods, focuses on the intersection of worker power, organizational processes, and the meaning of work. It combines theoretical perspectives from industrial relations, organization studies, and sociology.

Their most recent project involved fieldwork in a unionized hospital system as the labor-management partnership implemented a new worker empowerment program. The program was designed for workers to co-lead a department-level problem-solving committee with their managers. Leaders and union representatives encouraged the committees to identify and address the issues that mattered most to lower-status frontline staff (e.g., personal care assistants, front desk admin). This project focused on understanding how, why, and under what conditions the program effectively empowered workers to achieve their desired ends.

Arrow believes that their role as an educator is to encourage students to become life-long learners and to understand that while change is difficult, it is possible. In line with this, their teaching philosophy emphasizes critical thinking, real-world application, and equitable expectations of classroom engagement. In the classroom, students critically examine the historical and systemic forces shaping contemporary business strategies and work environments. Arrow brings in texts, media, and cases from different parts of the world and historical moments, so students engage with diverse perspectives and life experiences. They also promote active learning through collaborative projects that encourage students to imagine alternative futures.

Research Interests:

• Worker voice and empowerment
• Organizational change
• Healthcare and social service workers
• Qualitative research methods

Education:

• Ph.D. in Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• M.S. in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• M.A. in Economics, The New School for Social Research
• B.A. in Economics, Cornell University

Assistant Professor Kyungin Ryu, Ph.D. – Marketing Department

Kyungin Ryu is an assistant professor of marketing at the Lam Family College of Business, specializing in branding, consumer spirituality, and storytelling. She earned her Ph.D. in Marketing at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. Her research blends interpretive methods, text mining, and experiments.

Kyungin’s doctoral dissertation examines how consumers develop and lose faith in brands, and why they turn to brands for spiritual fulfillment. Building on this work, she continues to explore the role of brands in shaping modern consumer lifestyles, resulting from the disruption of traditional religions and the rise of spiritual-but-not-religious individuals. Also, she has published research on mindfulness, using text mining to analyze how academics, consumers, and marketers define the concept in the Journal of Consumer Affairs, as well as two journal articles on brand storytelling in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, Tourism Management, and a book chapter in Discourse Analysis of Language, Literacy, Culture, and Teaching.

In the classroom, she draws on both her academic background and her experience as an industry practitioner to prepare students for a competitive job market. Having worked in the field, she combines real-world insights with academic theory, aiming to equip students with both critical thinking skills and practical expertise. She creates hands-on learning experiences by inviting guest speakers from industry and assigning projects like business proposals that reflect actual business practices. Her teaching emphasizes approachability, engagement, and inclusion to foster a supportive and dynamic learning environment.

Research Interests

• Consumer-brand Relationships
• Consumer Spirituality
• Brand Storytelling
• Consumer Behavior

Education: 

• Ph.D. in Marketing, University of Massachusetts – Amherst
• M.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University
• B.E. In Economics and Financial Economics, Ewha Womans University

The Lam Family College of Business congratulates the newly tenured and promoted faculty members (effective Fall 2024)! Please visit their profile pages to learn more about them:

Promotion to Full Professor:

• Kirill Chernomaz (Economics)
• Zuzana Janko (Economics)
• Venoo Kakar (Economics)
• Shengle Lin (Finance)

Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor:

• Guillaume Faddoul (Information Systems)
• Chenghao Matt Hu (Economics)
• Priyanka Joshi (Management)
• Maxine Lee (Economics)
• Minh Pham (Decision Sciences)

Below is the list of our tenured/tenure-track faculty by academic department for Fall 2023.  You may click on their names to read their profiles (note that a few faculty profile links may not be available).

Accounting

Chun-Chia Amy Chang, Ph.D.

Lesley Chen, Ph.D

Min Chen, Ph.D.

Shih-Chu Chou, Ph.D.

George Frankel, Ph.D.

Theresa Hammond, Ph.D.

Shuoyuan He, Ph.D.

Katherine Hetherington, Ph.D.

Su-Jane Hsieh, Ph.D.

Wei Huang, Ph.D. 

Jai Kang, Ph.D

Jung Hoon Kim, Ph.D.

Yao-Tien Lee, Ph.D.

Yifan Li, Ph.D.

Bing Luo, Ph.D.

Lufei Ruan, Ph.D.

Joanne Sopt, Ph.D.

Inae (Lena) Yang, S.J.D.

Decision Sciences

Ramesh Bollapragada, Ph.D.

Susan Cholette, Ph.D.

Stewart Liu, Ph.D.

Julia Miyaoka, Ph.D.

Leyla Ozsen, Ph.D.

Minh Pham, Ph.D.

Eghbal Rashidi, Ph.D.

Theresa Roeder, Ph.D.

Robert Saltzman, Ph.D.

Sada Soorapanth, Ph.D.

Yabing Zhao, Ph.D.

Economics

Dwayne A. Banks, Ph.D.

Michael Bar, Ph.D.

Sudip Chattopadhyay, Ph.D.

Anoshua Chaudhuri, Ph.D.

Kirill Chernomaz, Ph.D.

Chenghao (Matt) Hu, Ph.D.

Zuzana Janko, Ph.D.

Venoo Kakar, Ph.D.

Maxine J. Lee, Ph.D.

Sepideh Modrek, Ph.D.

Lisa Takeyama, Ph.D.

Finance

Todd Feldman, Ph.D.

Snow Xue Han, Ph.D.

Alan Jung, Ph.D.

George Li, Ph.D.

Ming Li, Ph.D.

Shengle Lin, Ph.D.

Shuming Liu, Ph.D.

Yuli Su, Ph.D.

Brian Yang, Ph.D.

Chris Yost-Bremm, Ph.D.

Yi Zhou, Ph.D.

Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management

Brian Aday, Ph.D.

Mehmet Ergul, Ph.D.

Bo Ferns, Ph.D.

Colin Johnson, Ph.D.

Susan Roe, Ph.D.

Ryan Smith, Ph.D.

Sybil Yang, Ph.D.

Information Systems

Paul Beckman, Ph.D.

David Chao, Ph.D.

Tai-Yin Chi, Ph.D.

Guillaume Faddoul, Ph.D.

Leigh Jin, Ph.D.

Lutfus Sayeed, Ph.D.

Nasser Shahrasbi, Ph.D.

Sameer Verma, Ph.D.

International Business

Bruce Heiman, Ph.D.

Yikuan Lee, Ph.D.

Gerardo Ungson, Ph.D.

Lihua Wang, Ph.D.

Labor and Employment Studies

John Logan, Ph.D.

Management

Sally Baack, Ph.D.

Robert Bonner, Ph.D.

Geoffrey Desa, Ph.D.

Ian M. Dunham, MBA, Ph.D.

Connie Marie Gaglio, Ph.D.

Ebru Ipek, Ph.D.

Nara Jeong, Ph.D.

Priyanka Joshi, Ph.D.

Denise Kleinrichert, Ph.D.

Eric Lamm, Ph.D.

Chenwei Li, Ph.D.

Antoaneta Petkova, Ph.D.

Ronald Purser, Ph.D.

Verónica Rabelo, Ph.D.

Tom Thomas, Ph.D.

Smita Trivedi, Ph.D.

Marketing

Subodh Bhat, Ph.D.

Yiwen Chen, Ph.D.

Foo-Nin Ho, Ph.D.

Nga Ho-Dac, Ph.D.

Mahmood Hussain, Ph.D.

Sungha Jang, Ph.D.

Minu Kumar, Ph.D.

Veronika Papyrina, Ph.D.

Sanjit Sengupta, Ph.D.

Ian Clark Sinapuelas, Ph.D.

Judi Strebel, Ph.D.

Gulnur Tumbat, Ph.D.

Deanna Hui-Ming Wang, Ph.D.

The Business Advisory Council supports the dean and the Lam Family College of Business in fundraising, business and corporate engagement opportunities, and general promotion in support of the mission of the college.

Specifically, the council enables effective partnerships between the business community and the college in integrating business education with real-world innovations, developing a pipeline for student careers and faculty research, and developing sources of investment in support of the goals of the college.

Our Council members reflect the diversity of our college, SF State, the Bay Area, and the State of California. They represent an array of industries, including accounting, banking and finance, investment, consulting, hospitality, telecom, entrepreneurship, publishing, government, technology, healthcare, academia, insurance, and agriculture.

This year, we were honored to add two new council members:  Moyan Gyani (B.A., '72; MBA, '78), former President of AT&T Wireless, and Guymond K. Louie (B.S., '80), former Vice President at Integral Reality Labs.

Meet the Dean’s Business Advisory Council members.

The Lam Family College of Business offered over 30 scholarship opportunities (some offer multiple awards) this past year to support our students’ educational goals. Funding for these scholarships was provided by generous donors and organizations who believe in higher education and our students’ ability to achieve academic success.

Scholarship Funds Distributed:  $115,075

Scholarships Awarded:  60

The list below reflects student scholarship opportunities offered between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024:

We are pleased to acknowledge the following donors for their generosity and support from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 to the Lam Family College of Business at San Francisco State University. We have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this listing, which is organized by donation level and last name.

$25,000 – $99,999

• Goldman, Sachs & Co.
• James and Ann Swinehart Foundation
• Lumina Foundation for Education
• Schwab Charitable 
• David and Adrienne Yarnold            

$10,000 – $24,999

• Loretta M. Doon
• Ernst & Young Foundation
• Jeffrey Franco and Denise MacGregor-Franco
• Raymond P. Muffly
• National Philanthropic Trust
• Catherine and Terrence O'Connor
• Arline and James Van Ness

$5,000 – $9,999

• Leona M. Bridges
• Brian Byrne and Beth Lapachet
• Aidan M. Dunne
• John and Janice Gumas
• Yogesh M. Himansu
• Kay Kang
• KPMG U.S. Foundation, Inc.
• Pramukti Surjaudaja

$1,000 – $4,999

• Baker's Dozen San Francisco
• Kenneth Baron
• Neill Bickel
• CalCPA
• Byron L. Chan
• Charities Aid Foundation of America
• Charles Schwab Foundation The Matching Gift Center
• Brian D. Dell
• Brian Fong
• Mary and William Geong
• Carolyn L. Hee
• Jeffery and Pamela Kawaguchi
• Bruce Kern and Teri Kern
• Andrew Kerr and Nancy Thompson
• Aryn Kimura
• Nancy Kux
• David Lo
• David Odato
• Pearl Chan Lee, Inc.
• PG&E Corporation Foundation Matching Gift Program
• Christopher A. Sia
• Yas and Midori Suzuki
• The Amgen Foundation Matching Gifts and Staff Volunteer Program
• The Benevity Community Impact Fund a fund of American Endowment Fund
• The Blackbaud Giving Fund
• Sreenivasa and Alivelu  Viswanadha
• Neil and Donna Wiley
• Suki Lee and Kevin Yamamoto

$250 – $999

• Anonymous (4)
• Lannie J. Adelman
• Carolyn and Richard Bischof
• CBRE
• Michael and Lucy Day
• Luca E. Donisi
• Brett M. Gajda
• Laurice Gajda
• Vaughn and Spencer Gregory
• Mahmood Hussain and Nahreen Imam
• Lauren Irwin
• Mr. Kenneth Shew Jew
• Andrea Lubov and Allan Schultz
• Sandra Lui 
• Nahreen Imam, DDS, INC.
• Kevin B. Owyang 
• Sajeev K. Sidher
• Eugene Sivadas and Amanda Chen
• Vernon Takasuka
• Clarice Turner and Rob Cherry

$1 – 249

• Anonymous
• Karlene Calma
• Charles and Barbara Caswell
• Mark P. Ciotola
• Matthew P. Cooley
• Helen S. Davis
• Robert C. Dunlap
• David Erlenheim
• Albert K. Fong
• Sarah Fong
• Valerie Fong
• Victoria Fowlis-Porchia
• Genentech Matching Gifts
• Amy Gillum
• William M. Gonsalves
• Mark Good
• Gary and Susan Gutowsky
• William and Ann Hefter
• David Hixson
• Kimberly Hsiang
• Amy Hung
• Kimberly K. Ina
• Chris and Caroline Johansson
• William and Roberta Kuhlman
• Adeline Lee
• Barry D. Lichtman
• David J. Lippi
• Fred and Eda Lucas
• John Matthewson and Katharine Emmons
• John and Joanne McGlothlin
• Jonathan Metcalf
• Fionna Ellise C. Naguit
• Barry Noss
• Betty K. Oen
• Paul J. O'Neil
• Jack and Gail Osman
• William A. Otto
• Marcelyn Potter
• Jorge L. Rey-Prada
• Jessica Romm
• Mary Sheehy
• Sports for the World's Children Foundation
• Jess Stewart
• Sokichi Takahashi
• Michael N. Teutschel
• The Neidorff School of Business
• Visa
• Lihua Wang
• Luke and Marisa Wilson
• Warren Wong
• Debra M. Wraa
• Amy Wu
• Donald Zheng

NOTE:  We regret any errors to the above list. Please accept our sincere apologies for any inaccuracies or omissions.  If you would like to contact us, please send an email to Anjali Billa, Associate Vice President of University Development, at anjalibilla@sfsu.edu.

Your Support Makes a Significant Difference to Today's Students, Faculty and Programs

The Lam Family College of Business is San Francisco’s public business school embracing the area’s rich diversity.  The college relies on private support to fulfill its mission and provide a high-quality education to students from the Bay Area and beyond. Many of our students are the first in their families to pursue a university degree, and their ambition and success add economic, cultural and social vitality to our community. A scholarship can mean the difference between graduating on time or never graduating at all, and you can make that happen. You can also help us continue to offer innovative and effective academic programs, and attract and retain stellar faculty. 

Ways to Give

• Make your gift online at:  https://develop.sfsu.edu/college-business
• Donate stock and securities
• Leave a legacy by naming the Lam Family College of Business in your will or living trust

For more information on giving to the Lam Family College of Business, please contact: 

• Anjali Billa, Associate Vice President of University Development. Email: anjalibilla@sfsu.edu

There are numerous ways in which our valued alumni can re-engage with and support the Lam Family College of Business and our students. 

For example, if an alum has a limited amount of time available, they may wish to visit our campus and give a talk at one of our classes, be a guest speaker at one of the many programs, conferences or events happening throughout the year, or lead a skill-building workshop for our students.

Perhaps other alumni would prefer to serve as a judge at one of our student pitch competitions. 

There's even the option to host a group of students at a company site to tour the facilities and talk about potential career paths or job opportunities, planned through our Career Services and Professional Development Center.

For any alumni who are ready to invest a bit more time in shaping our students' and our college's futures, participating in our Mentorship Program as a mentor or serving on one of our advisory boards are highly rewarding options.

Don't hesitate to send us an email at cobus@sfsu.edu if you're interested in playing a worthwhile role with any of the enriching and transformative programs and activities we offer!