Advising

Make Every Semester Count

Seek advising regularly. Meeting with an academic advisor at San Francisco State University is essential to staying on track with your academic goals.

Whether you're an undergraduate or graduate student, advisors help you navigate course selection, degree requirements, and career planning, ensuring you make informed decisions about your academic path.

Advising Resources

Use the table below to guide you to the best advising resource based on your needs.

Advising Need	Advisor Recommendation
Undergraduate Students: Choosing courses/degree planning for general education, major, minor, and certificates Understanding transfer credits Graduation check Academic success strategies Academic notice and clearing holds Exploring options for majors, minors, and certificates Petition of study abroad courses for general education Referrals to campus resources Academic policy inquiries and assistance with appeal forms	Academic Advisors at the Undergraduate Advising Center (UAC) OR For EOPP Students - Academic Advisors from the Educational Opportunity and Pathway Programs (EOPP)
Undergraduate and Second Baccalaureate Students: Selection of appropriate major/minor/certificate courses based on career and professional goals Course substitutions and exceptions for major/minor/certificate Opportunities for research or teaching assistantships Mentorship, careers, internships, and graduate school preparation Approval of study abroad courses for major/minor Requests and approvals for forms requiring major advisor approval	Faculty Advisors (see advisor list and hours below)
Requests and approvals for forms requiring department chair approval Request meeting with department chair	Department of Communication Studies Email: comm@sfsu.edu Location: Humanities 289
Information about Study Abroad opportunities and application process/timelines	See Study Abroad as the first step
Graduate/Second Baccalaureate Students: General advising questions (petitions, policies/procedures, registration, and academic notice)	Division of Graduate Studies & Career Development Advising Email: gradstudies@sfsu.edu Phone: (415) 338-2234 Location: ADM 254 (8:00 am – 4:30 pm)
Graduate Students: Graduate student course planning, academic advising, Advancement to Candidacy, and Graduate Student Culminating Experience	See the Graduate Coordinator for your program or contact your Culminating Experience Committee Chair

Advising Need

Advisor Recommendation

Undergraduate Students:

Choosing courses/degree planning for general education, major, minor, and certificates
Understanding transfer credits
Graduation check
Academic success strategies
Academic notice and clearing holds
Exploring options for majors, minors, and certificates
Petition of study abroad courses for general education
Referrals to campus resources
Academic policy inquiries and assistance with appeal forms

Academic Advisors at the Undergraduate Advising Center (UAC)

For EOPP Students - Academic Advisors from the Educational Opportunity and Pathway Programs (EOPP)

Undergraduate and Second Baccalaureate Students:

Selection of appropriate major/minor/certificate courses based on career and professional goals
Course substitutions and exceptions for major/minor/certificate
Opportunities for research or teaching assistantships
Mentorship, careers, internships, and graduate school preparation
Approval of study abroad courses for major/minor
Requests and approvals for forms requiring major advisor approval

Faculty Advisors (see advisor list and hours below)

Requests and approvals for forms requiring department chair approval
Request meeting with department chair

Department of Communication Studies
Email: comm@sfsu.edu
Location: Humanities 289

Information about Study Abroad opportunities and application process/timelines

See Study Abroad as the first step

Graduate/Second Baccalaureate Students:

General advising questions (petitions, policies/procedures, registration, and academic notice)

Division of Graduate Studies & Career Development Advising
Email: gradstudies@sfsu.edu
Phone: (415) 338-2234
Location: ADM 254 (8:00 am – 4:30 pm)

Graduate Students:

Graduate student course planning, academic advising, Advancement to Candidacy, and Graduate Student Culminating Experience

See the Graduate Coordinator for your program or contact your Culminating Experience Committee Chair

Advising Resources

Open Advising

Open advising will resume the first week of the Fall semester. If you need help earlier, please contact comm@sfsu.edu. For general education questions, the Undergraduate Advising Center

If you need advising in the summer, please contact the following advisors directly:

Advisors for R1 (June 1, 2026 - July 2, 2026)

Fatima Alaoui, comm@sfsu.edu

Paloma Mathern, amolap@sfsu.edu

Samuel McCormick, mccrmck@sfsu.edu

Badu Smith, lsmith1914@sfsu.edu

Advisors for R3 (July 6, 2026 - August 7, 2026)

Ashmi Desai, ashmidesai@sfsu.edu

Constance Gordon, cgordon@sfsu.edu

Paloma Mathern, amolap@sfsu.edu

Degree Progress Report

The Degree Progress Report (DPR) for self advising is a great resource for students to self-advise.The DPR tracks your current progress toward meeting the requirements for General Education and the COMM major. Color coding indicates which requirements are complete, in progress, and not yet complete.

See the Registrar's Guide to your Degree Progress Report

Faculty Advisors

Please consult class syllabi or contact faculty directly for office hours.

Major and minor advising is only offered by faculty indicated as "COMM Advisor" in the far right cell.

Department of Communication Studies Faculty Advisors
Name	Title	Email	Advisor Status
Shadee Abdi	Undergraduate Advising Coordinator	By request from comm@sfsu.edu
Fatima Alaoui	Associate Professor	By request from comm@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Ashmi Desai	Assistant Professor	ashmidesai@sfsu.edu	Conflict Resolution Advisor
Constance Gordon	Associate Professor	cgordon@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Vivian Huang	Associate Professor	vhuang@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Amy Kilgard	Professor	akilgard@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Christopher Koenig	Professor	cjkoenig@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Paloma Mathern	Internship Director	amolap@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Samuel McCormick	Professor	mccrmck@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Gerianne Merrigan	Professor	merrigan@sfsu.edu
Miranda Olzman	Lecturer Faculty	molzman@sfsu.edu
Suzanne Pullen	Lecturer Faculty	spullen@sfsu.edu
John Ryan	Lecturer Faculty	jbr@sfsu.edu
Christina Sabee	Department Chair	csabee@sfsu.edu
Susan Shimanoff	Professor	shimanof@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Badu Smith	Assistant Professor	lsmith1914@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Orion Steele	Lecturer Faculty	osteele@sfsu.edu
Ana Terminel Iberri	Assistant Professor	atermineliberri@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor
Leah Wingard	Graduate Coordinator	wingard@sfsu.edu
Gust Yep	Professor	gyep@sfsu.edu	COMM Advisor