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:
| 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:
| Sociology and Sexuality Studies Faculty Advisors (see advisor list and hours below)
|
| Sociology and Sexuality Studies Department Office
|
| See Study Abroad as the first step
|
Graduate/Second Baccalaureate Students:
| Division of Graduate Studies & Career Development Advising
|
Graduate Students:
| See the Graduate Coordinator for your program or contact your Culminating Experience Committee Chair
|
Undergraduate Advising
All students are required to have met with a Sociology advisor at least once by the time they have completed SOC 300GW. Students are encouraged to schedule a time with any of the following advisors that have the same availability as the student.
Please click on the faculty's name to schedule an appointment within their availability.
| Name | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexis Martinez | 1pm - 2pm | ||||
| Angela Fillingim | 12-1:30pm in person | 1pm - 3pm virtual | |||
| Christopher Bettinger | 10-11:30am | 10-11:30am | 10-11:30am | 10-11:30am | |
| Ikaika Gleisberg | 9:30am-10:30am in person | 4-5pm in person | 11-2pm virtual | ||
| Jen Reck | 12- 2pm | ||||
| Rita Melendez | |||||
| Valerie Francisco-Menchavez | 1:30 - 2:30PM | 2-3PM | |||
| PEER ADVISORS | |||||
| Max Eckerling | Schedule via Email | meckerling@sfsu.edu | |||
| Victor Albarran | Schedule via Calendly | valbarran@sfsu.edu | |||
| LaVon Stewart | Schedule via Calendly | cstewart@sfsu.edu | |||
| Taylor Tigno | Schedule via Calendly | ttigno@sfsu.edu |
Graduate Advising
Choose an Advisor
Your relationships with Sexuality Studies students and faculty will be central to your experience at SF State. Seminars, workshops and informal gatherings will provide opportunities to get to know other students and to meet and work with faculty members. Faculty members are also available during office hours and by appointment to meet with you. We encourage you to meet with all members of faculty to introduce yourself and to learn more about their interests.
Faculty Mentors and Culminating Experience Readers
Faculty Mentors
Students will be assigned a faculty mentor upon arrival their first semester. The mentor assignments reflect the availability of faculty mentors and our initial understanding, gleaned from your applications for admission, of your research interests. You will meet them at the Fall orientation in late August. Make a point of contacting your faculty mentors early in your first semester.
The faculty mentor is available to provide information about the program, guide you in choosing electives and other professional guidance.
This mentor assignment may be only an initial one. We encourage students to get to know many faculty members, core and affiliated; and students are free to choose any available member of the faculty to be your mentor (instead of the faculty mentor assigned to you) and/or to be your Culminating Experience first or second reader (see Culminating Experience Readers below). Meet with your assigned mentor, visit with other faculty, and discuss with them their availability to act as your mentor. Once you decide whom you would like to mentor you — even if it is the initially assigned mentor — approach them to confirm their availability and discuss how you can best work together.
Culminating Experience Readers
The culminating experience will be a written thesis or creative project — an original contribution to existing understandings about sexuality. The contribution may take the form of, for example, an original review of the research literature, analysis of a relevant body of existing data, or an analysis of data — fieldnotes, interviews, focus groups, or survey responses — the student collects.
Students will select a Culminating Experience first reader from among the Sexuality Studies core OR affiliated faculty. Typically this selection is made during the second semester of the first year. The Culminating Experience reader does not have to be the same person the student selects to serve as faculty mentor. University and Department regulations require that the first reader of the Culminating Experience be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member of the SF State Sexuality Studies MA core or affiliated faculty.
Your Culminating Experience committee will also include a second reader who must also be a tenure or tenure-track faculty member at SF State. Students may choose as their second readers faculty members from other departments in consultation with their culminating experience readers. Core or affiliated faculty members may serve as second readers – students may also seek out faculty on campus who are not affiliated with Sexuality Studies and ask them to serve as a mentor or on their committee.
Faculty Availability
Faculty members are eager to get to know you and support your work. However, due to shifting faculty workloads, developing research programs, and sabbaticals, faculty members — core members as well as affiliates — will not always be available to serve as mentors and Culminating Experience readers. In addition, faculty members work on a nine-month academic year and are likely not available to meet and work with you during the summer. Talk with your mentors and advisors about their availability.