The following is a list of notable people associated with San Francisco State University, located in the American city of San Francisco, California. Many alumni may still need to be added to the San Francisco State University alumni category.

Notable alumni

Art

• Alvin Ailey (1931–1989) – dance choreographer and activist^[1]
• Opal Palmer Adisa – artist, writer
• Lutz Bacher (1943–2019) – artist
• Debra Bloomfield – artist, photographer
• Lenore Chinn – painter^[2]
• Roy De Forest (1930–2007) – painter and sculptor
• Phoebe Gloeckner – visual artist and cartoonist
• Suzanne Jackson – visual artist, poet, and dancer
• Elliott Linwood – conceptual artist
• Fred Rinne – visual and performance artist
• Hannah Stouffer – artist

Business

• Solomon Darwin – Professor of Business at Haas School of Business and known for his development of "smart village" frameworks for Indian villages
• Barnaby Dorfman – founder and CEO of Foodista.com
• Greg Fischbach – founder, Acclaim Entertainment
• Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen – CEO, Novo Nordisk
• Chris Larsen – billionaire founder of E-Loan and Ripple Labs
• George M. Marcus – billionaire real estate broker, founder of Marcus & Millichap^[3]
• Manny Mashouf – billionaire founder of bebe stores clothing retail shops^[4]
• Jayshree Ullal – president and CEO of Arista Networks
• Stephen Wolf – chairman of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company

Journalism

• Amy L. Alexander – author; journalist for The Washington Post, NPR, The Root, and The Nation, as well as many newspapers
• Mark Arnold – self-published author
• Ken Bastida – news anchor for KPIX^[5]
• Melba Pattillo Beals – journalist and member of the Little Rock Nine
• Po Bronson – journalist and author
• Howard Bryant – senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine
• Stan Bunger – morning co-anchor at KCBS All News 740/FM 106.9
• David Farley – Author of "An Irreverent Curiosity", food and travel writer
• Ben Fong-Torres – writer, broadcaster, editor at Rolling Stone^[6]
• Mike Galanos – news anchor for HLN
• Kimberly Hunt – chief anchor and managing editor for KGTV, San Diego
• Al Martinez (1929–2015) – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
• Michael Moss – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
• Frank Somerville – news anchor for KTVU Fox 2 in Oakland, California
• Jose Antonio Vargas – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
• Annie Wells – Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist
• Josh Wolf – independent journalist who videotaped an anti-G8 anarchist protest in San Francisco in 2005

Literature

• Oscar Zeta Acosta – writer, activist, attorney
• Kim Addonizio – poet and novelist
• Rae Armantrout – Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
• James Brown – novelist
• Patrick Califia – writer and poet
• Laban Coblentz – writer, educator, science policy adviser, international civil servant, entrepreneur
• Kelly Corrigan – writer
• Adam Cornford – poet, librettist, and essayist
• Jane Cutler – writer
• Carol Muske-Dukes – former California Poet Laureate
• Ernest J. Gaines – novelist, National Humanities Medal winner, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
• Leonard Gardner – novelist^[7]
• Jack Gilbert (1925–2012) – poet^[8]
• Eugene Gloria – poet
• Linda Gregg – poet
• Gerald Haslam – novelist, essayist, writer, public speaker
• Jonathan Holden – poet
• Bill Lee – author
• Russell Leong – author and philosopher
• Devorah Major – writer
• Frances Mayes – poet, memoirist, essayist, novelist
• Michael McClure – poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist
• Richard Melo – writer, author of Jokerman 8, a novel set at San Francisco State University
• Alyce Miller – writer
• Janice Mirikitani – poet and activist
• Cherríe Moraga – writer and activist
• Anne Rice – writer
• John Saul – horror novelist
• Kathy Lou Schultz – poet, scholar
• Philip Schultz – Pulitzer Prize-winning author
• Ron Silliman – poet
• Daniel Silva – journalist and novelist
• Kate Small – writer
• Rebecca Solnit – writer, contributing editor at Harper's Magazine
• Chad Sweeney – poet
• Gail Tsukiyama – novelist
• Rickey Vincent – author and Ethnic Studies professor
• Rishi Vohra – novelist
• Vivian Walsh – writer, Olive, the Other Reindeer and other children's books
• Shawn Wong – author and English professor
• Kirby Wright – writer

Media

• Jack Angel – voice actor
• Gary Austin (1941–2017) – founder of the Groundlings theatre^[9]
• Margaret Avery – actress nominated for an Academy Award for The Color Purple; earned her B.A. in education.
• Tory Belleci – special effects engineer and cast member on MythBusters^[10]
• Annette Bening – Academy Award-nominated actress, American Beauty, The American President, The Kids Are All Right^[11]
• Alex Borstein – actress on MadTV, voice of Lois on Family Guy
• Christopher Boyes – Academy Award-winning sound editor and mixer^[12]
• Bernard Bragg – actor
• Kari Byron – artist, cast member on the Discovery Channel show MythBusters^[13]
• David Carradine (1936–2009) – actor
• Dana Carvey – comedian^[14]
• Peter Casey – Emmy Award-winning producer and writer, Frasier, Cheers, The Jeffersons, Wings^[15]
• Glen Charles – writer-producer^[16]
• Vernon Chatman – member of art collective/rock band PFFR, co-creator of Wonder Showzen and Xavier^[17]
• Margaret Cho – comedian and actress
• Lisa Cholodenko – screenwriter and director
• Stephen Colletti – actor, One Tree Hill, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
• Peter Coyote – actor and author^[18]
• Robert Culp (1930–2010) – actor, I Spy, The Greatest American Hero, Everybody Loves Raymond^[19]
• Michael Curtis – Emmy Award-nominated producer and writer, Friends, JONAS
• Hari Dhillon – actor, Holby City, a British drama series
• Deepti Divakar – Indian model, actress, writer and Miss India World 1981
• Roger Dobkowitz – producer, The Price Is Right
• Walt Dohrn – actor, voice of Rumpelstiltskin in Shrek Forever After
• Arthur Dong – documentary filmmaker
• Keir Dullea – actor, best known for starring in 2001: A Space Odyssey^[20]
• Dina Eastwood – former television news anchor, star of Mrs. Eastwood & Company on E!; married to Clint Eastwood
• André Fenley – Award-winning, senior sound editor for Skywalker Sound.
• George Fenneman (1919–1997) – radio and television announcer
• Anthony C. Ferrante – director, producer and writer^[21]
• Keith Fowler – actor, director, educator
• Danny Glover – actor^[22]
• Nina Hartley – adult actress, author, feminist, activist
• Ellen Idelson (1961–2003) – television producer, writer and actress
• Daren Kagasoff – actor^[23]
• Sammi Kane Kraft (1992–2012) – actress
• John Lee – member of art collective/rock band PFFR, co-creator of Wonder Showzen and Xavier^[17]
• Lynn Hershman Leeson – artist and filmmaker
• Madeleine Lim – award-winning filmmaker, LGBTQ activist, and founder of QWOCMAP
• Delroy Lindo – actor^[24]
• Rosie Malek-Yonan – actor and author of The Crimson Field
• Mary Mara – actress
• Joseph E. Marshall, Jr. – radio talk show host
• Irene McGee – talk show host, former cast member of The Real World: Seattle
• Mike McShane – actor, improvisational comedian
• Michael Medved – film critic and radio talk show host^[25]
• Shawn Murphy – Academy Award-winning sound editor^[12]
• Rex Navarette – comedian^[26]
• Melissa Ng – Hong Kong actress, first runner-up at Miss Chinese International Pageant 1996
• Steven Okazaki – documentary filmmaker
• Joanna Pang - actress, dancer, and teaching artist best known for The Secrets of Isis^[27]
• Greg Proops – comedian and improviser best known for Whose Line is it Anyway?
• Jonas Rivera – Academy Award-winning producer of Inside Out^[28]
• Ronnie Schell – comedian and actor
• Rob Schneider – comedic actor^[29]
• Adivi Sesh – Indian film actor, director, and screenwriter
• Ben Shedd – Academy Award-winning filmmaker
• Harry Shum, Jr. – actor, dancer, Glee^[30]
• Frank Silva (1950-1995) – actor, Twin Peaks
• Daniel J. Sullivan – theatre director and playwright
• Rita Taggart – actress, Night Court
• Jeffrey Tambor – actor^[31]
• Ethan Van der Ryn – Academy Award-winning sound editor^[12]
• Janet Varney – actress, comedian
• Adrian Voo – actor
• David Wallechinsky – populist historian and television commentator
• Carl Weathers – actor, best known for starring in the Rocky films, Predator, and Happy Gilmore^[32]
• B.D. Wong – actor^[33]
• Steven Zaillian – Academy Award-winning screenwriter; wrote screenplay for Schindler's List^[34]
• Andre Fenley – Academy Award winning sound engineer at Skywalker Sound.
• Doug Siebum - professional audio engineer.

Music

• Annette A. Aguilar – percussionist, bandleader, and music educator
• Vernon Alley (1915–2004) – jazz bassist
• Mike Burkett – lead singer of NOFX
• Paul Desmond (1924–1977) – jazz musician, member of The Dave Brubeck Quartet and composer of "Take Five"
• George Duke (1946–2013) – musician and producer
• Don Falcone – musician and producer
• Jennifer Finch – bass player for the rock band L7
• Paul Gemignani – Broadway musical director
• Noah Georgeson – musician and producer
• Vince Guaraldi (1928–1976) – jazz musician and composer of the Peanuts cartoon music^[35]
• Kirk Hammett – Metallica's lead guitarist^[36]
• Dan Hicks (1941–2016) – musician, member of The Charlatans, leader of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks
• Ella Jenkins – folk singer
• Johnny Mathis – singer^[37]
• Dean Menta – composer / guitarist for Faith No More and Sparks
• Steven Miller – producer, arranger, and record company executive
• Kent Nagano – conductor
• Daniel M. Nakamura – a.k.a. Dan the Automator, hip hop producer
• Pauline Oliveros (1932–2016) – composer, accordionist and electronic art musician
• John Patitucci – jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player
• Terry Riley – composer
• Pete Rugolo (1915–2011) – jazz composer, arranger and record producer
• Oliver Tree – (surrealist music) singer, songwriter, comedian, and filmmaker
• Cal Tjader (1925–1982) – jazz musician
• Joe Louis Walker – electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer
• Janet Weiss – drummer for Sleater-Kinney
• David Woodard – conductor

Politics and Government

• Tom Ammiano – member of the California State Assembly (13th district)
• Herman Bottcher (1909–1944) – decorated U.S. Army soldier, veteran of the Spanish Civil War and World War II
• Barbara Brannon – Major General, United States Air Force
• Willie Brown – member and 58th Speaker of the California State Assembly and former mayor of San Francisco, California^[38]
• John L. Burton – former president pro tempore of the California State Senate^[39]
• Robert Campbell – member of the California State Assembly (1980-1996)
• Roscoe Cartwright (1919–1974) – first black Field Artilleryman promoted to Brigadier General
• Ron Dellums (1935–2018) – former mayor of Oakland and U.S. Representative from 1971–1998^[40]
• Saeb Erekat – Palestinian chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee^[41][42]
• Heather Fong – former chief of police, San Francisco Police Department
• Larry Galizio – member of the Oregon House of Representatives
• Mike Gierau – member of the Wyoming Senate
• Darlene Iskra – first woman to command a U.S. Navy ship
• Ed Jew – politician
• Cleve Jones – AIDS and LGBT rights activist
• Keith Kerr – military general and gay rights activist^[43]
• Fred H. Lau – former chief of police, San Francisco Police Department
• Nicole LeFavour – Idaho State Senator
• Wilma Mankiller (1945–2010) – first woman elected to serve as chief of the Cherokee Nation
• John Márquez – politician
• George Miller – U.S. Congressman, 1975-2015
• Richard Oakes (1942–1972) – Native American activist
• William Wayne Paul (1939-1989) – political activist, photographer and martial artist
• Nemesio Prudente (1927–2008) – political activist and president of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines
• Pierre Salinger (1925-2004) – White House Press Secretary for JFK and LBJ
• Harpreet Sandhu – Richmond, California politician and Sikh community leader
• Mario Savio (1942–1996) – political activist, key member in the Berkeley Free Speech Movement
• David Schuman – Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals^[44]
• Mu Sochua – Cambodian Member of Parliament and women's rights activist
• Bill Thomas – former Congressman and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee
• Leland Yee – California State Senator
• Mohammad Javad Zarif – Iranian Foreign Minister

Science and Technology

• R. Paul Butler – astronomer
• Yvonne Cagle – NASA astronaut^[45]
• Douglas Crockford – programmer, specifier of JSON, JavaScript language developer
• Hillman Curtis (1961–2012) – pioneering web designer^[46]
• Debra Fischer – astronomy professor, Yale University
• Gerta Keller – paleontologist, professor of Geosciences at Princeton University
• Gilman Louie – technologist, venture capitalist, game designer; former CEO of Spectrum HoloByte, Inc., In-Q-Tel; Chairman of the Federation of American Scientists
• Stanley Mazor – co-inventor of the microprocessor^[47]
• Amalia Mesa-Bains – psychologist and artist
• Sophie Molholm – neuroscientist and academic, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Alison Murray – biochemist and Antarctic researcher
• Dan Werthimer – co-founder and chief scientist of SETI@home
• Joseph White (1932–2017) – psychologist, godfather of Black Psychology

Sports

• Kevin Anderson – athletic director for the University of Maryland, College Park
• Billy Baird – New York Jets player (1963–1969) and coach (1981–1984)
• Bebe Bryans – United States and Olympic head coach in women's rowing
• Ken Carter – education activist and former high school basketball coach
• Paul Cayard – professional sailor
• Elmer Collett – NFL player, 1967–1977
• Ali Dia – professional soccer player
• Frank Duncan – NFL player, 1979–1981^[48]
• Maury Duncan – NFL and CFL player, 1954–1958
• Esmé Emmanuel (born 1947) - South African tennis player
• Tommy Harper – MLB player, 1962–1976
• Bud Harrelson – MLB player, 1965–1980
• Mike Holmgren – SFSU football coach; later NFL coach and executive, 1986–2012
• Joe Jackson – American football player
• Carl Kammerer – NFL player, 1961–1969
• Gilbert Melendez – professional mixed martial artist, former World Extreme Cagefighting and Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, UFC lightweight contender^[49]
• Floyd Peters (1936–2008) – NFL player (1958–1970) and coach (1974–1996)
• Jim Sochor (1938–2015) – football player and coach
• Jake Shields – professional mixed martial artist, former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, and formerly competing for the UFC^[50]
• Jesse Taylor (attended) – wrestler, mixed martial arts fighter^[51]
• Bob Toledo – football player and coach

Other

• Vester Lee Flanagan II (1973–2015) – gunman in the deaths of two U.S. journalists
• Lee Francis (1945–2003) – poet, educator, and founder of the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers
• Eva Galperin – director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Stephen Gaskin (1935–2014) – author, teacher, public speaker, political activist, and philanthropic organizer^[52]
• Aidan Kelly – academic, poet and influential figure in the Neopagan religion of Wicca
• Chandra Levy (1977–2001) – intern; murdered 2001 in Washington, D.C.
• Jaime Levy – interface designer and user experience strategist
• Ruth B. Love – former superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District and Chicago Public Schools
• Marianne O'Grady – deputy country director Afghanistan with Care International, during Fall of Kabul (2021)
• Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz – Professor Emerita of Ethnic Studies at California State University, East Bay
• James Van Praagh – self-proclaimed medium, recipient of the 2012 Pigasus Award in the category "Refusal to face reality"
• Alice Fong Yu (1905–2000) – first Chinese American public school teacher in California

Faculty

• Craig Abaya – artist
• Rabab Abdulhadi (born 1955), Palestinian-born American scholar, activist, educator, editor, and an academic director.^[53]
• Kim Addonizio – poet, novelist
• Dale Allender – educator
• Herbert Blau (1926–2013) – theater director, co-director of the San Francisco Actor's Workshop, 1953–1965
• Zita Cabello-Barrueto – professor, activist ^[54]
• Jeffery Paul Chan – professor of Asian American studies and English
• Philip Choy (1926–2017) – historian
• Larry Clark – member of L.A. Rebellion School of Black Filmmakers^[55]
• Walter Van Tilburg Clark – founder of the Creative Writing program; author of The Ox-Bow Incident
• John Collier Jr. (1913–1992) – anthropologist
• August Coppola (1936–2009) – Dean of Creative Arts
• Angela Davis (born 1944) – professor of ethnic studies
• Roland De Wolk – journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Richard Festinger – composer
• Bennett Friedman – musician, saxophonist
• Gloria Frym – poet, fiction writer, and essayist
• Sally Miller Gearhart – feminist, science fiction writer, and political activist
• Vartan Gregorian – former professor, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York
• John Gutmann (1905–1998) – photographer
• Milton Halberstadt (1919–2000) – photographer, artist
• John Handy – jazz musician
• Nathan Hare – first coordinator of black studies, founding publisher of The Black Scholar, sociologist, psychologist
• S. I. Hayakawa (1906–1992) – former SFSU president, and U.S. Senator
• Paul Hoover – poet
• Ralf Hotchkiss – Distinguished Research Scientist in the Department of Engineering
• Jules Irving (1925–1979) – actor, director, co-director of the San Francisco Actors' Workshop, 1953–1965, and artistic director of the Repertory Company of Lincoln Center, NYC
• Persis Karim (b. 1962) – poet, editor, the Neda Nobari Distinguished Chair and director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies^[56]
• John Keith Irwin (1929–2010) – professor of sociology^[57]
• Russell Jeung – professor of sociology, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate
• Luis Kemnitzer (1928–2006) – anthropologist, political activist
• Dean H. Kenyon – Professor Emeritus of Biology, author of Of Pandas and People, one of the main proponents of intelligent design
• Michael Krasny – professor of English
• Catherine Kudlick – professor of history, director of the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability
• David Kuraoka – ceramic artist
• Bruce A. Manning – professor of chemistry and biochemistry
• Eric Mar – lecturer on Asian American Studies, politician, member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
• Geoff Marcy – astronomer, discoverer of more than 150 extrasolar planets
• David Matsumoto – psychologist
• Joseph McBride – author and film historian
• Dave McElhatton (1928–2010) – journalist, evening news anchor
• Sandra Lee McKay – linguist
• Jan Millsapps – writer, filmmaker
• Mahmood Monshipouri (born 1952) – scholar, author, educator
• Wright Morris (1910–1998) – novelist and photographer, professor of English (1962-1975)
• Alejandro Murguía – San Francisco Poet Laureate (2012)
• Pete Najarian – writer
• Jacob Needleman – philosopher of religion
• Bill Nichols – Professor Emeritus in the Cinema Department
• Roger Nixon (1921–2009) – composer, musician
• Peter Orner – writer
• Wayne Peterson – composer, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Stan Rice (1942–2002) – professor of English and creative writing
• Moses Rischin – historian
• Stephen Rodefer (1940–2015) – poet
• Theodore Roszak (1933–2011) – historian, author of The Making of a Counter Culture^[58]
• Vic Rowen (1919–2013) – football player and coach
• Carol Lee Sanchez – poet, visual artist, essayist
• Irving Saraf (1932–2012) – Academy Award-winning film director and producer, former professor of film production^[59]
• James Schevill (1920–2009) – poet, critic, and playwright
• Anita Silvers – (1940–2019) – philosopher of science, disability rights activist
• Nick Sousanis – cartoonist
• Askia M. Touré – poet, professor, and activist associated with the Black Arts Movement
• Bas van Fraassen – Philosopher of Science, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at SFSU, Fellow of the British Academy, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Sylvia Solochek Walters – Professor Emeritus of Art, artist and printmaker
• Carleton Washburne (1889–1968) – author and educational reformer
• Roger Woodward – pianist
• Sachi Cunningham – PBS FRONTLINE/World producer and director of photography, Los Angeles Times video journalist, journalism professor
• Doug Siebum – professional audio engineer