
Department of Creative Writing Welcomes George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chairs
Tonya M. Foster (left) and Joseph Cassara (right)
Novelist Joseph Cassara and Poet Tonya M. Foster Join Faculty
San Francisco State University has named Joseph Cassara and Tonya M. Foster the George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chairs in the Creative Writing department. Cassara, who most recently taught in the department of English at Fresno State University, joined San Francisco State as an assistant professor of creative writing. Foster most recently taught writing and literature at the California College of the Arts in Oakland. She is currently an assistant professor of poetry at SF State.
Both faculty will contribute to the literary life of the Bay Area by holding public lectures and readings as well as by spearheading events with visiting authors, says San Francisco State Creative Writing professor and department chair Nona Caspers. The University selected Foster and Cassara partly because of the significant contributions they’ve made to the literatures of the African diaspora and Latinx cultures.
"They will add to the mix of cultural, aesthetic and community perspectives of an innovative, rigorous Creative Writing department."
- Nona Caspers, Creative Writing professor and department chair
"Their literary work and work as artists who care about education as a practice of freedom - to question, to grieve, to celebrate - will help keep us awake and in motion as a multi-voiced campus and Bay Area community."
- Nona Caspers, Creative Writing professor and department chair
Watch SF State’s video about Joseph Cassara, George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chair in Creative Writing
For more information about donating to the College of Liberal and Creative Arts:
Amanda Todd
Director of Development
(Creative Arts)
College of Liberal & Creative Arts
Email: amandatodd@sfsu.edu
Phone: (415) 405-3827
Bonnie Feinberg
Senior Director of Development
(Liberal Arts)
College of Liberal & Creative Arts
Email: bfeinberg@sfsu.edu
Phone: (415) 338-6363