COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SCIENCES SCHOLARSHIP PORTFOLIO (2013) | Page 126

Urban Studies and Planning
The Department of Urban Studies and Planning at San Francisco State University prepares students
to address issues of urban planning and policy in cities throughout the world. Our department
is founded upon the conviction that urban universities have a unique opportunity, as well as
responsibility, to work with their communities both in educating future urban professionals and in
developing innovative approaches to critical urban issues. In addition to traditional scholarship, our
faculty engage in applied research that educates students and uses their expertise to meet community
needs.

Student Honors
Jamilla Afandi, Hood Nominee, exemplifies students at SF State. The child
of Vietnam War refugees, her mother, a devout Muslim, comes from the
indigenous Cham people and her father is Chinese and Yemini. Jamilla was
raised speaking Cham, Vietnamese, and Arabic. The death of Jamilla’s father
at an early age threw the family into abject poverty. From then on, Jamilla
and her siblings worked along with their mother to keep food on the table.
As an undergraduate, Jamilla worked three jobs while taking a full-time
course load. Jamilla began preparing to be an architect while in high school,
where she participated in Build SF and A.C.E. Mentor and interned in two
private architecture firms. At SF State, in addition to her coursework in Urban
Studies and Planning, Jamilla worked with IBA Architects, where she gained
hands on architectural experience working on housing projects, an elementary
school, and practiced her drafting skills by drawing floor plans, sections,
elevations, and code complaint call-outs. Jamilla is among the hardest
working students we have had in Urban Studies and Planning. Serious,
responsible, dedicated, determined, creative, ambitious, and intelligent, she
has many leadership qualities and is incredibly supportive of her fellow
students. She has mentored dozens of students at SF State and recently
produced a Guidebook on how to apply to architecture schools to make the
process easier for future students. Jamilla has been accepted to both Columbia
University and University of Michigan schools of architecture, and will begin
her studies at one of these
institutions in the fall.
Julie Shaw Tonroy is a mother and professional whose career has spanned
from magazine publishing to trade show a