Professor Emeritus: Amy Hittner

Amy Hittner, Emerita faculty in the Department of Counseling, a long-time devoted community member for the university, department and San Francisco community passed away on October 23. Her contributions and commitment to social justice and increasing access to education and employment has touched countless students and alumni.   Amy graduated from San Francisco State University with a Master of Arts in Counseling in 1969 and became a school counselor. She was hired by SF State in 1977 and was appointed to a faculty position in the Department of Counseling in 1982. In addition to her service as faculty, Amy served as the Department Chair from 1992-1995 and then from 1995-1997 served as Associate Dean of the College of Health and Human Services (now College of Health and Social Sciences).   While at SF State, Amy was Principal Investigator and Director of two multi-million dollar federally funded grants. As part of the Safe Start federal grant, Dr. Hittner developed a consortium of 8 local community colleges to train pre-school teachers in violence prevention and intervention techniques. For the HealthPath grant, Dr. Hittner partnered with staff at the San Francisco Unified School District, the City College of San Francisco and the University of California at San Francisco Schools of Dentistry and Medicine to create programs to encourage disadvantaged high school and college students to pursue careers in the health professions.   Amy retired from the Department in 2004   Since her retirement, Amy continued to contribute to the community as Director of the San Francisco Democratic Women in Action, service as a board member for the Older Women’s League, and Legacy Film Festival on Aging.  Honoring their mother, Amy and her brother, started the Sophie Hittner Scholarship to honor single parent undergraduate students. They created the award to “honor Sophie Hittner and her dedication to the concept of family”. Following this commitment, in 2013, Amy created another scholarship, the “Amy Hittner Counseling Scholarship Fund” to be awarded annually to a student of “exceptional scholarship and a clear, demonstrated dedication to multicultural persons."