San Francisco State University

This author of the bestselling memoir, "The Middle Place," recalls SF State as a great school where she was humbled by 1,000 page-a-week reading assignments and privileged to have professors like Michael Krasny and Bruce Avery.

This head of the thriving Sugar Bowl Bakery sharpened his business acumen at SF State, where he not only got a great education, but also met his future wife, Cindy, when the two were assigned to work together on a class project.