Kai-Yu Hsu: Professor of Humanities; Foreign Languages and Comparative Literature

Kai-Yu Hsu. 1959. Professor of Humanities; Foreign Languages and Comparative Literature. B.A. (1944) National Tsaing Hua University, China; MA (1948) University of Oregon; Ph.D. (1959) Stanford University. Hsu developed Chinese instruction and curriculum in the United States; He directed the Carnegie Chinese Project to integrate Chinese language programs in the secondary school system. Died in mudslide in 1982. Hsu came to San Francisco State in 1959 as a noted philosopher to be director of the Asian American Studies Program. He was a poet and calligrapher, but began to paint during the San Francisco State Strike of 1968-69. In January 1982, Hsu perished in a tragic accident when during the terrible storms when mud engulfed his home. One of Hsu’s paintings hung over the fireplace in the University Club until 2005, when it was returned to his family. [Now in University Archives] A dawn redwood from Szechuan Province and a rock from the Sierra in the courtyard of the HSS building were dedicated in his memory on December 12, 1982. [Cross-reference with Leo Chen and Maurice Tseng as founders of Chinese Language program] [His photographs of the Strike are digitized: https://digital-collections.library.sfsu.edu/Documents/Detail/blood-on-pavement-san-francisco-state-college-strike-1968-1969/3451.