SF State Art课程旨在为学生提供一门文科大学背景下视觉艺术的历史和实践方面的知情指导。其课程和教学的指导原则是相信艺术是解释人类经验的重要手段，并且是社会发展，理解和反思自身的基本机制。它支持大学的使命，即提供指导，以促进对旧金山湾区及周边地区的奖学金，自由，人类多样性以及文化镶嵌的尊重和欣赏，并鼓励在包容的世界观中进行批判性思考。
The SF State Art program is designed to provide students with intellectually informed instruction in the histories and practices of the visual arts within the context of a liberal arts university. The guiding principal of its curricula and instruction is the belief that art is an important means to interpret human experience, and is a fundamental mechanism by which a society evolves, understands, and reflects upon itself. It supports the university mission to offer instruction that promotes respect for and appreciation of scholarship, freedom, human diversity, and the cultural mosaic of the San Francisco Bay area and beyond, and encourages critical thinking within an inclusive worldview.