Legendary journalist Betty Medsger — the first full-time female faculty member in San Francisco State University’s Journalism Department in the late 1970s, department chair in the 1980s, and founder of the university’s Center for the Integration and Improvement of Journalism (CIIJ) in 1990 — returned to the Bay Area in April to discuss her new book, “The Burglary,” with media and friends.

The book details the activist raid on a Pennsylvania FBI office in 1971 and the theft of secret records collected during the Hoover years. The burglars delivered copies of these to Medsger, then a Washington Post reporter. Unlike peers at some other major media receiving copies, Medsger delved into the material and reported contents.

San Francisco State’s Journalism Department faculty celebrated at San Francisco’s City Club with Medsger. Photo (front, left to right): Authors Seth Rosenfeld and Betty Medsger, Professors Yvonne Daley, Jon Funabiki; (rear, left to right) Jesse Garnier, Venise Wagner, Cristina Azocar, Rachele Kanigel, Jim Toland, Ken Kobre.