California Polytechnic State University At San Luis Obispo
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California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt also known as Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California or California State Polytechnic Universit ...
in Arcata, California or
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, CPP, or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo. See the ''name'' section of this article for more infor ...
in Pomona, California. See the ''
name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A persona ...
'' section of this article for more information.
or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo,) is a
public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universi ...
in
San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Mis ...
, located directly adjacent to the City of
San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...
. It is the oldest of three polytechnics in the
California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...
system. The university is organized into six colleges offering 65
bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...
and 39
master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo primarily focuses on undergraduate education and as of fall 2020, Cal Poly had 21,447 undergraduate and 840 graduate students. The academic focus is on combining technical and professional curriculums with the arts and humanities. Most of the university's athletic teams participate in the
Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...
. Cal Poly is eligible to be designated as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander serving institution (AANAPISI).


History

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was established as the California Polytechnic School in 1901 when Governor Henry T. Gage signed the California Polytechnic School Bill after a campaign by a journalist
Myron Angel Myron Angel (1827-1911) was a historian and journalist who led efforts to found California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. He was born in Oneonta, New York. Myron W. Angel of Milford, New York, was admitted to the U.S. ...
. The polytechnic school held its first classes on October 1, 1903, to 20 students, offering secondary level courses of study, which took three years to complete. The school continued to grow steadily, except during a period from the mid-1910s to the early 1920s when
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
led to drops in enrollment and drastic budget cuts forced fewer class offerings. In 1924, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was placed under the control of the California State Board of Education. At the height of the Great Depression, the cash-strapped state government discussed the prospect of converting Cal Poly into a state prison. In 1933, the Board of Education changed Cal Poly San Luis Obispo into a two-year technical and
vocational A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious c ...
school. The institution began to offer Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1940, with the first baccalaureate exercises held in 1942. The school was renamed the California State Polytechnic College in 1947 to better reflect its higher education offerings, and in 1949, a
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
degree in education was added. In 1954, long after deciding to ''not'' turn Cal Poly into a state prison, the state government finally opened that prison at a separate site one mile (1.6 km) northwest of Cal Poly's campus. In 1960, control of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and all other state colleges was transferred from the State Board of Education to an independent Board of Trustees, which later became the
California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...
system. The college was authorized to offer Master of Science degrees in 1967, and from then to 1970, the school's curriculum was reorganized into different units, such as the School of Science and Math, the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the School of Architecture. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's FM radio station,
KCPR KCPR (91.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station that is licensed to San Luis Obispo, California. Owned by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, the station is operated by students from its on-campus studio locat ...
, began as a senior project in 1968. The
California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...
changed the school's official name again in 1971 to California Polytechnic State University, and since the 1970s the university has seen steady enrollment growth and building construction. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo celebrated its centennial in 2001 and kicked off a $225 million fundraising campaign, the largest fund-raising effort undertaken in CSU history. The Centennial Campaign raised over $264 million from over 81,000 donors, more than tripling the university's endowment from $43 million to over $140 million. On May 3, 2017, Cal Poly received one of the largest gifts towards public education to be received in California from Cal Poly alumnus William L. and Linda Frost in the amount of $110 million.


Relationship with Cal Poly Pomona

Cal Poly Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, CPP, or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo. See the ''name'' section of this article for more infor ...
began as a satellite campus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1938 when a completely equipped school and farm were donated by Charles Voorhis and his son
Jerry Voorhis Horace Jeremiah "Jerry" Voorhis (April 6, 1901 – September 11, 1984) was a Democratic politician and educator from California who served five terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1937 to 1947, representing the 12th ...
of
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...
, and was initially called the Voorhis Unit. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation then donated an horse ranch in
Pomona, California Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Pol ...
to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1949. Located about one mile (1.6 km) from the Voorhis campus, the two became known as Cal Poly Kellogg-Voorhis. Cal Poly Kellogg-Voorhis broke off from Cal Poly in 1966, becoming the fully independent university, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). Since 1949, the two campuses have cooperated on creating a
float Float may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * ''Float'' (Aesop Rock album), 2000 * ''Float'' (Flogging Molly album), 2008 * ''Float'' (Styles P album), 2013 Songs * "Float" (Tim and the Glory Boys song), 2022 * "Float", by Bush ...
for the
Rose Parade The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if N ...
. Today, the long-running float program still boasts floats designed and constructed entirely by students year-round on both campuses.


1960 football team plane crash

On October 29, 1960, a chartered plane carrying the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team, hours after a loss to
Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...
, crashed on takeoff at the
Toledo Express Airport Toledo Express Airport, officially Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport , is a civil-military airport in Swanton and Monclova townships west of Toledo in western Lucas County, Ohio, United States. It opened in 1954-55 as a replacement to t ...
in
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
. Twenty-two of the 48 people on board were killed, including 16 players.


Female admissions

In 1903, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo opened as a
coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
school with 20 students enrolled, 16 new male students and 4 new female students. In 1929, California Governor C. C. Young banned women from studying at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo starting from 1930. It wasn't until 1956 when the institution once again began admitting female students. The university remains coeducational today, with women constituting 48.4% of the Fall 2018 total student population.


Name

The school is typically referred to as "Cal Poly", or simply "Poly". The university's style guide indicates its official names are "California Polytechnic State University" and "Cal Poly." When necessary to distinguish between Cal Poly and its former satellite campus, Cal Poly Pomona, the lengthier "Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo" is occasionally used. The
California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...
system's style guide identifies the university as "California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo" and the elided "Cal Poly San Luis Obispo." Although Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is part of the
California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...
, its naming convention does not follow that of most campuses within the system (for example, the CSU campus in San Diego bears the full official name "
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
" and the CSU campus in Fullerton uses the name "
California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...
"). Thus, "San Luis Obispo State University" or "California State University, San Luis Obispo" are not alternate names for the University.


Directors and presidents

* Leroy Anderson, 1902–1907 * Leroy Burns Smith, 1908–1914 * Robert Weir Ryder, 1914–1921 * Nicholas Ricciardi, 1921–1924 * Margaret Chase (Acting), 1924 * Benjamin Ray Crandall, 1924–1933 * Julian A. McPhee, 1933–1966 * Dale W. Andrews (acting), 1966–1967 * Robert E. Kennedy, 1967–1979 * Warren J. Baker, 1979–2010 * Robert Glidden (Acting), 2010–2011 * Jeffrey D. Armstrong, 2011–present


Campus

Cal Poly has one of the largest college campuses in the United States. It owns 9,178 acres and is the second largest land-holding university in California. The lands are used for student education and include the main campus, two nearby agricultural lands, and two properties in Santa Cruz County. Part of the Cal Poly property is the
Swanton Pacific Ranch Swanton Pacific Ranch is a ranch in Santa Cruz County, California, outside the town of Davenport. The ranch is owned and operated by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) for educational and research in sustainable agriculture. The ...
, a ranch located in Santa Cruz County, California, outside the town of Davenport. The ranch provides educational and research opportunities, encompasses rangeland, livestock, and forestry operations for the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental sciences, and fosters Cal Poly's Learn by Doing teaching philosophy of with emphasis on sustainable management of agricultural practices with a mix of laboratory experiments.


Expansion

The Cal Poly Master Plan calls to increase student population from approximately 17,000 students to 20,900 students by 2020–2021. To maintain the university's Learn by Doing philosophy and low class sizes, the master plan calls for an increase in classrooms, laboratories, and professors.


Recent construction

A dormitory style student community was completed in the summer of 2018. Located at the corner of Slack Street and Grand Avenue, it consists of seven 3- to 5-story concrete framed freshman residence hall buildings with 1,475 beds and an adjacent four-level parking structure. Additional community space for the housing complex and the campus wrap the parking structure on three sides. These spaces include a small café, community room, game room, mail room, welcome center, offices, and maintenance shop. Site improvements include a large open space in the center of the project for activities and group events, volleyball and basketball courts, and outdoor gathering spaces at each building. The Warren J. Baker Center for Science and Mathematics was dedicated November 1, 2013. It replaced the aging "spider" Science Building 52, built in the 1950s, with a new structure. The $119 million, six-story building was made possible by voter-approved state education bonds and $18 million in private donations. The Center adds new laboratories, classrooms, and offices for the physics, chemistry and soil science programs, as well as an open area and terraces for student study and meeting places. The top floor of the Center houses labs and offices for the school's Western Coatings Technologies Center and the Environmental Biotechnology Institute. It is the second largest and most technologically advanced structure on campus. In the space between the remaining wings of the old "Spider Building" and the new Center is Centennial Park, a landscaped central green.


Current and planned construction

A $20 million wine and viticulture center is projected to open in 2020. The new $123 million Science and Agriculture Teaching and Research Complex is scheduled to open fall 2021; a renovation of The Robert E. Kennedy Library is expected to begin no sooner than January 2022 and cost $65 million. In addition, the William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation, a $124 million interdisciplinary research center, broke ground in May 2019.


Commuting

Campus parking is limited. In its most recent survey of available parking spaces on campus, the Cal Poly University Police reported 2,892 general purpose parking spaces, 3,492 dorm resident spaces, and 8,648 total spaces. In its facilities Master Plan, the university admits that while more parking spots will be added, the actual ratio of parking to students will decrease since enrollment is expected to increase sharply. To resolve the disparity, the Master Plan calls on the university to reduce the demand for individual vehicle parking. As part of that plan, the university has constructed additional dorms and has tried to make campus life more desirable. In addition, Cal Poly Commuter and Access Services has successfully promoted alternatives to commuting in single occupancy vehicles: in the past 10 years, bus use has more than doubled, and the use of bicycles has close to quadrupled. Currently, there are over 6,500 bike rack spaces and 224 secure bike lockers available on campus; 57% of students and 33% of faculty/staff live within 5 miles of the Cal Poly campus, an easy bike commute. The city's SLO Transit bus system provides service to and from campus. Cal Poly financially supports SLO Transit with funding from parking citation revenue (not from state general funds nor from student tuition), so faculty, staff, and students ride for free. Bus service throughout the county is provided by SLO Regional Transit Authority. Discounted passes are available to the Cal Poly community.


Academics


Colleges

The university currently offers 65
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
s, 39
master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
, 84 minors and 13 credentials in six colleges: * College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences * College of Architecture and Environmental Design *
Orfalea College of Business The Orfalea College of Business is one of six colleges at California Polytechnic State University. History The college was first established in 1959 as a Business Department in the Sciences Division. In 1962, the Business Department became part ...
*
College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...
* College of Liberal Arts * College of Science and Mathematics


Bachelor's projects

All undergraduate students at Cal Poly are required to complete a senior project. This requirement has been in place since the 1980s, and has set Cal Poly apart from other Cal State campuses. The senior project is intended to be a capstone experience for students receiving a baccalaureate degree by integrating theory and application from across a student's undergraduate educational experiences. The senior project consists of one or more of the following: a design or construction experience, an experiment, a self-guided study or research project, a presentation, a report based on an internship, co-op, or service learning experience, and/or a public portfolio display or performance. Senior projects have often led to students obtaining jobs or recognition for their work. In July 2011, a company created from a Senior Project, Punchd, was acquired by
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
. Jamba Juice, founded as "Juice Club", was inspired by the Senior Project idea but was founded after the founders had graduated. On campus towards Poly Canyon, a popular area known as 'Architecture Graveyard' has many architecture Senior Projects, including experimental structures and unconventional architecture.


Admissions

Enrolled Fall Freshman Statistics
Cal Poly's admissions process is "more selective" according to ''U.S. News & World Report''. For the class entering Fall 2019, 15,366 freshmen were accepted out of 54,072 applicants, a 28.4% acceptance rate, and 4,613 enrolled. Fall 2019 entering students had an average GPA of 3.99; the middle 50% range of
SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
scores was 620–700 for reading and writing, and 620–740 for math, while the ACT Composite range was 26–32. Women constituted 50.5% of the incoming freshmen class, men 49.5%. For Fall 2019 admitted transfer students, Cal Poly accepted 1,622 of 11,109 applicants, a 14.6% acceptance rate. Cal Poly requires students to declare a major when applying for admission, and the university then admits the most competitive applicants within each major based on GPA and SAT or ACT scores. As a result, changing majors at the university is not guaranteed. Each major has a specific change of major plan which includes required classes to be taken while maintaining a certain GPA (usually between 2.5 and 2.75) in order to be considered as a candidate. In some cases, students wishing to change majors transfer to other universities.


Rankings

According to '' U.S. News & World Reports 2023 "Best Regional Universities West Rankings," Cal Poly is ranked second overall in the western United States out of 127 regional schools whose highest degree is a Master's, first in "Top Public Schools", first in "Best Colleges for
Veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...
", first in "Most Innovative Schools", 2 for "Best
Undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
Teaching", 18 best value school, 46 in Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects and tied for 97th in "Top Performers on Social Mobility." The same report ranked the College of Engineering seventh out of 220 public and private undergraduate engineering schools in the U.S. where doctorates are not offered with national program rankings of: *
Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...
: first *
Computer Engineering Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...
: first **
Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
: second **
Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
: second ** Aerospace Engineering: second According to '' U.S. News & World Reports 2022 "Best Regional Universities West Rankings," Cal Poly is ranked second overall in the western United States out of 127 regional schools whose highest degree is a Master's, first in "Top Public Schools", first in "Best Colleges for
Veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...
", first in "Most Innovative Schools", third for "Best
Undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
Teaching", 32 best value school, 46 in Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects and tied for 94th in "Top Performers on Social Mobility." The same report ranked the College of Engineering seventh out of 220 public and private undergraduate engineering schools in the U.S. where doctorates are not offered with national program rankings of: *
Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...
: second *
Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
: second *
Computer Engineering Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...
: second *
Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
: second According to '' U.S. News & World Reports 2021 "Best Regional Universities West Rankings," Cal Poly is ranked 3rd overall in the western United States out of 127 regional schools whose highest degree is a Master's, first in "Top Public Schools", first in "Best Colleges for Veterans", tied for first in "Most Innovative Schools", second for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", and tied for 96th in "Top Performers on Social Mobility". The same report ranked the College of Engineering eighth out of 220 public and private undergraduate engineering schools in the U.S. where doctorates are not offered with national program rankings of: *
Industrial Engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...
/
Manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...
: first **
Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...
: second **
Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
: second **
Computer Engineering Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...
: second ** Aerospace Engineering: second ***
Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
: third ***
Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...
: third ''
Washington Monthly ''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alternat ...
'' ranked Cal Poly 26th out of 614 schools in the U.S. "National Universities - Masters" category in 2020 based on its contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and service. ''
Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
'' magazine ranked Cal Poly 51st in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 "Best Colleges for Your Money" edition and 33rd in its list of the 50 best public schools in the U.S. Cal Poly ranked 40th in the U.S. for in-state students in ''
PayScale Payscale is an American compensation software and data company which helps employers manage employee compensation and employees understand their worth in the job market. The website was launched on January 1, 2002. It was founded by Joe Giordano a ...
'' 2019 "Best Value Colleges", which ranked 2,006 colleges and universities for
return on investment Return on investment (ROI) or return on costs (ROC) is a ratio between net income (over a period) and investment (costs resulting from an investment of some resources at a point in time). A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favourably ...
(ROI). According to ''PayScales projections, Cal Poly has a 20-year net return on investment of $716,000. This ROI is the 2nd highest in the California State University system and is higher than all of the University of California schools except UC Berkeley. In 2019, ''
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'' magazine rated Cal Poly No. 115 out of the 650 best private and public colleges, universities and service academies in America. In 2008, the first year of the list, Cal Poly was ranked No. 369 out of 569. For 2019, ''
Kiplinger Kiplinger ( ) is an American publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice which is a subsidiary of Future plc. Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc., was a closely held company managed for more than nine decades by three generations ...
'' ranked Cal Poly 19th out of the top 174 best-value public colleges and universities in the nation, and 3rd in California. In the 2019 edition of "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools" published by the architecture and design journal ''DesignIntelligence'', Cal Poly was ranked the No. 3 most admired undergraduate architecture program in the nation. The landscape architecture program was ranked 6th most admired in the country and 1st in the Western region. Cal Poly's Orfalea College of Business was ranked 59th among U.S. undergraduate business colleges in ''
Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
s 2016 list (the latest).


Financial


Tuition

Due to continued reductions in state funding, Fall 2011 fees for the average student reached approximately $2,600 per quarter. For comparison, the Spring 2002 fees for the average student were $760 per quarter. While total yearly fees for an in-state student were just $2,976 in 2002, students entering in fall 2011 faced an annual fee of over $7,900. Of the students enrolled in fall 2014, 61.6% of undergraduates and 70.0% of first-time freshmen received some form of financial aid in 2014–15. The amount of financial aid awarded in 2014–15 totaled $151.5 million, of which 64.3% came from federal funds, 11.9% came from state funds and 17.5% came from institutional funds. Loans comprised 55.6% of the financial aid, 31.2% came in the form of grants, and 10.2% in scholarships.


Endowment

Cal Poly's endowment more than tripled during its Centennial Campaign from $43.1 million to $140.1 million. Growth is attributed to gifts and prudent stewardship. However, since 2007, the university's endowment has fluctuated dramatically, going from $181.7 million in 2007 to $130.9 million in 2009, before rebounding to $227.7 million in 2019, the 301st largest of 785 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.


Student life


Residence halls

Cal Poly's on-campus student housing of 6,239 spaces is the largest student housing program in the
California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...
system. Cal Poly housed 35.9% of fall 2015 undergraduates in 28 dorms on campus, and 98.7% of first-time freshmen lived on campus. In addition, 28.7% of Cal Poly sophomores lived on campus in fall 2015. There are five distinct groups of
residence halls A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
on the Cal Poly campus. The five North Mountain halls, constructed in the 1950s, are the oldest on campus still used for residential purposes. The six "red-brick" halls were completed shortly afterward in 1959. The Sierra Madre and Yosemite halls were finished by 1968, and the Cerro Vista Apartments were completed in 2003. The Poly Canyon Village housing complex, with a similar style as the Cerro Vista apartments, was completed in 2009 at a cost of $300 million, making it the California State University system's largest construction project to date. In 2018, Cal Poly opened the seven-building complex yakʔitʸutʸu dorms on the site of the old Grand Avenue surface parking lot. In addition to being state-of-the-art living spaces, the yakʔitʸutʸu residence halls serve to honor the heritage and culture of the Indigenous People of San Luis Obispo County, the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash tribe. Each of the residence halls represent a different living community on campus. The six red-brick halls are the Living-Learning Program halls for the different colleges of Cal Poly. The five North Mountain halls are organizationally a part of the engineering Living-Learning Program. The Sierra Madre and Yosemite halls are the First-Year Connection Program halls and focus on freshman-oriented transition programs. All buildings house students of all majors. The Cerro Vista Apartments is the Transitions community for first-year and second-year students. Poly Canyon Village is the Sophomore Success Program community, which is open to primarily to sophomores, but also juniors and seniors, and helps students transition into independent living.


Greek life

Greek organizations have been at Cal Poly since 1949. The Greek community consists of three governing councils at Cal Poly: United Sorority and Fraternity Council (USFC), Interfraternity Council (IFC), and Panhellenic Association (PHA). Cal Poly also offers Greek organizations based on academic fields of study.


Week of Welcome orientation program

The Week of Welcome program, more commonly known as "WOW", serves as a volunteer-based orientation program for new students during the first week after move-in during the beginning of the school year in September. Its purpose is to introduce students to the campus and the community and prepare them for a successful college career. Freshmen are placed in a group with 10–12 other new students while transfer students are in groups of 40–60; each group is led by two current Cal Poly student orientation leaders. The "WOW" groups participate in an array of orientation events in addition to activities both on and off campus. In 2010, the awareness section of the program won the 2010 National Orientation Directors Association (NODAC) Media & Publications Showcase Award in the Emerging Technologies. The awareness section was entirely developed by student volunteers. The program started in 1956 and is now the largest volunteer orientation program in the nation.


Cal Poly Recreation Center

The Cal Poly Recreation Center is the on-campus student recreation center.


Clubs and independent student organizations

Cal Poly has many recognized clubs and independent student organizations operating on campus. Included (a full list available on th
Associated Students, Incorporated
website) are over 150 groups, including, among many others, cultural clubs and exchanges, mathematics and science clubs
improv
an
sketch comedy
clubs, religious and atheistic groups, service organizations, engineering research and development clubs, professional development organizations, a perennial Rose Parade Float design program, LGBTQ+ and Multicultural groups, competitive and social athletic teams, and academic honors clubs. Especially impressive are the engineering clubs and independent student organizations on campus such as
Prove Lab Proof most often refers to: * Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition * Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength Proof may also refer to: Mathematics and formal logic * Formal proof, a con ...
, PolySat,
CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...
, and QL+.


Racial and economic diversity of student body

, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has the least racially diverse student population of all
California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...
and
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
campuses. On a national scale, however, Cal Poly is ranked 240 out of 2,475 colleges and is considered "highly diverse" by collegefactual.com. President Armstrong has been working to increase the percentage of non-white students on campus, with the share of white students in the university student body decreasing from 63% to 55%. The City of San Luis Obispo is 84.5% white. About 84.2% of the students attending California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo come from within California. The ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' reported that the university "was ranked one of the nation’s worst serving institutions for Latino student success." The ''Education Trust'' lists the university as an "Engine of Inequality" because "very few students come from working-class and low-income families." It's one among 20 public institutions in the U.S. with this negative distinction.


Relations with local community

Though generally regarded as a positive for the area due to the economic impact, Cal Poly has received criticism for both the behavior of students upsetting the community, and the effects on local housing market. Parties and gatherings have gotten wilder due to an increased student body size and social media presence, leading to the university being named the #9 party school in California by Niche. In 2017, the median home price in San Luis Obispo was $530,000. In May 2018, Zillow estimated that the median home value has increased to $694,027. While the city has been building hundreds of single family housing on the south end of town, large areas of the north end in older neighborhoods have been converted to rental student housing because of a major increase in the number of students admitted to and attending the university and the lack of university supplied housing. The university is currently building housing on campus to attempt to house up to 65% of students and plans to cap enrollment at 25,000, meaning that 11,250 students must find off-campus housing. This has created an affordability crisis for the city itself, as most apartments that would generally be occupied by lower income families and individuals are now occupied solely by Cal Poly students, reducing supply and pushing low-income residents outside of the city. Approximately 27% of the residents live below the poverty line, a similar percentage to
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
.


Athletics

Cal Poly fields 21 varsity sports (10 for men and 11 for women) and participates in the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
's Division I. Cal Poly is a member of the
Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...
, except for football, wrestling, women's indoor track & field and both swimming and diving teams (none of which are sponsored by the Big West). Cal Poly's football team competes in the
Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...
; the wrestling team is a member of the
Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
; indoor track & field is independent; and swimming and diving competes in the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...
. Prior to joining Division I in 1994, the school won 35
NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...
national team championships and competed in the
California Collegiate Athletic Association The California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. All of its current members are public universities, and upon UC ...
(CCAA). Cal Poly has two mascots. The character represented in costume or cartoon is named Musty the Mustang. The live mascot, a living mustang, is named Chase, after Margaret Chase, the university's second president. Cal Poly also offers various non-varsity (club) sports. The Mustangs play
college rugby College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States of America. Seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side variants of rugby union are most commonly played. Most collegiate rugby programs do not fall under the ...
in the California Conference of Division 1-A. The Mustangs are often ranked in the Top 25 nationwide, and their rugby sevens team has been ranked as high as No. 7. The Mustangs finished No. 8 in the nation at the 2011
USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships The USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships is an annual competition among the top college rugby teams in the country to decide a national champion in rugby sevens. USA Rugby organized the championship to capitalize on the surge in pop ...
, and 12th at the 2012 competition. The
Battle for the Golden Horseshoe The Battle for the Golden Horseshoe is an annual rivalry college football game played between the UC Davis Aggies and the Cal Poly Mustangs. Although the two teams have met on the gridiron since 1939, the rivalry officially began in name with ...
is an annual rivalry
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...
game played between the
UC Davis Aggies The UC Davis Aggies (also referred to as the Ags or Aggies) are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Davis. Seventeen of the school's 25 intercollegiate sports - baseball, men's basketball, men's cross country, men's ...
and the Cal Poly Mustangs. Cal Poly has The Mustang Marching Band of over 200 students who play at football, basketball and volleyball games.


Incidents and controversies


Poly Royal Riots

On April 29, 1990, San Luis Obispo police responded to a call of a bicyclist down at around 11pm. The activity drew heavily intoxicated crowds that began to get unruly. After unsuccessfully attempting to disperse the crowd, a mob began looting the nearby Campus Bottle Shoppe. The next day, dumpsters were set on fire during more rioting and 127 people were arrested.


Disappearance of Kristin Smart

On May 25, 1996, Cal Poly student Kristin Smart disappeared without a trace after a birthday party. The university and sheriff's department have been investigating leads, including excavating the land around the Cal Poly "P" on an adjoining hill. In 2017, the excavation of the area surrounding has been completed with articles found, however the sheriff's department has not yet released what the findings are. On April 13, 2021, Paul Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested and taken into custody in suspicion of Smart's disappearance. Their homes were searched, and investigators found numerous "items of interest". On October 18, 2022, a jury found Paul Flores guilty of murder, and his father, Ruben Flores, not guilty.


Crops House incident

In 2008, a university-owned house (known as Crops House) where agriculture students were given subsidized lodging in exchange for work on the school's farms hosted a Halloween party with decorations including a noose. A sign was also posted which read: “No
niggers In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in ca ...
,” along with a similar slur against
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
s. At a later date, the house displayed a
Confederate flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...
tacked above the entrance to the house while a large Confederate flag laid painted on a table in front of the house. This became a First Amendment free speech issue, with the university initially not evicting the students.


Blackface incident

In 2018, the
Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...
fraternity was suspended following a photo surfacing that showed a student wearing blackface. In response to further protests, President Armstrong suspended all Greek Life on campus indefinitely. This was followed with protests during Open House events for incoming freshmen. On May 4, 2018, President Armstrong announced yet another blackface incident that was mocking the prior incident. The incident is being investigated by the state.


Administrative organization


Four administrative divisions

The university is organized administratively into four divisions: Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Administration and Finance, and University Advancement. The academic division is organized into six colleges, each with its own dean. Academic Affairs also includes the Library, Research and Graduate Programs, and Information Technology Services.


Cal Poly Corporation

The Cal Poly Corporation is a public-benefit, nonprofit corporation and university auxiliary. It provides commercial services, fiscal services, and key support services to assist and promote the educational mission of Cal Poly and the California State University System (CSU). The Corporation engages only in those activities ancillary to state operation that are requested by Cal Poly's president and approved by the CSU. The corporation was founded in 1940 and was known as the Cal Poly Foundation until February 1, 2006.


Cal Poly Foundation

The Cal Poly Foundation is an auxiliary organization and
IRC Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat an ...
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
public charity that accepts and administers tax deductible gifts to the university. The Cal Poly Foundation leads campus philanthropic activity by supporting fundraising activities and investing and managing the campus endowments.


Cal Poly Extended Education

The Cal Poly Extended Education provides access to degree, certificate, and professional development programs and services of the university to the citizens of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Monterey Counties and through distance learning technologies to students across the country.


Associated Students Inc.

The Associated Students Inc. (ASI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation owned and operated by Cal Poly student leaders. ASI has an annual operating budget in excess of $12 million. ASI provides co-curricular experiences for students, faculty, and staff, including events, speakers, concerts, intramural sports, fitness programs, aquatics, outdoor adventure trips, craft center enrichment courses, club services, and child development. ASI manages the University Union, Recreation Center, Sports Complex, and Children's Center, totaling more than of campus facilities.


Alumni Association

The Cal Poly Alumni Association seeks to engage and serve alumni, to foster a lifelong connection between the university and its alumni, and to foster goodwill and support for the university. The association includes 15 regional and special interest chapters.


Notable alumni

Cal Poly has more than 150,000 alumni with the majority located in San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara and Los Angeles counties. Gibson-rl.jpg,
Robert L. Gibson Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson (born October 30, 1946), (Capt, USN, Ret.), is a former American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. A retired NASA astronaut, he also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1992 ...
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Abel Maldonado Abel O. Maldonado Jr. (born August 21, 1967) is an American politician who served as the 48th lieutenant governor of California from April 27, 2010 to January 10, 2011. As of 2022, he is the last Republican to serve as lieutenant governor of C ...
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John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...
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Doug LaMalfa Douglas Lee LaMalfa (born July 2, 1960) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 1st congressional district since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, his district, the second-largest in the state after th ...
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Farzad Nazem Farzad Nazem ( fa, فرزاد ناظم; born 1961), also known as Zod Nazem, was Yahoo!'s chief technology officer and one of its longest-serving executives. On May 30, 2007, at age 46, he announced that he would retire and leave Yahoo! in June ...
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Devin Nunes Devin Gerald Nunes (; born October 1, 1973) is an American businessman and politician who is chief executive officer of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). Before resigning from the House of Representatives and joining TMTG, Nunes was ...
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Ozzie Smith Osborne Earl Smith (born December 26, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Oz", Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball, winning the National ...
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"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...
Notable Alumni include: * Richard Bergquist, founder of
PeopleSoft PeopleSoft, Inc. is a company that provides human resource management systems (HRMS), Financial Management Solutions (FMS), supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM), and enterprise performance management (EPM) softwar ...
*
Tory Bruno Tory Bruno (born November 3, 1961 as Salvatore Thomas Bruno) is an American aerospace engineer and executive. He has been the CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA) since August 2014. Before ULA, he worked at Lockheed Martin, where he made the trans ...
, CEO of ULA *
Gregory Chamitoff Gregory Errol Chamitoff (born 6 August 1962) is a Canadian-born American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He has been to space twice, spending 6 months aboard the ISS across Expedition 17 and 18 in 2008, and another 15 days as part of STS-13 ...
,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
Astronaut *
Danding Cojuangco Eduardo "Danding" Murphy Cojuangco Jr. (June 10, 1935 – June 16, 2020) was a Filipino businessman and politician. He was the chairman and CEO of San Miguel Corporation, the largest food and beverage corporation in the Philippines and Sou ...
, former chairman and CEO of
San Miguel Corporation San Miguel Corporation, abbreviated as SMC, is a Philippine Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila. The company is one of the largest and most diversified congl ...
* Robert “Hoot” Gibson,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
Astronaut * Victor Glover,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
Astronaut * Noel Lee, founder of
Monster Cable Monster Inc. is an American company that manufactures and markets about 6,000 products, but is best known for audio and video cables. It also produces speakers, headphones, power strips, mobile accessories and audio devices for automobiles. The c ...
*
Abel Maldonado Abel O. Maldonado Jr. (born August 21, 1967) is an American politician who served as the 48th lieutenant governor of California from April 27, 2010 to January 10, 2011. As of 2022, he is the last Republican to serve as lieutenant governor of C ...
, Former California Lt. Governor *
John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...
, NFL Hall of Fame coach *
Farzad Nazem Farzad Nazem ( fa, فرزاد ناظم; born 1961), also known as Zod Nazem, was Yahoo!'s chief technology officer and one of its longest-serving executives. On May 30, 2007, at age 46, he announced that he would retire and leave Yahoo! in June ...
, Chief Technology Officer of
Yahoo Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...
*
Devin Nunes Devin Gerald Nunes (; born October 1, 1973) is an American businessman and politician who is chief executive officer of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). Before resigning from the House of Representatives and joining TMTG, Nunes was ...
,
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
*
David Nwaba David Ugochukwu Nwaba (born January 14, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Motor City Cruise of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for Santa Monica College and Cal Poly. High school career Nwaba attended ...
, shooting guard for the
Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...
*
Peter Oppenheimer Peter Oppenheimer is the former senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer of Apple Inc and has been a member of the board of directors of Goldman Sachs since 2014. Oppenheimer spent 18 years at Apple, reporting directly to CEO Tim Co ...
, Former Chief Financial Officer of
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*
Burt Rutan Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (; born June 17, 1943) is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record- ...
, aerospace pioneer *
M. Ward Matthew Stephen Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released ten studio albums since 19 ...
, musician *
Ozzie Smith Osborne Earl Smith (born December 26, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Oz", Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball, winning the National ...
,
Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
Major League Baseball player *
Rick Sturckow Frederick Wilford Sturckow (born August 11, 1961) is an engineer, retired United States Marine Corps officer, former NASA astronaut, and commercial spacecraft pilot. Sturckow is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. He flew on STS-88 and STS-1 ...
,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
Astronaut * William Swanson, former CEO of
Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliza ...
*
"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...
, comedic musician who recorded his
first song ''First Song'' is an album by the American jazz bassist Charlie Haden recorded in 1990 and released on the Italian Soul Note label in 1992.
in a bathroom at the school *
Mike Krukow Michael Edward Krukow (born January 21, 1952), nicknamed "Kruk", is an American former professional baseball player and sportscaster. As a starting pitcher, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and ...
, Major League Baseball player, current
San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
broadcaster. Was a pitcher on the Mustangs baseball team in the early 1970s, still holds the school record for career earned run average.


Demographics

The
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
has designated the campus as a separate
census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...
(CDP) for statistical purposes, under the name ''California Polytechnic State University''. It first appeared as a CDP in the 2020 Census with a population of 8,583.


2020 census

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.''


See also

*
California Master Plan for Higher Education The California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960 was developed by a survey team appointed by the Regents of the University of California and the California State Board of Education during the administration of Governor Pat Brown. UC Preside ...
*
Leaning Pine Arboretum The Leaning Pine Arboretum is located on on the north side of the California Polytechnic State University campus, in San Luis Obispo, California, San Luis Obispo, central California. In 2022, the Arboretum received a one-million-dollar gift f ...
, north campus


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

*


External links

*
Cal Poly Athletics website
{{Coord, 35, 18, 06, N, 120, 39, 35.35, W, region:US-CA_type:edu, display=title
San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfwa ...
California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...
San Luis Obispo, California Universities and colleges in San Luis Obispo County, California Technological universities in the United States Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Buildings and structures in San Luis Obispo, California 1901 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1901