Recent News
Cal Poly to Host Paradise Students, 28 Other Teams at Statewide Cybersecurity Championship June 21-23
Jun 6, 2019
Paradise Students, Who Lost Their School in the Devastating Camp Fire, Will Compete for the First Time
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — For the third straight year, Cal Poly will host hundreds of high school and middle school students and test their ability to solve cybercrimes in the California Cyber Innovation Challenge (CCIC) on June 21-23.
For the first time, students from Achieve Charter School of Paradise, California, will take part — less than a year after the Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,800 structures in Butte County last November, including the students’ homes and school. The team is comprised of six middle school students.
Cal Poly Architecture Students Finish Work on Vision for Rebuilding in Paradise
May 30, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Small-scale models of buildings are taking shape inside faculty member Stacey White’s third-year architecture studio class, where students are wrapping up an intense, six-month project to envision how the fire-ravaged town of Paradise, California, could rebuild.
The students’ work, which started less than two months after the Camp Fire devastated the Northern California town last November, culminates with one last trip to Paradise on June 2-3 to present their final projects to the community, followed by a presentation at Cal Poly on June 4 and a trip to speak at the AIA Conference on Architecture on June 6.
“The students are so invested,” said White who, along with faculty member Kent Macdonald, has led the students as they took their ideas from a conceptual phase to a fully designed building. “It’s not theoretical. When they design these projects, they're picturing the people they’ve met from Paradise and doing what they can to make them proud.”
Cal Poly Art and Design Seniors Showcase Their Work in University Art Gallery Exhibit Through June 14
May 29, 2019
Gallery opening reception set for 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 31
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly’s University Art Gallery will present “What the Wall Said,” featuring multi-disciplinary works by students graduating from the Art and Design Department, to run May 31 through June 14.
Graduating seniors with concentrations in studio art, photography and video, and graphic design will display their most accomplished and current work.
Cal Poly to Launch Campus Community Garden for Students, Faculty and Staff
May 29, 2019
Groundbreaking for the Food Pantry Garden set for Tuesday, June 4
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly will host a groundbreaking for its new organic campus community garden at 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 4, near the Health Center and Recreation Center climbing wall.
The 1,200-square-foot Food Pantry Garden, sponsored by Cal Poly’s Campus Health & Wellbeing Department along with the Honors Program and Facilities’ Energy, Utilities, and Sustainability Department, will be open for 2019 plot applications starting in June. Any student, staff or faculty member interested in a garden space can apply.
Cal Poly Architecture Faculty Member and Alumni Named Fellows by the American Institute of Architects
May 29, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — A Cal Poly faculty member and two alumni have been named fellows by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for their contributions to the architecture profession and to society.
Architecture Professor Thomas Fowler was selected to join the AIA College of Fellows, the organization’s highest membership honor. Fowler, who has helped shape Cal Poly’s top-ranked public architecture program for more than 23 years, teaches undergraduate and graduate students and is the director of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design’s (CAED) graduate program in architecture. He was also recognized this year with Cal Poly’s Distinguished Teaching Award and the prestigious Wang Family Excellence Award by the California State University.
Cal Poly Students Creating Prosthetics for Boy Who Lost Fingers in Fiery Crash
May 29, 2019
10-year-old Julian Reynoso of Los Angeles will receive two prosthetic hands on campus June 8
SAN LUIS OBISPO — While the wounds on 10-year-old Julian Reynoso’s hands are healing from a deadly drunken driving accident, a team of Cal Poly engineering students is working to restore the boy’s quality of life by creating a pair of prosthetic hands that will help him be a kid again.
“He couldn’t play with Legos, he couldn’t do all the simple things that I enjoyed in my childhood,” said Ryan Kissinger, co-lead of the Hands for Julian team. “So, the scope of the project is restoring that for him.”
Cal Poly Professor Receives $500,000 for Innovative LGBTQ+ Mental Health Training Program
May 21, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly psychology Professor Jay Bettergarcia and the QCARES program have received a $519,700 grant to support the SLO ACCEPTance Project, a mental health training program in San Luis Obispo County that aims to address a long-identified need for mental health services for local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) community members.
Through a nine-month intensive program, the SLO ACCEPTance (Affirming Cultural Competence Education and Provider Training) Project will train mental health professionals to provide affirming services for the local LGBTQ+ community. The project will be funded for four years by San Luis Obispo County’s Mental Health Services Act.
Cal Poly English Major Wins Academy of American Poets Prize
May 21, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — English major Katherine Flitsch of San Luis Obispo, California, recently won Cal Poly’s Academy of American Poets Contest for her poem “Howl for the Piedly Pious,” which investigates faith in 21st century America through a poem inspired by Allen Ginsberg’s poem, “Howl.”
Flitsch will receive a $100 award from the Academy of American Poets, and her poem will be considered for the $1,000 Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award.
Cal Poly Wind Bands Concert to Feature Saxophone Soloist on June 9
May 14, 2019
Laura M. Kramer, a Cal Poly lecturer, to Perform on ‘Möbius Trip’
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly’s Spring Band Concert will feature the 50-member Wind Ensemble and 55-member Wind Orchestra at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 9, in Harold J. Miossi Hall of the Performing Arts Center’s Christopher Cohan Center.
The concert — the third in the bands’ season series — is titled “Color of Sound.”
Cal Poly to Present ‘All That Brass’ Concert at SLO United Methodist Church on June 7
May 14, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Brass Ensembles will present “All That Brass” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 7, at the San Luis Obispo United Methodist Church.
In addition to the large brass ensembles and brass quintets, the Cal Poly Trombone Choir and a trio of faculty musicians will also perform. The trio consists of Christopher J. Woodruff, trumpet; Jennifer Dodson Galvan, horn; and Mark Miller, trombone.