Recent News
Cal Poly Rose Float Seeks Design Ideas for its 2024 Rose Parade® Entry
Jan 26, 2023
Email submissions due by 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3 for Cal Poly universities’ 75th entry in the New Year’s Day classic
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly Rose Float is calling for design ideas for its entry in the 135th Rose Parade® in 2024 — the milestone 75th year for the Cal Poly universities’ program.
The winner of the 2024 Rose Float Concept Contest will see their design come to life as a 55-foot-long animated mechanical wonder, every inch bedecked in flowers, colorful vegetables and fruit as well as other organics, including tiny seeds and exotic floral material from land and sea.
The float will be showcased before of a crowd of 700,000 Pasadena parade goers and an international television audience in the tens of millions. The winner also can choose between two tickets to the 110th Rose Bowl Game or $500.
Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3. The float will roll down the 5.5-mile-long parade route Monday, Jan. 1, 2024, and then will be on display at FloatFest, the 2-mile showcase of Rose Parade® floats, after the two-hour event concludes.
Cal Poly Named a 2022 AASHE Sustainability Award Winner
Jan 24, 2023
University is among six California State University campuses honored for combined efforts to improve how climate change is taught to students
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly is among six California State University campus partners to share global recognition for their efforts to reshape how the system teaches its nearly half a million students about climate change.
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education — the leading organization for the advancement of sustainability in colleges and universities across 48 states, a U.S. Territory, nine Canadian provinces and 20 countries — bestows its prestigious awards on the institutions and individuals that help lead higher education to a sustainable future.
In 2022, AASHE announced 12 winners from 430 entries in five categories. The CSU entry received the coveted Campus Sustainability Achievement Award. Entries were judged on overall impact, innovation, stakeholder involvement, clarity and other criteria specific to each category.
Cal Poly Mustang Marching Band to Perform in Chinese New Year Parade on Feb. 4 in San Francisco
Jan 24, 2023
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Mustang Marching Band has been invited for the eighth time to participate in the Alaska Airlines Chinese New Year Parade on Saturday, Feb. 4, in San Francisco.
The Mustang Band first performed along the 1.3 miles of the Chinese New Year Parade in 2014 — one of 15 marching bands that participated. It has been awarded first place in the adult marching bands category multiple times.
The band’s more than 210 members, from academic disciplines across the Cal Poly campus, perform for nearly 50 occasions on campus each year, including in support of athletic events and university functions.
Cal Poly Winter Jazz Concert on Feb. 24 to Feature Cuesta College’s Voce
Jan 24, 2023
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Winter Jazz Concert will feature guest ensemble Voce, Cuesta College’s vocal jazz group, and world premieres from the Cal Poly jazz program at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in Miossi Hall of the Performing Arts Center’s Christopher Cohan Center.
Cal Poly’s Jazz Ensemble, Vocal Jazz Ensemble (MOSAIC) and Voce will perform works by Thad Jones, Duke Ellington, John Beasley, KNOWER and others. The Cal Poly groups are led by Director of Jazz Studies Arthur White; and Voce is directed by Cuesta College Music Department Chair John Knutson.
Voce has performed at the American Choral Directors Association National Convention, the Montreux Jazz Festival and the International Association for Jazz Education Convention.
Cal Poly and Stanford Project Awarded Grant to Support Student-Led Ethical Technology Research
Jan 23, 2023
Funding From Public Interest Technology University Network Supports Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Technology Development
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly students, faculty and staff collaborating on a project to bring together diverse scholars from around the world studying ethical technology have received a grant from the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN).
The project, “Learning Across Domains: Developing an Inclusive Pipeline of Global Experts Skilled at Examining Ethical Risks and Social Impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technologies,” is run through Global Alliance on Ethics and Impact of Artificial Intelligence (GAEIA), a global research and innovation platform connecting academia, industry and intergovernmental organizations in confronting some of the most important opportunities and challenges facing humanity today.
The grant of over $89,000 is part of $2.3 million awarded to 18 universities and colleges in PIT-UN to bolster efforts to embed diversity, equity and inclusion in technology development. The announcement was made at the PIT-UN annual convention in New York City. Cal Poly is also providing funding for the project to bring the total amount to over $103,000.
Cal Poly College of Liberal Arts and Office of University Diversity and Inclusion Host Seventh Annual Social Justice Teach In on Feb. 9
Jan 19, 2023
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Over 40 talks and workshops centered around social justice and equity will be offered during Cal Poly’s seventh annual Social Justice Teach In on Thursday, Feb. 9. Hosted by the College of Liberal Arts and the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion, the Teach In features presentations by students, staff, faculty and community leaders, whose diverse voices will share their expertise in a multitude of fields, working to create a just society for all.
All events are open to the public, and attendees can register for sessions on a wide range of topics, including “Muted Voices in Virtual Meeting: How to Address DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in Virtual Meetings,” “Artistic Activism to Disrupt the Single Story of Incarcerated Populations,” and “ANDOR: Writing Resistance in the Star Wars Universe.” Five presentation tracks are focused on specific topics to help attendees identify sessions that best match their interests, including pathways to Hispanic-serving institutions; diversity, equity and inclusion in engineering; reproductive justice; pop culture and media; and restorative justice: beyond incarceration.
Cal Poly to Present Free ‘Night of Chamber Music’ Feb. 10
Jan 19, 2023
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Several of Cal Poly’s finest student music ensembles will perform traditional and contemporary chamber music at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, in Spanos Theatre on campus.
“A Night of Chamber Music” will feature student performers from a variety of majors. All are involved in at least one of the department’s large, premier ensembles, which include Cal Poly’s Arab Music Ensemble, Choirs, Symphony, University Jazz Bands, Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble.
Cal Poly College Corps Program Assists with Local Storm Cleanup Effort
Jan 13, 2023
University’s inaugural cohort pitches in to help communities in San Luis Obispo, Los Osos
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Students in Cal Poly’s inaugural cohort of the #CaliforniansForAll College Corps program are assisting with cleanup efforts following a rainstorm earlier this week that caused mudslides, flooding and property damage throughout San Luis Obispo County.
More than a dozen Cal Poly students are helping residents in the Vista Court community in Los Osos clean up their homes after they were damaged in mudslides from a storm that dumped up to six inches of rain in some areas of the county. In addition, students in the program are also pitching in with general cleanup and restoration efforts at First Fruits Farm and the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden.
Cal Poly Begins Offering State-Required Medication Abortion Services
Jan 9, 2023
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Effective immediately, Cal Poly is offering medication abortion services to currently enrolled students, as required by California Senate Bill (SB) 24.
Also known as the College Student Right to Access Act, SB 24 was signed into law in October 2019 and requires University of California and California State University campus health centers to integrate medication abortion care into their on-site service delivery as of Jan. 1, 2023.
Cal Poly Awarded $475,000 Grant for Inclusive Teaching in STEM Fields
Jan 6, 2023
The Learn by Doing campus is among 104 public and private colleges and universities to further develop new more-inclusive teaching methods to attract a greater number of underrepresented students to science, technology, engineering and mathematics
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly received a $475,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) toward advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, goals over the next six years among educators who teach STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
It joins 103 other U.S. colleges and universities to be awarded funding from the Chevy Chase, Maryland-based medical research nonprofit’s Inclusive Excellence 3 (IE3) Program that is part of an initiative designed to encourage a more-inclusive learning environment for underrepresented STEM students.
Camille O’Bryant, the university’s HHMI IE3 program director, said faculty will also work to develop new DEI-related instructional guidance, mentoring and evaluation, among other support mechanisms.