Recent News
Cal Poly Construction Management Students Win Top Honors at National Competition
Mar 6, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly construction management students earned top honors and took home more trophies than any other university at the 2019 Associated Schools of Construction regional competition in Reno, Nevada. Five out of a dozen Cal Poly teams placed in the top three spots in their respective categories.
Cal Poly students earned firsts in the Concrete, Heavy Civil and Mixed Use categories; and third in the Commercial and Project Management categories. Concrete and Project management were national awards, while Commercial, Heavy Civil and Mixed Use were regional honors.
Cal Poly Team Hopes to Shape California’s Cybersecurity Policy with $150,000 Hewlett Grant
Mar 1, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — A $150,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation will allow a Cal Poly team to work with public and private entities to research and suggest policy options on cybersecurity while providing technical assistance to address a major cyberthreat.
California, which has the world’s fifth largest economy, is especially vulnerable to cyberattacks that threaten economic security, public health and safety, said Martin Minnich, program manager at the California Cybersecurity Institute (CCI).
Cal Poly Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, CPX, Launches with Listening Sessions and Universitywide Survey
Feb 28, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly has announced that the first phase of the university’s yearlong diversity and inclusion initiative CPX — Cal Poly Experience — will begin with listening sessions in March, followed by a campuswide survey in April.
CPX is a 12-month call to action that includes a series of initiatives developed to achieve diversity and inclusion goals on campus. CPX is about achieving a better understanding of the cross section of people’s identities, experiences and challenges in order to create meaningful solutions.
“Cal Poly is dedicated to cultivating a more inclusive, equitable and diverse environment so that every member of the campus community feels welcome and knows they belong,” President Jeffrey D. Armstrong said. “To reach our goals, we need and want input from every single student, faculty and staff member so that we can create a campuswide plan for actionable change.”
Cal Poly Center for Sustainability to Hold March 12 ‘Nutrient Logic’ Seminar for Growers
Feb 22, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly’s Center for Sustainability will host a lunchtime seminar by Steve Trotter titled “Nutrient Logic for Soil Health: Managing Nutritional Programs in Declining Soil and Water Conditions,” from 11:30 to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, in San Luis Obispo.
Soil plays a critical role in plant health and immunity. One of the best tools for promoting soil health is an understanding of soil nutrition. Trotter’s presentation will examine basic factors involved in appropriate nutrient management to improve soil function. Topics will include supporting soil biomass function, identifying limiting factors such as soil physical properties’ critical nutrient relationships, and biostimulant and catalyst tools.
Cal Poly Names Philip Williams as New Dean of College of Liberal Arts
Feb 19, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Dr. Philip J. Williams, professor of political science and director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, has been named as the new dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Cal Poly, Provost Kathleen Enz Finken announced today.
Williams succeeds Interim Dean Kathryn Rummell, longtime chair of the English Department, who has led the college since August after the retirement of previous dean Doug Epperson.
Cal Poly Choirs' 'All of Us' Concert Tackles Issues of Diversity and Inclusion on March 16
Feb 15, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Choirs’ Winter Concert, “All of Us,” is set for 8 p.m. Saturday, March 16, in the Performing Arts Center’s Christopher Cohan Center.
The concert theme is diversity and inclusion, and the program will include positive and uplifting musical selections. Works by J.S. Bach, Benjamin Britten, Moses Hogan, Jake Runestad, John Rutter and others will be performed. The concert will also include selections from the Tony Award winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen” and “The Greatest Showman,” the 2017 musical film.
‘And Then They Came for Us’ Documentary to Screen at Cal Poly Feb. 20
Feb 14, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly English Department and College of Liberal Arts will host a screening of the award-winning documentary “And Then They Came for Us” from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, in Room 2 in the Advanced Technology Laboratories (No. 7) on campus.
In 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, paving the way to the profound violation of constitutional rights that resulted in the forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese-Americans.
“And Then They Came for Us” features activist, producer, and Sacramento State Professor Emeritus Satsuki Ina, Ph.D.; actor and activist George Takei; and others who were incarcerated, as well as newly rediscovered photographs by Dorothea Lange. “[Internment] was a failure of American democracy, and yet because most Americans are not aware of that dark chapter of American history, it’s about to be repeated,” Takei said. The documentary retells the difficult story and follows Japanese-American activists as they speak out against the Muslim registry and travel ban.
'San Francisco Symphony Member to Perform at March 10 Cal Poly Wind Bands Concert
Feb 11, 2019
Jessica Valeri to be Featured on Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly’s Winter Band Concert will feature the 50-member Wind Ensemble and 55-member Wind Orchestra at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 10, in Harold J. Miossi Hall of the Performing Arts Center’s Christopher Cohan Center.
The concert — the second in the bands’ season series — is titled “Time in Space.”
The Cal Poly Wind Orchestra will open the program with music from the long-running British science fiction TV show, “Doctor Who,” followed by works from the expanded wind band repertoire, including Claude Debussy’s “Girl With the Flaxen Hair” and John Mackey’s “The Rumor of a Secret King.”
San Francisco Symphony Horn Player to Present Master Class March 9 at Cal Poly
Feb 11, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Jessica Valeri, a horn player with the San Francisco Symphony, will present a master class for Cal Poly music students at 3:10 p.m. Saturday, March 9, in Room 218 in the Davidson Music Center (No. 45) on campus.
The event is free and open to the public. During the class, several of the Music Department’s leading horn students will perform and be critiqued.
Valeri has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony since 2008. She was previously a member of the St. Louis Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, the Grant Park Orchestra and the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. She spent many years freelancing in the Chicago area where she performed with a variety of groups, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and the International Contemporary Ensemble.
Cal Poly ROTC Ranger Team Continues Winning Streak, Advances to National Competition
Feb 11, 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly ROTC Ranger Team again took first place in a competitive skills event that challenges cadets’ mental and physical toughness, advancing the team to the national Sandhurst Military Skills Competition at West Point Military Academy on April 12-13.
The team won the 8th Brigade’s Best Ranger Challenge at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Seattle, against three of the best teams representing 31 university and college programs in the Pacific and Western U.S. The win secured the Cal Poly team’s spot at the Sandhurst Competition, which hosts more than 15 other U.S. ROTC programs plus six to eight international teams.