California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
| File:Calpoly seal2.gif | |
| Motto | Discere Faciendo (Latin: "To Learn by Doing") |
|---|---|
| Type | Public Land-Grant University |
| Established | March 8 1901 |
| Endowment | US$186 million (2006)[1] |
| President | Warren J. Baker |
Academic staff | 1,203 |
| Students | 19,777 |
| Undergraduates | 17,488 |
| Postgraduates | 987 |
| Location | , |
| Campus | Suburban, 9,678 acres (39.17 km2) (39 km²) |
| Colors | Green and Gold |
| Nickname | Mustang |
| Affiliations | California State University Big West Conference Pac-10 Conference - wrestling Great West Football Conference |
| Mascot | Musty the Mustang |
| Website | www.calpoly.edu |
| File:Calpolylogo.gif | |
| See Cal Poly's quickfacts [2] | |
California Polytechnic State University, commonly called Cal Poly, is a nationally ranked public university located in San Luis Obispo, California, USA. Cal Poly is part of the 23-campus California State University system and is the second largest land-holding university in California.[2]
Comprising seven distinct colleges, Cal Poly offers a full spectrum of degrees. Specifically, the university's highly respected engineering, architecture, and agriculture colleges consistently place at the top of United States national academic rankings. In U.S. News & World Report's 2008 America's Best Colleges report, Cal Poly ranked as the #1 Public Master's University in the Western United States for the 15th consecutive year. Many highly competitive students apply for admission to Cal Poly, yielding in 2008 an acceptance rate of 33%.Cal Poly has over 117,000 living alumni and, in fall 2007, 19,777 students currently enrolled.[3][2]
Cal Poly is a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Cal Poly is one of three California State Universities that participate in the Big West Conference. Cal Poly is known for its "learn by doing" philosophy.
History
Overview
Cal Poly was established in 1901 when Governor Henry T. Gage signed the California Polytechnic School Bill. The California Polytechnic School was built adjacent to San Luis Obispo and held its first classes on September 30, 1903, offering secondary (high school) courses of study. The first incoming class was 20 students. The school continued to grow steadily, except during a period from the mid 1910's to the early 1920s when World War I led to drops in enrollment and drastic budget cuts forced fewer class offerings.
In 1924, Cal Poly was placed under the control of the California State Board of Education. In 1933, the Board of Education changed Cal Poly into a two year technical and vocational school. The institution began to offer Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1940 and was renamed the California State Polytechnic College in 1947 to better reflect its higher education offerings. In 1960, control of Cal Poly 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 system.
The college was authorized to offer Master of Science degrees in 1967. From 1967 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, which was created in 1968). Cal Poly's FM radio station, KCPR, also began as a senior project in 1968. The state legislature changed the school’s official name again in 1971 to California Polytechnic State University. Since the 1970s, the university has seen steady enrollment growth and the construction of many significant buildings on campus. Cal Poly celebrated its centennial in 2001, and kicked off a $225 million fundraising campaign, the largest fund raising effort ever undertaken in CSU history. The Centennial Campaign raised over $264 million dollars from over 81,000 donors, more than tripling the university’s endowment from $43 million to $140 million. Cal Poly’s endowment is in the top 10% of higher education endowments nationwide. Cal Poly was ranked 268 out of 746 colleges and universities ranked in the Chronicle of Higher Education's endowment rankings of 2005.
Relationship with Cal Poly Pomona
Cal Poly Pomona began as a satellite campus of Cal Poly in 1938 when a completely equipped school and farm were donated by Charles Voorhis and his son Jerry Voorhis of Pasadena, California. The satellite campus was initially called the Voorhis Unit. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation then donated an 812 acre (3.3 km²) horse ranch in Pomona, California to Cal Poly in 1949. Located about one mile (1.6 km) from the Voorhis campus, the two became known as the Kellogg-Voorhis unit. The Kellogg-Voorhis unit broke off in 1966, becoming the fully independent university, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Since 1949, the San Luis Obispo and Pomona universities have cooperated on creating a float for the Rose Parade. 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 football team, hours after a loss to Bowling Green State University, crashed on takeoff at the Toledo Express Airport in Toledo, Ohio. 22 of the 48 people on board were killed, including sixteen players. Former Cal Poly football player John Madden knew many of the players and coaches on board the aircraft. Because of the tragic accident, John Madden will not fly but prefers traveling by tour bus.
Female admissions
In 1904, Cal Poly opened as a coeducational school with 40 new male students and 12 new female students. In 1930, Cal Poly barred females from the entire school until 1956 (27 years later) when Cal Poly once again began admitting female students. The university remains coeducational today.
Organization
As of 2008, the president of Cal Poly is Warren J. Baker who first became president in 1979.[4]
Cal Poly Corporation
The Cal Poly Corporation is a separate non-profit 501(c) corporation operating in concert with the university. Its primary role is to furnish non-academic services for the university such as eateries, the bookstore, and endowment administration. This arrangement is relatively common at many of California's public universities. The corporation was founded in 1941 and was known as the Cal Poly Foundation until February 1, 2006.
Campus
Cal Poly owns more land than any other California university. There are 9,678 acres (39 km²) in total. The lands are used for student education, mainly agricultural education. The lands 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, a 3,200-acre (13 km2) 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 teaching philosophy of “Learn by Doing” with emphasis on sustainable management of agricultural practices.
Expansion
The Cal Poly Master Plan calls to increase student population from approximately 17,000 students to 20,000 students by the year 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.
Proposed Expansion
- The Center for Science and Mathematics
- Will replace aging "spider" Science Building 52 with a new 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m2) structure. It will add new laboratories, classrooms, and studios to support the expanding population of the university. It is planned to be the largest and most technologically advanced structure in Cal Poly once constructed. In addition a Centennial Park will be constructed adjacent to the structure. COSAM
- Recreation Center Expanion
- Will expand the Recreation center and double its usable size. Two new gym rooms, additional leisure pool, synthetic turf for sports complete fields, triple the size of exercise and weight training rooms (from 7,000 sq ft (650 m2) to 21,000 sq ft), and a multi-activity center are planned additions to the recreation center. (Student Vote passed on 28 Feb 08. Construction begins Fall 2008) Rec Center Expansion
Current construction
- Poly Canyon Village
- The largest single housing project on any campus in America. They are apartments which will double the amount of students living on-campus, lower price of surrounding housing, and decrease automobile traffic in Cal Poly. The project also aims to include retail space and become the "hub" of Cal Poly. This on-campus housing is designed for second year students. First phase of housing will be open in Fall of 2008.
- Engineering/Architecture Renovation and Replacement
- Include a new building which will provide 46,000 square feet (4,300 m2) of space of classrooms, laboratories, and rooms for student related needs/activities.[5]
Commuting
Campus parking is limited. In its most recent survey of available parking spaces on campus, the Cal Poly University Police reported 2,615 general purpose parking spaces, 1,635 dorm resident spaces, and 6,621 total spaces.[6] 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.[7] 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 enjoyable. However, many students would prefer not to live on campus for a variety of reasons, including the campus-wide ban on alcohol and mandatory meal plan. Recently, the school launched a public information campaign called "Options", which seeks to educate students on commuting alternatives, though it is not clear that the campaign has had any effect. Recent increases in parking costs and gas prices has caused a massive increase in the use of bicycles and buses.
Bicycle racks are available throughout the campus, but the off-campus student population is mostly centered in areas either close enough to walk or areas judged to be too far to ride a bicycle. The city's SLO Transit bus system provides service to and from campus. Since the buses are partially subsidized by student tuition, Cal Poly students can ride for free.
Academics
Colleges
The university currently offers bachelor's and master's degrees in seven colleges:
- College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences
- College of Architecture and Environmental Design
- Orfalea College of Business
- College of Education
- College of Engineering
- College of Liberal Arts
- College of Science and Mathematics
Ranking
According to U.S. News & World Report's 2008 America's Best Colleges report, Cal Poly is ranked #1 in the Western United States for public schools whose highest degree is a Master's. The College of Engineering was ranked the #1 public undergraduate engineering school, while ranking #4 overall, in the US whose highest degree is a Master's. The engineering college had edged out other elite public institutions (U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy) to earn this ranking. [8]
Among public schools whose highest degree is a master's, specific engineering programs were ranked:
- Electrical Engineering: #1 [9]
- Computer Engineering: #1[10]
- Mechanical Engineering: #1[11]
- Industrial Engineering: #1[12]
- Aerospace Engineering: #2 (behind the U.S. Air Force Academy)[13]
- Civil Engineering: #2 (behind the U.S. Military Academy)[14]
In a 2006 poll conducted by the leading architecture and engineering journal DesignIntelligence, Cal Poly was voted the number three architecture school in the nation. The landscape architecture program was ranked in the top ten.[15][16]
Cal Poly’s City and Regional Planning graduate program ranked highly in the Planetizen 2007 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs.[17]
Alumni of Cal Poly average the third-highest salaries of all public university graduates in the United States.[18]
Admissions
Cal Poly's admissions process is highly selective. In fall 2008, Cal Poly admitted 11,117 students from an applicant pool of 33,345 students, yielding a 33% acceptance rate. The average high school GPA of admitted freshmen was 3.87. The average SAT Reasoning Test score was 1266 (out of a possible 1600), based only on reading and math scores.[19]
Cal Poly requires students to declare a major when applying for admission, and the university then admits the most competitive applicants within each major. Because of this, certain Cal Poly majors have more competitive admission standards than other majors. To prevent students from applying for an easy-to-get-into major and transferring to another major, Cal Poly makes it difficult to change majors. In many cases, students wishing to change majors completely transfer to other universities.
Tuition
The fall 2007 fees for the average student were $1,681 per quarter.[20]
Endowment
Cal Poly’s endowment more than tripled during its Centennial Campaign from US$43.1 million to US$140.1 million. It is now the largest in the CSU system, representing one-fifth of all endowed funds in the 23-campus system. Growth is attributed to gifts and prudent stewardship.
Student life
Residence halls
There are four styles of residence halls on the Cal Poly campus. The five North Mountain halls are the oldest on campus and were constructed during the 1950s. The Sierra Madre and Yosemite halls were finished by 1968, the six Red Bricks were built in the 1960s, and Cerro Vista was completed in 2003. A new on-campus apartment complex, Poly Canyon Village, started housing students in 2008.
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 Sophomore Success Program community and helps students transition into independent living. The total on-campus population is 3,600 (as of 2006), but will grow to over 6,300 after the Poly Canyon Village Apartments are completely opened in fall 2009. Half of Poly Canyon Village Apartments will be open in the fall of 2008.
Greek life
Since 1949, Greek organizations have been present at Cal Poly. The Greek community consists of three governing councils at Cal Poly: United Sorority and Fraternity Council, Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association.[21]
The 2007 Fall rush was record breaking for Cal Poly, the Greek community grew by approximately 940 freshman students.[22] The IFC campus average in March 2006 was 40, after 2007 Fall rush the new IFC Fraternity average is 64.
There are currently:
11 USFC Fraternities/Sororities
18 IFC Fraternities
1 IFC Colony (Sigma Pi)
1 IFC interest group (Delta Lambda Phi)
8 Panhellenic Sororities
1 Panhellenic Interest Group (Alpha Epsilon)
Athletics
Cal Poly fields 20 varsity sports. The school's mascot is the Mustang. Sports teams participate in the NCAA's Division I. Cal Poly athletics generally compete in the Big West Conference, with football and wrestling being the exception. Cal Poly's wrestling team is a member of the PAC-10 Conference. Prior to joining Division I in the mid 90's, the school won 35 national championships.[23] Football plays in the Great West Football Conference. Their football team is notable for being the first Great West Football Conference participant in the Division I-AA (now known as FCS) playoffs. The football team plays rival UC Davis in the annual Battle for the Golden Horseshoe. The Mustang Maniacs are Cal Poly's spirit group. They support the team both away and at home. The Mustang basketball team had its most successful year in 2007, when the team came within one win in the Big West basketball tournament of getting into the NCAA basketball tournament
The schools best program, in recent years and in the 1980s, is the women's volleyball team. On November 19, 2007 the team captured its second straight Big West Title by posting a 15-1 conference record and a 23-8 record overall. The program made it to the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 1985 before losing to Stanford in the Sweet 16. The team also went 23-6 in 2006.
Notable Athletes:
Chuck Liddell[24], Mixed Martial Arts Fighter - Class of 1995 - Ultimate Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight Champion 2005-2007
Jordan Beck, LB - Class of 2005 - Currently on Denver Broncos
Courtney Brown, DB - Class of 2006 - Currently on Dallas Cowboys
Kyle Shotwell, LB - Class of 2007 - Currently on Indianapolis Colts
Ted Tolner, QB - Class of 1962 - San Francisco 49ers
Mike Krukow, pitcher - Class of 1973 - San Francisco Giants' Announcer
Kevin Correia, pitcher - Class of 2002 - Currently on San Francisco Giants
John Madden, head coach - Class of 1959 - Oakland Raiders - NFL Hall of Fame
Mel Kaufman, LB - Class of 1981 - Washington Redskins
Ozzie Smith, shortstop - Class of 1976 - St. Louis Cardinals- MLB Hall of Fame
Garrett Olsen, pitcher - Class of 2005 - Currently on Baltimore Orioles
Loren Roberts, professional golfer - Class of 1975 - Currently on Champions Tour
Chris Gocong, LB - Class of 2006 - Currently on Philadelphia Eagles
Songs
Fight Songs
|
Ride High, You Mustangs |
Yea Poly |
Alma mater
|
All Hail Green and Gold |
See also
- List of California Polytechnic State University alumni
- Alex G. Spanos Stadium
- Center for Coastal Marine Sciences
- Leaning Pine Arboretum
- Mercy Bowl
- Cal Poly Mustang Band
Notes
- ^ "General Endowment Information" (PDF). California Polytechnic State University. 2005.
{{cite web}}: Text "accessdate 2007-01-21" ignored (help) - ^ a b c "Quick Facts". Cal Poly. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
- ^ "Simply the Best". Cal Poly. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
- ^ "Cal Poly President Earns Top CEO Leadership Award". Cal Poly. Retrieved 2007-02-13.
- ^ Cal Poly Campus Master Plan Cal Poly Facilities Planning and Capital Projects, July 7, 2007
- ^ Parking Lot Survey Cal Poly University Policy Department, January 20, 2006
- ^ Cal Poly Campus Master Plan Cal Poly Facilities Planning and Capital Projects, March 21, 2001
- ^ "America's Best Colleges". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ "America's Best Colleges". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ "America's Best Colleges". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ "America's Best Colleges". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ "America's Best Colleges". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ "America's Best Colleges". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ "America's Best Colleges". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ "Architecture School Ranking". DesignIntelligence. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
- ^ "Cal Poly's Architecture and Landscape Architecture Programs Move Up in National Rankings". Cal Poly. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
- ^ "Planetizen 2007 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs". Planetizen. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
- ^ Wilson, Nick (2008-08-12). "Cal Poly alumni average third-highest salaries among public university grads". San Luis Obispo Tribune. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Cal Poly, the Profile" (PDF). Cal Poly. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ Cal Poly Student Accounts, Fee Payment Policy
- ^ Fraternities and Sororities at Cal Poly
- ^ Mustang Daily article, 'Freshmen Flood Fraternities', 10/15/07
- ^ "The Official Website of Cal Poly Athletics". Retrieved 2007-04-07.
- ^
{{cite web}}: Empty citation (help)