President Jeffrey D. Armstrong
Jeffrey D. Armstrong serves as the ninth president of Cal Poly, overseeing the university’s San Luis Obispo campus as well as the Cal Poly Maritime Academy’s Solano campus. Appointed in December 2010, he is the longest‑serving university president in the California State University system.
Armstrong’s unrelenting focus on student success and enhancing the university’s renowned Learn by Doing teaching approach has led Cal Poly to consistently maintain its distinction as the No. 1 university in the West in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings. Cal Poly has also been recognized as a leader in higher education for return on investment (the cost of a degree compared to earnings) and seen increases in graduation and retention rates. More than 86 percent of Cal Poly graduates are employed or in graduate school within nine months of graduation.
Among his key accomplishments, are:
- Developing a comprehensive strategy for Cal Poly that outlines the long-term goals of the institution and creates a unified vision for the university’s future.
- Implementing an innovative financial-aid program that creates a wider representation of income backgrounds at Cal Poly by providing an additional $34 million per year in financial aid to low-income California students.
- Integrating with Cal Maritime University, preserving its U.S. Coast Guard licensure program — the only public university offering of its kind on the West Coast — while leveraging a shared leadership and administrative structure.
- Increasing Cal Poly's enrollment capacity to serve growing student demand while preserving educational excellence. Through this multi-year effort, the university is expanding year-round opportunities, broadening access for students, maintaining small class sizes, and enhancing its renowned Learn by Doing approach to learning.
Armstrong serves as vice chair of the Business-Higher Education Forum Executive Committee and chair of both the Food Systems Leadership Institute and the Big West Conference Board of Directors.
Before joining Cal Poly, Armstrong served as dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and professor of animal science at Michigan State University. He previously led Purdue University's Department of Animal Sciences and held faculty and leadership roles at North Carolina State University, where he earned recognition for teaching excellence, including designation as Alumni Distinguished Professor for Undergraduate Teaching.
A first-generation college student raised on a family farm in western Kentucky, Armstrong earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Murray State University and master's and doctoral degrees in physiology from North Carolina State University.
President Armstrong and his wife, Sharon, have two children and two grandsons.