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.

President 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 President Armstrong’s 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.
• Establishing plans to significantly increase Cal Poly’s enrollment capacity to help keep pace with the university’s unprecedented levels of applications through a year-round operations model, with a goal of expanding enrollment while maintaining small class sizes and access to Learn by Doing opportunities.  

President Armstrong also currently serves as vice chair of the Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF) executive committee, where he works with a dedicated coalition of senior business and higher education executives committed to advancing innovative solutions to U.S. education and workforce challenges.

Prior to joining Cal Poly, Dr. Armstrong served as dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and professor of Animal Science at Michigan State University (MSU). He was also head of the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University from 1997 to 2001 and served in various positions at North Carolina State University (NCSU) from 1986 through 1997.

As a faculty member at NCSU, Dr. Armstrong was known for engaging students in the classroom and was awarded numerous honors for his teaching excellence. He also was named Alumni Distinguished Professor for Undergraduate Teaching.

Raised on a beef cattle, swine and tobacco farm in Western Kentucky, Dr. Armstrong attended Murray State University as a first-generation college student, earning a bachelor's degree in agriculture in 1981. He earned both a master's (1984) and doctorate (1986) in physiology from North Carolina State University.

Dr. Armstrong and his wife, Sharon, have two children who currently reside in Michigan. Their son, Zack, is a financial advisor and their daughter, Jessica, married to Dean Gibbie, is a physician in obstetrics and gynecology. The Armstrongs are the proud grandparents of Colton and Carter.