Welcome to Cal Poly

At Cal Poly, the most important person on campus is the student.

We start with the premise that all of our students, because they have met Cal Poly's high standards for admission, are equipped to succeed. And then our dedicated faculty and staff bring to bear their enormous talent and unwavering commitment to students' success. Central to this process is Cal Poly's distinctive Learn by Doing approach, in which we provide students with daily opportunities to apply classroom theory to real-world problems in the context of a comprehensive polytechnic education, grounded in the arts and sciences.

Learn by Doing enables students to develop deep confidence in their knowledge and technical skills, preparing them to become resourceful and innovative professionals who can help solve the problems of an increasingly complex and technological world. Highly motivated students, talented faculty, dedicated staff, and the dynamic nature of Learn by Doing — these are important facets of Cal Poly, but not the whole sum.

An exceptional university succeeds only if it has the full engagement of the entire university community — students, faculty and staff, parents, alumni and friends - one that joins together in a partnership of discovery.

Fortunately, Cal Poly has an abundance of people deeply committed to a vibrant partnership and transforming lives, one student at a time. It is my great privilege to be associated with the people of Cal Poly, and I invite you to join our partnership.

Jeffrey D. Armstrong
President

Our Vision

Cal Poly will be the nation's premier comprehensive polytechnic university, an innovative institution that develops and inspires whole-system thinkers to serve California and to help solve global challenges.

Our Mission

Cal Poly fosters teaching, scholarship, and service in a Learn by Doing environment in which students, staff, and faculty are partners in discovery. As a polytechnic university, Cal Poly promotes the application of theory to practice. As a comprehensive institution, Cal Poly provides a balanced education in the arts, sciences, and technology, while encouraging cross-disciplinary and co-curricular experiences. As an academic community, Cal Poly values free inquiry, cultural and intellectual diversity, mutual respect, civic engagement, and social and environmental responsibility.

About 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.
   
• Formulating a concept to increase Cal Poly's enrollment capacity to serve growing student demand while preserving educational excellence. Through this multi-year effort, the university will expand year-round opportunities, broaden access for students, maintain small class sizes and enhance its renowned Learn by Doing approach.

​​​​​​​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.