University News

18 Years Running: Cal Poly Named
Best in the West in U.S. News Rankings

For the 18th year in a row, Cal Poly has been rated the best public-master's university in the West by U.S. News & World Report. The magazine ranked Cal Poly No. 6 among all private and public universities in the West In its "2011 America's Best Colleges" guidebook. Cal Poly is ranked in a category of universities that grant bachelor's and master's degrees. Cal Poly’s College of Engineering also moved up one spot - No. 2 public engineering program in the nation, just behind the U.S. Military Academy. Cal Poly was featured on the Aug. 17 "Today Show" video segment on the U.S. News rankings as one of the nation's "Up and Comer" universities to watch.
More on the U.S. News rankings
See the 'Today Show' segment

Cal Poly Moves Up on Forbes Magazine's
List of 'Best Colleges in the U.S.'

Cal Poly ranks in the top third of the latest Forbes magazine list of "Best Colleges in the U.S." The university was No. 177 on Forbes' list of the 610 best colleges and universities. The list, released in August, puts Cal Poly at No. 21 among 50 California colleges and universities to make the cut. And Cal Poly is the highest-ranked California State University campus on the Forbes list again this year. Cal Poly appeared at No. 369 on the first Forbes list in 2008, and then at No. 201 in 2009.
More on the Forbes ranking

Cal Poly Again Makes National 'Top 100' List in Ranking of Degrees to Minority Students

Cal Poly has again been named among the nation's 2010 "Top 100 Degree Producers" by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine. Three Cal Poly degree programs are among the Top 10 in the nation in granting undergraduate degrees to minority students. They are the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences (No. 2 in the nation in undergraduate ag degrees to Native Americans, No. 5 in the nation for undergraduate ag degrees to Hispanic Students, No. 6 in the nation for undergraduate ag degrees to Asian Americans and No. 6 in the nation for ag undergraduate degrees to all minority groups) and the College of Engineering (No. 7 in the nation in undergraduate degrees to Hispanic students). Cal Poly's CAFES also ranked No. 4 in the nation in agriculture master's degrees to Asian Americans. The rankings are based on statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Education.
Click here to see Cal Poly's standings on the "Top 100 Degree Producers" 2010 ranking list

Interim President Robert Glidden Takes the Reins

Cal Poly has its first new president in 30 years: Robert Glidden. Glidden took the helm with the retirement of Cal Poly President Warren J. Baker on Aug. 1. Glidden will guide Cal Poly through the CSU's search for a new president. Glidden served as president of Ohio University from 1994 to 2004, overseeing six campuses with more than 29,000 students in southeast Ohio.
More on Glidden | Glidden's Biography | President Glidden's Welcome Note to Campus
Read the Mustang Daily Q&A interview with President Glidden

Cal Poly Week of Welcome Expands Student Education Content

Cal Poly’s Week of Welcome Orientation Program is offering a new Awareness Component for WOW 2010. The aim of "Awareness" is to stress to new students the importance of diversity and respect for other students, their own health and safety issues, and positive community relations with neighbors. WOW is the university's annual student orientation program. The event helps students transition to college life and make connections with peers, faculty and staff, student clubs, San Luis Obispo businesses and the community.
More on the changes to WOW

Mustang Men's Team Invited to Compete
in Division I Rugby League in 2011

Cal Poly has been invited to participate in the 2011 USA Rugby College Division I Premier Championship league. The Mustangs are one of 32 teams from around the country that will compete in the new intercollegiate league. The teams will be grouped into four divisions of eight squads. Cal Poly will compete in the Pacific Division along with UC Berkeley, UCLA, Central Washington, Claremont, San Diego State, St. Mary’s College and UC Davis.
More on the rugby league

Alumni News

Alumni Photo of the Month: Running with the Hippos in Tanzania

Ag Business grad Robin (Willie) Bonn ('85) is the August Alumni Photo of the Month winner for this shot of herself and husband Ted (and a hippo in the background) in Tanzania in 2009. "We saw an amazing amount of wildlife. We went to several game reserves and national parks and camped for four nights in the Serengeti.  That particular picture was taken in Serengeti National Park." When she's not on safari, Bonn lives in Portland, where she is a special agent for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General. Her caseload mostly involves Medicare and Medicaid fraud investigations. Bonn is just one of the 14,500-plus alumni who have set up a page and shared photos in PolyLink (www.calpolylink.com), Cal Poly's free, private online alumni directory. Upload photos to your PolyLink directory page album to be automatically entered to win the PolyLink Alumni Photo of the Month title and a cool 'Cal Poly Alumni' window decal. Alumni: if you're not in the PolyLink directory yet, look in your Aug. 24 e-mail basket (and spam folder) for a message from Cal Poly containing with your personalized 1st time login code.
Click here to see Bonn's full photo, plus more Alumni Photo of the Month winners - no password required

Architect Fred Sweeney is New Cal Poly Alumni Association President

Fred Sweeney (B.Ar., 1974) is the new president of the Cal Poly Alumni Association, the voice for the university's 140,000 living alumni. Sweeney will serve through June 2012. He is currently a partner at PMSM Architects in Santa Barbara and a member of the Dean's Leadership Council for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. He also led the $1.5 million fundraising campaign for the George Hasslein Endowed Chair in the college. Sweeney has more than 20 years of experience designing higher education projects and is a member of the Santa Barbara Hispanic Achievement Council and the Santa Barbara Art Museum’s Collectors Council. He is the founding president of the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara and has served as past president of the Santa Barbara Chapter AIA and past director of the California Council AIA. Sweeney takes over from outgoing president John Sweeney (B.S., Civil Engineering, 1989), who served from 2008-10.
Find out more about Fred Sweeney | Visit the CPAA web site

Mustang Jobs Board and Graduate Status Survey - Free for All Alumni

Class of 2010: Have you completed the Cal Poly Career Services Graduate Status Survey yet? Every year, Cal Poly's Career Services office surveys recent graduates to find out how they are faring in the job market or if they're headed to grad school, and where. On average, for the past decade, 89 percent of Cal Poly students report working full-time or attending graduate school within one year of graduation. Haven't landed a job yet? Career Services' private Mustang Jobs board has an average of 200 new postings a month from employers looking specifically for Cal Poly grads. Posting on Mustang Jobs is free for employers. Searching Mustang Jobs is free for all current students and alumni. To use Mustang Jobs, alumni need to request a password from Career Services. Alumni should request a password within a year of graduating to make sure they have continued access after they can no longer use the MyCalPoly portal.
Mustang Jobs board - alumni: Click here to request an alumni password from Career Services for the Mustang Jobs board
Employers: Click here to find out how to recruit on campus and post jobs on Mustang Jobs - both free
2010 Grads: Click here to fill out the 2009-2010 Graduate Status Survey
Click here to read the 2008-2009 report on Cal Poly grads in the job market

Friends Don't Let Friends Cheer for Bulldogs

For the first time in 25 years, the Cal Poly Mustang Football team will face the Fresno Bulldogs. The game - which many alumni remember as a rivalry match - is set for Oct. 2 in Bulldog Stadium in Fresno. Join Cal Poly alumni, parents and fans in Fresno for an spirited pre-game tailgate put on by Cal Poly Athletics and the Cal Poly Alumni Association. Wear your Green and Gold at the game to show your Mustang colors in Bulldog territory. San Luis Obispo-based alumni and fans can ride the Cal Poly Fan buses to and from the event. Cal Poly discounts also available at several Fresno area hotels. And don't forget to mark your calendar and make reservations to stay in San Luis Obispo for Cal Poly Homecoming 2010 and the annual CPAA wine tasting and tailgate barbecue. Get tickets early; the tailgate and wine tasting sell out every year.
Click here for details and tickets to the Oct. 2 Mustangs v. Bulldogs showdown
Click here for details on Homecoming 2010

Today's Students

Annual Ranch Horse Sale is Set for Saturday

Cal Poly students will hold the annual Performance and Ranch Horse Sale on Saturday, Aug. 28, beginning at noon at the Horse Unit on campus. Fifteen Cal Poly students have spent several months training 22 young Quarter Horses and Appaloosas to get them ready for the sale. The horse sale is one of many “enterprise projects” in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. Students spend their time raising everything from horses to sheep to tomatoes to poinsettias, and making everything from jam to chocolate to honey under the supervision of a faculty adviser.
More on the horse sale and enterprise projects
See Photo Gallery of students working the horses in August

Business Student's Candy Company Featured on The Food Network

A Cal Poly business sophomore and her booming gourmet candy company were featured on The Food Network show “Chefs vs. City” in July. Leah Post is heading into her second year of classes at Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business this fall. She’s already a successful entrepreneur; she and lifelong friend Brandon Weimer launched Brandini Toffee, a gourmet candy business, in 2006. It started as a way for the then-15-year-olds to pay for a class trip.
More on Post and her candy business

Cal Poly Student, Professor Working on Collection Headed to The Smithsonian

Harvey Levenson, head of Cal Poly’s Graphic Communication Department, and student Erin Newman, a history major who has interned in Cal Poly’s Kennedy Library Special Collections and the History Center of San Luis Obispo County, are part of a team organizing a historic civil rights photography collection for the Smithsonian Institution. Professor and student are helping to assess and organize the photos of veteran photographer Joe Schwartz, 97. His works will be archived by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African History and Culture.
More on the project and Cal Poly's involvement

Agriculture Students Take Top Awards
at Dairy Judging in Scotland

Three Cal Poly students earned the top two team and individual awards in an international dairy cattle judging competition in Scotland. Cal Poly Dairy Judging Team members Mandy Brazil, Kelli Carstensen and Sam Cheda traveled to the Royal Highlands Show in Scotland to participate in the invitational competition, held in late June. The three Cal Poly students, along with recent high school graduate Rocco Cunningham, competed under the banner of the National FFA Organization.
More on the Highlands Show results

Faculty & Staff

Cal Poly Faculty, Supporters Launch New Summer Dance Festival at the Performing Arts Center

Cal Poly Dance Professor Diana Stanton -- along with many longtime Cal Poly supporters, faculty, staff and arts patrons -- helped launch "Jumpbrush," a dance festival held for the first time this summer at the Performing Arts Center on campus. The festival brought together the Central Coast's four professional dance companies, professional choreographers and students ages 13 and up. Students learned, danced, and each company presented works that represented their very unique styles of choreography. The finale concert celebrated the talents of the dancers and the experience of the Forbes Pipe Organ at the Performing Arts Center.
Click here for video of the dancers rehearsing and interview with Professor Stanton in motion

Coming Up

Cal Poly Alumni Big Band Benefit Dance Concert is Aug. 28 at Madonna Inn

The Cal Poly Collegians Alumni Big Band will play at its annual dance concert from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28, in the Madonna Inn Ballroom. The 20 Cal Poly Collegians – all alumni – bring the best of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Les Brown and more to San Luis Obispo every August. Today’s alumni band members represent classes from 1948 to 1963. The all-male Collegians are the predecessor to today's University Jazz Bands at Cal Poly. Admission to the concert is free; voluntary contributions for the Collegians’ jazz scholarship at Cal Poly are welcome.
More on the Aug. 28 show
Find out about the Collegians on their web site http://www.cpcollegiansalumni.com

Graphic Communication Institute Offering Web, Print, Multimedia Workshops Through September

Cal Poly's Graphic Communication Institute and faculty are offering four Saturday workshops in September for professionals or anyone interested in sharpening their print, web and multimedia software and design skills. Topics are "Photoshop: Basic Production for Web and Print," "InDesign CS5 Jumpstart," "Deconstructing Web Pages" (a two-Saturday workshop) and "E-books and Digital Publishing." Graphic Communication Department faculty teaching the workshops are Brian Lawler, Lorraine Donegan, Ken Rothmuller and Hal Hinterliter. Workshop registration is $195 each, with a 10 percent discount for registering for more than one. The Graphic Communication Institute at Cal Poly (GrCI) is an outreach effort of the university’s Graphic Communication department, created to provide industry professionals with access to Cal Poly’s state-of-the-art resources.
Get details on the GRCI's fall workshop offerings

Swanton Pacific Ranch Railroad Society Hosts Cal Poly Day Sept. 26

Enjoy a steam train ride, barbecue and visit to Cal Poly's Swanton Pacific Ranch just north of Santa Cruz on Sunday, Sept. 26. Alumnus Al Smith left his $20 million, 3,200-acre Swanton Pacific Ranch to Cal Poly when he died in 1993. The ranch serves as a "living lab" for Cal Poly’s agriculture, natural resources management and forestry programs and research. Cal Poly Day is a great opportunity to visit with alumni and friends, enjoy the beauty of Swanton Pacific Ranch and ride the Swanton Pacific Railroad steam trains. The historic trains were used in the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San
Francisco in 1915. Tickets sell out every year and are available by mail order only. E-mail ecarnegi@calpoly.edu for details or Download and print a pdf order form at http://sprr.calpoly.edu/pdf/Next_Event.pdf (scroll down below the calendar to find the form).
Get organic U-Pick Apples at Swanton Pacific Ranch while you're there