California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona is a public polytechnic research university in Pomona, California, United States. It is the largest of the three polytechnic universities in the California State University system by enrollment.
Cal Poly Pomona began as a southern campus of the California Polytechnic School in 1938, following the donation of the Voorhis School for Boys and its adjacent farm in San Dimas by Charles and Jerry Voorhis. This Pomona campus expanded in 1949 when it was gifted the W.K. Kellogg Institute of Animal Husbandry from the University of California, which was originally Will Keith Kellogg's horse ranch. Cal Poly Kellogg-Voorhis and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo continued operations under unified administrative control until 1966, when Cal Poly Pomona was formed as an independent university.
Cal Poly Pomona currently offers bachelor's degrees in 94 majors, 39 master's degree programs, 13 teaching credentials, and a doctorate across nine distinct academic colleges. The university is one among a small group of polytechnic universities in the United States which tend to be primarily devoted to the instruction of technical arts and applied sciences. Cal Poly, Pomona is a Hispanic-serving institution and is eligible to be designated as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander serving institution.
Its sports teams are known as the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos and play in the NCAA Division II as part of the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Broncos sponsor 10 varsity sports and have won 14 NCAA national championships. Current and former Cal Poly Pomona athletes have won 7 Olympic medals.
History
Events leading to the foundation of present-day Cal Poly Pomona began with the ending of the Voorhis School for Boys near Walnut Creek in San Dimas, California, and its acquisition by the San Luis Obispo–based California Polytechnic School in 1938.The California Polytechnic School was founded as a vocational high school when California Governor Henry Gage signed the Polytechnic School Bill on March 8, 1901, after its drafting by school founder Myron Angel. Voorhis School, on the other hand, had been established in 1928 as a private vocational school which provided elementary schooling for underprivileged boys and operated under the Christian religious principle, "education coupled with the Kingdom of God". Its founder Charles B. Voorhis and headmaster Jerry Voorhis maintained the school opened throughout the worst years of the Great Depression but persistent economic pressures forced them to transfer control to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo in 1938.
Voorhis School became the Cal Poly-Voorhis Unit and its educational offerings were raised to the same level as Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo's, then a two-year college. The horticulture program was moved to the new satellite campus and the two units operated as one institution spanning two locations under the leadership of president Julian McPhee.
During World War II most of the student body was called to active military duty; enrollment declined and the campus closed in 1943. Reopening after the war, Cal Poly-Voorhis Unit operated in San Dimas until 1956 when it moved to Will Keith Kellogg’s former horse ranch in the neighboring city of Pomona, California. Acknowledging its Kellogg legacy, Cal Poly-Voorhis Unit changed its name to Cal Poly Kellogg-Voorhis Unit and offered six programs in agriculture. The inaugural class of 1957 at the new campus consisted of 57 students graduating with bachelor's degrees in a ceremony held at the Rose Garden in Pomona and religious services at Voorhis Chapel in San Dimas. Also in 1957, Cal Poly Kellogg-Voorhis introduced the College of Engineering, the second academic unit after the College of Agriculture. The California Master Plan for Higher Education added the two Cal Poly campuses to the new California State College system in 1961 and Cal Poly Kellogg-Voorhis Unit opened its doors for the first time to 329 female students. President McPhee retired in 1966, and Cal Poly split into two different and independent universities. The partnership between the two campuses remains with their involvement in the annual Cal Poly Universities Rose Float.
To better reflect its new ties to the California State College system, Cal Poly Kellogg-Voorhis changed its name to "California State Polytechnic College, Kellogg-Voorhis" in 1966 and became the 16th campus to officially join the CSC system. Robert C. Kramer assumed presidency of the independent campus in 1966 and California State Polytechnic College, Kellogg-Voorhis finally adopted its present-day name California State Polytechnic University, Pomona on June 1, 1972.
In 1998, Cal Poly Pomona received criticism when it planned to grant an honorary degree to Robert Mugabe. Mugabe's negative humanitarian record as president of Zimbabwe led to protests from staff, faculty and students, ultimately forcing the university to rescind the plan.
Cal Poly Pomona underwent further growth in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with the construction of the CLA Building, academic facilities, expansion to the Cal Poly Pomona University Library and the addition of programs such as the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies, the I-Poly High School and the U.R. Bronco undergraduate research program. Under then-president J. Michael Ortiz, Cal Poly Pomona launched its first comprehensive capital campaign in fall of 2008 to increase its permanent endowment. Nevertheless, the negative economic effects caused by the late-2000s recession resulted in increased student fees, reduced enrollment availability, eliminated two athletic programs and introduced a mandatory furlough calendar for most of its employees.
In April 2024, CPP students joined other campuses across the United States in protests against the humanitarian crisis and genocide in Gaza.
Name
The university is officially known as "California State Polytechnic University, Pomona" and "Cal Poly Pomona", and is also referred to as "CPP". The name "Cal Poly" is protected by trademark and state statute exclusively for California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Referring to Cal Poly Pomona simply as "Cal Poly" can cause confusion. To honor each institution's unique identity and ensure clear communication, Cal Poly Pomona's Office of Public Affairs recommends using "Cal Poly Pomona" or "CPP" when mentioning the university. This practice recognizes Cal Poly Pomona as an independent and respected institution with distinct strengths within the California State University system.Campus
Cal Poly Pomona is located partially within the limits of Pomona, a largely suburban city that is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The city of Pomona is located in the eastern portion of Los Angeles County and borders the neighboring county of San Bernardino to the east. The university's campus make it the second largest in the California State University system, a figure which includes various facilities scattered throughout Southern California such as a ranch in Santa Paula, California, campus at the former Spadra Landfill, and the Neutra VDL Studio and Residences in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. The university is currently negotiating the transfer of the 302 acre Lanterman Developmental Center from the State of California. The land is to be used for academic purposes and expansion of the Innovation Village and also shared by the California Highway Patrol, the California Air Resources Board and the California Conservation Corps.Although part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the university is in close proximity to two other large metropolitan and culturally defined regions, the Inland Empire and Orange County. The university has a tier 1 area, defined as a geographical admissions region surrounding the campus, roughly bounded by the San Gabriel Mountains to the north, the city of Chino Hills to the south, Interstate 605 to the west, and Interstate 15 to the east. Cal Poly Pomona's campus buildings vary in age and style from the Mission Revival Kellogg Horse Stables and the Kellogg House built in the 1920s; the modernist box-like portion of the library completed in 1969; to contemporary dormitories, engineering, science and library-expansion facilities completed in the early 21st century. Manor House serves as the official residence of the university president.
Leisure and recreational locations include a rose garden which dates back to the Kellogg horse ranch years; the Kellogg House designed by Los Angeles-based architects Charles Gibbs Adams, Myron Hunt and Harold Coulson Chambers in the 1920s; and a Japanese garden built in 2003 and designed by Takeo Uesugi. Kellogg's House features grounds which were initially landscaped by Charles Gibbs Adams but were later completed by Florence Yoch & Lucile Council. Cal Poly Pomona's George and Sakaye Aratani Japanese Garden is one among three under management by institutions of higher education in the County of Los Angeles, the others being the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden at Cal State Long Beach, and the Shinwa-En Garden at Cal State Dominguez Hills. At the center of the campus and atop Horsehill are the buildings of the Collins College of Hospitality Management and Kellogg West, a hotel and conference center and home of the student/faculty-run Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch.
At the northwest part of the campus is the Voorhis Ecological Reserve, which serves as a wildlife corridor containing Coastal Sage Scrub and Coast Live Oak trees among others. Contrasting some of these architecturally prominent facilities, there are various portable buildings on campus which are used to accommodate the growing enrollment of recent decades. Cal Poly Pomona operates the International Polytechnic High School, a college preparatory high school located on campus.
The letters "CPP" made of concrete are located on Colt Hill overlooking the campus. The letters "CP" were initially added in 1959, with the second "P" added in 2004 to distinguish it from the Cal Poly campus in San Luis Obispo.
Between 1993 and 2022, Cal Poly Pomona's dominant landmark was a futurist-styled administrative facility known as the CLA Building which was designed by Antoine Predock and opened in 1993. The building's peculiar shape became a symbol of the university; in addition, its close location to film studios based in the Hollywood borough of Los Angeles have prompted its inclusion in motion pictures such as Gattaca and Impostor. In 2013, the California State University Board of Trustees voted to demolish the building and replace it with a new academic/faculty complex because of severe seismic risks, as determined when now reviewed in the context of more recent seismic research than was required by building codes at the time of its original design and building permit. Despite the fact that numerous other buildings on the CPP campus are much older, which brings into question their adequacy as they too sit on the same presumed fault line, only the CLA building was to be completely demolished by the end of summer 2022.
Noted modernist architect James Pulliam once served as campus architect and instructor and designed the Bookstore, W. Keith and Janet Kellogg Art Gallery, Interim Design Center and Student Union building which architectural historian David Gebhard regarded as the best building on campus.