Cal Poly Milestones

Governor Gage signs legislation to establish the California Polytechnic School.

The Farmers’ Institute and Basket Picnic, the first open house event on campus, is held on May 24, 1904.

[1/01/1916] New academic departments are added to the three original departments.

[1/01/1925] Enterprise projects — the forerunner to today’s senior projects — are established for agriculture students.

[1/01/1927] The name Cal Poly comes into popular use and the school adds a two-year Junior College Division.

[1/01/1929] The California government bars women from attending Cal Poly.

[1/01/1931] The Agriculture Department is transferred to the direct supervision of the State Bureau of Agricultural Education.

[1/01/1932] The school is reorganized and changed to a two-year technical and vocational school.

The first annual Poly Royal, an annual open house event that showcases the campus, is established.

Cal Poly receives its first million-dollar gift from Charles and Jerry Voorhis.

The state grants collegiate status to the California Polytechnic School.

The California Polytechnic School is renamed the California State Polytechnic College.

W. K. Kellogg donates his Arabian horse ranch to Cal Poly and Cal Poly Pomona comes into being.

Cal Poly begins participating in a program that allows international students to receive a teacher education.

Female students are once again admitted to the college.

[10/29/1960] Eighteen people lose their lives when a plane crashes with the football team on board.

The Kellogg-Voorhis Unit is split from Cal Poly and becomes a separate college (Cal Poly Pomona).

The curriculum is reorganized into four academic units and the School of Architecture is created.

Cal Poly’s official name is changed to California Polytechnic State University by the state legislature.

The curriculum is reorganized into seven new academic units.

[1/01/1992] Academic units within the university are reorganized into colleges.

[1/01/1993] University receives a 3,200-acre ranch and earns national recognition.

[1/01/2000] The Paul J. Orfalea family donates $15 million to the College of Business.

[1/01/2002} Cal Poly is rated the best public, largely undergraduate university in the West by U.S. News & World Report for the 10th consecutive year.

[1/01/2007] The Architecture Department receives $60 million from an anonymous donor.

[1/01/2013] The Warren J. Baker Center for Mathematics and Science opens in the center of campus.

[1/01/2017] William and Linda Frost give $110 million to Cal Poly’s College of Science and Mathematics.

[5/01/2019] The William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation breaks ground.