Cal Poly Pomona is among the best public universities in the West and is nationally ranked for helping students achieve economic success. As an inclusive polytechnic university, we cultivate success through experiential learning, discovery, and innovation. Our graduates are ready to succeed in the professional world on Day 1.
Faculty in all disciplines put theory to practice, providing students with opportunities to apply their knowledge in hands-on projects, research collaborations, and valuable internship and service-learning programs. Our history and geography are unlike any other university in the region. Nowhere else can students ride an Arabian horse, practice on a Steinway piano, bring a new product to market, and build a liquid-fueled rocket.
Cal Poly Pomona offers affordable, life-changing education. Less than 30 miles east of Los Angeles, it enjoys the excitement of a diverse metropolitan while retaining a foothill community's serenity.
We cultivate success through a diverse culture of experiential learning, discovery, and innovation. Cal Poly Pomona will be the model for an inclusive polytechnic university that inspires creativity and innovation, embraces local and global challenges, and transforms lives.
Our challenging curriculum runs the gamut from agriculture to cutting-edge engineering to hospitality management to business administration to sustainability. Moreover, every year for more than 65 years, our students join with students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to construct award-winning floats for the annual Tournament of Roses Parade that is viewed by millions around the world. Like the programs, our students here are as diverse as the range of courses. We welcome and value that diversity. Underrepresented minorities and first-generation college students account for many of the nearly 21,000 undergraduate students. We also are a veteran-friendly campus.
Cal Poly Pomona programs have earned the campus a national reputation and high rankings on lists of best universities in U.S. News & World Report and other publications. The decorated and committed faculty and our dedicated staff have helped the university achieve these lofty academic accomplishments.
The cornerstone of a Cal Poly Pomona education is our "learn-by-doing" philosophy that joins theory with practice and prepares our students for the working world. Consequently, our graduates are highly regarded and sought after in business, industry, and other professional fields. We have renowned alumni who are making a difference in their communities.
The Office of Undergraduate Research at Cal Poly Pomona (OUR-CPP) was established in 2013 to increase undergraduate student participation in research programs. Participation in research as an undergraduate has been proven to not only expand your academic experience at CPP but also improve student retention and graduation rates.
Cal Poly Pomona is one of only two polytechnic universities of the 23 California State University campuses and 11 in the nation. The classical meaning of polytechnic is "skilled in many arts." At Cal Poly Pomona, it means more than that. Here, we weave technology and hands-on learning experiences into our academic programs, bringing textbook concepts to life in a technologically advanced and multicultural world. Students also experience a broad-based education through our general education program. All of our academic disciplines embrace the teaching of theory through application. We take a multi-faceted approach to problem-solving, looking at a situation from all possible angles. A biology student might use digital image analysis to monitor the growth of a virus. An urban and regional planning student might use GIS (geographic information systems) to chart the shrinking of low-income housing in an urban area. This focus on actions and solutions turns our students into skilled workers, integrative problem solvers, and well-balanced leaders.
Cal Poly Pomona benefits from a richly diverse community reflective of the greater Los Angeles area. Our student body is roughly one-third Latino, one-quarter Asian, and 3 percent black. The university also has a healthy percentage of out-of-state and international students. U.S News noted that Cal Poly Pomona was eighth-most diverse among regional universities in the West and the tenth most diverse nation. Designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, Cal Poly Pomona is in the top 25 colleges awarding baccalaureate degrees to Hispanics. The Hispanic Business magazine also lauded the university's ability to help Hispanic postgraduate students succeed.
Cal Poly Pomona opened on Sept. 15, 1938, with an all-male enrollment of 110 students as the Voorhis Unit of California State Polytechnic College in San Luis Obispo. It was located on the 150-acre San Dimas site of the former Voorhis School for Boys. Breakfast cereal magnate W.K. Kellogg deeded 813 acres of land located three miles south of the Voorhis campus to California in 1949.
In 1956, 508 students and 44 faculty and staff moved from San Dimas to the Kellogg campus. In a first for the all-male campus, 329 women joined the student body in 1961. The Pomona campus separated from the San Luis Obispo campus in 1966 and became California State Polytechnic College, Kellogg Campus. University status was granted in 1972. Today, the university is part of the 23-campus California State University system. Cal Poly Pomona has about 24,000 students and 2,600 faculty and staff.
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