Our Commitment

Cal Poly is dedicated to fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive community where all social identities are welcome and a wide variety of perspectives and viewpoints come together to enhance the learning experience. We are working hard to ensure all students truly feel they belong on our campus so they can tackle our world’s biggest problems in a global economy. At the same time, we're creating an environment where our staff and faculty can thrive on their way to professional success.

We continue to value our diversity of complex and intersecting identities, and strive to maintain an environment that is socially just, equitable, respectful and inclusive. Cal Poly’s classrooms and work environments are places of respectful engagement and informed debate that maintain human dignity. We acknowledge that differing perspectives, which arise from our own individual and group experiences and our social positioning, are central to the development of thoughtful and critical thinkers, scholars and change agents.

As a public university, Cal Poly seeks to mirror the diversity and demographics of California by supporting everyone’s potential to thrive in our learning community, especially historically underrepresented and marginalized individuals. We are focusing our key initiatives in three areas: recruiting and retaining diverse students, staff and faculty; enriching curriculum and other learning experiences; and improving campus climate for all. Read the university's statement on diversity.

The Land on Which We Learn

The yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini have a documented presence in this area for over 10,000 years. The tiłhini peoples have stewarded their ancestral and unceded homelands, which include all of the cities, communities, and federal and state open spaces within the San Luis Obispo County region. These homelands extend east into the Carrizo Plain towards Kern County, south to the Santa Maria River, north to Ragged Point, and west beyond the ocean’s shoreline and in an unbroken chain of lineage, kinship, and culture.

These places and villages have, and always will be, sites of relationship and exchange. Naming the university’s newest residence halls yakʔitʸutʸu after the original Northern Chumash villages is a first step toward recognizing this responsibility and developing partnerships across communities of students, faculty, staff and neighbors on the Cal Poly campus and beyond. Learn more about the partnership.

Get Involved

Inclusion begins with each one of us in the Cal Poly community stepping up to become more informed and connect with one another.

Learn more about CPX inclusive action planning Invest time in diversity and inclusion training Participate in Cal Poly’s annual Teach In Find a student club, religious or cultural organization Join our faculty/staff associations Explore living/learning communities in University Housing

Key Initiatives

CPX: Campus Climate Survey and Action Planning

In 2019, the university partnered with Dr. Damon Williams to launch the Cal Poly Experience (CPX) initiative to gather concrete data on campus climate and use it as a foundation for action plans to help Cal Poly realize a more diverse, inclusive and equitable future.

Explore the CPX survey reports, and get involved in shaping personal and institutional strategies that will help move our university forward.

explore CPX

Cal Poly Scholars

The Cal Poly Scholars program supports students in all six academic colleges by providing graduates from California partner high schools with scholarships for up to five years, laptops, proactive advising and a supportive living/learning community with their peers and mentors.

The program has improved retention rates among first-generation and low-income students, and its scope will grow to support thousands more students in the coming years.

get to know Cal Poly scholars

Faculty Cluster Hiring

Sixteen new assistant professors joined Cal Poly in fall 2019 as part of the first university-wide cluster hire effort. These tenure-track educators have proven expertise in a specific facet of their discipline that fuels diversity and inclusion.

Now at work in five of Cal Poly’s academic colleges, each professor guides our students through inclusive teaching strategies and conducts much-needed research in their discipline, strengthening our learning community from within.

Learn more about Faculty Cluster Hiring

Our Stories

Two students look at each other with protective glasses on

A Common Bond

Engineers Jake Javier and Leila Murray found friendship through a shared passion for helping people like them living with spinal cord afflictions.

Read Jake's and Leila's story

Five Questions

Psychology Professor Jay Bettergarcia aims to transform mental health resources for LGBTQ+ folks locally and throughout California.

Read Jay's story

A Cal Poly student smiles broadly during her internship while sitting at her computer

A Day in the Life of Interns

Follow along as members of the National Society of Black Engineers tackle exciting summer internships in health care, government and technology.

Follow along a day in the life

Reach out to the right office

These offices can help you find more specific support programs, trainings, scholarships and details on Cal Poly’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.