News

Hugh O. La Bounty, who served as Cal Poly Pomona’s third president and shepherded the university through a significant period of expansion, died Nov. 7 of natural causes. He was 91. La Bounty arrived at the university’s Voorhis campus in San Dimas as a junior instructor in 1953. For the 25-plus years before he became president, La Bounty held a variety of posts on campus, including serving as building coordinator and assisting with the development of both the physical and educational masterplans to prepare the campus for future growth. He was appointed acting president in 1977 and made permanent in 1978. He retired in 1991. “Few individuals have had a …

The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. has honored Cal Poly Pomona for making significant contributions to the region’s economy and implementing measures to help boost the social mobility of students. President Soraya M. Coley, who attended the LAEDC’s 23rd annual Eddy Awards celebration on Nov. 8 at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, called the recognition “a tremendous honor.” “As a polytechnic institution, Cal Poly Pomona has a proud history and a duty to support our regional economy,” Coley said. “This award culminates 80 years of fostering economic development and, by extension, affirms the economic, social, and cultural impact of the California State University system.” The Eddy Awards …

The University Police Department has responded to more than 25 incidents of emails designed to defraud the recipient.  These emails have cost victims more than $18,000 since January of 2018 alone. Spam/phishing emails falsely appear to come from individuals known to the victim or promote work/job opportunities that offer high wages for seemingly simple tasks. While the university’s Division of Information Technology continues to diligently block many of these emails, the best prevention is awareness. Here are a few tips on how to identify a suspicious email/job offer: You are being solicited via email The email is poorly worded It lacks details about the sender, company, or how to contact …

Cal Poly Pomona has earned a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) grant to identify promising research and development projects on campus and help find ways to commercialize them. The university is only one of three CSUs and one of 10 institutions in California to be awarded the grant. The grant provides opportunities for students to collaborate with faculty and industry to bring their ideas and research to market by forming I-Corps teams. The teams will tap into technical, entrepreneurial and mentorship expertise to generate products the public can use. The grant also provides Cal Poly Pomona students, faculty and staff with access to NSF’s National Innovation Network. …

International Education Week (IEW) is a worldwide celebration of the millions of people who improve global understanding through exchange programs. Cal Poly Pomona will honor its thousands of international students, scholars, faculty and staff—and the amazing richness and diversity of the campus – during a week of festivities Nov. 13-16. The festivities get underway with a kickoff celebration Tuesday, Nov. 13 in the Engineering Meadow at noon.  The International Center will put up a large map of the world and is inviting students to place a flag on it for every country that they have visited. There will be performances, free pizza and an opportunity to speak with several …

The 24th Annual Dia De Los Muertos Celebration commenced at Cal Poly Pomona Nov. 2. The “Day of the Dead” tradition has become an anticipated festivity on campus and an opportunity for the entire community to come together in celebration of life.  The event is a collaboration between the César E. Chávez Center for Higher Education and the Ethnic and Women’s Studies Department. The celebration included music from local bands, as well as Cal Poly’s very own mariachi ensemble, Mariachi Los Broncos. Aztec dancers helped kick off the event with a procession from the César E. Chávez Center to the Bronco Commons. The campus community and visitors to …

Registration is now open for the inaugural Equine History Conference in collaboration with the Equine History Collective. The conference will take place in the University Library Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. The theme of this year’s Cal Poly Pomona Collections and Archives conference is “Why Equine History Matters” and will focus on showing the relevance of equine history for historical studies. The deadline to register is Nov. 9 or when capacity is reached. Full program details are available here. If you have questions, contact Katie Richardson, head of Special Collections and Archives.  …

President Soraya M. Coley has established a broad-based campus committee to provide input as Cal Poly Pomona and FivePoint Holdings, LLC partner to re-envision and develop the site formerly known as the Lanterman Developmental Center. The ultimate vision is to transform the site into a vibrant university-oriented, mixed-use community that supports the academic mission, generates revenue and provides benefits to the surrounding area. The committee includes representatives of the university’s faculty, students, staff and administrators and has been charged with the following objectives: Serve in an advisory role to President Coley and the FivePoint development team during the Master Planning process; Build upon the university’s stated objectives in the original …

Lori Lebeau-Walsh, a former lecturer in the art department and a Cal Poly Pomona alumna (’92, art), died Aug. 19. She was 65. Lebeau-Walsh taught part-time at the university on and off from 2000 to 2009. When art Professor Emeritus Babette Mayor started teaching at Cal Poly Pomona in 1990, Lebeau-Walsh was one of her first students. The pair were close in age and had sons born on the same day, Mayor said. “Lori had worked in the field before she went to Cal Poly Pomona, but yearned for more and went back as an adult to finish her degree,” she said. “This was in the early days of computer …