Dean's Letter

Dear Cal Poly College of Liberal Arts Alumni, 

This e-publication is the first of what will be quarterly updates on selected achievements of Cal Poly’s College of Liberal Arts students, faculty and alumni. 

From talking with many of you, I know that you greatly appreciated the sense of community you experienced as students in the College of Liberal Arts at Cal Poly, and you continue to view yourselves as extended members of that community. So do we, and we want to do a better job of staying connected with you and more actively involving you in that community!

The College of Liberal Arts remains strong and is growing in size, quality, visibility and leadership on campus and in the community. Our faculty members continue to be among the best teachers and scholars at Cal Poly. Our students continue to be some of the most visible leaders on campus while distinguishing themselves academically and through their accomplishments in local and global communities. 

I am pleased to announce the new Center for Expressive Technologies (CET) — a hub for faculty, staff and students from across disciplines to collaborate on various projects. This is a fine example of how the college is becoming active at the intersection of Science, Technology and Society. Similarly, Philosophy Professor Patrick Lin, Philosophy Department, is currently investigating the ethics behind emerging technologies such as robotics and cyberwarfare. In this way, the college is providing key leadership at the intersection of Science, Technology and Society (STS) while sustaining excellence in traditional liberal arts disciplines.

At the curricular level, we have proposed four new interdisciplinary STS minors that will further foster our interdisciplinary goals: ethics, public policy, science and technology; gender, race, culture, science and technology; media arts, society and technology; and science and risk communication.

All of this is being done with the success of our students in mind. The resulting classroom and project-based learning experiences for our students will ensure that they graduate with strong knowledge in their respective disciplines and experience working on interdisciplinary teams. Such experiences are embodied in each department throughout the college, including the transition in the Journalism Department to become an integrated, digital-first student news organization. These experiences continue the tradition of Cal Poly graduates being ready on day one to contribute to the workplace, community and/or graduate school.

I hope that you enjoy reading about the achievements highlighted in this issue of The Link. I also encourage you to visit our Facebook page and to update your contact information.

We appreciate all that you have done and continue to do, directly and indirectly, that so strongly associates Cal Poly and the College of Liberal Arts with excellence.  

Best Wishes,

Doug