Cultivate Spring 2022

FROM THE DEAN

As we near the end of the winter quarter and prepare to welcome spring, I am constantly reminded of the strength and dedication of not only our faculty and staff as they forge forward, but of the steadfast commitment made every day by our students. Amid a two-year pandemic, they continue to show up eager and ready, and look forward to a better future for not just themselves, but the larger world.

In this issue you’ll read about students learning to grow food in unconventional ways, professors who are collaborating with colleagues across the state to ensure food security for California and beyond, and about the Cal Poly Rodeo Program, which at its heart, provides students with the tenacity and fortitude to become future leaders.

We are not only showing up — we are growing. In the spring, our students will take their first classes in the JUSTIN and J. LOHR Center for Wine and Viticulture, the largest completely donor-funded capital project in California State University history. And we are just getting started. Plans are underway to improve our greenhouses, and our new Grimm Family Center for Organic Production and Research will shape the future of organic agriculture. It is your support that helps us to keep moving forward and ensures that our students are ready for the future. For that, I thank you.

May we continue to grow together,

ANDREW J. THULIN, DEAN

College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences