Cal Maritime, a state university in Vallejo that is having trouble, will be taken over by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Thursday, the Cal State Board of Trustees decided to merge the two schools. They said it was the only way to keep the Bay Area school from closing.
Important people in charge at both schools agreed with the idea. All students from Cal Maritime will be known as Cal Poly students by the fall of 2026. It will take a little while.
Students learn about transportation engineering, mechanical engineering, and marine engineering technology at the Maritime Academy.
Jeff Armstrong, President of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, says that makes it a good fit. This week, he gave the Board the plan for integration.
Engineering, oceanography, and marine science are all majors that are related in a lot of ways. But the Maritime Academy is also very different in some important ways.
In any case, it will be called Cal Poly Maritime Academy. The West Coast only has one Maritime Academy. Armstrong said, “So it’s very important not only for California but also for the four western states and two territories that face the Pacific.”
The new name for that program is Cal Poly Maritime Academy. It will still give degrees that lead to a Coast Guard credential.
The California Faculty Association, which is made up of faculty members from both schools, was against the vote because they thought that students and teachers had not been given enough information about the merger.
Lisa Kawamura teaches at Cal Poly and is the head of the union unit she works in. Kawamura said that the CSU has not been clear about its plans for integration. He said that university staff, students, and other people who pay into the CSU system should know how it will affect their work and education.
“I don’t want it to sound like either Cal Maritime or San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly is against the merger, but there are still a lot of questions.”
A spokesperson for the CSU told KCBX, “The process of integration will use the knowledge and different voices of both universities to make sure a complete, smooth, and student-centered integration.”
Armstrong also said that the university of Cal Poly is committed to being open going forward.
“The courses and the curriculum need a lot of work.” However, that will be done through shared control. It’s up to the management to decide what stage makes the most financial sense, but our goal is to grow Cal Poly. “We want to make the California Maritime Academy bigger,” he said.
From July 1, 2019, Cal Poly, Solano, and Cal Poly Maritime Academy will be known as Cal Maritime and its Maritime Academy.
