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Data science major Jonathan Juarez at IdeaFest in May 2026 at Cal Poly Humboldt. Juarez’s project used spatial data to analyze wildfire risk in Humboldt County.<\/p>\n
Credit: Cal Poly Humboldt \/ Kellie Brown<\/p>\n
Top Takeaways<\/p>\n
Cal State Humboldt rebranded as Cal Poly Humboldt in 2022, becoming the third CSU polytechnic campus after San Luis Obispo and Pomona.<\/p>\n
Since the name change, the university has launched new interdisciplinary programs that emphasize applied learning and combined disciplines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The university, which had 6,276 students in 2025, aims to enroll\u00a0more than 11,600 students by 2035.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jonathan Juarez was working in Los Angeles to help support his parents and brother when he decided it was time to finish his bachelor\u2019s degree. Rather than stay local, the 30-year-old enrolled at the California State University\u2019s northernmost campus roughly 700 miles away, drawn by a brand-new major at a university in the midst of reinvention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love being able to look back to where I came from, to where I am today,\u201d said Juarez, who will graduate from Cal Poly Humboldt in 2027 with degrees in polytechnic data science and economics. \u201cI told myself, \u2018I need to go back. I want it. I really want to see if I can finish this.\u2019 And I fell in love with academia again.\u201d<\/p>\n
After more than a century as Humboldt State University, the picturesque campus on California\u2019s North Coast became a polytechnic university in 2022 \u2014 making it the third in the system after Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. Since the name change, the university has launched new interdisciplinary programs that emphasize applied learning and combined disciplines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The polytech designation is less of a transformation for the campus and more of a rebranding, aimed at boosting enrollment by putting a finer point on what the university offers.<\/p>\n \u201cThat should help boost enrollment,\u201d said Shawna Young, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, \u201cbecause those who are interested in seeking that kind of job and career and workforce readiness will think of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the new designation, Cal Poly Humboldt has seen slight gains in enrollment, growing more than 7% from 5,858 students in 2022 to 6,276 in 2025. The university aims to enroll\u00a0more than 11,600 students by 2035.\u00a0<\/p>\n But, like all educational institutions across the nation, the campus faces the \u201cdemographic cliff\u201d of decreasing enrollment. Campus leaders say the new designation gives Cal Poly Humboldt a competitive edge with applicants that Humboldt State University didn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have looked at it as a recognition,\u201d said Chrissy Holliday, vice president for enrollment management and student success. \u201cThe hope was to carve out a differentiation of what makes Cal Poly Humboldt unique, so our pitch becomes less about pretty pictures and more about the value we\u2019re offering students.\u201d<\/p>\n CSU leaders asked Humboldt University <\/a>to apply <\/a>for polytechnic status in 2020, citing the campus\u2019s \u201cmany distinct strengths in the sciences,\u201d and the sciences have benefited from the designation. A new engineering and technology building is expected to be completed in 2027,\u00a0when the first cohort of students who applied to the new Cal Poly will graduate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Funded with a one-time state investment of $433 million, the $100 million building will house a new mechanical engineering bachelor\u2019s, an engineering and community practice master\u2019s and, by 2029, bachelor\u2019s programs in forest engineering and regenerative engineering and design technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also funded with the state investment is a two-building housing complex located half a mile from campus. The state Legislature approved an additional annual allocation of $25 million to pay for the rollout of polytech course programs through 2029.\u00a0<\/p>\n The data science program is a direct result of the polytech transition, said Kamila Larripa, an associate professor of mathematical biology.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat investment allowed some of these new programs to fully form and not just be an idea,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Transitioning to polytech <\/p>\n The rebranding has also brought casualties<\/a>. Last year, the university closed the religious studies department and, instead, added a history of religions concentration to the history degree program. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/education-beat_podcast-cover-150x150.jpg\")
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