Dean’s Message
I am pleased to present this edition of Orfalea Business. This issue emphasizes some of the many ways our students have embraced Cal Poly’s Learn by Doing ethos and features our faculty expertise, alumni, diversity, and more.
Our students and faculty are having a positive impact on business and society. The Low Income Taxpayer Clinic directly helps local taxpayers navigate and resolve tax matters. Additionally, students like Macey Hardridge and Layna Hathaway put their business education to use in startup enterprises launched while earning their undergraduate degrees. We are also constantly striving to better prepare students for the workforce, and we are excited to announce the Cal Poly Real Estate Initiative—a collaboration between the Orfalea College of Business and the College of Architecture and Environmental Design.
I hope you will check out more of our favorite stories from the past year. Going forward, we are focused on key priorities through our strategic objectives:
- Prepare learners with essential Data + Technology + Human competencies to lead the future of business
- Effectively transition learners into careers
- Promote a thriving academic enterprise
- Bring real-world business activity into the learning experience
- Foster inclusive social impact
- Advance internal policies and practices for strategic impact
We are proud of our successes–including our 83% four-year graduation rate and 95% positive engagement rate at graduation–and we are always striving to amplify our impact.
I invite you to join us on this journey.
Sincerely,
Damon M Fleming, PhD, CFA
Dean and Professor of Accounting
Orfalea College of Business
California Polytechnic State University