Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will absorb Cal Maritime, a struggling public university in Vallejo. The Cal State Board of Trustees voted Thursday to merge the two schools, saying it was the only way to save the Bay Area school from closure.
Top administrators at both schools backed the move. It will take a little while, but by the Fall of 2026, all students from Cal Maritime will be identified as Cal Poly students.
The Maritime Academy teaches students about marine engineering technology, transportation and mechanical engineering. That makes it a good fit, according to Jeffrey Armstrong, President of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He presented the integration proposal to the Board this week.
“There's a lot of similarities in types of majors—in engineering and oceanography and Marine Science—but there's also some really unique aspects of the Maritime Academy. Well.. it will become Cal Poly Maritime Academy. It’s the only Maritime Academy on the West Coast. So it's very critical for not just California, but the four Pacific facing western states and two territories,” Armstrong said.
Cal Poly Maritime Academy, as that program will be called, will continue to offer degrees that lead to a Coast Guard credential.
The California Faculty Association, the union representing faculty members at the two schools opposed the vote, saying not enough information about the merger has been disclosed to students and educators.
Lisa Kawamura is a lecturer at Cal Poly and the chapter president of the union. Kawamura said the CSU has not been transparent with its plans for the integration, and that university faculty, students, and other people who pay into the CSU system deserve to know how it would impact their education and jobs.
“I don't want to make it sound like either party — Cal Maritime or San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly is, you know, against the merger, but there are a lot of questions that are still unanswered.”
A CSU spokesperson told KCBX, “The integration process will engage the expertise and diverse voices of both universities to ensure a thorough and seamless integration that is student-centered.”
Meanwhile, Armstrong said the Cal Poly university is committed to transparency moving forward.
“There's a lot that needs to happen with the curriculum, with the courses. But that's going to be conducted through shared governance. There will be an administration looking at what stage from a budgetary perspective makes sense, but we're looking to grow Cal Poly. We're looking to grow a California Maritime Academy,” he said.
Cal Maritime and its Maritime Academy will become Cal Poly, Solano and Cal Poly Maritime Academy starting next July.
