The Cal Poly Corporation was renamed Cal Poly Partners as of Feb. 9 to follow “its mission to inspire, empower and push boundaries so that students, faculty and staff thrive” according to a university news release.
Cal Poly Partners supports more than 300 programs and encourages the school’s Learn By Doing philosophy, Cal Poly Partners Chief Executive Officer Cody VanDorn said in the release.
The name change supports its role as a nonprofit, which has existed for over 80 years and is “dedicated to advancing Cal Poly” using a “flexible business model and willingness to take on challenges,” according to the Cal Poly Partners website.
According to the release, changing the name will also raise awareness regarding this role and will “introduce the potential for expanded cross-campus and community partnerships.”
Three years of research were conducted prior to the name change as a way to gauge student, faculty and staff perspectives of the organization.
According to Cal Poly Partners Communications Specialist Aaron Lambert in an email to Mustang News, the research involved “focus groups and surveys of stakeholders including Cal Poly Cabinet and Cal Poly Corporation Board of Directors, Senior Management and staff and Cal Poly staff, faculty and students.”
The research was followed by gathering name suggestions and asking each group to rank them based on a series of criteria.
A few of these criteria included memorability, alignment with the organization’s purpose, positive association and legal clearance, Lambert said.
“It sounds like we’re here to take your money and use it as a corporation. Right?” Lambert said. “[Cal Poly Partners is] not a for-profit, it’s a nonprofit, and all the money that is paid or taken in by the Partners goes directly back to the university.”
Cal Poly Partners funded several projects and services, including housing for Cal Poly faculty and staff, Campus Dining and the Mustang Shop, according to their website. Lambert also said they are working to alleviate food insecurity and make it more convenient to live on campus.
“We do truly partner with the University to make sure that everything that we do is helping to better the campus for the entire campus community,” Lambert said. “Whether that be renovating a building, bigger dining facility, or helping students with jobs and research, helping professors, that faculty have research or do perform research by managing their grants.”