MILESTONES / SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE / FALL 2026

 

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

From Student to Dean: Watching a Career and College Grow

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BAILEY COLLEGE MILESTONE: 25 YEARS OF TEACHING AND LEADING

As we celebrate several important milestones this year, I find myself reflecting not only on how much the Bailey College has accomplished, but also on how profoundly it has transformed during my own journey as a student, faculty member, center director and now dean.

When I arrived at Cal Poly as a first-generation transfer student to study biology in 1989, there was no marine sciences degree and there was no Cal Poly Pier, and there was very little active research by faculty. My concentration was in marine biology, but if I wanted to gain research experience, I had to leave campus to find it.

Even then, however, Cal Poly gave me something extraordinary. Faculty invested in me, challenged me, and helped me discover what I was capable of becoming. That experience transformed my life. It prepared me for doctoral studies at Harvard University and ultimately launched a career as a scientist.

I am deeply grateful to have spent my life at Cal Poly, as a student, as a faculty member, as center director, and now as dean, helping build this extraordinary community at every stage of my career.

— Dean E. Wendt, Bailey College of Science and Mathematics

When I left Cal Poly, I assumed I was building a career somewhere else. Yet I always hoped that one day I might return.

That opportunity came in 2002, just six months after Cal Poly acquired the pier. In many ways, the pier helped bring me home. I saw an extraordinary opportunity to build something that simply had not existed when I was a student.

Alongside remarkable faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters, I dedicated my career to helping grow our marine sciences program. Together, we transformed the pier into one of the defining educational and research facilities of our college.

Today, hundreds of students each year conduct research, complete coursework and gain hands-on experience at the pier. What began as a vision has become one of the nation’s premier undergraduate marine science programs.

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My own research program reflected the same philosophy that shaped my career. Through more than $10 million in external grants, I was fortunate to support generations of undergraduate and graduate students — funding tuition and fees, providing research opportunities, purchasing equipment and creating experiences that prepared students for graduate school, careers and lives of scientific discovery. Watching those students develop into scientists, educators and leaders in conservation and science remains one of the greatest privileges of my career.

Today, the opportunities available to Bailey College students extend far beyond what any one faculty member or department could provide. Thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends, including transformational support through the William and Linda Frost Fund and many other philanthropic investments, faculty and students across every discipline have unprecedented opportunities to pursue undergraduate and graduate research, explore new ideas and contribute to discoveries that improve our world.

This academic year we celebrate the 25th anniversaries of both the Cal Poly Pier and the Bailey College Student Research Conference, along with the 10th anniversary of the Frost Fund endowment. These milestones represent much more than anniversaries. They tell the story of a college that has continually invested in its students and never stopped asking how it can provide an even richer educational experience.

When I think back to my own years as a student, I realize something remarkable. The Bailey College offers today's students an even richer education than the life-changing experience I received 35 years ago. To me, that is the mark of a truly exceptional institution.

Great colleges do not stand still. They continually build upon the work of those who came before them. Every generation of faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters contributes something that strengthens the experience for the next generation.

I am deeply grateful to have spent my life at Cal Poly, as a student, as a faculty member, as center director, and now as dean, helping build this extraordinary community at every stage of my career.

As we celebrate these milestones and begin another exciting chapter with the transition to semesters, I remain extraordinarily optimistic about our future. Together, we will continue transforming lives through learning, discovery and innovation, ensuring that the next generation of Bailey College students has opportunities even greater than those that changed my own life.

With gratitude,

Dean E. Wendt
Dean, Bailey College of Science and Mathematics