Cal Poly honors thousands of graduates during commencement weekend. See photos
Cal Poly kicked off a weekend of commencement ceremonies on Saturday, preparing to celebrate thousands of new college graduates.
According to a university news release, 7,526 students were slated to graduate this weekend — drawing around 57,000 expected guests to relish in the celebrations at the San Luis Obispo campus.
“Commencement is a great day for our graduates, where we celebrate and recognize their years of dedication and hard work,” Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong said in the release. “It’s also an opportunity to recognize the families, friends, teachers, mentors and peers whose support helped our graduates succeed.”
The Cal Poly ceremonies kicked off at Spanos Stadium at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, beginning with the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science, which awarded around 1,126 undergraduate degrees and 113 graduate degrees.
Students amassed in their seats on the turf facing the south end zone, waving their hands or running to the sidelines to greet their families and friends, while President Jeffrey Armstrong and his processional prepared to make their way to the stage.
Several of the graduates could be seen wearing green hard hats — and at least one student wore his graduation cap stretched over the top of his cowboy hat.
For agriculture communications major Reagan Dahle, the morning’s ceremony marked a special moment. He told The Tribune he was most excited to walk his degree in front of his friends and family as a first-generation college graduate.
“There’s going to be some waterworks today,” he told The Tribune ahead of the ceremony. “It’s a big day.”
While he walked on Saturday, Daly will officially finish up his classes over the summer, before heading to Sacramento to work in policy.
“I’m excited for this next chapter,” he said. “ ... I’m very grateful to have Cal Poly as a launching pad.”
Jaimieson Knode, an animal science major who also graduated Saturday, is on her way to veterinary school at Washington State University.
“I’m super excited to graduate with all my friends and my roommates,” she told The Tribune, later shouting out her family and friends in the crowd.
“Thank you guys for being here,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”
Later on Saturday, the College of Engineering was set to host two ceremonies to celebrate its graduates — the most out of any of the Cal Poly colleges, with 1,875 undergraduate students and 389 graduate students earning degrees.
Sunday’s ceremonies were slated to include the Orfalea College of Business, the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Liberal Arts.
Cal Poly awards posthumous degrees to families
Two students who died during their time as Cal Poly students were slated to receive posthumous degrees during graduation weekend, with their families accepting the degrees on their behalf.
Cortland Silverio Rodriguez and Sean Ogawa Hillman were both scheduled to be honored, according to a news release.
Rodriguez was a graduate civil and environmental engineering student when he died on Nov. 9, 2025, in Monterey County, according to the release. His brother was scheduled to accept a posthumous degree in his honor during the College of Engineering’s first ceremony on Saturday afternoon.
A resident of Marina, Rodriguez was nearing his 28th birthday when his family said he died of natural causes, according to Cal Poly. He was on the brink of finishing his third quarter at Cal Poly.
Around 20 of Rodriguez’s family members and friends were expected to be in attendance at Saturday’s ceremony, the release said.
Hillman was also scheduled to receive a posthumous degree, during Sunday’s ceremony for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design and the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics.
According to the release, Hillman was a first-year at Cal Poly when he was critically injured in a vehicle-versus-bicycle crash near campus, and later died at the hospital on April 24, 2023.
He was a freshman architectural engineering student hailing from Washington, and lived with his mother in Tokyo for 13 years before returning to the Seattle area.
Hillman’s parents and grandparents were expected to be in attendance on Sunday, the release said.
Cal Poly awards honorary degrees to billionaire businessman, sportscaster
Cal Poly highlighted a few recipients slated to receive honorary doctorate degrees throughout graduation weekend.
On Saturday, the College of Engineering awarded an honorary degree to industrial engineering alum Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, a billionaire businessman and bank chairman described by the university as “one of the Arab World’s most influential business and philanthropic leaders.”
Al Ghurair is the chairman of the board of Mashreq Bank, where he served as CEO for nearly three decades, according to a news release.
He also serves as the chairman of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation, which aims to empower Emirati and Arab youth through education, the release said.
Al Ghurair was named in TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential philanthropists in 2025.
He was scheduled to receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree during the College of Engineering’s first Saturday ceremony.
Meanwhile, award-winning sportscaster and former professional baseball player Mike Krukow was one of two people scheduled to receive an honorary doctorate during the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics ceremony on Sunday.
Krukow is a Cal Poly alum who still holds the record for career earned run average at 1.94, and is tied for most shutouts in a season, according to the release.
After graduating, he went on to lead a successful career in professional baseball, playing for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants, the release said.
In 1990, he launched his career as a sports broadcaster for the Giants alongside former teammate Duane Kuiper, the release said.
“Mr. Krukow was named California’s 2015, 2017 and 2023 Sportscaster of the Year, as selected by the National Sports Media Association,” the release said. “He has received 13 Emmy Awards and was inducted into the Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987.”
Local businessman and philanthropist William Frost was also slated to receive an honorary degree.
Frost was scheduled to receive a doctor of science alongside Krukow on Sunday.
According to the release, his local philanthropy is “reshaping undergraduate science and mathematics education at Cal Poly.”
Frost graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in biochemistry in 1972, according to the release. He is the former owner of the Paso Robles-based business Chemlogics, and remains a resident of San Luis Obispo.
According to the release, Frost and his wife, Linda, made the largest gift in CSU history — going toward education and research in the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics, including supporting the development of the William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation.
The center includes advanced laboratories, research spaces and classrooms that can be used by students across campus, the release said.
It also established a substantial endowment to support undergraduate research in the Bailey College with student scholarships, summer research stipends and cutting-edge equipment and instrumentation,” the release said.
Cal Poly alum receives university’s ‘highest honor’ during commencement
Charles Harrington, a 1981 agricultural engineering graduate of Cal Poly, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Excellence during Saturday morning’s first ceremony.
The award is considered the university’s “highest honor,” according to a news release — with just a handful of recipients earning the award across the school’s 125-year history.
The award is “reserved for individuals who have made extraordinary and lasting contributions to the university and to society at large,” the release said.
Up until he retired in 2022, Harrington served in several positions of leadership at the Parsons Corporation — an international defense, intelligence and infrastructure technology company, the release said.
“During his tenure, he transformed Parsons from a traditional engineering and construction firm into a technology-driven enterprise focused on defense, intelligence and critical infrastructure solutions,” the university said.
Harrington is a past recipient of an honorary doctorate from Cal Poly, and has served in leadership positions on the Cal Poly President’s Council of Advisors and the Cal Poly Foundation board of directors, the release said.
This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 11:52 AM.
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