California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt or Humboldt) is a public university in Arcata, California. It is one of three polytechnic universities in the California State University (CSU) system and the northernmost campus in the system.
The main campus, situated hillside at the edge of a coast redwood forest, overlooks Arcata, much of Humboldt Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. The college town setting on the California North Coast, north of Eureka, north of San Francisco, and 654 miles (1053 km) north of Los Angeles, is notable for its natural beauty. It is the westernmost four-year university in the contiguous United States. Humboldt is a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI).
The university is divided into three colleges: the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; the College of Natural Resources and Sciences; and the College of Professional Studies. It offers 58 bachelor's degree programs, 14 master's degree programs, 76 minors, and 4 credential programs.
History
Humboldt State Normal School was established as a teacher's college on June 16, 1913, by California governor Hiram Johnson. It was one of about 180 institutions founded by state governments to train teachers for the rapidly growing public schools. The cities of Arcata and Eureka (and to a lesser extent Fortuna) competed with one another to host the new campus. Arcata was selected after William Preston and the Union Water Company donated to serve as the site of the new school's campus. It opened on April 6, 1914, before construction at the location was complete, in the former Arcata Grammar School building, with 78 students enrolled and 5 faculty members teaching. The first class, comprising 15 women, graduated on May 26, 1915.
The school was put under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Education, renamed Humboldt State Teacher's College and Junior College, and moved to its current location in 1921. In 1924, during the presidency of Ralph Waldo Swetman, the Associated Students and the Alumni Association were organized and The Foghorn, the first student newspaper, was published. Bachelor's degrees began being offered in 1927. The school was renamed Humboldt State College in 1935, and the following year an official mascot was adopted: the Lumberjack. In 1937, the students opened a cooperative bookstore and soda fountain, which would exist for the next 40 years as the center of student life.
During World War II, Arcata's city defense council suggested camouflaging Founder's Hall, which is visible from the Pacific Ocean, so it would not be a target for Japanese submarines. The council made its request in 1942, but Founder's Hall was not painted until the spring of 1944. The building remained camouflage green until 1948. Over the course of the war, President Arthur Gist corresponded with hundreds of the students who had left Humboldt State to serve in the war. The "Arthur Gist Letters," an archive of more than 1,000 individual letters from 365 servicemen and women who wrote to Gist while serving in the military, were donated to the school after his death and are available for viewing at Cal Poly Humboldt Library's Special Collections & Archives.
Graduate programs were first offered in 1947. Under President Cornelius H. Siemens in 1952, HSU continued expanding by accepting students from abroad, including some from Yugoslavia, Germany and the Near East, as well as U.S. territories such as American Samoa, Guam and Hawaii. KHSU began broadcasting from the school as a 10-watt carrier current radio station in 1947 (using the call sign KHSC until 1972), and on October 17, 1960, it became the first licensed, non-commercial station operated by a state college in California. Also in 1960, the college became a part of the newly-formed California State College system. The school's junior college program, terminated in 1962, was re-established in 1964 at College of the Redwoods (CR), located only to the south in Eureka. The two institutions maintain a close working relationship, with many students transferring to Humboldt after graduating from CR.
Student activism on campus rose through the 1960s and early 1970s, peaking in a protest of about 800 students (out of 3,600) against the Vietnam War on October 15, 1969. This was followed by another protest with nearly 3,000 students who planned to boycott classes after the Cambodian campaign. With similar events taking place across the state, Governor Ronald Reagan shut down the CSC system in May 1970 for five days. The 1970s also saw the rise of feminist, ethnocultural, and LGBT groups, and though the Women's Center was the only one to survive through the 1980s, most groups reappeared by the mid-1990s.
Alumnus David Philips established the Humboldt Film Festival in 1967, now one of the oldest student-run festivals in the world.
In 1972, the college was renamed California State University, Humboldt, however it still continued to be popularly referred to as "Humboldt State." Reflecting this, its name was simplified to Humboldt State University in 1974. Enrollment first surpassed 7,500 in 1974, with a peak of 8,790 in 2015, making it one of the smallest in the CSU system throughout its existence. Through the 1980s, adult learners became a large part of Humboldt State's student body, and in 1986, 40% of the students were over the age of 25. That number has since decreased to .
In 1987, students and activists founded the optional Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility, with the stated purpose of encouraging graduating students to be mindful of the social and environmental impacts of their employment as they enter the workforce or continue their education. Today, over one hundred post-secondary educational institutions worldwide use the pledge in some capacity.
On April 22, 2024, dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters occupied Siemens Hall as part of a wider movement of occupation protests against the Gaza war. Protesters renamed the building to "Intifada Hall" and managed to repel an initial police incursion. At some point protesters occupied a second building, Nelson Hall. On April 30, a large law enforcement task force stormed both occupied buildings and arrested at least 35 people, bringing the occupation to an end. On February 27, 2026, a further group of around 20 pro-Palestinian protesters occupied Nelson Hall after claims that a "public forum" was reduced to a "listening session" with an Associate Vice President of the university. The protesters were removed around 1 a.m. the next morning by the Arcata Police. As a result, three students were placed on interim suspension and one was later arrested by University Police.
The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced on March 18, 2025 that Cal Poly Humboldt was one of 44 schools being scrutinized under Title VI at the direction of Secretary Linda McMahon, in relation to a partnership with The Ph.D. Project, a nonprofit organization that helps underrepresented individuals earn doctorates and secure business school faculty positions. The investigation also included two other public universities in California: Cal State San Bernardino and UC Berkeley. In response, a spokesperson for CSU stated that the organization is reviewing the claim and intends to cooperate, but that it does not discriminate and complies with all relevant state and federal laws.
Name The university, founded as Humboldt State Normal College in 1913, took the name of the county and nearby bay, which was originally named after the famous German scientist Alexander von Humboldt.
On May 23, 1972, fourteen of the nineteen CSU campuses were renamed to "California State University," followed by a comma and then their geographic designation. The five campuses exempted from renaming were the five newest state colleges created during the 1960s. The new names were very unpopular at certain campuses. Over the objections of CSU Chancellor Glenn Dumke, state Assemblyman Al Alquist proposed a bill that would rename the San Jose campus back to San Jose State. A few years later, some other CSU campuses, the Humboldt campus among them, also secured passage of similar legislation, and California State University, Humboldt was renamed Humboldt State University from 1974 until 2022.
On January 26, 2022, the university was officially renamed to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, becoming the third polytechnic university in the state. The change is backed by a $458 million investment from the state of California.
Academics Undergraduate admission statistics Fall 2025Fall 2024Fall 2023Fall 2022Fall 2021First-time FreshmenApplicants15,03316,69816,5569,2397,013Admits14,07615,44213,8558,3506,414Admit rate94%92%84%90%91%Enrolled892910955961629Yield rate6%6%7%12%10%TransfersApplicants4,5814,8455,0373,5813,795Admits3,9474,2513,9393,0143,112Admit rate86%88%78%84%82%Enrolled930848802811758Yield rate24%20%20%27%24% The university is divided into three colleges: the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; the College of Natural Resources and Sciences; and the College of Professional Studies. There are 48 undergraduate majors and 69 minors. The two largest majors are biology and art, both with over 20 faculty members and extensive facilities on- and off-campus. This CSU campus offers a wildlife undergraduate degree. There are several credential programs and fourteen master's programs, of which natural resources and social work are the largest. The new Energy, Environment, and Society graduate program is unique to the CSU, and provides graduates with interdisciplinary training in engineering, economics, and climate policy. In April of 2026, the university announced it was launching five new academic programs: Applied Humanities, Critical Agriculture Studies and Agroecology, Community Health, Health and Medical Science, and a master's degree in STEM Education. This is the second of three waves of program launches designed as part of the school's transition to a polytechnic university, with a target completion of 2029.
The University Library supports students and faculty from all three academic colleges. Humboldt State University Press (now called the Press at Cal Poly Humboldt) was launched in 1991Harris, Stanley W. 1991. Northwestern California birds : a guide to the status, distribution, and habits of the birds of Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, northern Mendocino, and western Siskiyou Counties, California, 257 pp., Humboldt State University Press to showcase research and scholarship across the campus. The Forestry department building's walls are completely paneled with different species of wood. The building was rebuilt in October 1980 after the original building was burned down. The original building stood for 17 years before an arsonist, whose identity is still unknown today, set the building on fire in 1979.
Cal Poly Humboldt is one of only two universities in California to offer a major in botany; the other is California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Its botany program is the nation's largest undergraduate program. Cal Poly Humboldt is the only university in California to offer a degree in rangeland resources and wildland soil science. The Native American Studies major and the Oceanography major are also unique to the California State University system. The university offers unique minors including multicultural queer studies, scientific diving, and appropriate technology.
The university's location on the North Coast provides access to the Pacific Ocean, lagoons, marshes, estuaries, and the Fred Telonicher Marine Laboratory, which provides opportunities for "hands-on" experiences and research for the sciences. The Marine Lab was opened in 1966, the lab is open during the academic school year (mid August-mid May).