Baccalaureate services were held at the college’s Little Theater the day before graduation at Mustang Stadium.
June 13, 1964Cal Poly set a record for number of graduates in 1964 with 980 diplomas printed.
Today, a university, in 2008 there were more than three times the grads with 3600 degrees conferred. This year in addition to a winter commencement, spring ceremonies stretched out over two days.
Harry P. Gough, western regional vice president for General Electric gave the commencement speech in 1964.
His speech asked, “Why is the world changing so fast?”
“There are many reasons. The world is turbulent, potentially explosive
because it is caught up in several concurrent revolutions-political, social, and economic, and underlying these, scientific.”“More than on-half of all the money spent in this country for research from 1776 to the present (1964)- has been spent in the last five to seven years...”
He closed with “Now scram! And good luck!”
Julian McPhee was in his last years as president in 1964, his name is now on the University Union. When he took the position in 1933 the school had 117 students and there were doubts the institution would survive the Great Depression.
The university has come a long way from its roots as a polytechnic high school over 100 years ago. If you are curious check out the book Cal Poly: The First Hundred Years by Nancy Loe and others.