By Jackson Guilfoil, Times-Standard, Eureka, Calif. The Tribune Content Agency

Set to finish construction by fall 2026, a new engineering and technology building is being built at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Hosting several new programs, the new 74,000-square-foot, three-story building is the latest in the university's polytechnic rebrand, funded by $100 million from the state Legislature to help transform campus beyond the name change. Once complete, the building will host the university's School of Engineering, computer science and software engineering courses.

"This building symbolizes a new era of the Polytechnic. The Engineering and Technology building is the flagship building of this transformation here at this university, and it will be Humboldt's first major academic infrastructure project since 2008," Interim President Michael Spagna said during a speech.

On Tuesday, several administrators lauded the project during a groundbreaking ceremony. Construction is well underway, filling the site with bulldozers unearthing waves of dark soil under the ground's pale, dusty surface.

Cal Poly Humboldt's polytechnic push, lush with new programs and now buildings, was meant to spike enrollment to meet ambitious targets set by the California State University system. This fall semester, enrollment grew by 73 students, in line with the past few years of slow, arguably marginal growth in the university. The CSU system could now reduce up to 5% of the university's funding for failing to meet its previously set targets.

Cal Poly Humboldt Interim President said the new School of Engineering is symbolic of the university's transformation to a polytechnic. (Jackson Guilfoil/Times-Standard)

Provost Jenn Capps noted that "targets are often aspirational," and the current growth rate is sustainable, though modest.

"There's been a lot of strategic efforts, specifically with our new academic programs. There's a lot of growth in the engineering programs as well as some of the arts and humanities programs as well, so I actually feel pretty good about it. I don't feel worried about it," Capps said. "I think if we had grown by this huge amount, it would have created other issues. So this kind of slow growth is, I think, pretty positive for us."

Just a few years ago, administrators at Cal Poly Humboldt were not so incrementalist. A 2021 prospectus predicted skyrocketing enrollment, projecting a doubled student population within seven years. Under such assumptions, the university would claim 11,000 students by 2028. With the current enrollment growth rate, it would take the university about 50 years to reach that population.

Enrollment growth at Cal Poly Humboldt might be small, but it's generally more than the CSU as whole, which saw an over 6% enrollment decline between 2019 to 2023, though the pandemic-era shutdowns, online learning and inability for students to have a "normal" college experience might have been a compelling variable explaining part of the decline.

The new building will also feature maker spaces, offering hands-on learning for students across several disciplines, which according to Mike Fisher, the associate vice president of facilities management, include robotics alongside ambitious art projects.

"This building is going to be symbolic, not just of the transformation of Humboldt State University to Cal Poly Humboldt, but it will serve as a beacon for generations to come, for this region and beyond," Spagna said.

Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506