The Cal Poly College of Science and Mathematics (COSAM) will be renamed the Philip and Christina Bailey College of Science and Mathematics.
On May 5, President Jeffrey Armstrong revealed the name change at the dedication of the new William and Linda Frost building, which opened for classroom instruction this quarter.
“It’s an incredible honor and it particularly means a lot since I’ve been here so long,” Phil Bailey said in a college of science and math news article. “I don’t think I could have had the career that I had without Tina. I would suspect that she would have said the same about me, though her career was a lot harder to navigate than mine because she was a woman entering STEM in the 1970s.”
Philip Bailey worked at Cal Poly for 48 years as a chemistry professor and the Dean of COSAM. Christina worked at Cal Poly for 40 years and served as the chair of the Chemistry and Biochemistry department. She passed away in 2020.
In a university-wide email, President Armstrong described the Bailey’s as “dedicated faculty, volunteers, and stalwart supporters of students.”
The email revealed that the name change is awaiting approval from the California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees, but did not include information on when this name change might be instated.