Recent News
Archaeology Club Winter Quarter Field Trip!
Mar 25, 2025
On Friday, March 7th, the Cal Poly Archaeology took their winter quarter field trip to Hearst Castle! Upon arrival, the club was greeted by the museum director, Cara O’Brien, and a museum curator, Jenny Daly. From there, we were able to drive up to the castle while enjoying the beautiful views of San Simeon and the animals that roamed the hillside. It was a gorgeous and sunny day so the scenery was spectacular! Once everyone made it to the top, the club was taken on a behind the scenes tour of the castle. Members were still able to see all of the grand rooms that are included on a typical tour, such as the famous infinity pool and the movie theatre, but were also able to see some of the back rooms, including a hidden terrace that dated to one of the earlier versions of the castle. One of the club favorites was the Roman Pool - with gold laced tiles and changing rooms for all the Hollywood stars that came to visit. Afterwards, members were taken into the museum archives where all of the artifacts are kept, and we were shown original sketches by Julia Morgan, the famous architect that designed the castle, as well as one of the original guest books and even a suitcase for William Hearst’s dog. Overall, the Archaeology Club enjoyed a great day of learning history, museum collections management, and seeing Hearst Castle in all its glory!
February 20th - Archaeology Club Guest Speaker Ryan Phillip
Feb 7, 2025
Social Sciences Career Expo 2025!
Jan 10, 2025
2025 SOCS Career Expo will be held on Tuesday 1/14 from 10am to 1pm at the Performing Arts Center Lobby. The Expo offers an exciting opportunity to explore career paths for a variety of social scientists and connect with industry professionals from organizations like Albion Environmental and Upward Bound. We hope you come check out all the wonderful opportunities and also take advantage of a free professional headshot!
Cal Poly Archaeology Club: Fall 2024 Activities
Jan 9, 2025
On Saturday, October 12th, the Cal Poly Archaeology Club took their first field trip of the 2024-25 school year to The Indians archaeological site in the Los Padres National Forest. On the way they stopped at the abandoned Dutton Hotel, an old adobe brick structure that has sadly deteriorated over the years. After driving 30 minutes into the Fort Hunter Liggett Military base, the club stopped at Wagon Cave, a prehistoric campsite that was also used as a stopover in the 19th century by EuroAmericans from the Big Sur coast. One of the guides for the trip, a ranger for the Los Padres National Forest, brought students up in groups of 4 to view the inside the cave. It had bedrock mortars all across its sandstone outcroppings along with a shell midden deposit. Members were able to look for pieces of chipped stone among the mortars and shell debris in and in front of the cave. The cave also had evidence of campfire usage and food storage along with some art which was super cool to see!! The final stop of the field trip was to the Encinales family adobe ranch, known as The Indians where club members enjoyed a picnic lunch on the porch while looking out at the beautiful scenery. Afterwards, a descendant of the Encinales family shared her family’s history with the ranch. The club was the largest group of people they have had at the site in over 20 years! She also allowed everyone to go home with a piece of “Rabbit’s tobacco,” a flower that smells strangely of maple syrup and was often used as an herbal medicine by Salinan people. To finish the day, the club was given a tour of the ranch, paying close attention to the use of adobe brick in the structure. Overall, everyone had a great day learning about and applying their knowledge of archaeology, while also getting a once-in-a lifetime experience to visit a place most people have never been to or heard of!! If you are interested in joining Cal Poly Archeology and going on field trips like this, please message the club president, Sophie Fioravanti, at sfiorava@calpoly.edu.
During the first week of November the Club also had their first social event of the year–a bonfire in the dunes at Grover Beach. Warmth and Good Food were had by ALL!
Sociology Student Awarded First Place in the Legados – Mexico 2024/25!
Dec 5, 2024
Shown holding their trophy, sociology major Alondra Cardoso (‘25) and team member Andrea Valle (COMS ’26) were awarded first place in the Legados – Mexico 2024/25 in November 2024 at CETYS University in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexio. Legados is a pioneering civic advocacy event conducted entirely in Spanish, which fosters international dialogue and collaboration between students from the United States and Mexico. The program emphasizes real-world problem-solving on pressing policy and sustainability issues affecting California and Baja California. Alondra and Andrea's winning case proposed an innovative and balanced solution: a combination of ecological investment and microloans to support farmers in adopting sustainable agricultural practices. Their proposal not only addressed environmental concerns but also promoted economic and social development in the affected communities. We couldn’t be more proud!
Lecture: Migrations, Marginality, and Maritime Landscapes: The State of Underwater Archaeology on the Pacific Coast
Sep 4, 2024
Monday, October 21, 6:30-7:30 pm, Cal Poly Pavilion and Zoom: https://calpoly.zoom.us/j/89871008570
Meeting ID: 898 7100 8570
Migrations, Marginality, and Maritime Landscapes: The State of Underwater Archaeology on the Pacific Coast
By Cal Poly College of Liberal Arts, Social Sciences Department, and the California Lottery. Free and Open to All.
2024 Student Award Winners
Jul 25, 2024
We loved getting to see our department’s students get some love from Dean Philip Williams on June 14 in the beautiful Gallo Building. Judith Papineau won the award for Outstanding Senior in Sociology and Alexandra Vollucci for Outstanding Senior in Anthropology and Geography. Ellie Scholes, Sociology, won the Academic Excellence Award for the entire CLA. Congratulations!
CLA Academic Excellence Award winner Ellie Scholes and Dean Philip Williams
Dr. Jim Keese (Geography) and Outstanding Senior Alexandra Vollucci
Outstanding Senior Judith Papineau and Dr. Nikhil Deb (Sociology)
LAST ARCHAEOLOGY CLUB FIELD TRIP OF THE YEAR: LA BREA TAR PITS AND LA COUNTY MUSEUM!!
May 24, 2024
The Cal Poly Archaeology Club took their final field trip of the 2023-24 school year to Los Angeles to visit the Natural History Museum and the La Brea Tar Pits! Following the usual grind through L.A., the club was taken on a behind-the-scenes tour of the anthropology and ethnology collections at the museum. They were able to see very cool artifacts and learn about the process of how artifacts are prepped for display. Afterwards, the club continued to tour the museum, spending lots of time at the dinosaur exhibits and the butterfly pavilion. That night, the Club camped out at Malibu Creek State Park, with students working together to prepare a campfire dinner and breakfast for everyone to enjoy surrounded by the beautiful park landscape The last stop of the trip was the La Brea Tar Pits, which did not disappoint!!! The club was met by archaeologists on site who brought them through a tour of the paleontology laboratory where technicians and volunteers clean and repair the excavated bones, including a recently unearthed mammoth skull! Students were then brought to the actual tar pits, and were able to watch the paleontologists at work uncovering fossils. There was even an opportunity for club members to see a tar pit up close, while learning about how the asphalt acts as a preservative for the bones, with some of them being over 40,000 years old! To wrap up the trip, club members strolled through the La Brea museum to see all the fossils on display and learn about what has been learned so far from the tar pits. This trip was very educational and super fun for everyone involved! if you are interested in joining and going on field trips like this next year, please reach out to the club’s new president, Sophie Fioravanti at sfiorava@calpoly.edu. Click link to photo album by Elliot Waters.
Anthropology Conference & Student Participation
May 13, 2024
From May 3rd through May 5th, the HEE lab and their faculty advisor, Dr. Stacey Rucas, attended the California Workshop on Evolutionary Social Sciences (CWESS) 2024 Conference held at UCSB. Students who attended listened to diverse presentations exploring different topics that examined human behavior through an evolutionary lens. The HEE lab proudly presented two posters investigating comfort food-seeking behavior from an evolutionary perspective: “The Cultural Stickiness of Comfort Food” and “Craving Comfort: Stress Relief on a Plate.” Amidst the poster session, students seized the opportunity to connect with graduate students and faculty from various institutions, particularly those considering graduate school. Moreover, through being a part of the 2024 HEE Lab, students gained valuable hands-on experience conducting research, including project formation, data collection, analysis, presentation of findings at an academic conference, and working collaboratively in a group setting.
This group presented “The Cultural Stickiness of Comfort Food,” focusing on the sense of belonging and in-group versus out-group theory within the student population at Cal Poly in relation to comfort food. From left to right, this group consists of Leno Bertozzi, Joseph Leeman, Savanna Goodpaster, Ashley Pearce, Sophia Neal, and Cecilia Lozano.
This group presented “Craving Comfort: Stress Relief on a Plate,” exploring the relationship between different stressors (social, economic, and environmental) among Cal Poly students and their influence on comfort food-seeking behavior rooted in evolutionary tendencies for individuals to seek quick energy sources in response to a perceived threat. From left to right, this group consists of Madeline Sickert, Jack Tierney, Zoe Miersma, Laura Elliott, A.J. Nicholson, Caroline Boer, Kendall Tarman, and Kylee Zinnen.
This picture shows the combined teams and the full Human Evolutionary Ecology (HEE) 2024 lab. From left to right, starting in the front row, are Madeline Sickert and Zoe Miersma. From left to right, the second row includes Kylee Zinnen, Cecilia Lozano, Leno Bertozzi, Laura Elliott, Caroline Boer, Sophia Neal, and faculty advisor Dr. Rucas. Lastly, in the back third row, we have Ashley Pearce, Jack Tierney, Savanna Goodpaster, A.J. Nicholson, Joseph Leeman, and Kendall Tarman.
2024 Learn by Doing Good Award Winner Kelly Christian
May 2, 2024
Sociology senior Kelly Christian was recognized with a Learn by Doing Good Award for Significant Volunteer Contribution on May 1 by Cal Poly President Armstrong, an award that acknowledges students who have done stellar and self-motivated work with the community independent of course or job requirement. Her dedication to the community has included organizing a hugely successful clothing and toiletries drive for the ECHO Homeless Shelter in North County, and volunteering with Santa Maria Social Services 20 hours per week on top of the paid work she uses to support herself through college. After transferring to Cal Poly in 2022, Kelly is set to graduate this June with one of the highest GPAs in the Department of Social Sciences. We are so proud of Kelly, and wish her all the best in her bright future!
