An Interview with President Armstrong

Looking for President Armstrong? You might have to wake up early. Almost every morning, President Jeffrey Armstrong walks over to the Rec Center—to take a Spin class.

“I love Spin Class. But I’m definitely the minority. There aren’t many males,” he says.

A couple weeks ago, the Spin instructor revealed to the class who was puffing in the corner.

“He said, ‘Oh, and President Armstrong’s over there!’ And I’m all sweating,” Armstrong says with a huge grin.

The typical university president probably doesn’t go to Spin with his students, but Armstrong has never been “typical.” He says becoming president “just kind of happened.”

Armstrong got his B.S. in animal science from Murray State University in Kentucky. He planned on becoming a veterinarian or an agriculture teacher. However, after getting his undergraduate degree, Armstrong decided to get his PhD in Reproductive Physiology and Endocrinology at North Carolina University. He ended up staying in academia—because, he says, even though he liked teaching, what he really liked was interacting with students. Still, thoughts of running a school barely crossed his mind.

“The first time I even remotely thought about it, I was a graduate student at NC State,” he says. “I received an award. The chancellor shook my hand, and said, “Oh, animal science, that’s how I started out.’ And I thought for a minute, ‘Oh wow, wouldn’t that be cool.’”

Then he immediately turned his attention back to passing BioChem.

After different roles at NC State, Purdue and Michigan State University, Armstrong came to Cal Poly in 2011.

One of the things he loves about being president is living on-campus—and being a four-minute walk from that morning Spin class. However, being so easy to find can lead to some funny incidents.

“I’ve had a couple students come by late at night, and let’s just say they were disoriented,” he explains. “Someone decided to commandeer a golf cart that someone [else] had left the key in, and they were running away and they ran into our wooden gate. It was 1 AM and we heard this loud noise, and they jumped in the backyard. I don’t know if [the police] ever found them.”

Apart from the night-time disturbances, Armstrong and his wife love interacting with students. They especially love the selfies. The other night, at the Red Radish, they took three selfies with three different groups of people.

Armstrong does not have a “selfie face.”

“I have different faces. They just kind of flow,” he says.

He and his wife met at Murray State, during their first week of classes. According to Armstrong, his first attempts to woo her “did not go well.” They stayed friends, and eventually he won her over.

He says they’ve been on a lot of amazing dates, but one of the best was a trip to Australia they took because of his work.

“Neither of us had traveled—I didn’t study abroad,” he says. “It wasn’t pushed at Murray State and even if it was, I couldn’t have afforded it. I didn’t even go to Florida for spring break with my friends. Which was probably a good thing, because that wasn’t an educational trip.”

Armstrong is definitely dedicated to education—and Cal Poly. If he had to get a tattoo, he’d get the Cal Poly logo, with a mustang.

His other passions include the Big Bang Theory, the Red Radish (“The goat cheese is awesome! I overdosed on goat cheese the other night.), running and golf. He’s not passionate about email. Armstrong gets 100 to 150 emails a day.

“I had a good holiday break and I say without embarrassment I’m behind on email right now. But I typically stay caught up,” he says.

Armstrong is quick to clarify he enjoys answering emails and interacting with people, especially students, but going through his inbox still requires him to be “in the right mood.”

Email is just one part of his work-day.

Armstrong says he and his administration have been focusing on sexual assault recently. They implemented a task force at Cal Poly. They added and bolstered Safer. They hired a new Title IX investigator. They conducted a Campus Climate survey. They’ve also talked a lot with Greek organizations.

“Vice President Humphrey and I met with the Greek community and I said, ‘Hey, there have been several incidents in the past year that have been absolutely infuriating,” he says. “We talked to the leadership and said we need your help. We need a better set of solutions, a better set of practices… We’re not going to tolerate this.”

According to Armstrong, the survey found most sexual assault victims were female who were attacked during their first quarter.

“A lot of this is driven by alcohol, by both parties. [It impacts] people’s judements,” he says. “We also believe, and what’s even more infuriating, is [there is] predatory behavior. Preying on people that are inebriated. Or even [in the] worst case scenario, there may be some drugs involved.”

Armstrong says, first and foremost, he wants an environment where sexual assault will not occur. But he also wants an environment where survivors “speak up and prosecute.”

“We’re there. We want to support them,” he says.

And if you want to talk to President Armstrong about sexual assault or other campus policies, well, you know where to find him. 6:30 AM, in the Rec, at Spin class.