Q&A

Jeffrey Armstrong

He grew up on a farm in rural Western Kentucky. His experience with the Future Farmer’s of America in high school deeply influenced him and he credits one of the teachers in the program for setting him on a path to attend college, making him one of the first in his family to do so. Today, he is one year into his tenure as President of Cal Poly. We sat down for a visit recently to get to know him a little better…

Tell us about where you grew up.

It was the Bible Belt. The biggest point of diversity in Lyon County was defined by whether you were dunked or sprinkled when you were Baptized. Having grown up on a farm I had my own hay crew, and I worked in tobacco. Grew tobacco, sold tobacco. I paid for most of my school and I also know what it’s like to graduate with debt.

If you had to pick just one word to describe yourself as a kid, what would it be?

Talkative. My dad used to tell me, “You know, the Good Lord gave you two ears and one mouth. Use them in that proportion.” I was always very talkative and inquisitive, not always perfect but overall, I think, a good kid.

Did all that talking ever get you in trouble in school?

Out of the six teachers in grade school - one for each grade - I was related to three of them, two of them were my great aunts. That was still back in the day when you were paddled and I have some interesting memories of the metric system, not just learning about it - one of my aunts liked to use the meter stick on a large number of us in the class [laughter].

Cal Poly is known as a learn by doing institution, tell us about one of your learn by doing experiences.

I remember, I must have been about 5 or 6 years old at the time when my grandfather was managing a local farm and it was time to shear the wool off the sheep. The two male sheep, rams, were in a wooden stall. There was a small opening that I was able to slide a stick into to poke and aggravate the rams who started butting up against the door trying to hit me. Anyway, my grandfather walked by and told me, “You need to leave those blankety-blank rams alone.” I waited until he walked off around the corner and I started doing it again. The next thing you know, he grabs me by the scruff of the neck and he opens the door and he throws me in. And the rams butt me down about three times. I’m crying. There’s sheep manure all over me. I’m bleeding but, not hurt. And then he got me out and said, “I told you to leave those rams alone, didn’t I?” Now, that’s learn by doing! I didn’t mess with the sheep again.

Aside from your grandfather, where else did you pick up some valuable lessons?

In high school I was involved in FFA (Future Farmer’s of America) and I’m convinced that without that program I would not have gone to college. That’s what motivated me, that’s what excited me. I loved the competition. I’ve always been very competitive. FFA meant a lot and because we grew up on a farm, I wanted to do something agricultural. So, my career goals in high school were really clear. I was either going to be a veterinarian or an ag teacher in high school. That’s where I started, that was my world as I entered Murray State as an undergraduate, but I will be honest that I did not give it a great deal of thought at the time.

Who else influenced your early life?

I’ve got three brothers. Two older brothers, one didn’t go to college and stayed at home to manage a construction company, the other went on to earn a Ph.D. and was on the faculty at N.C. State, which is how I ended up there in grad school. Now he is the Executive Director of the National FFA. My youngest brother has Down’s Syndrome and lives in a group home there in Western Kentucky and he’s been a great inspiration in my life. He’s very focused on his part-time job and his friends, and he cares about everybody. He wouldn’t even begin to think about saying something negative about a person. Growing up, the support services for him weren’t great – he actually had to go to another county for school. My mother died when I was in the 7th grade. Before she passed away, she would drive him to Paducah for school and take care of him. About 12 years ago he was able to move into the group home and that has been tremendous for him, it’s been lifechanging for him.

Tell us about your family.

I met my wife Sharon when we were students at Murray State. She grew up in rural New Jersey. We have two kids, our daughter Jessica is in her residency as an OB/GYN. She married a Michigander, he’s a third grade teacher. He’s a very, very nice young man. And our son, Zack, is in his last year at Michigan State. He’s a finance major. He’s going to spend all summer with us. Of everything, I will tell you that Sharon and I are most proud of our kids.

What’s something that most people don’t know about you?

From the time I was a kid I’ve been mesmerized by outer space. I love Star Trek and science fiction. So, I have a whole collection of Star Trek ornaments. I’m not a Trekkie. I define a Trekkie as someone who dresses up and maybe learns Kligonese or something like that. I’m not that far out, it’s just not my thing. I just like all the Star Trek episodes all the way back to the originals. My favorite is Patrick Stewart and Jean-Luc Picard, that’s my favorite series.