Each year, to celebrate commencement, Cal Poly highlights a group of “Great Grads”: a student from each of the six colleges who are completing an outstanding academic journey and moving on to the next phase of their lives. Tyler Coari is our Great Grad from the College of Liberal Arts.

Tyler Coari honed his education through internships with national, state and local representatives on his quest “to make a difference in the world.” 

“I have hopes of running for public office someday — but in the near term, I really want to work for a local or state agency or in a related nonprofit organization here in California,” he said — with the goal of advocacy for affordable housing and improved multimodal transportation. 

Completing his master’s degree in public policy is the next step toward that goal, after he completed his bachelor’s in three years at Cal Poly in 2024. 

The Carlsbad resident was attracted to Cal Poly specifically for its Learn by Doing approach, as well as praise from alumni and former distance running teammates at San Dieguito Academy High School in Encinitas. 

Coari found his home at Cal Poly through ASI student government, first as a freshman volunteer, then as an elected college representative on the ASI Board of Directors and as chief of staff to the ASI president during his third year. 

Recalling his first year, he said, “I joined the ASI Executive Staff program, dipping my toes in the water and learning about how student government works and about all these different departments on campus and how everything interacts together. I made so many incredible connections and relationships that I’ve kept to this day.” 

He was appointed chief of staff of the ASI Executive Cabinet for the 2023-24 academic year. His job was to provide leadership and guidance to the cabinet, ensuring the president’s goals for the year were met while overseeing student government operations. 

Since July, he has continued his public service to the university and the 23-campus California State

 University as vice president of finance for the Cal State Student Association and its $2.15 million annual budget. He is one of five executive officers representing the 480,000 students in the nation’s largest four-year public university system. He assists campus representatives who advocate for their peers to advance student needs and higher education policymaking throughout the CSU system and state and federal levels. 

Coari also has worked on campus in various positions and met other students who influenced his educational and career trajectory. These included one who urged him to apply to work with a state Assembly or Senate member.  

“Thank goodness she did,” he said. “That recommendation has opened a lot of doors for me.” 

He first secured an internship with his hometown state representative’s 76th Assembly District in 2022. He then served with U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, whose district includes Cal Poly and who took him to Washington, D.C. in 2023. Coari then helped with San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart’s successful reelection campaign last November. 

He found inspiration from political science Professor Jean Williams, “who advised me on my senior project, just helping me get that across the finish line and providing me with so many little, yet important nuggets of knowledge.” 

Coari researched the Golden State’s housing crisis for that project, reviewing statewide and local policies to better understand why finding a place to live in California has become more unaffordable and challenging. 

He and fellow students went door-to-door to survey residents to understand how different communities in San Luis Obispo County are adapting to a lack of affordable housing. The, using a Political Science Department ‘Learn by Doing’ grants, he helped form the San Luis Obispo Tenants Union, a grassroots organization committed to advocating for renter’s rights. 

He also focused on multimodal transit and how residents get around, besides buses and cars, citing policy proposals to boost foot and bicycle travel. 

“I really want to advance the future of housing and transportation in this state, because I think those are the two most critical issues facing our communities,” Coari said. “Housing costs can be reduced through new forms of public policy and especially through public-private partnerships. I want our state to be doing these more aggressively, while bringing everybody in the state along to be part of the process and be included in whatever decisions we make to rein in this crisis.” 

Coari has also been involved in long-term campus projects as a student assistant for the Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub, or DxHub, and the 5G Innovation Lab powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). This campuswide private wireless network, which runs on AWS combined with T-Mobile service, enhances campus connectivity and provides a leading-edge platform for innovation. 

He also has worked on a proposed cell phone infrastructure project at Cal Poly’s Swanton Pacific Ranch, a 3,200-acre property of redwood forests and coastal grasslands in Santa Cruz County. 

Cal Poly students use the ranch for Learn by Doing — living and learning on a working ranch, developing career skills, gaining exposure to current technologies and working on diverse research projects. The CZU Lightning Complex wildfires swept through and ravaged the ranch facilities in August 2020. 

“Cell service there is minimal to zero. If you don’t have one of the main carriers, you’re out of luck,” Coari said. “We want to plug all those blind spots by putting up small, solar-powered 5G towers.” 

Then, using a satellite service to cover the footprint of the ranch would provide service for students and employees — as well as Cal Fire and other emergency services, to allow for a better response in case there was another wildfire, he said. 

DxHub officials hope to begin implementation in the next year or two, Coari said, including lining up project partners and securing financial resources. 

After four years, Coari looks back on his time at Cal Poly and sees the faces of friends and connections made, “whether it was a 20-mile, back-and-forth backpacking trip in Big Sur or just late-night conversations about deep topics with people I care about. 

“And I'll also remember how Cal Poly helped me understand how I can make the best impact in the community as possible,” he added. “It allowed me to navigate everything from creating the SLO Tenants Union to other involvements in local politics and government.”