Map-maker, US Army Corps of Engineers, Oahu, HI, c. 1944-1945;

Polk taught Architecture and Planning at the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, CA, from 1964-1980.

Coursework, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, c. 1932-1933, coursework, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1934-1935 and Iowa State College, Ames IA, 1937-1938,

Polk had a peripatetic life and career, growing up in Des Moines, IA, attending school at Amherst College, Amherst, MA, c. 1932-1933, the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1934-1935 and Iowa State College, Ames IA, 1937-1938, working in Des Moines c. 1938-1941, Oahu, HI, c. 1944-1945, the San Francisco Bay Area c. 1946-1949, England 1950-1951, South Asia 1952-1964, West Indies 1964, California, 1964-1980, Paris, France 1977, Sri Lanka 1980-1981 and Portugal 1984 (four months) and England 1981-1991. Along the way, he met Frank Lloyd Wright and spent the month of 04/1938 at Taliesin, Spring Green, WI, and worked closely with Theodore Bernardi (1903-1990) of the San Francisco firm, Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons from c. 1946-1949.