University of the Pacific (United States)

History

Pacific was founded on July 10, 1851, in Santa Clara. It was originally named California Wesleyan College, but one month later, it petitioned to have its name changed. It opened in 1852 under the name University of the Pacific. In 1858, the college opened the first medical school on the West Coast, the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific. The medical school was later affiliated with University College under the name Cooper Medical College, and in 1908 it was taken over by Stanford University and became the Stanford University School of Medicine.

In 1871, the campus was moved to San Jose, to an area that came to be known as the College Park neighborhood, and opened its doors to women, becoming the first independent co-educational campus in California. In 1896, Napa College merged with the college. In 1911, the name was changed to College of the Pacific (COP).

In 1923, the campus relocated from the Bay Area to the city of Stockton becoming the first private four-year university in the Central Valley. In 1925, the San Jose campus was sold to Santa Clara College, which moved its Santa Clara Prep to the campus and renamed it Bellarmine College Preparatory.

The university expanded into graduate and professional education in the 1950s, establishing the School of Pharmacy in 1955 and the Graduate School in 1956. The School of Engineering was established in 1957. In 1961, the university resumed using the name University of the Pacific.

In 1962, Pacific merged with the San Francisco College of Physicians and Surgeons (established in 1896 in San Francisco), and then in 1966, with the McGeorge School of Law (established in 1924 in Sacramento).

In the late 1960s, when federal law surrounding funding of church-associated universities came into question, Pacific stopped receiving funding from the United Methodist Church, but maintains its affiliation with the church while operating as a non-denominational school. Also in the 1960s, three new colleges were established that were modeled after British universities Oxford and Cambridge, integrating faculty and students into distinct living and learning communities: Raymond College (1962) was introduced as an accelerated, interdisciplinary liberal arts program in which students could shape their courses of study; Elbert Covell College (1963) was a unique inter-American college, with half its students from the U.S. and half from Latin America and classes taught in Spanish; and Callison College (1967) focused on non-western studies, giving students the opportunity to spend a year of their studies in Asia. These independent colleges merged with the rest of the university in 1982.

In 2013, the university received an estate gift of $125 million from Robert and Jeanette Powell. It is the largest gift in the university's history. This gift increased Pacific's endowment to $334 million. That same year, Pacific awarded its highest honor, the Order of Pacific, to the Powells.

In May 2019, the university's board of regents approved a new health school, which launched in fall 2020 with four new graduate health care programs. The board also approved merging the Gladys L. Benerd School of Education with University College to form Benerd College, a new school focused on innovative educational programs with flexible pricing and delivery methods, including hybrid and online programs for working adults.

Campuses

Stockton

The Stockton Campus, featuring a tower, rose gardens, architectural columns, brick-faced buildings, and numerous trees, has been used in Hollywood films, due to its aesthetic likeness to East Coast Ivy League universities: High Time, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Sure Thing, Dead Man on Campus, All the King's Men, Flubber, and Dreamscape, among others. Part of Disney's 1973 film The World's Greatest Athlete was also shot at Pacific.

The Stockton Campus is home to three main residential halls: Grace Covell Hall, Southwest Hall, which closed after the 22/23 school year and is set to reopen after major renovations, and the Quad Buildings. The Quads are composed of several separate smaller residence halls in proximity to each other. Grace Covell is the largest residence hall on campus holding more than 350 students. Junior and seniors can find housing in the University Townhouses on the northwest side of campus, McCaffrey Center Apartments located in the center of campus or in the three apartment buildings: Monagan Hall, Chan Family Hall, and Calaveras Hall, which is named after the river that flows through the campus, the Calaveras River. There are also fraternity and sorority houses located on campus.

The university opened the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold-certified John T. Chambers Technology Center, home of the university's School of Engineering and Computer Science, in 2010. Calaveras Hall, a new apartment-style residence hall, opened in 2018. In 2019, the university renovated the William Knox Holt Memorial Library.

The campus is home to Morris Chapel, a non-denominational church.

Sacramento

Pacific's 13-acre Sacramento Campus houses graduate and professional programs and a degree completion program in the Oak Park neighborhood, south of downtown. It consists of 24 buildings, including academic facilities, four residential facilities, and a fitness center/pool.

The campus includes the McGeorge School of Law, which is the only law school approved by the American Bar Association in Sacramento County. In 2015, Pacific began a transformation of its Sacramento Campus by adding graduate and professional programs. The campus now houses the School of Health Sciences, alongside McGeorge, with programs focused on law, health sciences, organizational leadership, and public policy.

San Francisco

Main article: University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry

Pacific's San Francisco Campus is located in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, containing classrooms, administrative offices, a simulation laboratory and clinics offering dental care to the public through the Dugoni School of Dentistry. The San Francisco Campus also includes graduate programs in analytics, audiology, food studies, and music therapy.

Campus sustainability

The university strives to promote environmental responsibility. Students are given opportunities to take part in sustainability service projects through the M.O.V.E. (Mountains, Ocean, Valley Experience) program. The on-campus dining services participates in the Farm to Fork Program, buying food locally where feasible. In 2009, students from the Residence for Earth and Environmental Living and Learning (a campus residential learning community), the Students for Environmental Action, and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences designed and implemented the "Tap That" campaign, whose goal was to inform students, faculty and staff about the effects of disposable water bottles on the environment.

The university opened several LEED-certified buildings, including the Don and Karen DeRosa University Center, the John T. Chambers Technology Center, and the Vereschagin Alumni House and has an interactive garden program on its Stockton and Sacramento campuses. In 2019, Pacific was ranked eighth for the sustainability of campus buildings by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. In 2021 and 2022, Pacific was ranked among the top 10 universities in the world for sustainable food and dining practices on college campuses.

Pacific installed solar panels over eight parking lots on the Stockton campus, which provide 30% of the campus's energy needs. The project, which was completed in April 2022, also involved the installation of 16 electric car ports in a partnership with Tesla.

Organization and administration

On July 1, 2020, Christopher Callahan became the university's 26th president. Callahan was the founding dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

Academics

Pacific is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission and offers more than 80 undergraduate areas of study, including 12 accelerated programs, more than 30 graduate and professional programs in 10 schools and colleges, and a continuing education program.

The university's 10 schools and colleges are:

• Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry: San Francisco
• Benerd College: Stockton, Sacramento, and San Francisco.
• College of the Pacific: The university's school of arts and sciences (liberal arts), Stockton
• Conservatory of Music: The first conservatory of music on the west coast, Stockton
• Eberhardt School of Business: Stockton
• The Graduate School: Stockton, Sacramento and San Francisco
• Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy: Stockton
• McGeorge School of Law: Sacramento
• School of Engineering and Computer Science: Stockton
• School of Health Sciences: Sacramento

Admissions

Undergraduate admission to University of the Pacific is rated as "more selective" by U.S. News & World Report. For fall 2023, Pacific received 5,763 freshmen applications; 5,467 were admitted (95%). The average GPA of enrolled freshmen was 3.63, while the average SAT score was 1282.

Reputation and rankings

The 2023 U.S. News & World Report ranking of U.S. colleges and universities ranked University of the Pacific No. 151 in the "Top National Universities" category. Also for 2023, USN&WR ranked Pacific 56th in "Best Value School," 82nd for "Social Mobility" and No. 100 for "Best College for Veterans." The 2022 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings ranked Pacific 19th for "Best Universities in the West." In 2022 the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce ranked Pacific No. 1 in the U.S. in career earnings for low-income students who attend colleges that enroll high percentages of Pell Grant Recipients.

Student life

As of 2022, the Stockton Campus had 4,594 students (3,278 undergraduates, 747 graduate, 569 first professional students). The San Francisco Campus had 694 students (16 undergraduates, 180 graduate, 498 first professional students), and the Sacramento Campus had 989 students (478 graduate, 511 first professional students).

Student newspaper

The Pacifican is the university's student newspaper. It was founded in 1908, making it one of California's oldest continuously run student publications. In 2024, the student government voted to cut the $15,000 allocated for the paper from its budget.

Greek life

About 10% of students are members of a social fraternity or sorority at University of the Pacific, where there are three on-campus social fraternity houses and three on-campus social sorority houses. There are also a variety of multicultural and professional organizations.

Athletics

Main article: Pacific Tigers

Pacific had previously competed in the NCAA Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association conference but left in 1950. In 1952, Pacific became a charter member of the California Basketball Association, which soon became the West Coast Athletic Conference (WCAC) and is now the West Coast Conference (WCC). They remained in the WCAC until joining the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, now known as the Big West Conference, in 1969 for football and 1971 for other sports. Pacific dropped football after the 1995 season and returned to the WCC in 2013.

Facilities on the Stockton Campus include the 2,500-seat Klein Family Field for baseball, the 350-seat Bill Simoni Field for softball, the 6,150-seat Alex G. Spanos Center for basketball and volleyball, Knoles Field for soccer, Chris Kjeldsen Pool and Pacific Aquatics Center for swimming and water polo, the Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center, and the Janssen-Lagorio Gymnasium and Performance Center.

University of the Pacific competes in NCAA Division I athletics as the Pacific Tigers in the West Coast Conference. After over 40 years of being in a conference (the PCAA/Big West) in which they were the only private school ever to have been a member, they returned to a league that is now composed exclusively of private, faith-based schools.

Notable alumni

Main article: List of University of the Pacific (United States) people

• Arif Alvi, MS 1984, 13th president of Pakistan (2018–2024)
• Rod Arrants, BA 1967, actor
• Scott Boras, PharmD 1977, JD 1982, sports agent
• Mary Ellen Bromfield, dancer
• Dave Brubeck, BM 1942, pianist and composer
• Connie Callahan, JD 1974, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Pete Carroll, BS 1973, college and professional football coach
• Jamie Lee Curtis, actress
• John Duarte, MBA 1989, farmer, owner of Duarte Nurseries, served in the 118th Congress representing California's 13th Congressional District (2023–2025)
• Tom Flores, 1958, football coach
• José Hernández, 1985, NASA astronaut
• Chris Isaak, BA 1981, musician and actor
• Nemir Kirdar, 1960, founder of Investcorp
• Eddie LeBaron, 1949, 5'7" quarterback of the undefeated 1949 football team. Played in the NFL with the Washington Redskins and later was the Dallas Cowboys first starting quarterback (1960-61).
• Janet Leigh, 1947, actress, singer, dancer, and author
• Bridget Marquardt, MA 2001, model and actress
• George Moscone, 1953, California state senator and 37th mayor of San Francisco
• Theodore Olson, BA 1962, 42nd Solicitor General of the United States (2001–2004)
• Matt de la Peña, BA 1996, Newbery Medal-winning author
• Irene Roberts, 2006, opera singer
• Brad Schumacher, swimmer
• Robert D. Sharp, BA 1987, Vice Adm. (ret.), United States Navy, 7th director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (2019–2022)
• Alex Spanos, owner of the Los Angeles Chargers, real estate developer
• Chris Tamas, 2003, college volleyball coach
• Robert M. Widney, 1862, lawyer and judge
• Amr Zedan, BS 1997, Saudi Arabian businessman, venture capitalist, thoroughbred horse breeder, and chairman of the Saudi Polo Federation

Notes

References

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