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 to the University of the Pacific. In 1858, the college opened the first medical school on the West Coast; it was called 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 and the college opened its doors to women, becoming the first independent co-educational campus in California. In 1878, the Conservatory of Music was established at Pacific, making it the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River. In 1896, Napa College merged with the college. In 1911, the name was changed to College of the Pacific (COP or Pacific).

In 1923, the campus relocated from the Bay Area to the city of Stockton becoming the first institution of higher education in the Central Valley; it became the University of the Pacific in 1961.

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 about public funding of church-related institutions became an issue...” the university stopped receiving funding from the United Methodist Church, but maintains its affiliation with the church while operating as a non-denominational school.

On October 17, 2013, the university announced an estate gift from Robert and Jeanette Powell of US$125 million. It is the largest gift in the university's 162-year history. In the previous year, Pacific awarded its highest honor, The Order of Pacific, posthumously to both Mr. and Mrs. Powell. ” This gift increased Pacific's endowment to $334 million.

Stockton Campus

The Stockton Campus, featuring a tower, rose gardens, architectural columns, brick-faced buildings, and numerous trees, was used in Hollywood films, due to its aesthetic likeness to East Coast Ivy League universities: High Time, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Sure Thing, Dead Man on Campus, 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, 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 while Southwest and the Quads hold a lower number of students. Upperclassmen 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 two apartment buildings known as Monagan and Brookside Hall, which was recently renamed Chan Family Hall. There are also fraternity and sorority houses located on campus.

In 2008, the university opened a new University Center, at a cost of $38 million, to centralize all campus student-centered activities. The Don & Karen DeRosa University Center houses a new central dining hall, student cafe, pub, bookstore and conference centers, replacing the McCaffrey Center. It also built a new $20 million Biological Sciences Center in 2008 that provides advanced classroom and laboratory facilities for students studying the natural sciences and the health sciences.

The campus is home to Morris Chapel, a non-denominational church with simple architecture, excellent acoustics and photogenic backdrops.

Sacramento Campus

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

The campus is anchored by McGeorge School of Law, which is the only law school approved by the American Bar Association in Sacramento County.

In 2015, Pacific began an expansion of its Sacramento Campus, including new graduate programs in analytics, business, education, health sciences, and public policy.

Programs currently offered at the Sacramento campus:

Programs offered starting in fall 2016:

Programs offered starting in spring 2017:

San Francisco Campus

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.

In 2011, Pacific purchased a seven-story former Wells Fargo office building in the South of Market neighborhood, to use five floors to house Dugoni, while renting two floors as premium office space. Dugoni moved into its new facilities in 2014.

Campus sustainability efforts

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 & Environmental Living & Learning (a campus residential learning community), the Students for Environmental Action, and the Department of Earth & 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. Pacific's sustainability score was a D in 2009 and has risen to a C since then. The University also has been listed in the Sierra Club's list of "Cool Schools, " or Universities that value sustainability, for three years running. The University also has opened several LEED Certified buildings in the past five years, including the Don and Karen DeRosa University Center, the John T. Chambers Technology Center, and the Vereschagin Alumni House.

Demographics

As of 2016, the Stockton campus had 4,897 students (3,483 undergraduates, 768 graduate, 646 first professional students). The University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco had 638 students (154 graduate, 484 first professional students), and the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento had 593 students (120 graduate, 473 first professional students).

Academics

The university is the only private institution in the United States with fewer than 10,000 students to offer degrees from eight different professional schools, giving it the broad mix of undergraduate and professional education it offers. Pacific offers more than 100 academic programs and more than 60 undergraduate degrees. Numerous graduate degrees are offered, including doctoral degrees in over 15 departments in five schools and colleges.

The university offers degrees programs in nine schools and a graduate program:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, an adjunct professor, teaches at the McGeorge School of Law in Salzburg, Austria, in the university's summer program abroad.

School of International Studies

One of six undergraduate schools of international studies in America and the only school on the west coast. S.I.S. has an interdisciplinary core curriculum taught by anthropologists, political scientists, economists and historians. The school offers multiple B.A. and minor programs, an M.A. in Intercultural Relations as well as an online certificate program in Social Entrepreneurship.

In 2006, the School of International Studies opened The Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship. The center conducts research into and serves as a gathering place for students interested in social entrepreneurship. Unlike most university social entrepreneurship centers, the program has an undergraduate, student-centered approach, incorporating both academic analysis and practical applications in the field.

One of the leading microfinance lenders for Central America, the Katalysis Bootstrap Fund, relocated to the University of Pacific campus in 2006. Pacific is the first U.S. University to have a microfinance center operating on its campus.

Two University of the Pacific graduates have received Skoll Foundation awards for Social Entrepreneurship. In 2005, alumnus Martin Burt received an award for his agricultural education and rural entrepreneurship program, Fundación Paraguaya. In 2006, Sakena Yacoobi was recognized for her foundation Afghan Institute of Learning, which aims to restore education and health programs.

On August 22, 2012, the School of International Studies was folded under the umbrella of the College of the Pacific. It retains its status as a school, but its administrative structure is attached to the College of the Pacific's Dean's office.

Admissions

Admission to University of the Pacific is rated as "more selective" by U.S. News & World Report.

For fall 2015, Pacific received 15,183 freshmen applications; 8,335 were admitted (64.6%). The average GPA of the enrolled freshmen was 3.45, while the middle 50% range of SAT scores were 490-620 for critical reading, 520-660 for math and 490-630 for writing. The middle 50% range of the ACT Composite score was 22-29.

National rankings

The 2016 U.S. News & World Report ranking of U.S. colleges and universities ranked University of Pacific's undergraduate program tied for 108th in the "national universities" category. Among graduate programs, USN&WR ranked Pharmacy 48th best in the country, Speech-Language Pathology 84th best, and Physical Therapy 99th best.

PayScale

In 2015, PayScale, the online salary information company, ranked Pacific 74th for Highest Paid Graduates in the United States. The aforementioned rankings are for Pacific graduates with an undergraduate degree only (so those with any type of graduate degree are not included in the ranking). According to the PayScale ranking, the average starting salary for a Pacific graduate is $51,500 and the average mid-career salary is $98,300.

Athletics

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 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, Hal Nelson Tennis Courts and Chris Kjeldsen Pool for swimming and water polo.

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. (BYU is affiliated with the LDS Church, Pepperdine with the Churches of Christ, and the other seven members are Catholic.) The athletics department sponsors 18 sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's cross country, women's track & field, women's field hockey, men's golf, men's and women's soccer, women's softball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, women's volleyball, women's sand volleyball, and men's and women's water polo. The university's two national championships have come in women's volleyball, a sport in which the school advanced to 24 straight NCAA Tournaments (1981–2004) and appeared in nine Final Fours (2 AIAW, 7 NCAA).

Capital improvements

The university undertook a $200 million fund-raising campaign to construct a University Center, Biological Sciences Center, multipurpose gymnasium, a library addition, and the Klein Family Field for baseball. In the summer of 2007, the university announced it had vastly exceeded that goal, having raised a total of $330 million, including a bequest gift of $100 million from Robert C. and Jeannette Powell.

Administration

When Donald DeRosa retired on June 30, 2009 as president of the university, Pamela Eibeck became the university's 24th and first female president.

The president is selected by the university's Board of Regents, consisting of 27 members, including U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Connie M. Callahan, U.S. District Court Judge Morrison England, and former NASA Astronaut Jose Hernandez. Former members may be named Emeritus Board Members. This list includes San Diego Chargers owner Alex G. Spanos.

Provost Philip N. Gilbertson served as the chief academic officer from 1996 through June 2010, overseeing all of the university's schools and divisions. He retired on June 30, 2010. The university named Dr. Patrick J. Ferrillo, Jr., dean of the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco, to fill the position while a search was completed for a permanent replacement. In February 2011, Dr. Maria Pallavicini, the dean of the School of Natural Sciences at UC Merced, was appointed provost. The Council of Deans comprises all academic deans, associate and assistant provosts, the Director of Planning and Research, and the Academic Budget Officer.

In 2006, former Stanford Athletic Director Ted Leland returned to his undergraduate alma mater as Pacific's Vice President of University Advancement and was later appointed as Vice President of External Relations by President Eibeck in 2009. Leland was appointed temporary and then permanent athletics director in 2011 while still assuming the vice presidential duties. In February 2015, Leland stepped down from his post as Vice President of External Relations to focus on athletics. Stacy McAfee was named the new Vice President for External Relations.

In 2013, Pacific appointed Dr. Rena Fraden as the Dean of the College of the Pacific. Fraden was previously Vice-President for Academic Affairs and the G. Keith Funston Professor of English and American Studies at Trinity College (Connecticut).

Greek life

About 16% of students are members of a social fraternity or sorority at University of the Pacific, where there are four on-campus social fraternity houses, four on-campus social sorority houses, and five multicultural fraternities that are overseen by the University's Department of Housing and Greek Life. There are also a variety of professional organizations and fraternities on the three campus.

Fraternities

Sororities

Multicultural fraternities

Multicultural sororities

Professional fraternities

Service fraternities

Honor societies

Additional notable alumni include: