| University of the Pacific | |
|---|---|
| Established | 10 July 1851 |
| Type | Private |
| Religious affiliation | United Methodist Church |
| Endowment | $190 million[1] |
| President | Pamela A. Eibeck |
| Admin. staff | 966 |
| Undergraduates | 3457 |
| Postgraduates | 2739 |
| Location | Stockton (main campus) & San Francisco & Sacramento, California, United States |
| Campus | Urban, 175 acres (71 ha) |
| Colors | Orange and Black |
| Athletics | 16 Varsity Teams NCAA Division I |
| Nickname | Tigers |
| Mascot | Powercat |
| Website | http://www.pacific.edu |
The University of the Pacific (UOP or Pacific) is a private university in Stockton, California, United States, affiliated with the United Methodist Church. First chartered on July 10, 1851, in Santa Clara under the name California Wesleyan College, it later moved to San Jose before settling on its current location in California's Central Valley in 1923.
Pacific is the oldest chartered university in California.[2] In addition to a liberal arts college and schools of education, engineering, business, international studies and music, there are three professional schools: the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco, the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, and the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences on the main campus in Stockton.
Pacific is ranked among the top 100 national universities in the United States according to U.S. News & World Report, with its school of law similarly ranked among law schools. It has extensive collections pertaining to jazz musician and alumnus Dave Brubeck, who in 1953 released the live album Jazz at the College of the Pacific. It is also home to the papers of environmental pioneer John Muir.[3] University of the Pacific is also the home of K-PAC Student Radio and student-run newspaper The Pacifican.
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Pacific was founded on July 10, 1851, in Santa Clara as California Wesleyan College. In 1858, the college opened the first medical school on the West Coast. The medical school later became part of Stanford and is now California Pacific Medical Center.
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.[2][4] In 1878, the Conservatory of Music was established at Pacific, making it the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River.[2][4] 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[5] becoming the first institution of higher education in the Central Valley; it became the University of the Pacific in 1961.[2]
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, the university separated from the United Methodist Church, when “federal law about public funding of church-related institutions became an issue.”[6]
In May 2007, the university announced an estate gift of $100 million from Robert C. and Jeannette Powell. The gift was unusual in its size for an institution like Pacific that is not primarily research-focused. Only 29 universities throughout the world received a larger gift in the prior 40 years.
The Stockton campus, featuring a tower, rose gardens, architectural columns, brick-faced buildings, and numerous[7] 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.[8] 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 close 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 northeast side of campus or in the two apartment buildings known as Monagan and Brookside Hall.
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.[9]
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.[10][11] In 2010, a movement titled Meatless Mondays was started by the Bon Appetit food company in an attempt to reduce Pacific's carbon footprint by limiting the amount of shipped meats (and therefore, carbon emissions) to Pacific. However, this movement was heavily protested by a group led by students Joe Orr and Richard Dietrich, who ultimately had the Meatless Mondays program closed due to it being "Un-American".
As of 2007[update], the Stockton campus had 4,646 students (3,470 undergraduates, 535 graduate, 641 First professional students). Approximately 83% are from California; the rest are from 43 other states and 42 other countries.
The University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco had 516 students, and the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento had 1,073 students.
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,[13] giving it the broad mix of undergraduate and professional education it offers.[13] Pacific offers more than 100 academic programs and more than 60 undergraduate degrees. In the 2010 US News & World Report rankings, Pacific was ranked as the 99th best university, one of the top 40 best value colleges, and a top university for economic and ethnic diversity. Its undergraduate engineering school, need based aid, small class sizes, and low acceptance rate were also ranked as being noteworthy.[14] Numerous graduate degrees are offered including doctoral degrees in over 15 departments in five schools and colleges. University degrees include:
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.[16]
One of six undergraduate schools of international studies in America and the only school on the west coast. S.I.S. has a 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.[17]
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.[18]
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.[19]
Pacific had previously competed in the Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association conference but left in 1950. They were one of the charter members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (now known as the Big West), which was founded in 1969. They were Division I independents until beginning play in the PCAA in 1971.
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, the 30,000-seat Amos Alonzo Stagg Memorial Stadium for soccer (and high school football), the Hal Nelson Tennis Courts and the Chris Kjeldsen Pool.
University of the Pacific competes in NCAA Division I athletics as the Pacific Tigers in the Big West Conference, where they are the only private school in the conference. The athletics department sponsors 16 sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's cross country, women's field hockey, men's golf, women's soccer, women's softball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's 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).
The Pacific Tigers men's basketball program made three consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament (2004, 2005, 2006). Head coach Bob Thomason became the winningest head coach in Big West Conference men's basketball history when he collected his 206th career league victory on Feb. 14, 2009, surpassing the conference win total of former LBSU and UNLV head coach Jerry Tarkanian.
In 2003-04, the Tigers were 25-8. They defeated Cal State Northridge, 75-73, in the 2004 Big West Conference championship game. They went on to the NCAA tournament and defeated number 5 seeded Providence in the first round. It was Pacific's second trip to the NCAA Tournament under Thomason (1996–97). Pacific also shared the Big West Conference regular season championship with a record of 17-1. Pacific has also achieved a 16-game winning streak three times under Thomason.
In the 2004-05 season, the Tigers earned an at-large bid as an 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament and beat 9 seeded Pittsburgh in the first round. The 2004-05 Tigers finished the season with the best record in school history at 27-4.
In 2005-06, after winning the Big West regular season and tournament titles, Pacific earned their third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. As a 13 seed, the Tigers played 4th seed Boston College. Down 13, they tied the game to force overtime. In the first extra session, Pacific led by as many as six points, but Boston College came back to tie the game to force double overtime. Pacific eventually lost, 88-76.
After 77 years of competition, Pacific ended its football program[20] after the 1995 season.[21]
In April 2011, Athletics Director Lynn King announced he would step down in July 2011 to work on special projects for the University. Former Stanford Athletics Director and current University Vice President of External Relations Ted Leland was named as King's temporary replacement.[22]
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,[23] including a bequest gift of $100 million from Robert C. and Jeannette Powell.
Former President Donald DeRosa's retired on June 30, 2009. 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.[24] 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.[25] 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, but was appointed as Vice President of External Relations by President Eibeck in 2009. Leland was appointed temporary athletics director in 2011 while still assuming the vice presidential duties.[22]
The school was the subject of a rape controversy story on CBS's 60 Minutes program which was broadcast April 17, 2011, entitled The Case of Beckett Brennan, in which 60 Minutes discussed the difficulty colleges face in responding to accusations of sexual assault.[26] Brennan, who was on the women's basketball team, said she was raped by three men's basketball players in a fraternity house. While no criminal charges were filed, University of the Pacific convened a judicial review panel which issued sanctions against the three alleged perpetrators ranging from a one semester suspension to expulsion.[27] Brennan ultimately withdrew from the school of her own volition and sued the university.[28] A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit on September 17, 2010.[27][29]
About 16% of students are members of a social fraternity or sorority[30] 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.[31]
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