For almost two centuries, University of the Pacific has been an educational staple in San Joaquin County and beyond.
University of the Pacific is a private university established on July 10, 1851. Its California’s first and oldest university, a news release states.
Earlier this month, the university celebrated 175 years in the community. The celebration took place on Friday, July 10, at the Knoles Lawn on campus at 3601 Pacific Ave., in Stockton. Pacific’s President Christopher Callahan along with Pacific students, faculty and staff celebrated the milestone with a cake.
“There’s so much to our history, but at the core is the same mission that we’ve had for 175 years … teaching these young people–who we bring in all sorts of different disciplines on three different campuses–how to be great leaders in their fields for our communities, for our state, for our nation and for our globe,” Callahan said during the celebration.
Last year, the Wall Street Journal ranked Pacific No. 85 among all U.S. colleges and universities, the university said.
Several notable individuals have graduated from the university including NASA Astronaut José M. Hernández and Dean A. Spanos, owner and chairman of the Los Angeles Chargers.
“I continue to marvel every day, not just in the classrooms and the labs and in the fields, but outside of those traditional learning environments, at the relationships that our faculty and our students enjoy, that go beyond the classroom and last decades,” Callahan said. “That is so powerful. That to me is the magic formula of Pacific. It always has been. It always will be. Lots of things will change, but that will remain our core, our purpose, our reason for being.”
University of the Pacific was the “first to open a medical school on the West Coast, the first coeducational university in the West and the first Conservatory of Music in the West, among many other firsts,” a news release states.
“This year, it will open the newly constructed Southwest Hall residential building, a state-of-the-art student-athlete and sports medicine center, ambulatory surgery centers on the Sacramento and San Francisco Campuses, and the Jie Du Inn, providing boutique lodging on the Stockton Campus,” according to the school. “The university also recently announced major plans to open a School of Medicine on its Stockton Campus.
Across the three Pacific campuses, Stockton, Sacramento and San Francisco, there are nearly 7,000 students, according to the university.
Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers business and community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Pacific celebrates 175 years amid launch of major campus expansions
Reporting by Angelaydet Rocha, The Stockton Record / The Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Angelaydet Rocha, The Stockton Record | USA TODAY Network
