Pioneering Firsts
In 1851, University of the Pacific became California's first chartered institution of higher education.
The California Supreme Court, itself in its first year of existence, chartered the University on July 10, 1851 as California Wesleyan College in Santa Clara. In 1852, the name was changed to University of the Pacific, and the first class enrolled.
In 1858, University of the Pacific opened the first medical school on the West Coast.
The medical school later became part of Stanford University and is now California Pacific Medical Center. In the 1960s, Pacific added campuses in San Francisco and Sacramento when it merged with existing dental and law schools.
In 1871, University of the Pacific opened its doors to women, becoming the first independent co-educational campus in California.
The University of the Pacific moved from Santa Clara to San Jose in 1871, and to Stockton in 1923. The Stockton campus was dedicated in 1925.
In 1878, the Conservatory of Music was established at Pacific, making it the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River.
In 1999, alumni Dave and Iola Brubeck selected Pacific to receive the Dave Brubeck Collection, and to be the home of The Brubeck Institute, which provides learning and performance opportunities for outstanding young jazz musicians.
Pacific is the first four-year private institution in the Central Valley of California.
The University moved to Stockton in 1923, and was dedicated in 1925.
In 1947, the University goes on the air with KCVN, the first non-commercial, educational radio station in California.
In 1964 it was renamed KUOP. Pacific later discontinued its radio-broadcasting degree program and the license was sold to its current operator, Capital Public Radio, in 2007.
Pacific was the first university to introduce the "Cluster College" concept in the West, modeled after Oxford and Cambridge in England.
Raymond College, established in 1962, offered a three-year Bachelor's degree and prided itself on its integrated living and learning communities.
Pacific is the first to establish a Spanish-speaking Inter-American College.
Elbert Covell College, established in 1963, was the first bilingual-bicultural college in the country. All classes were taught in Spanish, and students came from North, Central and South America.
Pacific is the first to send an entire class to an overseas campus.
Callison College, established in 1967, focused on non-western studies which included a year of study abroad in Asia.
In 1986, University of the Pacific was the first to establish a School of International Studies in California.
The School of International Studies is one of only six in the nation, the only one that requires its students to study abroad, and the first university-based undergraduate school of international studies in California.
In 1991, University of the Pacific became the first to offer a "Four Year Guarantee" for undergraduates who meet a few specific requirements. Responding to dwindling state education budgets that were forcing students to spend up to seven years in public colleges, Pacific was first in the nation to promise on-time graduation.
In 1997, University of the Pacific was the first to match the Cal Grant, dollar for dollar.
At Pacific today, nearly 80 percent of students receive some form of financial aid.
In 2007, University of the Pacific received its first nine-figure donation. Former regent Robert C. Powell and his wife Jeannette Powell, a board member at the time of the donation, made a $100 million bequest gift to Pacific in May, 2007. At the time, only six other private universities and 29 other universities around the world had received larger donations since 1967, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
