The Presidency of Robert E. Burns

1946-1971

Robert Burns' tenure as president of University of the Pacific was equally significant but dramatically different than the presidency of Knoles.

Burns, the only alumnus to be president, had ideas well before his time.

The Cluster Colleges, introduced in 1959, were innovative and drew much attention from the media and as a result good students.

But the Clusters were only a portion of the legacy of Dr. Burns.

Burns grew the small school into a school of depth (and changed the name again to University of the Pacific) by creating the Graduate School and the School of Engineering.

President Burns also helped to acquire the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento in 1966, and was instrumental in changing the direction of the former College of Physicians and Surgeons, acquired in 1962, to ultimately become today's San Francisco-based Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry.

He paved the way for the founding of the Center for Continuing and Professional Education, the school for adult re-entry education.