HI S T ORY AND OV E RV IE W
University of the Pacific has been an innovator in higher education since its inception. Pacific was established by pioneering
a four-year graduation guarantee. This
campuses, with a third of these at the
Methodist ministers in 1851 as
pioneering spirit led the university to
graduate and professional level. There
California’s first chartered institution
expand into graduate and professional
are also four additional locations
of higher learning and became an
education in the 1950s, establishing
offering individual programs.
independent institution in the 1960s.
the School of Pharmacy in 1955
Originally located in Santa Clara, the
and the Graduate School in 1956. It
The Stockton Campus is the largest of
university later moved to San Jose
extended its footprint to San Francisco
the three campuses, offers the most
and, in 1924, moved to Stockton,
in 1962 with the acquisition of the
diverse array of programs, and houses
making it the first private four-year
College of Physicians and Surgeons, a
the majority of Pacific’s undergraduate
university in the Central Valley. Pacific
school of dentistry founded in 1896.
students as well as several graduate
provided California with its first
Pacific enlarged its footprint again
and professional programs.
chartered medical school in 1858
in 1966 when it merged with the
(subsequently relocated to Stanford
McGeorge School of Law located
The San Francisco Campus relocated
University), its first coeducational
in Sacramento.
in July 2014 to a state-of-the-art facility
campus in 1871, and its first
designed to support the award-winning
conservatory of music in 1878. It
Pacific’s distinctive Northern
curriculum for the Dugoni School of
was the nation’s first to offer an
California presence continues to
Dentistry. The expansion in square
undergraduate teacher corps program,
grow: two of the three campuses now
footage enabled Pacific to diversify
the first to send an entire class to
offer undergraduate, graduate and
San Francisco’s educational offerings
an overseas campus, the first to
professional programs. Altogether,
to include a Doctor of Audiology and
establish a Spanish-speaking inter-
Pacific’s 11 schools and colleges offer
master's degrees in data science and
American college, and the first to offer
93 degree programs across the three
music therapy. In addition, it permitted
1851
1871
1878
1924
1955
1956
Established as California’s first chartered institution of higher learning
Became California's first coeducational campus
Established California's first Conservatory of Music
The campus relocated to Stockton by way of San Jose and Santa Clara
Established the School of Pharmacy
Established the Graduate School
