 Emphasis placed on making Pacific a national school University President Donald DeRosa has plenty to be excited about. The new university center and biological sciences building have broken ground and are expected to open in a couple years. The library has seen extensive renovation. Pacific continues to be ranked favorably in national magazines and publications. The new Klein Family Field opened in the spring to much celebration. And enrollment at the university is at an all time high.
University of the Pacific’s well-being was described by President DeRosa last Thursday at his annual Open Forum. About 200 people, including students, faculty, and alumni, attended the event in Grace Covell Dining Hall.
“I’ll touch on some highlights, high points,” DeRosa said beginning his presentation.
Combined, the three campuses of University of the Pacific have 6,252 students for the 2006-2007 school year. The Stockton campus, comprised mostly of undergraduates, has 4,704 students in attendance. The McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento lists 1,038 attendees. The Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco has 510 students.
“These are good numbers,” DeRosa said. “Strong numbers.” Pacific’s net assets saw a tremendous increase from 11 years ago. In 1995, Pacific’s assets totaled $148 million. The 2006 total was $385 million, an increase of 160%.
Nationally, Pacific continues to make headlines. The highly read U.S. News and World Report ranked University of the Pacific as a ‘best value’ in education for the 6th consecutive year. Also, Pacific appeared on the list for overall top 100 universities in the nation in U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges 2007” and Washington Monthly’s “College Guide.” Impressive numbers for the individual campuses also were included in the report. The McGeorge School of Law ranked among the top 90 in the nation and its international program tops out in the top 25. Applications for the school have more than doubled. The dental school is regularly first or second in the nation in number of applications received for the dentistry program.
Pacific’s pharmacy program has about 2,000 applicants, which makes it first in the nation for applications. The residence halls on campus are filled to capacity for the 5th consecutive year. This year has seen an overcapacity. Currently, the halls are filled to 101% of capacity.
“We’re careful to ensure our data is accurate and strong,” DeRosa said while showing the statistics to the audience.
California benefits immensely from Pacific’s presence. The university contributes more than a half billion dollars to the economy of Northern California. Over 2,000 teachers in the Central Valley graduated from the Benard School of Education. Graduates of the dental school comprise 18% of all practicing dentists in California. Thirty-seven percent of the pharmacists in California are graduates of the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Looking ahead, DeRosa anticipates more improvements and additions to the Stockton campus. Three new buildings are planned in coming years. The Janssen-Lagorio Multi-Purpose Center, in the planning stages, comes in at a price tag of $5.8 million. DeRosa also sees a Technology Center for the campus, which will cost an estimated $8 million. An Alumni Center will also be built near the clock tower and Long Theater at $4.7 million. Other improvements include renovating Knoles Hall ($4.5 million) and renovating the library at the McGeorge School of Law ($9.5 million). DeRosa also outlined his main goals for the coming year. A planning process for all of the upcoming projects will hopefully be finalized by April, DeRosa said. The president wants to put more focus on enrollment. DeRosa commended the workers in the admissions office in their job of selecting the freshmen class. DeRosa wants to work on Pacific’s campaign in attracting students and would like to see Pacific become more
of a national school. “I’m so concerned about the accessibility of Pacific in the future,” he said. “We must diversify more.” Currently, most undergraduates come from somewhere in California. DeRosa would like to see more students hail from places outside California. Transitioning to the Pacific Rising Project, DeRosa again emphasized student selection. “We want to make sure that students who are attracted to Pacific are ones who will benefit most from the Pacific experience,” DeRosa said. The Pacific Rising Project is planned to run from 2008-2015. The Board of Regents have affixed a quote to describe the movement forward of the university. They said, “Our core values are behind everything we do and cannot be compromised.” After President DeRosa’s address, he fielded questions from the audience. Students and faculty had some issues they wanted the president to know about. “We should all expect tuition increases in the future,” he said in response to a question about the rising rates.
He made sure to emphasize the fact that Pacific has had the smallest tuition increases among comparable private schools in the state. Tuition rates have increased by 4.1% this past year. DeRosa said that in reality Pacific needs an 11% increase in tuition to cover all costs. “The board is extremely pleased about reports received on faculty diversity,” DeRosa said. He concluded that faculty diversity is at a reasonable level. However, student diversity is another story. “We have a ways to go, there’s no doubt about this, with Latino and African-American students,” he said. DeRosa assured the audience on many issues dealing with faculty retention and housing. An idea for faculty housing was mentioned. DeRosa agreed that this was an issue as real estate prices in Stockton are extremely high. He said that Pacific will act only after looking at experiences at other schools before going ahead. President DeRosa appears eager to strive for the goal of being “the most distinctive, student-centered, national university in the West.”
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