Pacific University is a private, non-profit, coeducational university, based in Forest Grove, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Tualatin Academy, the university's original Forest Grove campus is 23 miles (37Â km) west of Portland, while the university maintains three other campuses in the cities of Eugene, Hillsboro, and Woodburn.
Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC), the university's motto is Pro Christo et Regno Ejus, which is Latin for "For Christ and His Kingdom," and has an enrollment of more than 3,500 students. Although the university has long been independent of the UCC, it still maintains a close working relationship with the church as a member of the United Church of Christ Council for Higher Education. The university is now a small private, independent liberal arts school, offering graduate programs in education, optometry, writing, health professions and business.
History
Pacific University College of Optometry - Pacific University College of Optometry Submission for Vision Expo Video Contest.
Tabitha Brown, a pioneer emigrant from Massachusetts, immigrated to the Oregon Country over the new Applegate Trail in 1846. After arriving in Oregon she helped to start an orphanage and school along with Rev. Harvey L. Clark in Forest Grove in 1847 to care for the orphans of Applegate Trail party. In March 1848, Tualatin Academy was established from the orphanage with Clark donating 200 acres (80.9Â ha) to the school. George H. Atkinson had advocated the founding of the school and with support of the Presbyterians and Congregationalists helped to start the academy. Eliza Hart Spalding, part of the Whitman Mission, was its first teacher.
The academy was officially chartered by the territorial legislature on September 29, 1849. The reverend Clark served as the first president of the board of trustees and later donated an additional 150 acres (60.7Â ha) to the institution. In 1851, what is now Old College Hall was built and in 1853 Sidney H. Marsh became the school's first president. The current campus was deeded in 1851. In 1854, the institution became Pacific University. The first commencement occurred in 1863 with Harvey W. Scott as the only graduate.
In 1872, three Japanese students started at the university as part of that country's modernization movement, with all three graduating in 1876. These students were Hatstara Tamura, Kin Saito, and Yei Nosea. President Marsh died in 1879 and was replaced by John R. Herrick. In the late 1890s an alumnus gave Pacific a Chinese statuette. The statuette was purchased from a Chinese family who used it as a sort of coat of arms. It appears to be a mix of a several different mythical creatures although it is often simply called a "dragon dog" and serves as the foundation for the university's mascot, the Boxer.
Marsh Hall was built in 1895 and named for Pacific's first president, serving as the central building on Pacific's campus. Carnegie Library (now Carnegie Hall) opened in 1912 after Andrew Carnegie's foundation helped finance the brick structure. The library was designed by Portland architecture firm Whidden and Lewis. In 1915, the preparatory department, Tualatin Academy, closed due to the proliferation of public high schools in the state. By 1920, the school had grown to a total of five buildings on 30 acres (12.1Â ha) and had an endowment of approximately $250,000.
Marsh Hall was gutted by fire in 1975, but its shell was preserved, and the structure reopened in 1977. Dr. Phillip D. Creighton became Pacific's sixteenth president in August 2003 and retired in June 2009. Tommy Thayer, lead guitarist of the band KISS, was elected to the university's board of trustees in 2005. Pacific's seventeenth president, Dr. Lesley M. Hallick, was named on May 19, 2009.
Campuses
Pacific University is located on four campuses in the state of Oregon in the cities of Forest Grove, Hillsboro, Eugene and Woodburn.
The Forest Grove Campus features several historic buildings. Old College Hall is the oldest educational building west of the Mississippi and today serves as Pacific University’s museum. Carnegie Hall, the university’s first dedicated library building, was constructed in 1912 and today is home to the undergraduate Psychology Department. Marsh Hall, at the center of campus, houses several classrooms and faculty offices, in addition to administrative offices and a small auditorium. The Forest Grove Campus opened a new residence hall, Cascade Hall, in 2014. The Forest Grove Campus also is home to a new university library, which was built and earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in 2005, the LEED-certified Berglund Hall, which houses the College of Education and a community preschool, and the additional LEED Gold certified residence halls, Burlingham and Gilbert. The Bill & Cathy Stoller Center is home to all of the university’s intercollegiate athletic teams, athletic offices and the Department of Exercise Science. It features more than 95,000 square feet of floor space, including team rooms, locker rooms, classrooms, a wood-floor gymnasium, a weight and fitness center and the Fieldhouse, the first indoor practice area in the Northwest Conference and the only one with FieldTurf. Outside the Stoller Center is the entrance to Hanson Stadium, which includes a FieldTurf soccer, lacrosse and football surface, a nine-lane track and grandstands. A new roof was built to cover the stadium grandstands in 2014. The stadium is part of the Lincoln Park Athletic Complex, built in 2008, which also houses the baseball complex, Chuck Bafaro Stadium at Bond Field, the softball complex, Sherman/Larkins Stadium, and natural grass fields for soccer and track throwing events, and is part of the City of Forest Grove's Lincoln Park, also home to a fitness trail, playground equipment, a BMX course, a skateboard park and picnic areas.
Pacific University’s Eugene Campus is a single building which houses a portion of the College of Education.
In 2013, Pacific University also opened a campus in Woodburn, providing undergraduate and graduate programs in the College of Education.
The Hillsboro Campus opened in 2006 with its first building, a five-story Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certified building in Hillsboro in 2006, which was dedicated as Creighton Hall. A second building, known as HPC2 and also LEED certified, opened in 2010. The campus is part of the Hillsboro Health & Education District and is adjacent to the MAX light rail line. Currently home primarily to Pacific University’s College of Health Professions, the campus houses several master’s and doctorate-level programs in health professions, as well as clinics, open to the public, for audiology, dental hygiene, physical therapy and professional psychology, as well as an interdisciplinary diabetes clinic and an eye clinic run by the Pacific University College of Optometry. Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center also has a clinic and pharmacy on site.
Academics
Pacific University is consistently named among the top regional colleges and universities in the west by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes and The Princeton Review.
Pacific is home to the colleges of Arts & Sciences, Education, Optometry, Health Professions and Business. Approximately half of all students are undergraduates, while the other half are graduate and professional students.
The College of Arts & Sciences offers undergraduate liberal arts and sciences programs in more than 50 fields, as well as a low-residency master’s of fine arts in writing. The MFA program has been ranked by Poets & Writers magazine as one of the top five low-residency MFA programs in the United States for four consecutive years. Pacific also opened a master of social work program based in Eugene, Ore., in 2014.
Pacific’s College of Education offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in education and learning. Undergraduates may study early childhood education and elementary education, while graduate programs include MAT/MAT Flex, MAT Special Education and MEd in Curriculum Studies, as well as a joint program with the College of Optometry, visual function in learning. The College of Education offers programs for science and math teachers at its Woodburn Campus. A new School of Communication Sciences and Disorders began offering a master’s in speech-language pathology in 2012.
The College of Optometry is one of 21 schools in the United States and Canada offering a doctorate in optometry. Pacific’s program dates back to 1945, when Pacific merged with the North Pacific College of Optometry. Pacific’s College of Optometry also offers a master of vision science degree and operates eye clinic and eyeglass dispensaries in communities throughout the Portland area.
The College of Health Professions was founded in 2006, though several of its programs date back further. Most courses and clinics are located on the Hillsboro campus. Programs include a doctorate of audiology, master’s of athletic training, bachelor’s in dental health science, graduate certificate in gerontology, master’s in healthcare administration, graduate certificate in healthcare compliance, online bachelor's in health science, doctorate in occupational therapy, doctorate in pharmacy, doctorate in physical therapy, master’s in physician assistant studies, and master’s and doctorates in professional psychology. Curricula in all health professions programs focuses on interprofessional cooperation, and students gain practice in caring for underserved populations.
The College of Business opened in 2013 with undergraduate programs in accounting, finance, international business and marketing. Graduate programs include a master of business administration and master of science in finance.
Student life
Pacific's newspaper, The Pacific Index, was first published in 1893. The next year an annual yearbook began as the Heart of Oak.
Greek life
All of the Greek societies at Pacific University are "local", meaning that they are unique to the campus.
Fraternities
- Ð"Σ - Gamma Sigma
- Î'Ζ - Alpha Zeta
- ΠΚΡ - Pi Kappa Rho
Sororities
- Î'ΚÎ" - Alpha Kappa Delta
- ΘÎÎ' - Theta Nu Alpha
- ΦΛΟ - Phi Lambda Omicron
- Î"ΧÎ" - Delta Chi Delta
Athletics
Pacific University competes as a member of the Northwest Conference in the NCAA Division III. Pacific was one of the founding members of the conference in 1926.
Men compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, and wrestling. Women’s programs include basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, softball, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, and wrestling. Women’s rowing will begin in 2013.
Pacific's women's wrestling program is one of just five varsity programs sponsored by a college in the United States. The team competed as part of the women's division of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association, which began competition in 2007.
In addition to the amenities of the Stoller Center and Lincoln Park Athletic Complex, Pacific University also has indoor and outdoor tennis courts on campus and shares a competition-size pool with the City of Forest Grove.
Notable alumni
- Shirley Abbott '52, OD '53 - was an American businessman, rancher, politician, and ambassador
- Les AuCoin '69 â€" was Oregon’s U.S. Representative from the First Congressional District from 1975 to 1992
- William A. Barton '69 â€" noted Oregon personal injury attorney and author
- Loren Cordain '74 - American scientist who specializes in nutrition and exercise physiology
- Chuck Currie '91 - minister
- Rick Dancer - Journalist and Politician
- Dick Daniels, former NFL player and executive
- Daniel Gault (attended Tualatin Academy) â€" educator, newspaperman, and state legislator
- Alfred Carlton Gilbert (graduated in 1902 from the Tualatin Academy) â€" Olympian and inventor of the Erector Set
- Tim Hauck, former NFL player
- David G. Hebert '94, BA - musicologist, musician, professor
- Lynn Hellerstein - optometrist, speaker and author best known for her work in the field of vision therapy
- William A. Hilliard '52 â€" editor of The Oregonian
- Augustus C. Kinney, longtime physician in Astoria, Oregon, and noted expert on tuberculosis at the turn of the 20th century
- Mike Kreidler '66, OD '69 - American politician
- Gregg Lambert '83 - philosopher and literary theorist
- Olaus Murie 1912 â€" conservationist and mammalogist
- Tela O'Donnell '05 - retired amateur freestyle wrestler and Olympian
- Robert T. Oliver '32 - American author, lecturer, and an authority on public speaking, argumentation and debate, and Asian rhetorical traditions
- Carol Pott '86 - author and editor
- Harvey W. Scott 1863 â€" the first graduate of Pacific, editor of The Oregonian
- Thomas H. Tongue 1868 â€" U.S. Representative for Oregon's First Congressional District
- Calvin Leroy Van Pelt '49 - World War II veteran
- Nancy Wilson (non-degree, 1976) â€" lead guitarist and vocalist in the classic rock group Heart
References
Notes
Further reading
- Drury, Clifford Merrill. 'Henry Harmon Spalding: Pioneer of Old Oregon." Caxton Printers, Caldwell, ID, 1936.
- Miranda, Gary. Splendid Audacity: The Story of Pacific University, 2000.
- Smith, Alvin T. Original diaries at Pacific University Archives
- Spalding, Henry H., in collections of Oregon Historical Society, Protestant Missions in the Pacific Northwest
External links
- Pacific University Official Website
- Pacific University Official Athletics Website
- The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912
