Crossing boundaries
by Katie E. Ismael
Pacific Review, spring 2016
How is University of the Pacific using its multiple campuses and range of resources to best serve its students and communities?
By crossing boundaries.
By moving beyond the confines of geography and disciplines to connect Pacific's strengths across its three different and important Northern California regions. And by leveraging the strengths of its three campuses, Pacific is solidifying its standing as a leading university in Northern California, and beyond.
At Pacific, crossing boundaries means more than introducing new programs or professors. It means taking a holistic approach to educating our students that prepares them for success in their professional, personal and civic lives.
COMBINING STRENGTHS
Health law scholar: Emily Whelan Parento was the principal health policy adviser to Kentucky Governor Steven L. Beshear as the state successfully implemented the Affordable Care Act. Now she's sharing her expertise at Pacific as the Gordon D. Schaber Health Law Scholar at the McGeorge School of Law.
Hearing the need: Pacific's new Doctor of Audiology program in San Francisco - the first in Northern California - has clinics in both San Francisco and Stockton, where Pacific's programs in speech-language pathology are nationally recognized.
The business of health care: Through a new MBA program in Sacramento, the Eberhardt School of Business is preparing students for the rapidly changing and critical field of health care management.
Helping to heal:The new Physician Assistant Program* on the Sacramento Campus will draw on Pacific's highly regarded health-related schools - the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry and the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences - and give students inter-professional opportunities through programs in dentistry, pharmacy, physical therapy, audiology and other areas.
*pending accreditation
Healing sounds: Pacific's Conservatory of Music in Stockton expanded its healing touch to the Bay Area with a new Music Therapy Equivalency Program on the San Francisco Campus. This will allow more professionals with a background in music to help patients in health care and educational settings through the healing power of music.
THE RIGHT PLACE
When Pacific decided to form its new graduate Public Policy Programs, it looked to its established and respected law school on the university's campus in the heart of the state's capital, where major policy decisions are made.
Not only will students in Pacific's new public policy and public administration programs benefit from studying issues in the nation's most important capital, they also will benefit from access to campus resources such as the Capital Center for Public Law and Policy and the new Sacramento office of the oft-cited Center for Business and Policy Research. That's a combination that will provide students plenty of opportunity for research and collaboration across disciplines.
REACHING ACROSS CITIES AND DISCIPLINES
A wealth of data: Pacific's new graduate program in analytics combines industry expertise and experienced academic faculty to offer students the best of both worlds, including instructors from industry leaders such as Google. Rising from the School of Engineering and Computer Science in Stockton, Pacific's new program, currently being offered at its San Francisco Campus, will be expanding to Sacramento and is helping to fill the growing need for data scientists throughout the region.
A good merger: Karrigan Börk, a new faculty member with expertise in ecology and environmental law, has a joint appointment with the McGeorge School of Law and the College of the Pacific, the university's liberal arts and sciences school. This allows for the integration of law students in environmental science courses.
A cornucopia in one program: History, English, business, sociology and anthropology professors from Stockton blend their knowledge in Pacific's new food studies master's degree program-the first on the West Coast. Students learn about the ways people have grown, prepared and profited from food through history and across cultures in one of the world's most important food cities — San Francisco.
A sustainable solution: Pacific's three campuses lie in a Northern California region facing critical environmental issues, none more challenging than water. So, Pacific will build on the growing interdisciplinary expertise of its faculty to educate leaders and partner with communities on solutions. Pacific recently welcomed new faculty member Jennifer Harder to do just that. Harder brings a decade of experience as a water attorney and partner with Downey Brand LLP, one of the region's largest law firms.
New heights for education: The Stockton-based Benerd College is expanding in Sacramento with an EdD program that began last fall and a master's program in education to be launched this fall, allowing graduate and professional students to study this field where many of the state's highest educational offices are located.
Students with a strong liberal arts education — gained from a combination of arts, humanities, and natural and social sciences — have skills that are necessary for personal and professional success in our rapidly changing world.
That's why Pacific is a champion of the liberal arts, which have been a foundation of the university and of its graduates' successes for nearly 165 years. As such, Pacific has continually reimagined and reshaped its liberal arts core through the decades and for the 21st-century student.