Pacific’s Community Impact

Pacific partners with the Abbott Fund on the Diabetes Care Clinics and the Abbott Fund Scholars program to address the diabetes epidemic in underserved communities in Stockton.

Each spring, Pacific’s Department of Mathematics invites Northern California high school mathletes to test their knowledge in the Avinash Raina High School Math Competition. The competition is made possible by a generous gift from the Raina family to honor the memory of their son, Avinash, and his passion for encouraging young people in the Stockton area.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of the Pacific is a non-profit education program designed for people ages 50+ and open to all adult learners. Each year OLLI provides intellectually stimulating non-credit classes, interest groups, local and international trips, and special events for its members.

Residents in Stockton battling diabetes have a new opportunity to take control of their chronic condition thanks to an innovative partnership between the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Community Medical Centers. The collaborative practice agreement with Kwabena O. Adubofour,  physician and internal medicine specialist, will empower Pacific pharmacy faculty and fellows to expand their scope of practice—they will have the authority to prescribe or adjust medications and order lab tests for diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia.

More than fourteen school districts and the city of Stockton have invested millions to send high school students to the Pacific Summer High School institute, a two-week residential program that serves more than 1,700 high schoolers annually. 

The MESA College Prep Program engages 6th-12th grade students' interest in STEM primarily through project-based team competitions and activities, field trips, and engagement with Pacific students, staff and faculty. The biggest event of the year is Pacific MESA Day, which usually takes place in early March. This event brings approximately 650 students to Pacific to participate in a number of different competitions including gliders, moon bases, MESA machines and others.

Pacific also participates in the MESA University Program, a statewide network of related programs. Pacific MESA's focus is centered around community building, collaboration, and providing access to resources for students to grow and succeed professionally and personally.

Jean Callahan, the First Lady of University of the Pacific, serves as vice president of the Miracle Mile Community Improvement District. The Miracle Mile business district is 12 blocks along Pacific Avenue from Alpine Avenue just south of the university, and includes more than 150 retail, dining and professional businesses. 

Each year during Black History Month, faculty and students from the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy, the School of Health Sciences and the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry facilitate a comprehensive, service-based health fair at Progressive Community Church in Stockton, providing blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes testing and immunizations.

Gifts from the California Scottish Rite Foundation have allowed Pacific to expand free language and speech therapy for hundreds of Stockton children each year at the RiteCare Childhood Language Center of Stockton, where Pacific student clinicians have provided no-cost services to children with speech, language and literacy disorders for more than 40 years.

Pacific’s women’s tennis team has poured more than 100 hours of volunteer service into the campus and Stockton community, earning the team the Northwest Region Community Service Award from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association—the only school to receive the recognition. 

Pacific received a nearly $200,000 grant from the WE Will! K-16 Collaborative to expand college readiness in the Central Valley by establishing a new financial wellness program, providing scholarships to the Pacific Summer High School Institute and expanding engagement with Spanish-speaking students and their families.