Christopher Callahan

Christopher Callahan became Pacific’s 26th president on July 1, 2020. He is focused on building upon the strengths of Califor­nia’s first university: combining the personalized education of a small college with the choices of a major university, with a focus on hands-on learning and public service across its three cam­puses in Stockton, Sacramento and San Francisco.   

Callahan set the ambitious goal of Pacific becoming the best student-centered comprehensive university in the nation. He has charted a bold course for the university focused on accelerating the pace of innovation, expanding real-world learning and service opportunities and becoming a model for impactful, inclusive, high-quality and accessible education. Under his leadership, Pacific is enjoying its highest academic rankings in the school’s 175-year history. 

Callahan joined Pacific after more than 25 years in higher education leadership. He was the founding dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, CEO of the university-owned Arizona PBS station and vice provost for ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus. Prior to his work at ASU, he served as associate dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism and senior editor of American Journalism Review at the University of Maryland at College Park.   

A first-generation college graduate, the New York native earned his BS degree in journalism from Boston University’s College of Communication and an MPA from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Before entering higher education, Callahan was a journalist for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C., and state capitals in New England.   

When he is not in his Anderson Hall office on the Stockton Campus or on the Sacramento or San Francisco campuses, Callahan can be found meeting with alumni, prospective students and university supporters, visiting classes, observing student and faculty presentations or attending Pacific Tigers athletic games, Conservatory of Music concerts and a host of other events.  

He is on the executive board of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities and recently concluded his term as chair of the Presidents’ Council for the West Coast Conference, Pacific’s primary athletic conference.