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Celebrating 150 years of the Pacific Alumni Association

A group of alumni board officers hold a 5-foot gavel

Officers of the Pacific Alumni Association Board of Directors, July 1933.

2023 marks the 150th anniversary of the University of the Pacific Alumni Association, making it among the oldest alumni associations in California. From the launch of the first Homecoming and alumni magazine to the emergence of Pacific traditions we still cherish today, the Pacific Alumni Association shares a long deeply rooted history that helps tell the story of the university.

1873 - Alumni organized themselves into a formal alumni association. This simple act ensured that all graduating students of this great university would always have a connection to Pacific.

1888 - A volunteer group of 83 alumni managed to raise funds to build a post office & bookstore building on the San Jose campus. This same year alumni campus reunions began.

1889 - The first alumni club was launched in Sacramento. 

1924 - The Pacific Alumni Association launched the first Homecoming and the first alumni magazine.

1928 - The Tower Chimes, the Homecoming bonfire and Band Frolic were all born as Pacific traditions. The alumni association elects its very first secretary funded by the College. Two students write the Tiger Fight Song, "Hungry Tigers," and Lois Warner's ‘23 "Pacific Hail" was adopted as our alma mater.

1956 - The Pacific Alumni Association reorganizes into 14 regional clubs, creates the Distinguished Alumni Award, and began its annual awards banquet. 

1960 - Alumni giving jumped from 5% to a record high of 27%.

1975 - Under President McCaffrey, the alumni board doubled in size to 30 and restarted the senior class pledge and the alumni class agents’ program.

1977 - Acquiring of the Feather River Inn in Plumas County, donated by regent Thomas J. Long. The alumni board threw itself into the massive project of restoring the rustic resort to make it suitable for summer alumni family camps, which thrived for over two decades. This same year, the Half-Century Club for the 50th anniversary class (started in 1952) gathered at commencement for the first time and continues to this day.

1981 - Alumni Director Kara Brewer ’69 called for an alumni board planning retreat that was to be hosted at the famed Feather River Inn. Praised as a success, many individuals believed this event was the “real start” of the modern alumni association.

1988 - The alumni association took over the management of the Feather River camp. The alumni board doubled down to sustain and protect this investment and years of rich, unforgettable experiences at this idyllic mountain retreat center.

2006 - Norma Ivey '74 and her black classmates of the 1970s student activism era founded the Black Alumni Club.

2011 - The Alex ‘57 and Jeri ‘57 Vereschagin Alumni House is completed.

2023 - 150th Anniversary of the Pacific Alumni Association.