The University of San Diego (USD) is a

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Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and School of Law), the two institutions merged in 1972. Since then, the university has grown to comprise nine undergraduate and graduate schools, to include the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES), the Knauss School of Business and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. USD has 89 undergraduate and graduate programs, and enrolls approximately 9,073 undergraduate, paralegal, graduate and law students. It is

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among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".

History

Charters were granted in 1949 for the San Diego College for Women and San Diego University, which included the College for Men and School of Law. The College for Women opened its doors to its first class of students in 1952. The Most Reverend Charles F. Buddy, D.D., then bishop of the Diocese of San Diego and Reverend Mother Rosalie Hill, RSCJ, a Superior

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

ess of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, chartered the institution from resources drawn from their respective organizations on a stretch of land known as "Alcalá Park," named for San Diego de Alcalá. In 1954, the College for Men and the School of Law opened. These two schools originally occupied Bogue Hall on the same site of University High School, which would later become the home of the University of San Diego High School. Starting in 1954, Alcalá Park also served as the diocesan chancery office and housed the episcopal offices, until the diocese moved to a vacated Benedictine convent that was converted to a pastoral center. In 1957, Immaculate Heart Major Seminary and St. Francis Minor Seminary were moved into their newly completed facility, now known as Maher Hall. The Immaculata Chapel, now no longer affiliated with USD, also opened that year as part of the seminary facilities. For nearly two decades, these schools co-existed on Alcalá Park. Immaculate Heart closed at the end of 1968, when its building was renamed De Sales Hall; St. Francis remained open until 1970, when it was transferred to another location on campus, leaving all of the newly named Bishop Leo T. Maher Hall to the newly merged co-educational University of San Diego in 1972. Since then, the university has grown quickly and has been able to increase its assets and academic programs. The student body, the local community, patrons, alumni, and many organizations have been integral to the university's development. Universidad de Alcala

Significant periods of expansion of the university, since the 1972 merger, occurred in the mid-1980s, as well as in 1998, when Joan B. Kroc, philanthropist and wife of

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

financier Ray Kroc, endowed USD with a gift of $25 million for the construction of the Institute for Peace & Justice. Other significant donations to the college came in the form of multimillion-dollar gifts from weight-loss tycoon Jenny Craig, inventor Donald Shiley, investment banker and alumnus Bert Degheri, and an additional gift of $50 million Mrs. Kroc left the School of Peace Studies upon her death. These gifts helped make possible, respectively, the Jenny Craig Pavilion (an athletic arena), the Donald P. Shiley Center for Science and Technology, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Degheri Alumni Center. As a result, USD has been able to host the West Coast Conference (WCC) basketball tournament in 2002, 2003 and 2008, and hosted international functions such as the Kyoto Laureate Symposium at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice and at USD's Shiley Theatre. Shiley's gift has provided the university with some additional, and more advanced, teaching laboratories than it had previously. In 2005, the university expanded the Colachis Plaza from the Immaculata along Marian Way to the east end of Hall, which effectively closed the east end of the campus to vehicular traffic. That same year, the student body approved plans for a renovation and expansion of the Hahn University Center which began at the end of 2007. The new Student Life Pavilion (SLP) opened in 2009 and hosts the university's new student dining area(s), offices for student organizations and event spaces. The Hahn University Center is now home to administrative offices, meeting and event spaces, and a restaurant and wine bar, La Gran Terazza. In 2022, students began taking classes at the new Knauss Center for Business Education, a 120,000-square-foot complex that serves as an innovation and collaboration ecosystem for business students. In the spring of 2022, USD's total enrollment was 9,041 undergraduate, graduate, paralegal and law students from 85 countries and 50 US states.

Environment and location

Alcalá Park sits atop the edge of a mesa overlooking Mission Bay and provides stunning panoramic views of San Diego. The philosophy of USD's founder and her fellow religious relied on the belief that studying in beautiful surroundings could improve the educational experience of students. Thus, the university's buildings are designed in a 16th-century Plateresque architecture, a style of the Spanish Renaissance, paying homage to both San Diego's Catholic heritage and the Universidad de Alcalá in Spain. The campus is located approximately two miles north of downtown San Diego, on the north crest of Mission Valley in the community of Linda Vista. From the westernmost edges of Alcalá Park the communities of Mission Hills,

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

, Point Loma, Ocean Beach, Bay Park, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach can be seen. Also, the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

, San Diego Harbor, the Coronado Islands and La Jolla are visible from the campus. In February 2022, ''

Travel+Leisure ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark ...

'' named USD campus as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States an
Best Choice Schools
ranked it the most beautiful urban campus in the United States.

Administration

Though a Catholic university, the school is no longer governed directly by the Diocese of San Diego. Today, a

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board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit org ...

governs the university's operations. However, the Bishop of San Diego,

Robert W. McElroy Robert Walter McElroy (born February 5, 1954) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as the sixth bishop of San Diego since 2015. McElroy was educated by the Sulpicians at St. Joseph High School Seminary and St. Patri ...

, retains a seat as a permanent member and retains control of the school's designation of "Catholic."

Academics

USD offers more than 80 degrees at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. Students choose from undergraduate and graduate degree programs from the seven schools and college that comprise the University of San Diego: * College of Arts and Sciences * Knauss School of Business * Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering * Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science * Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies * School of Law * School of Leadership and Education Sciences The College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Law are the oldest academic divisions at USD; the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies is the university's newest school. USD offers an honors program at the undergraduate level, with approximately 300 students enrolled annually. * Undergraduate Programs: 43 bachelor's degrees with many concentrations; 56 minors * Graduate Programs: 36 master's degrees, Juris Doctor (JD), five LLM degrees, four doctorates, dual degree programs USD has a

Carnegie Classification The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, or simply the Carnegie Classification, is a framework for classifying colleges and universities in the United States. It was created in 1970 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Adva ...

of R2- Doctoral University: High Research Activity. Carnegie gives this ranking to “institutions that awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees and had at least $5 million in total research expenditures (as reported through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research & Development Survey (HERD)).”

Rankings

USD is the youngest independent institution on the '' U.S. News & World Report'' list of top 100 universities in the United States. In 2021, University of San Diego was ranked tied for 88th in the "National Universities". U.S. News & World Report also ranked the University of San Diego's undergraduate Engineering program tied for 13th in the U.S. for engineering schools where doctorates are not offered and the #1 Catholic Graduate Nursing School in the nation. The Knauss School of Business was ranked the second-highest undergraduate business school in California, according to the 2022 ranking from Poets & Quants for undergraduate business schools. The School of Business has ranked No. 1 in the nation for two years in a row on ''College Factual’s'' ranking of Best Real Estate Colleges in the United States and No. 13 of Best Communications Schools in the United States. In February 2022, ''

'' named USD campus as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States. In 2021, ''The Princeton Review'' ranked the University of San Diego 6th in Most Beautiful Campus, 8th in Best Quality of life, 14th in Most Popular Study Abroad Program, and 18th in Green Colleges. In 2014, University of San Diego was ranked the 482nd top college in the United States by Payscale and CollegeNet's Social Mobility Index college rankings. 18% of students are pell-grant eligible. In 2013, QS Global 200 Business Schools Report ranked USD's MBA program 59th in North America.

Athletics

The Toreros compete in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) and are members of the West Coast Conference for most sports.

Facilities

The University of San Diego has some of the best athletic facilities on the west coast, as well as in the nation. It includes: * Jenny Craig Pavilion * Torero Stadium * Fowler Park and Cunningham Field * Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center * USD Sports Center Pool * USD Softball Complex * McNamara Fitness Room * Varsity Weight Room * Practice/Recreation Facilities * Erg Room * USD Boat House USD has hosted NCAA Tournament events in men's and women's soccer, as well as men's and women's tennis. Additionally, between 2001-2003, the Jenny Craig Pavilion played host to the West Coast Conference Basketball Championships, as well as in 2008. Torero stadium has also played host to the 2012 Women's Soccer College Cup.

Notable alumni

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-winning actor for ''

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, National League Rookie of the Year (2015) and Most Valuable Player (2016) File:Frances Townsend cropped.JPG,

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, 1984 (JD), former

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Advisor to

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George W. Bush; TV personality File:Mario Testino 2014.jpg, Mario Testino, 1975 (BA), Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer File:Thomas J. Whelan District Judge.jpg, Thomas J. Whelan, 1961 (BA) & 1965 (JD), Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California File:Theo Epstein 2010.jpg,

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, 2000, (JD), President of Baseball Operations for the

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, 1983 (BA), U.S. Representative for California's 51st congressional district * Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 1965 (BA), and an honorary doctorate from USD in 1975; one of senior members of

House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi state (1727–1818), ...

; son of King Abdulaziz; 12th governor of

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Province,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

*Carlos Bustamante, 1969 (BA), Mayor of Tijuana * George Coker, 1976 (BA), retired

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awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism as a

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during the

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, 1978 (JCD), Canon Law. Archbishop of San Francisco * Eric Musselman, 1978 (BA), American

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coach; current head coach at the

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, and former head coach for the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

, Sacramento Kings and

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* Lowell McAdam, 1983 (MBA), Chairman and CEO of

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, a company he joined in 2000 *

, 1983 (BA), U.S. Representative for California's 51st congressional district * Lorenzo Fertitta, 1991 (BBA), entrepreneur, casino executive and sports promoter (MMA) * Andrew Firestone, 1998 (BBA), television personality and businessman * Monte Brem, 2000 (JD & MBA), founder and CEO of StepStone Group, private equity firm * Ryan Zinke, 2003 (MS), former

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* Jonny Kim, 2013 (BA), U.S. Navy physician, Navy Seal, and Astronaut * Todd Gloria, 2000 (BA), former California State Assembly Member and current Mayor of San Diego * John “Jocko” Willink,

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er, and retired

officer who served in the Navy SEALs * Riley Adams, Major League Baseball player for the

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* Alison Armitage, former swimmer, actress and Playboy Playmate * Paul Sewald, Major League Baseball player for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

* Robert Kardashian, lawyer for O. J. Simpson and father of reality show personalities

Notes

References

External links

*
University of San Diego athletics website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:San Diego, University Of University of San Diego Catholic universities and colleges in California Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Peace and conflict studies Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges 1949 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1949 Mission Valley, San Diego