Dear Pacific faculty and staff,

I hope this letter finds everyone well and getting to enjoy some time with your family and friends after a superb academic year. I know the new fall semester seems like ages away, but it will be here in a flash, and there are some exciting special events I hope you can put on your calendars so we can join together as the Pacific community.

We are designing a new university-wide signature speaker series featuring top thought leaders from a wide array of our disciplines. We will be announcing the first two shortly, but I wanted to give you a heads up so you can put on your calendars:

• Sept. 19: Dr. Cathy Davidson will open the new Pacific Presidential Speaker Series on Thursday, Sept. 19. Professor Davidson is one of the leading thinkers on how faculty can drive student success. Her books, “The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World in Flux” and “The New College Classroom” have been must-reads for many of us. I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Davidson when I brought her to my previous institution. She might have been the most popular speaker among our faculty in my 15 years at Arizona State University. We are working closely with the Academic Council leadership to create a robust two-day visit with lots of opportunities for faculty interaction, but the highlight will be a featured conversation Thursday evening, Sept. 19, in historic Faye Spanos Concert Hall to launch our signature series. I hope everyone will be able to join us.
• Oct. 24: Mónica Guzmán, a Seattle-based writer who has published a wonderful new book encouraging Americans to listen and learn from each other, will be our second featured guest in the new series. We are purchasing Ms. Guzman’s book, “I Never Thought of it That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times,” for all our first-year undergraduates and hope to weave it into both classes and residential hall experiences. She will be with us for two days, with the keynote conversation held Thursday evening, Oct. 24, in Faye Spanos Concert Hall.

Additionally, of course, you will be seeing soon the full fall semester calendar of concerts from our Conservatory of Music, games from Pacific Athletics and special events from Student Life, Development and Alumni Relations and our schools and colleges (the university calendar is available here). But there are two other special events I would like to highlight:

• Sept. 29: Our centennial celebration marks 100 years to the day that University of the Pacific’s new campus in Stockton opened. We will celebrate on Sunday, Sept. 29, with a ceremony on Knoles Lawn and the distribution of a new book written by Pacific faculty on our 100 years in Stockton, followed by a concert by our Conservatory of Music students in Faye Spanos Concert Hall.
• Nov. 4: Pacific Men’s Basketball will host the season opener at the Alex G. Spanos Center on Monday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. We hope you will join us to usher in the new era of basketball at Pacific with Coach Dave Smart. Coach Smart is already putting together a talented and high-energy team. We hope to supercharge the new era of Pacific Athletics with a full house at Spanos on opening night. All faculty and staff will be able to secure free tickets for themselves and discounted tickets for their guests. We hope you can join us. Details upcoming.

This past year was a historic one on many levels at Pacific–thanks largely to your many efforts, individually and collectively. And I am confident the coming year will be our best ever.

I hope you can join us for the many concerts, games, discussions, Homecoming and Family Weekend festivities (Oct. 11-13) and other special events throughout the year, but particularly for these four special gatherings this fall.

Sincerely,

Christopher Callahan
President