2003 USD Just the Facts

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A s Iwalk through our campus, I ohen marvel at its beauty, which goes much deeper than the exquisite architecture and landscaping. USD is a multi-dimensional commun ity of schol- ars fully conscious that our primary mission is to make the world a better place. This year, we wi ll open the Donald P. Shi ley Center for Science and Technology - the largest academic facility on campus. In its entrance wi ll be a work of art based on T. W. Engelmann's famous 19th century experiment using a microscope, a prism and living plants to identify the wavelength of light that supports photosyn- thesis and therefore supports all life. In many ways, that artwork also symbolizes the university Bishop Charles Francis Buddy and Mother Rosalie Hill envisioned more than five decades ago. USD is a microscope through which our faculty and students exam- ine the world, humanity and God. This vision manifests itse lf not only in our relationship with God, but also with each other. USD is a prism through which we filter the wondrous and sometimes tragic events of our modern life. From the spirited discussions in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice to the quiet contempla- tion of Founders Chapel, USD students work to celebrate the beauty of life even as they sometimes try to make sense of the senseless. It is all these things that make USD a living, vibrant place. In the energetic crowd of a Torero basketball game at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, in the laughter of friends gathered in the Hahn University Center, in the pensive quiet of Copley Library, the university encourages the development of the whole person - intellectual, spiritual, physical and cultural.

or more than 50 years, the Uni versity of San Diego has been dedicated to providing a values-based education that recog- nizes men and women as creatures of God, and to the continuing examination of Catholic tradition in contemporary life. USD's 180-acre campus, known as Alcala Park, overlooks San Diego's Mission Bay and the spot where Father Junipero Serra celebrated the first Catholic Mass in Alta California more than 230 years ago. Like California's oldest city, the university took its name from San Diego de Alcala, a Franciscan brother who worked in the infirmary at Alcala de Henares, a monastery near Madrid, Spain. The Spanish Renaissance architecture that characterizes the five-century old Uni versity of Alcala serves as the inspiration for all buildings on the USD campus. Led by Mother Rosalie Hill and Bishop Charles Francis Buddy, and sponsored by the Diocese of San Diego, the University of San Diego began as separate colleges for men and women. The first classes met in 1952; the School of Law opened its doors in 1954. By the late 1960s it became clear that both colleges would benefit from combining academic resources, and in 1972 the University of San Diego became a single coeducational Catholic university. Now governed by an independent board of trustees, USD is a Roman Catholic insti tution that welcomes students, faculty and staff of diverse religious traditions and remains dedicated to the val ues originally articulated by Mother Hill and Bishop Buddy. The 7,000 students choose from more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in academic divis ions including the College of Arts and Sciences and the schools of Business Administration, Education, Law, and Nursing and Health Science. Men aspiring to the Roman Catholic priesthood take their aca- demic work at the university wh ile living in St. Francis Seminary, adjacent to the campus.

On behalf of our students, faculty and staff, thank you for your interest in the University of San Diego.

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