Marks of Distinction

The University of San Diego has grown from a small regional school to an outstanding national university.The college and schools continue to pursue excellence, as evidenced by the many accomplishments recognized here.

The University

U.S. News & World Report ranks USD among the top 100 national universities, those offering undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

The Princeton Review includes USD in its guide to the best 351 colleges in the nation.

In 2003, USD was granted a charter of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most prestigious academic honor society in the United States . Only about 10 percent of colleges and universities in the nation have Phi Beta Kappa charters.

In 2000, Mortar Board, a national honor society for college seniors, and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, which recognizes first- and second-year college students, installed chapters at USD.

Since 1993, freshman applications have more than doubled– from 3,834 to 10,563 in 2007– and USD's acceptance rate has dropped from 71 percent to 48 percent. In the same time frame, the average GPA of entering freshmen has increased from 3.41 to 3.76; the average SAT score from 1130 to 1175; and the average ACT score from 23.3 to 26.1.

USD's endowment fund was at $256.7 million by the end of the 2007 fiscal year. The fund stood at just $500,000 at the 1972 merger of the men's and women's colleges.

USD's enrollment has increased from 2,516 to 7,504 students since the 1972 merger of the College for Women and College for Men. USD's third decade was its fastest in terms of growth, with enrollment increasing 110 percent from 1969 to 1979.

The university's honors program, which was established in 1979 with about 20 students, now counts nearly 300 active students.

USD's 45,501 alumni are in all 50 states and 90 countries, and include a former member of U.S. Congress, a member of state congress, the minister of foreign affairs for the Republic of Liberia, a former ambassador to Qatar, the president of Bank of America, California, an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of San Diego, a major league baseball general manager, a former NBA coach, the chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco-Los Angeles, an Olympic athlete, and numerous leaders in business, nonprofit organizations, the arts, education, nursing and law.

USD launched in 1986 a director of volunteer programs position at the university, the first university in the country to fund such a position.

USD accounts for one of every four lawyers practicing in metropolitan San Diego .

USD is one of only three universities worldwide to be a member of the International Consortium of Event Management Certificate Programs. USD's Division of Continuing Education offered the first course in the program in the fall of 1998.

College of Arts and Sciences

USD is one of only 18 Catholic colleges and universities in the United States to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest and most prestigious honor society dedicated to the liberal arts and sciences.

The college's M.F.A./Old Globe Professional Actor Training Program, which accepts only 2 percent of its applicants each year, is among the most prestigious theater programs in the country.

Since 1999, the College of Arts and Sciences has produced a dozen undergraduate Truman, Fulbright, Goldwater and Strauss scholars and finalists.

USD's physics department hosted the first ever International Conference on Quantum Limits to the Second Law of Thermodynamics in July 2002, bringing together 120 researchers from 25 countries.

Over the past two years, every member of the psychology faculty has sponsored or co-authored research presentations made by USD undergraduate students at professional or scientific meetings.

College of Arts and Sciences faculty manage leading Websites in ethics, history and Latino/a Catholicism.

College faculty have produced some of the leading textbooks on the market, including those in logic and sociology.

The college's preceptorial program, which combines a freshman seminar with academic advising, is recognized nationally for its unique and effective approach to the first-year experience.

The Donald P. Shiley Center for Science and Technology opened at the west end of campus in 2003. The 150,000-square-foot science center – the largest academic building at USD – houses the biology, chemistry, physics, and marine and environmental studies departments under one roof for the first time. It includes nearly 70 laboratories, an astronomy deck, a greenhouse and an aquarium. It is estimated that in the next 50 years, at least 50,000 students will takes courses in the new science center.

 

Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies

With a mandate from the philanthropist Joan B. Kroc to “not only teach peace, but make peace,” the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice is one of few institutes in the United States to combine research, education and peacemaking efforts under one roof. The institute, which was founded in 1998 with a $25 million gift from the philanthropist, opened its 90,000-square-foot facility at the west end of campus in September 2001. In the fall semester of 2002, the first graduate students entered classes for the master's degree in peace and justice studies through the College of Arts and Sciences. In 2003, the late Joan Kroc bequeathed $50 million to USD for the establishment of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies.

School of Business Administration

The business school faculty – 70 of whom are doctorally qualified – is committed to teaching effectiveness primarily, and applied research as supportive of instruction and improving business practice.

Since 1999, the School of Business Administration's faculty published 100 books and 474 journal articles in their individual fields of expertise.

The School of Business Administration has achieved the highest level of academic accreditation by AACSB International (Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business).

The School of Business Administration is unique in that it is one of few business schools that includes both AACSB-accredited business programs and ABET-accredited engineering degree programs.

Engineering majors receive both a B.S. and a B.A. degree, given the richness of technical and general education requirements.The engineering program is continually ranked among the best in the nation for a program not offering doctoral degrees.

The School of Business Administration was one of the first business schools in the nation to establish a master's-level degreeprogram focusing on international business.

 The School of Business Administration is one of a handful of business schools that offers a master of science degree in realestate. The school's Real Estate Institute stands out in addressing the emerging crisis in workforce housing.

The business school's commitment to developing socially responsible leaders is dramatized through its life-changing master of science degree in executive leadership (in collaboration with The Ken Blanchard Companies) and master of science degree

inglobal leadership that develops Navy and Marine Corps officers.

 In 2002, the business school's Supply Chain Management Institute rolled out the first heavily web-based program for a masterof science degree in supply chain management.

 The Ahlers Center for International Business is one of a select few privately endowed centers for international business in the world.

School of Leadership and Education Science

To address the shortage of qualified candidates for principalships, the School of Leadership and Education Science and San Diego City Schools created the innovative Educational Leadership Development Academy. Interns take course work at USD and work as full-time “apprentices” to mentor principals. Courses are co-taught by USD faculty and administrators from San Diego City Schools. The academy, which recently completed its third year and graduated 39 students, currently has 38 students enrolled in its two programs.

The School of Leadership and Education Science has developed a specialization in nonprofit management within the leadership master's degree, which began in the fall of 2002. The unique program combines state-of-the-art leadership theory and practice with cutting-edge management models, and is team-taught by successful nonprofit managers and USD faculty from the education, business administration and law schools. Participants who are employed by nonprofit organizations receive scholarships.

SOLES students provide at least 15,000 hours of community service annually. Service includes tutoring, community-based counseling, school-based counseling and program evaluation.

The Marriage and Family Therapy program is one of only four degree-granting programs in California accredited by the Commissions on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education.

The School of Leadership and Education Science serves as the national clearinghouse for Newspapers in Education. NIE is a cooperative effort between schools and newspaper publishers to promote the use of newspapers as an education resource. The clearinghouse disseminates research on the use of newspapers in K-12 classrooms.

USD's School of Leadership and Education Science has one of the largest education doctoral programs on the West Coast. About 200 students are enrolled in the school's three doctoral programs: leadership studies, the international program and the joint program with San Diego State University.

The School of Leadership and Education Science established the first doctoral program in leadership studies in the United States 25 years ago. Students in the program are mid-career professionals who already hold positions of leadership in business, education, military, government, nonprofit and religious organizations, and who seek to further develop their leadership knowledge and capabilities.

The Manchester Family Child Development Center is one of the education school's outstanding programs. The center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children – a ranking earned by fewer than 10 percent of early childhood programs nationwide. It has a low student-teacher ratio and views parents as partners in teaching and learning.

The School of Leadership and Education Science is one of the first schools in California to be approved as an “early adopter” in upgrading its teacher preparation program to meet the new state 2042 standards. The single- and multiple-subject credential program curriculum has been expanded to include instruction in working with English-language learners and students with special needs.

The Learning and Teaching program prepares more than 150 teachers each year to work in schools throughout California.

 The Learning and Teaching program has developed partnerships to provide technical assistance to several school districts in the San Diego region. Faculty are assisting the Sweetwater School District to develop teacher induction programs, the Chula Vista School District in facilitating field placement of USD education students in its schools and the Poway School District by providing diversity and special education training. TheSchool of Leadership and Education Science also is developing with the San Diego Unified School District a master's program in curriculum and teaching for new teachers, which is to be taught jointly by USD and San Diego Unified personnel.

For the last five years, the School of Leadership and Education Sciencen has sponsored the annual forum on the state of guidance and counseling in the San Diego County School District. This event is held at USD and brings to the campus more than 200 counselors, school administrators, counselor-supervisors, counselor-educators and graduate students in counseling to examine issuesconcerning the reform of school counseling and the provision of high-quality guidance and counseling programs for the county's K-12 student population.

The International Center for Character Education offers the first certificate in character education in the United States. It is designed to integrate practical knowledge and current research about moral development, conflict resolution, ethics, values and citizenship for children and youth.

The American Humanics program is the only nationally recognized undergraduate nonprofit management certificate program in the United States. The program has graduated about 100 students, who are working in such organizations as the YMCA, Girl Scouts, Goodwill, Red Cross, the Braille Institute, Lutheran Social Services, Kids Included Together, March of Dimes andCatholic Charities.

A group of elementary, middle and high school teachers in Fairbanks, Alaska, is participating in an extension program offered on-site and online by USD. The 21 teacher-students are enrolled in USD's master's degree program in learning and teaching with an emphasis in character education. All courses are taught by USD faculty in this two-year program, which concludes in 2005.

Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science

The Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science ranks among the top 10 percent of graduate nursing programs in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The nursing school offered the first Ph.D. program at USD and is one of only three California programs that offers the Ph.D. in nursing.

The Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science has graduated more than 1,200 nurses, 100 of whom who have received the nursing doctorate

USD's nursing program is the only nursing program in the nation whose students have been selected for “College Scientist Awards” by the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation.

The Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science boasts an esteemed faculty that includes fellows in the American Academy of Nursing, nationally-renowned authors, a president of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, and the winners of numerous prestigious nursing awards USD's nursing school led Southern California in offering the first nurse practitioner program, and integrative health care,migrant health care, Latino health care and urgent care options.

The nursing school initiated the only master's entry nursing program outside the San Francisco Bay area.

 The Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science offers expert clinical skills training in a state-of-the-art clinical nursing laboratory

 The nursing school assures all students an opportunity for international educational, research and clinical nursing experiencesin which they are mentored by nurse specialists and nurse scientists

 The nursing school applauds an alumnae of nursing leaders who direct hospitals, nursing schools, health care agencies, government facilities and the armed services, including the former chief nurse of the United States Navy Nurse Corps, the firstnurse admiral and deputy to the surgeon general.

The Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science has full 10-year accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate NursingEducation.

School of Law

USD is a member of The Order of the Coif, the most distinguished rank of American law schools. Coif membership is a national badge of quality in legal education and a significant competitive advantage to students pursuing judicial clerkships and other employment. Only three other Southern California law schools have been invited into The Order of the Coif: USC, UCLA and Loyola Marymount.

USD is one of the most highly sought and selective law schools in the country. The average LSAT score is approximately in the 90th percentile.

A survey by The National Jurist and The Princeton Review ranks USD among the top 25 percent of law schools in terms of student satisfaction. USD ranks higher than 10 other California schools, including Loyola Law School; Pepperdine University; Santa Clara University; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Hastings; University of California, Los Angeles; and University of San Francisco.

A 2003-04 survey of 200 leading legal educators ranks the USD law school faculty 22 nd in the nation and also ranks USD among the top 10 nationwide in business law, constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, law and economics, and law and philosophy.

USD graduates account for 25 percent of the lawyers now practicing in metropolitan San Diego, the sixth largest city in the nation. At the same time, USD graduates practice law throughout the United States, from New York to San Francisco. Students come to USD from more than 40 states, 20 foreign countries and 150 undergraduate institutions.

USD's graduates consistently score higher than the state average as first-time test takers of the California Bar Exam, one of the most difficult in the country.

Career services helps law students achieve their career objectives. Each fall, more than 250 affiliated interviewers – some of whom are named in the National Law Journal 's list of the top 250 law firms in the country – contact USD students as part of the extensive recruiting process. During the past several years, graduates have had an 89 percent placement rate within nine months of graduation and a salary range of $35,000 to $125,000.

USD's moot court and mock trial teams are regular winners of state, national and international competitions, and the school's extensive and diverse trial advocacy and other clinical programs have been consistently recognized for excellence.

The Pardee Legal Research Center, a state-of-the-art facility regarded as one of the best academic law libraries in the country, houses a computer lab to train students in the most advanced legal research techniques.

USD's faculty contains experts in virtually every major field of law. Faculty members come from diverse personal, professional and academic backgrounds and include numerous judicial clerks, practitioners from the private and public sectors, and both sitting and former judges. They author leading casebooks and treatises, scholarly monographs published by the finest university presses, and influential articles in the nation's leading law reviews. Eight faculty members belong to the prestigious law reform group, the American Law Institute.

Law faculty members enjoy national reputations in many areas, including administrative law, children's advocacy, civil rights, commercial law, constitutional law, criminal law, international and comparative law, professional ethics, public interest law, tax law and interdisciplinary studies, including law and economics, and law and philosophy.

To enrich the educational experience, the School of Law regularly attracts outstanding visiting faculty drawn from the nation's elite law schools and finest law firms, as well as an array of distinguished speakers. Among our recent speakers have been two members of the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justice Antonin Scalia; Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman; consumer advocate Ralph Nader; and noted civil rights attorneys Morris Dees and Elaine Jones.