• New president of University of the Pacific offers vision for the future of the university
• “I’m so inspired by our young people today”
(Total Recorded Time is 18:27)
The tri-campus University of the Pacific, with its main campus in Stockton, a college of law in Sacramento and a school of dentistry in San Francisco, should continue to develop its dual personality in the years ahead, says Pacific’s new president, Christopher Callahan.
Mr. Callahan sees the two halves of the university as one offering smaller classes, with strong faculty-student relationships, similar to a small college, with the other half being Pacific’s wide offering of classes and activities, similar to a large university.
He comes to Stockton after 15 years at Arizona State University, where he was founding dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, vice provost of their downtown Phoenix campus and CEO of Arizona PBS.
Before Arizona, he spent 15 years as associate dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland and senior editor of the American Journalism Review.
Three decades with two of the nation’s major universities have helped shape his view of today’s college student.
“I hear – often – people being critical of today’s college student. ‘They’re this, they’re that, they’re entitled.’” Mr. Callahan says. “I couldn’t disagree with that more. I’ve had the pleasure of working with young people for most of my professional career. And I can tell you that as time has gone on, what I have found is generationally increases in maturity, in empathy, in focus, in seriousness of what they’re trying to achieve, a deep understanding of their own personal goals and aspirations. I’m so inspired by our young people today.”
Christopher Callahan, a former reporter for The Associated Press, talks about his new job, what he sees for Pacific’s future and what he sees for journalism and the news business in the years ahead in this CVBT Audio Interview Podcast: