University of the Pacific

University of the Pacific may refer to:

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's 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 Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

At 165.25 million square kilometers (63.8 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean—and, in turn, the hydrosphere—covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined.

The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).

The eastern Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans in the early 16th century when Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and discovered the great "southern sea" which he named Mar del Sur. The ocean's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacifico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means "peaceful sea".

Stockton, California

Stockton is the county seat of San Joaquin County in north−central California and is about 50 miles south of Sacramento. It was founded by Captain Charles Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquired Rancho Campo de los Franceses. It has previously been known by several other names such as "Tuleburg", "Fat City," and "Mudville. The city is named after Robert F. Stockton and was the first community in California to not be named from a Spanish or Native American origin. The city is located on the San Joaquin River in northern San Joaquin Valley and has an estimated population, in 2015, of 291,707. Hispanics and Latinos make up the largest percentage of any race in this city's population. It was named an All-America City in the year 1999 and 2004 and is home to the largest inland seaport in California. It is the 13th largest city in California and the 63rd largest city in the United States. As a result of regional losses to the economy due to the 2008 financial crisis, Stockton was the second largest city in the U.S. to file for bankruptcy protection. It has been home to the oldest university in California, University of the Pacific since 1923.

University

A university (Latin: universitas, "a whole") is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which grants academic degrees in various subjects and typically provides undergraduate education and postgraduate education. The word "university" is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars."

History

Definition

The original Latin word "universitas" refers in general to "a number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, corporation, etc." At the time of the emergence of urban town life and medieval guilds, specialised "associations of students and teachers with collective legal rights usually guaranteed by charters issued by princes, prelates, or the towns in which they were located" came to be denominated by this general term. Like other guilds, they were self-regulating and determined the qualifications of their members.

In modern usage the word has come to mean "An institution of higher education offering tuition in mainly non-vocational subjects and typically having the power to confer degrees," with the earlier emphasis on its corporate organization considered as applying historically to Medieval universities.