0920_September Comstock's Magazine September 2020 | Page 26

DISCOURSE of choice. You have all these fantastic choices, all these majors, these interesting activities on campus. … It’s this really rich environment. … It’s very rare that you have both of those elements (together), and Pacific has that. We have 11 (schools and) colleges, 100 degree programs and areas of study, we have Division I sports, different clubs and extracurricular activities, and theaters and cultural venues — many of the things you would expect to find at a big, comprehensive university, yet within this personalized, individualized learning environment. That really got me excited. Sacramento is home to UOP’s McGeorge School of Law. How is the legal market changing, and how is McGeorge adapting? If you go back within the last five years or so, MeGeorge had really struggled, and many law schools across the country were struggling. The market for J.D.s was going down and down. … We hired a great new dean, Michael Hunter Schwartz, in 2017, and McGeorge has been on a remarkable trajectory ever since. In the last three years, the law school … increased student entrance (qualifications) each year, improved bar pass rates and grew its job placement rates to our highest levels in eight years. Additionally, after multiple years of losing money, the law school balanced its budget. McGeorge achieved these great results under Dean Schwartz’s leadership by developing a new, innovative honors version of its J.D. degree. It also increased its focus on practical training, creating an alumni-student mentoring program that is guaranteed to all students and becoming only the sixth law school in the country to require each graduating student to complete two experiential learning courses. Finally, McGeorge has tripled its annual fundraising. Truly remarkable progress in a very short period of time. What other big plans are underway for any of the campuses? Probably the most exciting one is right in Sacramento, where we’re (fully) opening up the new School of Health Sciences (in Oak Park near the Mc- George campus). … In spring 2020, the Sacramento campus had 853 students, 130 of which were SHS students. By fall 2024, we project to have approximately 1,200 students; all enrollment growth is projected to be attributed by SHS programs. (The four health science programs on the Sacramento campus are Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition, Master of Social Work, Doctor of Occupational Therapy and Master of Physician Assistant Studies.) The next generation of Act! ™ is here! all-in-one CRM sales and marketing platform Contact me for a demo & free trial chris pumphrey | act! software coach [email protected] • 406.493.7047 • www.actcoaching.com 26 comstocksmag.com | September 2020