More than 44 Years of Excellence
Business courses have been offered at University of the Pacific for most of its 170-year history. In 1977, the business program was recognized as a separate school and named the School of Business and Public Administration (SBPA). It was the first new professional school established at Pacific since 1955.
In 1982, SBPA moved into Weber Hall. One of the first buildings constructed when the campus was moved from San Jose to Stockton in 1924, it was named for Captain Charles Weber, founder of the City of Stockton. In 1983, the School was first accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. With the arrival of a business school, an intensive fundraising campaign was launched to completely refurbish the building. This project, completed in 1989, along with continued upgrades and renovation since then, has resulted in modern classrooms and offices, classroom-oriented computer labs, and executive development facilities that provide an environment conducive to business learning and research.
The SBPA expanded its outreach to the community with the establishment of a Center for Management Development in 1989. In September 1991, the center was officially named the Westgate Center for Management Development, in recognition of financial support from Edward W. Westgate, a former member of Pacific’s Board of Regents.
From 1993 to 2018, the Eberhardt School of Business offered a Master of Business Administration. Primarily offered on the Stockton Campus, innovations in the program included the accelerated 5-year BSBA/MBA degree, the MBA for the Dugoni School of Dentistry, the 16-Month Full-Time MBA, and the Sacramento MBA.
Robert M. Eberhardt ‘51 succeeded his father as President of the Bank of Stockton and Chair of the Board of Regents. After his unexpected death in 1994, his wife, Mimi Eberhardt, assumed his position as regent, while his brother, Douglass, a Class of 1959 Business alumnus, became President of the Bank of Stockton. Douglass Eberhardt ’59 served as a regent of Pacific for 12 years. Mary Elizabeth Eberhardt ’80 currently serves as a Regent and has given generously of her time and expertise. Eleven members of the Eberhardt family have received degrees from the university and numerous employees of the Bank of Stockton and their families are Pacific alumni.
The Eberhardt School has established innovative programs in entrepreneurship and received more than $2.6 million in grants from the Fletcher Jones, General Mills, and Coca-Cola foundations and a major anonymous donor. A suite housing the offices for the Center for Entrepreneurship was constructed in Weber Hall utilizing funds donated in memory of Greenlaw Grupe Sr. This Center also houses the Institute for Family Business.
The Center for Business and Policy Research was founded in 2004 as the Business Forecasting Center. Since 2008, the Center has expanded its topical scope, staff, and expertise beyond economic forecasting, and the Center was renamed in 2015 to reflect its work better. The Center is a research and outreach unit known for independent, objective analyses of business, economic, and public policy issues in California with a focus on the Northern California Megaregion which includes the North San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento Metro Area, and the Bay Area. Widely recognized across California for the quality of its analyses, the Center's reports and experts are cited about 100 times per year in the local, state, and national press.
As part of the university’s $330 million comprehensive fundraising campaign, “Investing in Excellence,” which closed in 2007, the Eberhardt School of Business raised more than $16 million to advance its academic programs, renovate and upgrade facilities, and fund student scholarships.
The Student Investment Fund was established in 2007 thanks to a $1 million gift from the Bank of Stockton and its president and CEO Douglass M. Eberhardt. Noting the successes of the fund, Pacific’s Board of Regents invested an additional $1 million. The completely student-managed fund provides an invaluable learning experience for students and a portion of the fund’s earnings support designated university programs. The fund routinely outperforms market indices, and its current value nears $3.5 million, making it one of the largest in the West. Among more than 12,700 business schools worldwide, the Eberhardt School of Business is one of only 200 to offer a student-managed investment fund, and it recently became the first commercialized student fund in the nation (UOP/SIF Model, Morgan Stanley).
Gaining distinction through its popular Pacific Business Forum, the Eberhardt School of Business brings prominent business and government leaders to campus several times each year participants have included Masaaki Morita, a member of the founding family and retired CEO of Sony; Richard Rosenberg, former chairman and CEO of BankAmerica Corp.; Peter L. Harris, former president and CEO of the San Francisco 49ers; John Chambers, former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems Inc.; Walter Robb, former co-president and COO of Whole Foods Market Inc. and former Pacific regent and MacGregpr Read & Eric Lindberg, co-CEO’s of Grocery Outlet.
In 2013, responding to the change in the California CPA requirements, the Eberhardt School launched a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Accounting. Today, the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree is one of the largest undergraduate degree programs at Pacific.
The Eberhardt School of Business cultivates the leadership skills and innovative spirit of its students while providing training in state-of-the-art business applications. Classes are highly interactive, encouraging close learning relationships between students and faculty. Career management staff and resources exclusive to business students and alumni help graduates launch successful careers. Fully accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the school transforms lives through excellence in business education with a faculty and staff dedicated to a learning process that is personal, relevant, and professional.
