| 1861 |
Founded as Hesperian College in Woodland, Calif. |
| 1921 |
Became California Christian College in Los Angeles. |
| 1925 |
Panther is designated as the official sports mascot. |
| 1934 |
Re-named Chapman College in honor of benefactor Charles C. Chapman. |
| 1954 |
Moved to present campus in the city of Orange, 35 miles south of L.A. |
| 1958 |
Chapman College opens its first adult program at El Toro Marine Air Station. |
| 1958 |
First on-campus residence halls open. |
| 1965 |
World Campus Afloat is acquired by Chapman, which operates the shipboard education program for a decade. |
| 1968 |
Annual giving tops $1 million for the first time. |
| 1977 |
School of Business and Management (later to become the George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics) opens. |
| 1978 |
Hutton Sports Center opens. |
| 1991 |
James L. Doti, Ph.D., is named Chapman president; Chapman College becomes Chapman University. |
| 1992 |
Argyros Forum opens. |
| 1994 |
Intercollegiate football returns to Chapman after a 62-year absence. |
| 1995 |
The Chapman School of Law opens. The School of Film and Television Opens. |
| 1999 |
Kennedy Hall opens as the state-of-the-art new home of the School of Law.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas participates in dedication. |
| 2002 |
The Millennium Campaign raises more than $215 million. Chapman’s School of Law is accredited by the ABA. |
| 2004 |
Lawrence and Kristina Dodge donate $20 million to establish Dodge College of Film and Media Arts; Marion Knott donates $5 million to build Knott Studios, Ground is broken for Knott Studios at a grand ceremony attended by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Chapman University celebrates 50 years in Orange County with yearlong festivities. Four new buildings–the Leatherby Libraries, Fish Interfaith Center/Wallace All-Faiths Chapel, Oliphant Hall, and the Jerrold and Jacqueline Glass Residence Hall -- open on campus. |
| 2004 |
Sala and Aron Samueli Holocaust Memorial Library opens on the fourth floor of the Leatherby Libraries. Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, author and Holocaust survivor, speaks at the dedication ceremony and offers a public lecture. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia visits the Chapman School of Law and offers a public lecture. A multi-million-dollar gift from the A. Gary Anderson Foundation is announced, which will fund a planned athletics complex. |
| 2006 |
The $21 million Marion Knott Studios opens its doors as the new home of the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Chapman’s School of Law receives full accreditation by the AALS (Association of American Law Schools). |
| 2007 |
Chapman announces the establishment of the new College of Performing Arts, led by Dean William Hall. Nobel laureate in economics and “father of economic science” Vernon L. Smith, Ph.D. arrives at Chapman to begin teaching, and becomes one of the founding members of Chapman’s new Economic Science Institute. |
| 2008 |
Chapman leaps into the elite Top Ten in its category in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.” The university’s new $24 million Erin J. Lastinger Athletics Complex, featuring 2,000-seat Ernie Chapman Stadium, the Zee Allred Aquatics Center and Olympic Pool and the James and Nancy Baldwin Family Pavilion, opens on Homecoming Day. The new Schmid College of Science is founded, named after philanthropists Don and Dick Schmid. Chapman hires a team of distinguished physicists and computational scientists, including Wolf Prize-winning physicist Yakir Aharonov, to found its first Department of Physics, Computational Science and Engineering. Chapman University College, Chapman’s network of 25 campuses throughout California and Washington State aimed at adult learners, formally separates from Chapman University and becomes its own corporation, though still under the administration of President Doti. |
| 2009 |
Chapman’s George L. Argyros Global Citizens Plaza, featuring the Julianne Argyros Fountain and a circle of international flags, opens in the northwest corner of the campus. Colin Powell is the keynote speaker at the Global Citizen Gala, and receives Chapman’s Global Citizen Medal. Vernon L. Smith donates his Nobel Prize medal to Chapman, where it is housed in a special alcove in the Leatherby Libraries. Chapman University College, which separated from Chapman University in 2008, is re-named Brandman University thanks to a $10 million gift from the Brandman Foundation. Chapman receives a $25 million anonymous challenge donation for a planned 1,300-seat performing arts center. |
