The History of
Chapman University

The Early Years
Global Outreach
Building on Excellence

Chapman University is one of the oldest, most prestigious private universities in California, and the largest independent university in Orange County. Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman offers a breadth of fields typically reserved for much larger institutions. Today, the university comprises seven distinguished schools and colleges, including an ABA- and AALS-accredited law school and a state-of-the-art film school.

The Early Years
Chapman University was founded as Hesperian College in Woodland, Calif., on March 4, 1861. The institution's founders were members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), who believed in equal education for males and females of all races. Unfortunately, around the turn of the century, as California started offering free public education, many private schools were forced to close, including Hesperian in 1895. The following year, the Disciples founded the Berkeley Bible Seminary at UC Berkeley, which incorporated the assets of Hesperian. But by 1912, the seminary's population had dwindled to 35 students, so the church decided to transfer its remaining assets to a new Disciples college in Los Angeles. The principal benefactor for the school was Charles Clarke Chapman, an Illinois native who found great success in Southern California as a real estate investor, producer and marketer of Valencia oranges, as well as a politician and avid supporter of the Disciples.

By 1920, Mr. Chapman had raised more than $825,000 for the new college (donating $400,000 himself), which incorporated under the name California Christian College. Mr. Chapman's continued philanthropic efforts with the L.A.-based college through the Great Depression led its Board of Trustees to officially change the institution’s name to Chapman College at the 1934 commencement. Mr. Chapman later wrote: "Every time my eyes fall upon the printed words—Chapman College—or my ears hear the announcement over the radio or I hear the name spoken by anyone, I experience a thrill. At times, this honor seems only a dream."

However, the Depression left Chapman College financially insolvent and World War II devastated its student body, leaving only 80 part-time students by the spring of 1942. In an effort to turn things around, the Board dismissed the college’s faculty and appointed alumnus George Reeves '27 as president of Chapman. President Reeves immediately moved Chapman’s classes to facilities at Whittier College for the next three years while Chapman earned income to help pay off the college's debts by renting its campus to the U.S. Navy.

After the war, Chapman's student population increased, and the college began looking for additional space. When the Orange Unified School District announced plans to build a new high school, Chapman purchased the old Orange Union High School campus located at Glassell and Palm, the current location of the university. Chapman moved from Los Angeles to the city of Orange in 1954, becoming the first accredited four-year college in Orange County. (Built in 1904, the old high school facility is one of the few remaining examples of neoclassical architecture in Southern California. Currently, five of Chapman's buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places; excluding renovation and earthquake retrofitting, the west end of the campus remains much the same as it was nearly a century ago.)

Global Outreach
Two innovative programs brought worldwide attention to Chapman and helped initiate the concept of global education, which is still a major emphasis of the university today. The first of these programs began in 1958 when Chapman professors started teaching at the nearby El Toro Marine Base to meet the needs of military personnel. It wasn’t long before other military facilities were asking for classes, and Chapman’s Residence Education Center Program expanded by adding civilian centers, as well as offering educational opportunities in other states, in Japan and on naval ships. These academic centers were consolidated in the 1990s under the College of Lifelong Learning, which was headquartered on the Orange campus. Then in 2001, the program became Chapman University College, which currently comprises 26 satellite campuses throughout California and Washington state.

The other program, World Campus Afloat, began in the fall of 1965 as the Seven Seas Program. Chapman kept the program running for a decade by renting a commercial ship that took students on study tours, some of them around the world. Now, thanks to educational partnerships with universities around the globe, Chapman students can choose to study almost anywhere in the world, including Africa, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe and Latin America. Over the years, Chapman has also made a concerted effort to bring top-notch international students and professors to campus.

Building on Excellence
Chapman’s School of Business and Management (now the George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics) was created in 1977. The annual economic forecasts produced by the school's A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research are still used by business and government agencies throughout California and the U.S. as a financial gauge for the upcoming year.

In the spring of 1991, Chapman College officially changed its name to Chapman University, reflecting Chapman's tremendous academic development since the 1960s. The new university's various disciplines were then grouped into schools or colleges. This change also launched the university's meteoric growth during the 1990s, with many new buildings added to the campus and the return of football to Chapman after a 62-year absence.

Chapman's newest school, the School of Law, opened its doors in the fall of 1995 with 211 students and 10 full-time faculty members. It received full approval from the American Bar Association (ABA) in 2002 and accreditation from the prestigious American Association of Law Schools (AALS) in 2006. Now housed within the Donald P. Kennedy Hall, the 10th anniversary of the law school was celebrated in 2005 with a visit from U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.

Then, in 1999, Chapman launched its largest fund-raising effort – a $200 million comprehensive campaign for facilities, programs and endowments – which surpassed its goal and drew in $214 million by the time it ended in May 2002. The funds raised helped make 2004 a milestone year for the university, bringing four new buildings to campus: the Leatherby Libraries, the Fish Interfaith Center, Oliphant Hall (for the College of Performing Arts’ Conservatory of Music) and the Glass Residence Hall. Additionally, philanthropist Marion Knott donated $5 million to help fund that 76,000-square-foot Marion Knott Studios, which opened in fall 2006 as the home of the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, following a significant $20 million gift from the Dodges. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger flew to Chapman to participate in groundbreaking ceremonies for the new film school building in 2005, and the state-of-the-art building opened its doors in 2006.

In late 2007, a new centerpiece for the Chapman campus was dedicated: the $3 million Fahmy Attallah, Ph.D. Piazza, the result of a gift from alumna Donna Attallah ’61 in honor of her late husband. The circular plaza, centered by the Marion Halfacre Fountain representing the “four pillars” of a Chapman education (intellectual, social, physical and spiritual) has become the central gathering place for the campus, with many events taking place on the adjacent Wells Fargo Stage.

More recently, the university celebrated the opening of the $21 million Erin J. Lastinger Athletics Complex, which opened in 2009, made possible by a generous gift from alumna Erin J. Lastinger ’88. The complex features the Zee Allred Aquatics Center with its 500-seat Frank E. and Mary Ann O’Bryan Aquatics Stadium and Zee Allred Olympic Pool; the 2000-seat Ernie Chapman Stadium and Holly and David Wilson Field; and the Baldwin Family Athletics Pavilion, which houses classrooms, training rooms and coaches’ offices. The football/soccer field sits atop the two-story subterranean Lastinger Parking Structure, which adds nearly 1000 new parking spaces to the campus.

In 2009, Chapman University received a generous $10 million gift from the Brandman Foundation in support of the university’s network of campuses for adult learners, which had been founded post-World War II to provide education opportunities to returning veterans on military bases. The program, known as Chapman University College, had grown exponentially in the years since, serving many thousands of non-traditional and working students as well as military members on 25 campuses throughout California and Washington state. In honor of the Brandman gift, Chapman University College was re-named Brandman University and became a separate, fully accredited university within the Chapman University System.

Also in 2009, Chapman dedicated the Ambassador George L. Argyros ’59 Global Citizens Plaza, centered by the spherical Julianne Argyros Fountain and surrounded by 68 international flags and the U.S. flag. The Honorable Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State, was on hand to help with the plaza dedication and to speak afterward. Vernon L. Smith, Ph.D. of Chapman’s Economic Science Institute honored Chapman by donating his Nobel Prize to the university – it is now permanently displayed in the Vernon L. Smith Alcove in the Leatherby Libraries.  The university opened the largest residence hall yet built at Chapman: the 300-bed Harriet and Mohindar S. “Sandy” Sandhu Residence and Conference Center, complete with the state-of-the-art Jim and Eleanor Randall Dining Commons and the 51-foot Doti-Struppa Rock Climbing Wall, housed in a signature tower.  In December, a multidisciplinary team of Chapman faculty from the Schmid College of Science, School of Law and Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark as an observer organization, in preparation for planning Chapman’s own “Beyond Copenhagen” Climate Conference the following year. The 2008-2009 academic year came to a close in May with the exciting announcement that an anonymous donor had gifted the university a $25 million challenge grant toward the building of a new 1,065-seat Chapman University Center for the Arts, which will provide much-needed space for Chapman’s burgeoning music, dance and theater programs, as well as community events.

In 2010, Yakir Aharonov, Ph.D., received the nation’s highest science honor, the National Medal of Science, from President Barak Obama at a White House ceremony attended by President Doti and other campus officials.  Also in 2010, Chapman’s acclaimed contemporary art collection, located throughout the campus in classroom buildings, offices and on the grounds, was named the Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art in honor of the Escalettes’ generous naming gift and continuing support. In the College of Educational Studies, the Donna Ford Attallah Teaching Academy was established to honor the generosity of Mrs. Attallah, a retired kindergarten teacher whose love and support for Chapman students continues to be boundless.  The Chapman student advertising team took first place in the American Advertising Federation’s prestigious National Student Advertising Competition against strong teams from much larger universities.  In the fall of 2010, comedy and philanthropy legend Jerry Lewis was honored with the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award at the annual American Celebration, and later spoke on campus to a packed house of film and media arts students in the Folino Theater.  The “Beyond Copenhagen” Climate Conference at Chapman drew an international roster of distinguished speakers and attendees.  Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel made a return visit to Chapman in April 2010 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education, five years after his first visit in 2005.  It was later announced that Wiesel had accepted a five-year Distinguished Presidential Fellowship at Chapman, during which he will spend one week each year meeting with Chapman classes and students.

Chapman University marks a milestone in 2011: the university celebrates its 150th Anniversary all year with a series of special events, highlighted by a March 4 historical event with speakers in the Wallace All Faiths Chapel, marking the actual founding date; and a huge public 150th Birthday Party and Campus Open House on May 6.  There are more milestones to celebrate, too: 2011 is the 20th anniversary of James L. Doti as president of Chapman University, and in the fall, Chapman’s venerable American Celebration, which is now Orange County’s most successful single-night fund-raising event, marks its 30th anniversary.   Renovation began on historic Memorial Hall, including a spectacular new paint job to return the landmark building to its 1920s-era glory.  Renovation and construction also began on the Argyros Forum, with an expansion planned that will turn the building into a true student union, with a faculty club and athenaeum on the top floor. In February 2011, Tom Campbell, Ph.D., former U.S. Congressman and former dean of the Haas School of Business school at UC Berkeley, was appointed dean of the Chapman University School of Law.  And in April 2011, famed author and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel returned to Chapman to meet with classes and local teachers and religious leaders for one week in the first year of his Distinguished Presidential Fellowship. 

From the time Chapman became a university in 1991, enrollment has grown by more than 240 percent, yet Chapman still maintains a full-time undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 14:1.  The university will always remain true to its mission of providing a personalized education of distinction in a close-knit community of educators, students and friends.

150 years ago, a visionary group of people laid the foundation for the remarkable institution that would become Chapman University.  Today, that tradition continues, as our extraordinary schools and colleges offer compelling academic programs that foster rigorous, creative and innovative thinking and attract the highest caliber of students and faculty members from around the world.