University of the Pacific provides personalized learning and small class sizes, with professors passionate about their students' success. Our mission is to provide a superior, student-centered learning experience integrating liberal arts and professional education and preparing individuals for lasting achievement and responsible leadership in their careers and communities.
Our shared values guide and shape our students' success, and support our faculty and staff development and engagement:
The School of Engineering and Computer Science
The vision for the School is to be the top student-focused engineering/computer science school. This bold vision echoes that of the University. Our mission is to deliver transformative learning experiences that prepare our graduates to meet society’s greatest challenges.
Our co-developed strategic goals are:
Why We're In KEEN
Our mission is rooted in the entrepreneurial mindset. By fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, we inspire lifelong learning and critical thinking through an interdisciplinary approach.
The engineering skillset (Opportunity, Design, Impact) is present in the curriculum in all our majors and described in varying terms (i.e. problems, challenges, solutions, programs, manufacture, analyze, evaluate, compare, etc.). The KEEN framework provides a unifying language amongst all our students and faculty independent of major or year within our school. We believe that the KEEN language and framework will provide a cohesive and common experience for all our students and will enhance the success of our students inside our doors and beyond.
We are thrilled for the opportunity to join the KEEN community and contribute to the advancement of education. By collaborating with fellow partner schools, we believe we can collectively address the world's most pressing challenges and inspire a new generation of innovative problem solvers. Together, we can harness the power of partnership to equip students with the skills and mindset needed to tackle complex global issues.
Current Work
Our shared values guide and shape our students' success, and support our faculty and staff development and engagement:
- Academic Excellence
- Community Engagement
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Integrity and Accountability
- Respect and Civility
- Student-Centered
The School of Engineering and Computer Science
The vision for the School is to be the top student-focused engineering/computer science school. This bold vision echoes that of the University. Our mission is to deliver transformative learning experiences that prepare our graduates to meet society’s greatest challenges.
Our co-developed strategic goals are:
- Focus on outstanding student experiences.
- Engage in innovative industry and alumni partnerships.
- Expand state of the art facilities.
- Design a curriculum for the future that brings recognition for innovation in pedagogy.
- Be THE place for a successful, diverse, and supportive engineering/computer science community.
Why We're In KEEN
Our mission is rooted in the entrepreneurial mindset. By fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, we inspire lifelong learning and critical thinking through an interdisciplinary approach.
The engineering skillset (Opportunity, Design, Impact) is present in the curriculum in all our majors and described in varying terms (i.e. problems, challenges, solutions, programs, manufacture, analyze, evaluate, compare, etc.). The KEEN framework provides a unifying language amongst all our students and faculty independent of major or year within our school. We believe that the KEEN language and framework will provide a cohesive and common experience for all our students and will enhance the success of our students inside our doors and beyond.
We are thrilled for the opportunity to join the KEEN community and contribute to the advancement of education. By collaborating with fellow partner schools, we believe we can collectively address the world's most pressing challenges and inspire a new generation of innovative problem solvers. Together, we can harness the power of partnership to equip students with the skills and mindset needed to tackle complex global issues.
Current Work
- Strategic Goal #4 (Design a curriculum for the future that brings recognition for innovation in pedagogy): Over the past two years, the working group for strategic goal #4 has developed a first-year signature course experience for all majors in the SOECS: IDEA 10/20.
IDEA stands for Interdisciplinary Design and Entrepreneurship/Excellence in Action. These courses will provide a platform for future interdisciplinary courses and will help our students build a foundation for college and career success. Last summer the working group developed learning outcomes, prepared some assignments to address those outcomes, and this academic year the courses were approved for Fall 2024. This summer a working group with broad representation from all programs has worked to create the full set of courses for the coming academic year. - The other idea soon to be explored by this working group is integrating design through our curriculum. The first-year signature course experience and the design through the curriculum plan together give us a platform for integrating the entrepreneurial mindset (curiosity, connections, and creating value) and a common language upon which to build.
- Nine of our faculty have presented collaborative work recently at AAC&U or ASEE on the following topics:
- Entrepreneurial-minded Learning in an Introduction to Bioengineering Course
- Institutionalizing self-regulated learning as an equity practice
- Student Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence and Relevance for Professional Preparation in Civil Engineering
- Redesigning the First-Year Engineering and Computer Science Experience with Integrated Advising
- Developing Students Through a First-Year Course
- Current Practices and Strategies to Evaluate Learning in Engineering Courses
"As provost, I am deeply committed to Pacific's student-centered mission and view entrepreneurially minded learning as a key contributor to our goal of becoming the best student-centric comprehensive university in the United States. Joining the KEEN community will accelerate our momentum in diversity and inclusion, academic excellence, and community engagement. Through extensive reflection, restructuring, and culture change, our faculty have a focused foundation to scale across the KEEN partnership. This includes piloting aspects of the KEEN Framework in first-year curriculum and faculty development. I affirm Dean Orwin’s commitment to sustaining the resources, engagement, and support essential to maximizing this partnership."