News Release
History of Pacific to be Written by Provost
(November 16, 2009) -
Phil Gilberston, provost at University of the Pacific, has been selected to write a book on the history of the University, it was announced this week. Gilbertson's book will focus mostly on the past 40 years of Pacific's history but will include a narrative of the first 120 years.
This will be the fifth book published on the University's history. Gilbertson said he will tap into the memories of alumni, staff and faculty who can recall specific events or use documents in the University Archives explaining how events unfolded.
"Pacific has such a rich and distinctive identity-I am eager to try to capture the saga of this splendid place over 160 years," Gilbertson said.
The idea for a new book on Pacific's history was first explored in 2003, when a committee recommended that a history be published focusing on the years after1970. The previous books published are Rockwell D. Hunt's "History of the College of the Pacific," a centennial history published in 1951; Kara Pratt Brewer's "Pioneer or Perish, A History of the University of the Pacific During the Administration of Dr. Robert E. Burns, 1946-1971," published in 1977; Harold S. Jacoby's "Pacific: Yesterday and the Day Before That," a collection of personal essays published in 1989; and the sesquicentennial informal pictorial history "The Professor Who Changed My Life," edited by Charles Clerc and published in 2001.
In spring 2009 then-President Donald V. DeRosa appointed a panel of staff and faculty members to review proposals for the book. In his proposal, Gilbertson said his book would be a comprehensive approach to the history of the university. It would incorporate student life and the university's overall culture, including major administrative and faculty initiatives.
The history, to be completed in 2014, will be about 200 pages. Plans are to publish it in printed form and online, with corresponding photos, video and other electronic material placed on a university website where readers may comment on the history
"In this era of immersion in interactive electronic communications, Pacific has the opportunity to be a pioneer in university history projects by actively involving the university community in the project," Gilbertson said. "One of my overarching goals is to engage alumni through the history project, so I promise the history will neither be too long nor pedantic."
Gilbertson, who became Pacific's first provost in 1996, will start researching the book shortly after he retires in June, 2010. While researching and writing the book, he will work with University faculty and administrators to help gather materials and act as advisors. He also will hire student assistants to research student life on Pacific's three campuses in each decade since the 1930s.
Prior to his time as provost at Pacific and as administrator at other colleges and universities, Gilbertson was an English professor for 17 years when he taught both composition and creative writing. He has published numerous scholarly articles and poems.
