Our History
What is known today as Azusa Pacific University is the product of the merger of three Southern California-area Christian institutions: Azusa College, Los Angeles Pacific College, and Arlington College.
The origins of Azusa Pacific University reside in 1899, when a group of spiritual leaders from various denominations met in Whittier, California, and established a Bible college geared to training students for service and missionary endeavors. This was the first Bible college founded on the West Coast. The initial class of students met on March 3, 1900, with Mary A. Hill serving as the earliest president.
The institution, named the Training School for Christian Workers, moved three times before settling in Huntington Park in 1907. In 1939, the Training School became Pacific Bible College, and four-year degrees were offered. Cornelius P. Haggard, Th.D., was appointed president and served for 36 years, until his death in 1975.
By the mid 1940s, Pacific Bible College had outgrown its Huntington Park campus. The Board of Trustees decided then to purchase a 12-acre school for girls in Azusa. Classes began on the new campus in 1947, and in 1956, the name was changed to Azusa College.
Azusa College merged first in 1965 with Los Angeles Pacific College, a four-year liberal arts institution founded in 1903, acquiring the name Azusa Pacific College, and again three years later, with Arlington College, which had been founded in 1954.
After Haggard’s death, Paul E. Sago, Ph.D., became the president, serving until 1989. Upon its achievement of university status in 1981, the college changed its name to Azusa Pacific University. Among his many accomplishments, Sago encouraged the development and growth of off-site educational regional centers throughout Southern California, and presided over the addition of master’s degree programs and the development of schools within the university.
Richard E. Felix, Ph.D., became president in 1990. Felix painted a vision of a flagship Christian university, offering men and women an opportunity to gain not only their undergraduate and master’s, but also their doctoral degrees. Felix was instrumental in initiating the university’s first three doctoral programs in 1994 and 1997. This growth necessitated a renewed emphasis on the school’s historic Christian mission and priorities for community building and service. Felix reframed these values as the cornerstones of the university—Christ, Scholarship, Community, and Service—and oversaw the construction of seven new buildings, a doubling of student enrollment, and the quadrupling of graduate programs. He announced his retirement in April 2000, after the celebration of the university’s centennial.
Executive Vice President Jon R. Wallace, DBA, was selected unanimously by the Board of Trustees to follow Felix in the role of president, effective November 27, 2000. Spurred by Wallace’s vision to be known first as a Christ-centered institution, Azusa Pacific University seeks to offer transformational scholarship opportunities within the context of life-giving community, dedicated to the practice of selfless service. This understanding of the four Cornerstones guides the university in all its programs and actions.
In addition, Wallace’s vision emphasizes a commitment to partner with the city of Azusa and its citizens. The Neighborhood Wellness Center, for example, is a university-run clinic that brings student nursing services to the public, and the Azusa Reads Program, which enlists students to teach local children how to read, are just two examples of that partnership. In an effort to support the continued growth of the university, Wallace oversaw the acquisition of the soccer field, softball field, and the Azusa Foothill Drive-In Theater on West Campus in 2001. The High Sierra Semester (formerly the Great Works Program) debuted in the fall of that same year, offering students an opportunity to study classic western art, music, and thought in the scenic setting of the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains. Under Wallace, the growth of study abroad programs has also been encouraged, with the Azusa Oxford Semester, the South Africa Semester, and 38 other study abroad and off-campus learning options.
In 2003, Trinity Hall, a 350-bed residence hall was opened and the John and Marilyn Duke Academic Complex, which houses a multitude of classrooms and offices, the School of Theology, the Stamps Theological Library, the Department of Art, two art galleries, and the Noel Academy for Strengths-Based Leadership and Education, was dedicated. The Noel Academy offers a strengths-based approach to teaching, learning, and leading, and encourages students to become who God created them to be. The Cornerstone Tower, which stands as a reminder of APU’s four main values, as well as the Barbara and Jack Lee Place of Prayer were both constructed on West Campus in 2007. That same year, the university purchased Crestview Luxury Apartments (now University Village), located between East and West Campuses, to provide more student housing.
In the near future, APU looks forward to the addition of women’s water sports to the award-winning intercollegiate athletics program and the completion of the Science Center on West Campus. This three-story, 70,000-square foot facility is set to house 16 classrooms, 14 labs, one lecture hall, seven smaller research labs, 36 offices, a conference room, two student study rooms, and an office for the Center for Research in Science.
Almost 110 years after its founding, Azusa Pacific University serves as a comprehensive Christian, evangelical university, dedicated to supporting God First and excellence in higher education. The institution offers more than 60 areas of undergraduate study, 26 master’s degree programs, and 7 doctorates to more than 8,100 students. Valuing academic excellence and effective Christian leadership, APU continues to prepare young men and women to serve Christ throughout the world.
Accreditation History
| The accreditation history of this institution is as follows: | |
| 1947 | American Association of Bible Colleges |
| 1964 | Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) |
| 1975 | Board of Registered Nursing |
| 1977 | National League of Nursing (Undergraduate Nursing Program) |
| 1982 | Council on Social Work Education (Undergraduate Social Work Program) |
| 1990 | Association of Theological Schools (ATS) (C.P. Haggard Graduate School of Theology) |
| 1991 | National League for Nursing (Graduate Nursing Program) |
| 1996 | National League for Nursing (Undergraduate and Graduate Nursing Programs) |
| 1999 | Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) of the American Physical Therapy Association (Graduate Physical Therapy Program) |
| 2000 | American Psychological Association (APA) (Graduate Psychology Program) |
| 2001 | California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) (Graduate Teacher Education) |
| National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) (Graduate Teacher Education) |
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| The National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (School Nurse Services Credential Program) |
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| 2002 | Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) (Athletic Training Program) |
| American Psychological Association (APA) (Doctor of Psychology Program) |
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| Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) (Doctor of Physical Therapy Program) |
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| 2003 | Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) (replaced National League of Nursing) (Undergraduate and Graduate Nursing Programs) |
| 2005 | International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE) (School of Business and Management) |
| 2007 | Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) (replaced CAAHEP) (Athletic Training Education Program) |
| National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) (School of Music) |
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