Architectual vision of Bishop Buddy for the University of San Diego in 1947

Bishop Buddy in 1947

The Most Reverend Bishop Charles Francis Buddy, first bishop of the immense diocese of San Diego (36,000 square miles), planned construction of the University of San Diego complex soon after his appointment in late 1936. From the beginning, he worked with Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill of Lone Mountain College in San Francisco.

In 1946, Mother Hill and a group of Sacred Heart nuns came to San Diego and took up residence in Old Town where they could supervise the planning, design and construction of the university's college for women. By 1949 Bishop Buddy had carefully acquired 167 acres on a mesa overlooking Mission Valley, and in that year, the private coeducational Roman Catholic university received its charter from the state of California.

The architectural style for the university buildings was determined in its early years by Mother Hill. She had been favorably impressed by the University of Alcala de Henares near Madrid, Spain, where San Diego (St. Didacus) had performed his work, and therefore, chose Spanish Renaissance architecture for the University of San Diego. The first unit of the liberal arts division­the San Diego College for Women­opened in 1952. The College for Men, sponsored by the Diocese of San Diego, began classes in 1954. The School of Law, inaugurated in 1954 in temporary quarters, opened on campus in Thomas More Hall in December 1957.

The university received many of its elegant tapestries, paintings, silver and furnishings through a bequest from the James Flood estate in San Francisco to the Sacred Heart. The College for Women, designed by architect Frank L. Hope Jr., represented an investment by the Sacred Heart of more than $4 million and today houses the Helen K. and James S. Copley Library, the university chapel, the 1,000-seat Shiley Theatre, classrooms, offices and dormitories.

The colleges functioned separately until the late 1960s when joint academic operations began. Plans for a merger were completed in 1972, and the College of Arts and Sciences, and Schools of Education and Business Administration were established to meet increased enrollment. In 1974 the Philip Y. Hahn School of Nursing was initiated. During the 1980s, the School of Law developed an enviable record throughout the West because of the services of its legal clinics to the community. The modern Katherine M. and George M. Pardee Jr. Legal Research Center was dedicated in 1990.

Throughout the years, additional university units have been constructed, financed by private donations, gifts from parishioners and funds raised by the community. In 1984 Olin Hall, home for the School of Business Administration, was funded by a grant from the Olin Foundation of New York. January 1987 witnessed the opening of the spectacular 75,000square-foot Ernest and Jean Hahn University Center, which serves as the hub of student activity. The Douglas and Betsy Manchester Child Development Center, completed in 1989, provides care and education for the pre-school children of the university community.

The University of San Diego is liberal in its outlook and encourages students of all denominations to participate in its programs. Its major goal is to help individuals develop a positive set of values and a sense of personal integrity to enable them to have furfilling lives. In 1994 student enrollment reached 6,381 and full- and part-time faculty numbered 513.

Repeating arches characterize the Spanish Renaissance style that appealed to Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill who planned and supervised the construction of the University's San Diego College for Women.