Chapman University
Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California, United States. Encompassing eleven colleges, the university is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The school maintains its founding affiliations with the Christian Church and the United Church of Christ, but is a secular university.
History
Founded in Woodland, California, as Hesperian College, the school began classes on March 4, 1861. Its opening was timed to coincide with the hour of Abraham Lincoln's first inauguration. Hesperian admitted students regardless of sex or race. Throughout its first decades, the school was renamed and relocated several times. In 1896, Hesperian merged with Pierce Christian College to form the Berkeley Bible Seminary in Berkeley, California. The college was subsequently moved to San Francisco as the California Bible College. In 1920, the school was acquired by California Christian College, and moved to southern California, becoming the California School of Christianity, in Los Angeles. In 1923, the school was once again retitled the California Christian College.In 1934, the school became Chapman College after the chairman of its board of trustees, C. C. Chapman. In 1954, Chapman University permanently relocated to its present campus in the city of Orange, the former site of Orange High School. Chapman established a Residence Education Center Program to serve military personnel in 1958, which evolved into Brandman University and later University of Massachusetts Global. The college became Chapman University in 1991. In the same year, James L. Doti became president of the school, the Department of Education became the School of Education, and what is now known as the Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences was established. The School of Film and Television, now the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Marion Knott Studios, opened in 1996.
Between 2000 and 2010, Chapman University expanded to include the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education, Leatherby Libraries, Fish Interfaith Center, the Erin J. Anderson Athletics Complex, the Schmid College of Science and Technology, and the Argyros School's Economic Science Institute led by Vernon L. Smith. The Rinker Health Science Campus opened in Irvine, CA in 2013, becoming the home for the School of Pharmacy. Mathematician Daniele C. Struppa became President in 2016. In the same year, the Musco Center for the Arts opened. The 1,110-seat concert hall hosts performances.
The Keck Center for Science and Engineering opened in 2018, with the Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler School of Engineering opening shortly after. Between 2018 and 2022, Chapman University earned a Carnegie Classification of R2: Doctoral University – High Research Activity, had its first Rhodes Scholar, Vidal Arroyo '19, and became nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report.
In 2019, President Daniele C. Struppa refused to take down two The Birth of a Nation posters at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Struppa outlined his reasons in an opinion piece called, "Why I won't take down the original 'The Birth of a Nation' poster." Black students at Chapman voiced opposition to Struppa's decision; peaceful protests took place on campus. Faculty members took a survey on their stance to remove the posters, and the posters were eventually taken down.
Matt Parlow became Chapman’s 14th president in 2025.
Academics
Argyros College of Business and Economics
The George L. Argyros College of Business and Economics is located in the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Business and Technology Hall. The school was founded in 1977, and renamed in honor of former U.S. Ambassador to Spain, George L. Argyros, in 1999. A Chapman alumnus, Argyros chaired the university's board of trustees from 1976 to 2001, and has made significant donations toward increasing the business school's ranking and resources. In 2019, Argyros College commemorated the 20th anniversary of the school's renaming with a fundraiser dinner featuring President George W. Bush. The event raised approximately $15 million for the school's endowment, $10 million of which was a surprise announcement by the Argyros family. Argyros School became Argyros College in 2023, following another $10m gift from the family.Argyros College offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in business, including the Master of Business Administration and Master of Science. The Argyros College of Business and Economics became nationally ranked as the 60th Best Undergraduate Bloomberg BusinessWeek Business School in 2014. In 2016, the Argyros College of Business and Economics rose to 34th. In 2023, Argyros was ranked the #60 business school in the country by U.S. News & World Report.
The Argyros College is home to several research centers and institutes, including the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research, the C. Larry Hoag Center for Real Estate and Finance, the Ralph W. Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Ethics, the Walter Schmid Center for International Business, the Economic Science Institute, the Institute for the Study of Religion, Economics and Society, and the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy. The Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics is a program whose scope includes original research, scholarship, and the publication of several scholarly journals.
Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences
Formally established as an independent unit in 2014, Crean College brings together disciplines in psychological and health sciences under one administrative structure. Crean offers undergraduate and graduate programs in health sciences, psychology, and neuroscience. The college includes departments such as Communication Sciences and Disorders, Physical Therapy, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Physician Assistant Studies. Crean College operates on Chapman University’s main campus in Orange, California, and at the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in Irvine, California, a state-of-the-art graduate health science facility that opened in the mid-2010s and supports interdisciplinary education and research across health professions. The Physician Assistant Studies program has received national accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, with continued status extending through 2030.Donna Ford Attallah College of Educational Studies
The Donna Ford Attallah College of Educational Studies offers undergraduate Liberal Studies and Community Educational Studies degrees; teaching, school counseling, and school psychology credentials; and graduate degrees in teaching, special education, school counseling, school psychology, and leadership development, including a Ph.D. in education. The college is also home to various centers and programs for community engagement and research, including the Paulo Freire Democratic Project and Thompson Policy Institute on Disability. The Attallah College and its programs are accredited by the Council Accreditation of Educator Preparation, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, National Association of School Psychologists, and International School Psychology Association.The School of Education at Chapman University became the College of Educational Studies in August 2008. In 2017, the college was named in honor of alumna and benefactor Donna Ford Attallah. Attallah College is located in Chapman's Reeves Hall, one of the first buildings constructed on the site in 1913. It was added to the National Register for Historic Places in 1975, and it was renovated and reopened to the public in February 2018.
Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
In 2017, the college was ranked sixth by The Hollywood Reporter among American film schools.Dale E. Fowler School of Law
The Chapman University School of Law is located in Kennedy Hall. Law degrees offered include the Juris Doctor and Master of Laws degrees in various specialties.Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler School of Engineering
The Fowler School of Engineering is the newest school within Chapman University. The school opened in 2019, and offers several undergraduate programs and minors, as well as one graduate program. The school is located in Chapman's Swenson Hall of Engineering, which comprises classrooms, study spaces, research labs, and makerspaces. The Design/Create/Innovate Lab is a makerspace divided into two labs: the Prototyping Lab houses various types of 3D printers, a poster and sticker printer, and embroidery machines while the Manufacturing Lab houses manufacturing equipment including laser cutters, CNC mills, a PCB printer, and a water jet.College of Performing Arts
Chapman University's College of Performing Arts, founded in 2007, operates in departments, namely the Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music, the Department of Dance, and the Department of Theatre.Schmid College of Science and Technology
The Schmid College of Science and Technology was founded in 2008. In 2014, Schmid College was reorganized to splitting off the Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences. In 2019, the undergraduate programs in computer science, data analytics, software engineering, and game development programming transferred out of Schmid College to start the new Fowler School of Engineering.In addition to its undergraduate and graduate programs, Schmid College is home to various centers for research. Among them are the Center of Excellence in Computation, Algebra and Topology, the Center of Excellence in Complex and Hyper-complex Analysis, and the Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling and Observations. Schmid College is also affiliated with the Institute for Quantum Studies, whose list of physicists includes a 2013 Nobel Prize recipient and a 2010 Presidential Medal of Honor winner.
Schmid College of Science and Technology expanded and moved into the new 140,000 sq. ft. Keck Center for Science and Engineering in 2018, on Chapman's main campus in Orange, California. The research facility contains 45 research and teaching labs, 50 faculty offices, seven student-collaboration spaces, and an outdoor amphitheater. The aesthetic of the building was inspired by the work of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.