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The story
Founding
While currently a secular institution, the University of Redlands' roots go back to the founding of two other American Baptist institutions, California College in Oakland, and Los Angeles University. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake damaged the finances of California College, a Baptist commission began exploring the liquidation of both institutions to develop a new institution in Southern California. Jasper Newton Field, a Baptist pastor at Redlands, persuaded the Redlands Board of Trade to propose a donation of at least $100,000 and 40 acres (16 ha) for an interdenominational campus on land donated by a K.C. Wells. On June 27, 1907, the commission voted in favor of the Redlands proposal.
Ground was broken on April 9, 1909, on the hill where the administration building now stands. Nine founding faculty members held their first day of classes in the Redlands Baptist Church on September 30, 1909, with 39 students attending.
On January 27, 1910, the University of Redlands opened its physical doors by occupying the administration building. Bekins Hall and the President's mansion were the only two other buildings completed. Now-university president Field was charged with further securing $200,000 for endowment, but the 1912 United States cold wave, which wiped out half the California citrus crop and severely damaged the local economy, made this impossible.
President Field resigned in 1914. Victor LeRoy Duke, dean and mathematics professor, became the next president. The southern California Baptist community initiated a campaign to raise $50,000 to clear outstanding debt. The following spring the Northern Baptist Education Board endorsed the school, promising to help raise an endowment.
By 1925, the faculty numbered 25, and student enrollment had increased to 465. Finances had improved to the extent that, with significant volunteer help, the university was able to erect 12 new buildings by the end of the decade. New dormitories, classrooms, a library, a gymnasium, and Memorial Chapel were built. A school of education was added. A developing alumni base also started to support the university. By 1928, the university's endowment was $2.592 million, the fourth largest in the state and among the top ten percent of American universities.
Great Depression
By the beginning of 1932, the effects of the Great Depression started to be felt at the university. Enrollment soared, as there was no work to be found, but student indebtedness also increased exponentially, as well as the amount the university owed banks. Salaries were cut, and employees were laid-off. On March 3, 1933, President Duke died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
The administration of the university's third president, Clarence Howe Thurber, soon ran afoul of ultra-conservative churches. Student members complained of a liberal attitude toward Baptist doctrine being taught at the campus. The later affair of William H. Roberts, a psychology professor who became the campaign manager of Upton Sinclair's run for governor in 1934, also severely strained town and gown relations.
During and after World War II
The 1940s brought many changes to the University of Redlands particularly with the onset of direct U.S. involvement in World War II. As conscription and enlistments for the war depleted classes, courses were set up for the soldiers at Camp Haan and March Field.
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The July 1, 1943, arrival of a Navy V-12 unit, composed of 631 men for officer candidate training, along with a civilian enrollment of 473 women and 110 men, was Redlands' largest enrollment ever, and gradually led to the easing of social restrictions. Military men were not required to attend chapel, and on New Year's Eve the Marines clandestinely held the first impromptu dance ever on the campus. Two months later, the Navy held the first formal dance on the commons, and the trustees finally discarded the "no dancing" policy in 1945, after the Redlands V-12 unit had been disbanded.
The passage of the G.I. Bill further opened the doors at Redlands. By special action of Congress, housing units for 50 veterans' families ("Vets' Village") were installed on campus. Of the 219 graduates of June 1949, 126 were veterans, 70 of whom were married.
The 1950s saw other changes. Fraternity houses were established for the first time, and other improvements were made to the university. The first Ph.D. ever granted by the university was received in 1957, by Milton D. Hunnex, in Philosophy.
Compulsory chapel attendance fell to the student militancy of the 1960s and 1970s. The seventh president of the university, Dr. Douglas Moore, was not Baptist. The school went some years without clergymen on the board of trustees.
Following Moore, James R. Appleton served as the eighth president of the University of Redlands for 18 years from 1987 to 2005.
Stuart Dorsey served as the ninth president of the University of Redlands from 2005 to 2010. During this period, the university opened the 42,000-square-foot (3,900 m2) Center for the Arts, and renovated the Armacost Library, adding five computer laboratories and a café. Dr. Dorsey resigned his position on March 16, 2010, amid controversy over budget deficits and proposed cuts.
On March 17, 2010, the then-current chancellor and former president James R. Appleton was appointed for a two-year term. He was succeeded by Ralph Kuncl.
In July 2021, Krista L. Newkirk became the 12th President of University of Redlands, and the first woman to hold the position in the university's history. A lawyer by training, Newkirk was inaugurated on February 23, 2022. Under her leadership, the university completed mergers with the Presidio Graduate School and Woodbury University, launched a varsity esports program and dedicated esports complex, and developed a new student-focused strategic plan. She also spearheaded a two-phase solar energy project designed to provide more than 30 percent of the university's energy needs and advanced the University Village development project intended to benefit the broader Inland Empire region.
Mergers and acquisitions
In February 2019, the university announced an agreement in principle to acquire San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS) in a transaction that would preserve the secular nature of the university as a whole, while maintaining the historic religious affiliations of SFTS. The deal closed on July 1, 2019,[17] creating a new U of R graduate school—the Graduate School of Theology—and a U of R campus in the Bay Area that hosts programming from both institutions.[18]
In December 2022, the university announced that it would be acquiring the Presidio Graduate School, a San Francisco-based institution known for its MBA and MPA programs in sustainable business and public administration[19].The merger was completed on April 23, 2025, and the school was reestablished as the Presidio Center for Sustainable Solutions, operating as a signature program within the university's School of Business & Society.
In 2023, Woodbury University announced that they would be exploring a strategic integration into the University of Redlands after Woodbury experienced lower enrollments and income.
The two universities announced a merger in January 2024.
The acquisition was finalized in June 2024, with Woodbury operating as a subsidiary of University of Redlands while the U.S. Department of Education reviewed full federal integration.
On July 1, 2026, the merger became official, and the Burbank campus was renamed University of Redlands, Los Angeles. The integration expanded the university's academic portfolio to include programs in architecture, interior and fashion design, filmmaking, animation, and game design.
From Wikipedia’s article on University of Redlands, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5