Investing in Students Outside the Classroom

University Park’s campus dates back to the 1850s when, following the Gold Rush, Captain Charles Weber donated 102 acres of land to the city of Stockton to provide hospital care to those who were struggling with mental illness. We embrace our history as a thread that enriches the tapestry of University Park’s 20-year long redevelopment process. This land was intended to heal and improve lives. Today our 102-acre campus acts as a truly unique business park, rich with history, works of art, a world-class rose garden, and upgraded with modern comforts and technology for customers, patients, and students of all ages and needs.

The structure of our campus is particularly well-suited to our educational providers. Currently, University Park hosts 2,200 students from daycare and preschool through a four-year degree with the CSU Stanislaus, Stockton Center. With our diverse tenant mix, students are able to interact with higher education, businesses, medical service providers, and the local community. For example, students from the Health Careers Academy often intern for Dignity Health, and in turn doctors, physicians and other medical professionals are regularly engaging with students eager to progress into health careers. Through internships, mock interviews, job shadowing, workplace field trips, student mentoring, work experience, community service, and speaking engagements in the classroom; medical professionals, business leaders, and community members can share their expertise with students on campus or virtually.

University Park also provides students and staff with key must-haves to ensure the campus is user-friendly. Access to Highway 99 and Interstate 5 is convenient, fiber-optic capabilities are humming at high speed, and there’s ample parking plus 24-hour security to make those after-hours walks to the car worry-free.

Beyond the more practical amenities, University Park was redeveloped to optimize the tenant experience with spaces to meet with friends, take a quiet walk, or learn more about local history, wildlife, and plant life. We recognized a need to introduce opportunities for students to take a break from their academic work without having to leave campus. The University Park World Peace Rose Garden boasts 250 fragrant rose bushes with locally submitted Messages of Peace written on plaques throughout and even a Messages of Peace box which allows the inspired to submit their own writings. For those more inclined to relax around wildlife, our lake is often bustling with curious turtles and some occasional waterfowl. Students eager to explore, discover, and learn more about their community can travel the Discovery Trail throughout University Park. It is a budding photographer’s dream. Landmarks like our lake, rose garden, and historical buildings also allow students to interact with the campus specifically for the benefit of academic growth. Elementary school students use our Discovery Trail as a field trip location for learning about nature and science using the educational markers.

In redeveloping University Park to feel more like a wide-open campus with space for socialization, curiosity, and moments of calm, we feel we’ve shed the austere concept of a “business park” and slipped into something more like a campus, a haven, or an escape in the center of Stockton.

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”

– James Allen