Loma Linda University is dedicated to creating a learning environment that promotes the lifelong pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and skills used for selfless service to humankind. Through intentional educational strategies, Loma Linda University interweaves its vision, mission, and core values within its student learning outcomes. The University's mission of wholeness gives focus to a learning environment that balances mind, body, and spirit (psycho-social-physical-spiritual) and gives meaning to the motto of mission-focused learning. In this health-care institution, critical and analytical thinking skills in the health, behavioral, and natural sciences are blended with a commitment to spiritual and moral development.
Loma Linda University pledges to students, staff, faculty, alumni, and the local and global communities its commitment to upholding integrity, valuing diversity, engaging with the community in service-learning scholarship, and honoring the process of ongoing self-assessment for the purpose of continuous quality improvement. The University and each of its schools, programs, and classes provide clearly defined student learning outcomes and measurable performance indicators to create a learning atmosphere that is clear and focused.
The University is engaged in systematic academic program review. Curricular maps are maintained for each program to assure alignment between student learning outcomes and planned academic activities. Program review follows carefully developed schedules as outlined in school-specific assessment matrices.
Loma Linda University is committed to using assessment data to guide academic and fiscal master planning for the University.
The total resources of the University offer a wealth of opportunity for the student with initiative and a willingness to develop individual capacity to the fullest extent. The academic resources, affiliated clinical facilities, and community agencies constitute a rich educational environment both in classroom instruction and in guided experience. Major facilities utilized for clinical affiliations and internships include the University Medical Center, the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center, and numerous other hospitals and agencies located in the Redlands, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los Angeles areas as well as throughout the United States and abroad. In addition, students find varied opportunities for service and learning in the immediate University community, in clinical and research electives, and in diverse volunteer programs.
SAC Health (SACH) is a federally qualified health center (FQHC) affiliated with Loma Linda University Health, and is the largest specialty-based and single-site teaching FQHC in the nation. It provides low-cost health services at nine sites in the Inland Empire, including school-based clinics in San Bernardino and Rialto as well as clinics within Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, the largest homeless shelter in Riverside County.
The new San Bernardino campus and the established SAC Norton campus are the main sites for clinical education and training. These clinical facilities provide educational opportunities for more than 400 students and 400 residents from Loma Linda, enabling them to become involved with patient care and community initiatives. This clinic network provides a wide spectrum of primary and specialty medical and dental care as well as mental health services, and is an ideal site for working cross-culturally to develop an understanding of diverse populations.
Patient families experience tremendous obstacles to care, including homelessness, lack of insurance, education, and transportation, as well as high rates of violence, crime, poverty, cultural challenges, and other barriers. Approximately 98 percent of patients report income levels below the federal poverty line, 79 percent are minorities, and 5 percent are homeless.
The San Manuel Gateway College is an integral part of the San Bernardino campus, providing certificate-level programs to local high school graduates as a way to enter the health-care workforce. Loma Linda University students interact with and assist in these training programs.
Community-Academic Partners in Service (CAPS) is a Loma Linda University program directed by the Institute for Community Partnerships (ICP). The program serves as the on-campus hub for connecting students and staff with volunteer opportunities in the San Bernardino area that are mutually beneficial and sustainable, that meet needs expressed by the local community, and that develop in students a lifelong passion for service.
The numerous short-term and long-term community-engagement opportunities range from mentoring high school students, after-school tutoring, health education, college preparation, adult job skills, children's ministry, and a family soccer league. In addition to directly coordinating several programs, CAPS also works closely with local organizations to provide volunteer support for programs and events, and also facilitates students' service learning and community service placement needs.
To serve, students create a volunteer interest profile and list interests and availability on the CAPS online volunteer system. They can sign up for upcoming service opportunities, or they will be notified when opportunities in line with their interests are available. More information on volunteer opportunities can be found by visiting the CAPS website at caps.llu.edu, by calling (909) 651-5011, or by visiting the CAPS office in the Councilors Student Pavilion, Room 1402.
The main library supporting LLUH is the Del E. Webb Memorial Library. The library began in 1907 as a small collection in a room of the old Loma Linda Sanitarium. The growing collection moved to its own building in 1953. In 1981, funded by a Del E. Webb Foundation grant, construction increased the floor space of the library to 87,670 square feet. As of 2022, the recorded statistics of the library collection included 204,953 book titles in all formats; 17,603 ebooks; 8,794 currently-received serial titles in all formats; and 118 databases.
For more detailed statistical information, consult the library’s website at https://library.llu.edu/about/statistics.
The mission of the Del E. Webb Memorial Library is to stimulate and support the information needs of the University’s instructional, research, and service programs. To this end, the library provides a full range of information support services and resources including, but not limited to, collaborative and flexible information literacy instruction, information technology training, reference, specialized research support, document delivery, traditional print and digital book and journal collections, a computer laboratory, and welcoming physical spaces for group and individual study.
The Del E. Webb Memorial Library catalog provides access to all of the library’s resources. In addition to the collections of the Del E. Webb Memorial Library, other collections include the Ethics Library, Religion Library, and those belonging to the Geoscience Research Center.
The library participates in national and regional networks and is, for example, a member organization of the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM). The the Del E. Webb Memorial Library is in region five of the seven regions which make up the network. As a member library, the library maintains deep information resources in the health sciences and further expands its offerings through multiple cooperative agreements with varied local and national groups such as Southern California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC), the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) DOCLINE system, and OCLC's WorldShare to request Interlibrary Loan (ILL) material.
The Department of Archives and Special Collections is the central repository for information on the history of Loma Linda University, Adventist health work around the globe, the history of the health sciences, and the history and development of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Included in the department’s collections are the congressional papers of Jerry L. Pettis and Shirley N. Pettis. Jerry Pettis was the first Seventh-day Adventist congressional representative and a former College of Medical Evangelists employee. Shirley N. Pettis assumed her husband's congressional seat after his tragic death in 1975. Through departmental purchases and donations large and small, the department now houses one of the significant research collections of Adventist source materials worldwide. Recent collecting efforts made possible by the generous James F. Barnard Endowment have focused on building on an already substantial collection related to biblical prophecy. The collections house materials in all formats: print, microform, sound recordings, photographic, manuscript, and digital.
The department houses significant collections of materials in all areas of the health sciences, in multiple languages, including a significant collection in the history of nursing that came as a donation from the New York Academy of Medicine. Recent years have focused on areas where Loma Linda University, the history of the health sciences, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church intersect, such as nineteenth century health reform, diet, vegetarianism, the development of Adventist sanitariums, hydrotherapy, and other relevant topics. Many collections have been digitized and are available to browse on Loma Linda University’s institutional repository, “Scholars Repository,” (scholarsrepository.llu.edu) and on the Digital Archives webpage (cdm.llu.edu).
The purpose of the original Historical Records Office was to preserve those archival records deemed important to the founding and history of the College of Medical Evangelists. This work is being continued by the official University Archives, which is also under the direction of and housed within the Department of Archives and Special Collections. Loma Linda University Archives houses official documents and files for all Loma Linda University schools, departments, administrative offices, and other entities. This includes board minutes, president’s papers, provost/chancellor files, University committees, departmental files, photographs of University events, people, buildings, and more. The archives collect and preserve copies of all University publications, such as bulletins, course catalogs, journals, periodicals, departmental newsletters, flyers, posters, and more. Additionally, the archives maintain the copy of record of all theses and dissertations produced by Loma Linda University students. The archives actively seeks the papers of current and former faculty, staff, and students that add to the story of Loma Linda University Health.
The Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office, while a separate organizational entity, is physically located within the University Libraries, Del E. Webb Memorial Library, and, along with the Department of Archives and Special Collections and University Archives, forms part of the Heritage Research Center. The mission of the branch office is to preserve, promote, guide, and facilitate an understanding of Ellen G. White’s life, writings, and role within the history of the Seventh-day Adventist church and Loma Linda University. Ellen G. White was one of the founders of the College of Medical Evangelists and was firmly committed to seeing the Adventist medical institution grow, thrive, and fulfill the mission of continuing the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ. Thus, her legacy is an important part of the University’s history and future developments. The branch office houses and makes accessible Ellen White’s letters, manuscripts, articles, and published works.
On the campus, many learning resources for the student offer various opportunities for academic study and research. Each school center is listed with its most closely affiliated school.
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