Dominican University of California
private university located in San Rafael, California
Dominican University of California is a private university in San Rafael, California, United States. It was founded in 1890 as Dominican College by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. It is one of the oldest universities in California.
Dominican is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). More than 60 academic majors, minors and concentrations, including 11 graduate programs are offered with an average class size of 16. During the 2023–24 school year, Dominican had 1182 undergraduate students and 844 graduate students. Enrollment by gender is 72% female and 28% male.
The university is a member of NCAA Division II and competes in the Pacific West Conference.
History
In 1850, Joseph Sadoc Alemany was appointed Bishop of Monterey. While in France that year, Alemany sought Dominican sisters to join him in California to establish a convent and school in Monterey.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dominican University of California” as private university located in San Rafael, California. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as private university located in San Rafael, California. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5290855. VIAF identifies the subject as 145611341. The Library of Congress control number is n2002022099. Authority coordinates are 37.983, -122.517. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1890, 2023, 1182 and 1850.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dominican University of California”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dominican University of California primary sources, Dominican University of California archive and Dominican research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dominican University of California”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dominican University of California” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.