Azusa Pacific University Azusa California

The interdenominational, evangelical Azusa Christian Pacific University educates over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students across its eight Southern California locations, including its main campus in Azusa. The school was founded in 1899 in Whittier, California, becoming the first Bible college established along the U.S. West Coast. It moved to Azusa in 1946 and obtained university status in 1981. Among the Azusa campus most eye catching features is the John and Marilyn Duke Academic Complex, which was dedicated in 2003 and accommodates several academic departments, a lecture space, classrooms, and even a pair of art galleries. International firm HMC Architects turned what was once an industrial warehouse into a sleek facility that nevertheless nods to its past through the use of metal, concrete and wire mesh.