Honoring Dean Michael Hunter Schwartz

Hello and Happy Holidays!

Today is Giving Tuesday, the biggest fundraising day around the world, which coincides with launching our efforts to honor Dean Michael Hunter Schwartz, the 10th dean of University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, as he winds down his tenure as dean in June 2025 and becomes a full-time McGeorge faculty member.

Dean Schwartz joined the law school in 2017 and has been an enthusiastic and energetic leader for McGeorge during a time of tremendous change. His leadership has directed the law school to new heights in teaching, scholarship, student support, and philanthropic giving. The law school has been enriched by Dean Schwartz’s vision and leadership, and we wish to name and endow the McGeorge Virtual Food Pantry in his honor, which will support McGeorge’s efforts to ensure no student facing food insecurities goes unsupported.

Traditional food pantries in law schools and universities are rooms in which a variety of groceries, most often canned and dry goods, are stored on shelves. Students visit the room and leave with bags of groceries. The downside is that the students’ peers and other community members can plainly see which students are experiencing food insecurity, and students cannot choose healthy, fresh choices such as fruits and vegetables. McGeorge’s Virtual Food Pantry is housed in the Law School’s Student Services offices. Students are able to leave discreetly with a pre-loaded grocery card.

Dean Schwartz, in collaboration with the McGeorge Diversity Board, helped spearhead the McGeorge Virtual Food Pantry in 2020. Since then, 903 grocery cards totaling $90,300 have been provided to McGeorge students. Proceeds from the endowment will provide annual funding to purchase grocery cards for students in need.

To be named for Dean Schwartz and his wife Stacey, who has devoted hundreds of hours of her own time attending alumni and student events, baking brownies for Dean Schwartz’s “Brownies with the Dean” meetings with small groups of students, and supporting Dean Schwartz’s work as dean, the fund will ensure the long-term stability of one of Dean Schwartz’s signature successes as dean.

Please help us establish the Michael and Stacey Hunter Schwartz Virtual Food Pantry Endowed Fund by making a gift today on our crowdfunding site.