The Guadalajara Summer Program is considered an important part of USD’s study abroad history as well as playing a key role in later developments such as the opening of the USD Madrid center. This program was one of the universities longest running study abroad programs, focused on providing students with the opportunity to study and learn about a different culture while pursuing their education at USD. This program ran from 1963 to 2010, with the summer program briefly moving to Madrid in 2009 due to concerns over Swine Flu and safety. The program's office was located at the Institute of Technology (ITESO) in Guadalajara, but was exclusively administered by USD. While at the center, students would spend six weeks studying a variety of subjects such as Spanish, dance, international relations, literature, history, theology, etc. Alongside taking classes, students would become immersed in the community and culture of the area through living with host families, participating in charity work, as well as site-seeing and cultural events.

The program was started by Dr. Gilbert L. Oddo in 1963, while he was serving as Director of Research Studies in Social Science at ITESO in Guadalajara. The original program was a collaboration between six Catholic universities (Loyola University of Los Angeles, St. Louis University, Gonzaga University, Holy Cross College, St. Bonaventure University, St. Louis University, and Georgetown University) under the banner of the Associated American Colleges and Universities for Programs Abroad (AACUPA). The AACUPA, founded by Oddo, was described as ‘an association of cooperating institutions designed to develop academically sound summer programs abroad to extend the influences of those institutions beyond their campuses, develop exchange programs with institutions in other lands, as well as provide opportunities for students to widen their social and cultural horizons.’ The AACUPA during this time also provided study abroad opportunities with Jesuit universities in Tokyo.

In 1966, Dr. Oddo brought the Guadalajara Summer Program with him when he joined USD's College for Men's Department of Political Science. A year later he held an appointment at USD's College for Women as a visiting faculty member and in 1968 became chair of USD's graduate division. He was eager to establish the program in San Diego due to USD’s prime location next to the border, making it an ideal spot to be the California administrative base of the program. After his move to USD, the program became rebranded as USD’s Summer Program in Guadalajara. Throughout its time, the program would grow from thirty-eight to at one point over three hundred participants, among them Mexican students taking courses for credit, administrators, and visiting faculty. The summer program in Guadalajara became a prominent cornerstone of the later study abroad department.

Following the retirement of Dr. Oddo in 1995, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature administered the program with Dr. Kim Eherenman assuming the duties as Executive Director. Under her leadership, the program’s emphasis shifted to Spanish language acquisition and Latino Studies and the location was moved to the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac (UNIVA) in Guadalajara to accommodate more students. In 1998 Dr. Eherenman was appointed Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and Dr. Carl Jubran became the program’s Executive Director. The program relocated back to the ITESO University in 2000 in order to accommodate the growing need for more technologically advanced facilities. Under Dr. Jubran and in partnership with the University Ministry, a community service element was added to the program. Students volunteered at orphanages, hospitals, and convalescent homes in Guadalajara.This pioneering study abroad program was suspended after 47 years in 2011 due to safety and security concerns, but the impact of it lives on in the continued success, growth, and prominence of USD's international programs.

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Office of Public Information, "President Hughes Visits USD Guadalajara Campus" (1973). News Releases. 809. https://digital.sandiego.edu/newsreleases/809

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