Corvallis is a city in and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2023 Census Population Estimates, the population was 61,087, making it the 9th most populous city in Oregon. This does not include the nearly 25,000 Oregon State University students attending classes in Corvallis, over 5,250 of which live in one of 16 Residence Halls on the main campus. Corvallis is the location of Oregon State University and Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, and a 2.2 million square foot, 197 acre Hewlett Packard research and development campus that invented the Laser jet printer and the Computer mouse. Corvallis is a part of the Silicon Forest Corvallis is the westernmost city in the contiguous 48 states with a population larger than 50,000.
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university based in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 colleges. It has the seventh-largest engineering college in the nation for 2023. Undergraduate enrollment for all colleges combined averages over 32,000 while an additional 5,000 students are engaged in post-graduate coursework through the university. In 2023, over 37,000 students were enrolled at OSU – making it the largest university in the state. Out-of-state students typically make up over one-quarter of the student body. Since its founding, over 272,000 students have graduated from OSU. The university is classified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as an "...R1: Doctoral University," with "...very high research activity."
Linn–Benton Community College (LBCC) is a public community college in Linn County, Oregon. The college offers more than 80 degree programs and certificates.
The Valley Library is the primary library of Oregon State University and is located at the school's main campus in Corvallis in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1887, the library was placed in its own building for the first time in 1918, what is now Kidder Hall. The current building opened in 1963 as the William Jasper Kerr Library and was expanded and renamed in 1999 as The Valley Library. The library is named for philanthropist F. Wayne Valley, who played football for Oregon State.
Joseph Conant Avery was the founder of Corvallis, Oregon. Avery was the first postmaster for the community, and served as a legislator in the Provisional Government of Oregon and the government of the Oregon Territory. Avery House at Oregon State University was named after him.
Oregon State University–Cascades (OSU–Cascades) is a branch campus of Oregon State University (OSU) in Bend, Oregon. It is the only university in Central Oregon that offers both baccalaureate and graduate programs. OSU–Cascades also offers professional pathways and certificate programs. The 30-acre campus is the first public university to open in Oregon in more than 50 years. The campus plans to expand academically with new degree programs over a 10-year period.
Oregon State University was founded as a small secondary and college preparatory school in the center of Oregon's Willamette Valley in 1856. The early school later served briefly as the first public college in the American Northwest - known then as the Oregon Territory. Shortly after Oregon was established, state leaders secured federal funding from the Morrill Land-Grant Acts to support the school, making it Oregon's designated agricultural college. Since its inception, Oregon's first public college has seen over 20 presidents and transformed from a single building to a 577 acres (2.34 km2) campus with over 36,000 students (2023).
Camp Adair was a United States Army division training facility established north of Corvallis, Oregon, operating from 1942 to 1946. During its peak period of use, the camp was home to approximately 40,000 persons — enough to have constituted the second largest city in the state of Oregon. The camp was largely scrapped as government surplus following termination of World War II, with a portion of the site reconstituted as "Adair Air Force Station" in 1957.
Fieldon King Alexander is an American former university administrator and professor of higher education policy and finance. He was the president of Oregon State University, Louisiana State University, California State University, Long Beach, and Murray State University. He resigned from his most recent position as President of Oregon State University in 2021 after a faculty vote of no-confidence. While at LSU, he also oversaw, and helped cover up, a culture of rape and domestic violence, where Title IX complaints were routinely dismissed.
Lee Arden Thomas (1886–1953) was an architect in Bend and Portland, Oregon, United States. He graduated in 1907 from Oregon State University. He completed many projects in Bend, often partnering with local architect Hugh Thompson. His work in that area includes the planning for Bend Amateur Athletic Club Gymnasium (1917–1918), Redmond Union High School, and the Washington School in Corvallis.
John Virginius Bennes was an American architect who designed numerous buildings throughout the state of Oregon, particularly in Baker City and Portland. In Baker City he did an extensive redesign of the Geiser Grand Hotel, designed several homes, and a now-demolished Elks building. He moved to Portland in 1907 and continued practicing there until 1942.
The Hotel Benton, or Benton Hotel, is a historic former hotel in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. Constructed from 1924 to 1925, the building represents a distinctive example of the Italian Renaissance style by Portland architects Houghtaling and Dougan. It is one of several Oregon buildings the firm designed in the revival styles popular in the 1920s and 1930s.
Robert William MacVicar (1918–1998) was an American chemist and academic administrator who served as the chancellor of Southern Illinois University, and the 11th president of Oregon State University from 1970 and 1984.
Charles Henry Burggraf (1866–1942) was an American architect primarily working in Salem, Oregon, and Albany, Oregon, who also worked in Hastings, Nebraska, and in Grand Junction, Colorado. A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
Paul Gillan Risser was an American ecologist and academic from Oklahoma. He served as president of Miami University and Oregon State University before becoming chancellor of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education.
Waldo Hall is a building on the Oregon State University (OSU) campus in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The building's fourth floor, inaccessible to the public, is one of several reportedly haunted sites on campus.
Oregon State University's College of Liberal Arts is a liberal arts college at Oregon State University. The college is located on the Corvallis, Oregon main campus and offers students 66 academic programs. The college of liberal arts awarded just over a thousand undergraduate degrees in 2023, the second most of OSU colleges.
The Oregon State Beavers women's basketball team is the official women's basketball team of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. They are one of ten varsity women's sports at OSU. They are a member of the Pac-12 Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The team's home venue is Gill Coliseum and their official colors are orange and black. The Beavers have made 12 appearances in NCAA Tournaments, most recently in 2021. The current head coach is Scott Rueck, assisted by Jonas Chatterton, Brian Holsinger, and Katie Faulker.
Oregon State University Army ROTC is an ROTC Battalion assigned to Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Its mission is to train Cadets in basic military leadership and commission them as 2nd Lieutenants upon the completion of a bachelor's degree. Founded in 1873, the ROTC Battalion has continued to serve the nation and US Army Cadet Command and was given the nickname, "The West Point of the West" after it produced more commissioned officers than any other ROTC Battalion in the USA during World War II.
Ida A. Kidder was a pioneering librarian and the first professional librarian at Oregon Agricultural College, now Oregon State University. She was so loved by her students that they nicknamed her “Mother Kidder”.
