Institutions
This is a list of colleges and universities in the U.S. state of Oregon. Seven public universities, overseen by the Oregon Office of University Coordination, are operated by boards appointed by the governor, [1] and seventeen community colleges are operated by locally elected boards. [2] There are also numerous private degree-granting institutions.
The largest university in the state is Oregon State University (OSU), with an enrollment of just over 36,0000 (2023). [3] OSU has branch campuses in Portland, Bend and Newport. The largest institution of higher education in the state is Portland Community College, based in Southwest Portland. The college serves the state's largest metropolitan population, with branch campuses throughout Portland, and claims an enrollment of over 67,000 students (2023).
The oldest college in the state is Willamette University, which was established 1842, and is also the oldest university in the Western United States. OSU is the oldest public university in the state, which was established in 1868. Central Oregon Community College (COCC) was founded in 1949 as part of the Bend School District and is the longest-standing community college in the state. The COCC College District was formed in 1959 and was officially established as the Central Oregon Area Education District by a vote of residents in 1962.
This list includes all schools that grant degrees at an associate level or higher, and are either accredited or in the process of accreditation by a recognized accrediting agency.
Several schools based in other states offer degree programs at locations in Oregon:
| School | Location(s) | Founded | Closed | Notes/Refs [32] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany College | Albany | 1867 | 1942 | Became Lewis & Clark College [33] | |
| Art Institute of Portland | Portland | 1963 [34] | 2018 | Dream Center permanently closed 18 Art Institute schools at end of 2018. | |
| Ashland College & Normal School | Ashland | 1869 | Underwent name changes to Southern Oregon College (SOC) to Southern Oregon State College (SOSC) and finally to Southern Oregon University (SOU) in 1997. [35] [36] | ||
| Baker Business College | Baker | 1891 | 1976 | Was in operation from 1891–1976. [37] No transcripts are available. [38] | |
| Baker City Normal & Business College | Baker | 1887 | 1905 | ||
| Baker College | Baker | 1969 | 1970 | Formerly Magic Valley Christian College, which moved to Baker from Albion, Idaho in 1969. [39] Today, the records for Baker College and Magic Valley Christian College are held at Oklahoma Christian University. [40] | |
| Bassist College | Portland | 1998 | Called now the Art Institute of Portland, who has the Bassist College transcripts. [41] | ||
| Bethel College | Bethel | 1855 | 1862 | Merged with Western Oregon University to form, in turn, Christian College in 1865, Oregon State Normal School in 1882, Oregon Normal School in 1911, and Oregon College of Education in 1939, which is Western Oregon University today. [42] | |
| Blue Mountain University | La Grande | 1873 | 1885 | [43] | |
| Cascade Christian College | Portland | 1918 | 1969 | Records are at Seattle Pacific University. [44] | |
| Cascade College | Portland | 1956 | 2009 | School was operated by Oklahoma Christian University as a branch campus from 1994 to 2009. The school was formerly Columbia Christian College from 1956 to 1993. [45] Today, the records for both Columbia Christian College and Cascade College are at Oklahoma Christian University. [40] | |
| Colegio Cesar Chavez | Mount Angel | 1973 | 1983 | First Chicano college in U.S. An archive on this college is available through the Oregon State University archives. [46] | |
| College of Philomath | Philomath | 1889 | 1912 | Early Oregon public preparatory [47] | |
| Columbia Christian College | Portland | 1947 | 1993 | The records for both Columbia Christian College and Cascade College (the one that closed in 2009) are at Oklahoma Christian University. [40] | |
| Columbia College | Eugene | 1855 | 1860 | [48] | |
| Columbia College of Business | Clackamas | 1999 | According to the Oregon Department of Education's list, the records are available at Pioneer Pacific College in Wilsonville. [49] | ||
| Concordia University | Portland | 1905 | 2020 | [50] | |
| Coquille College | 1890 | 1905 | |||
| Corvallis College | Corvallis | 1859 | 1885 | Forerunner of Oregon State University. [51] | |
| Dallas College | Dallas | 1900 | 1914 | ||
| DeVry University | Beaverton | 2015 | [52] [53] | ||
| Eastern Oregon College | La Grande | 1892 | 1898 | Forerunner of Eastern Oregon University. [54] [55] | |
| Jefferson Institute | Jefferson | 1857 | 1899 | ||
| Jefferson Institute | Rickreall | 1846 | |||
| Judson Baptist College | The Dalles | 1956 | 1985 | Records at Arizona Christian University. [56] | |
| Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland | Portland | 1983 [57] | 2017 | All national Le Cordon Bleu locations closed in 2017. | |
| Liberal University | Silverton | 1896 | 1903 | ||
| Marylhurst University | Marylhurst | 1893 | 2018 | ||
| Mineral Springs College | Sodaville | 1892 | 1908 | ||
| Mount Angel College | St. Benedict | 1887 | 1973 | Although the college closed, the seminary, Mount Angel Seminary, is in operation. [58] | |
| Multnomah College | Portland | 1897 | 1969 | Records at the University of Portland. [59] | |
| Multnomah University | Portland | 1936 | 2024 | Became a branch campus of Jessup University [60] | |
| National American University | Tigard | 2016 | |||
| North Pacific College | Portland | 1899 | 1945 | Dental school absorbed into Oregon Health & Science University [61] and optometry school absorbed into Pacific University. [62] | |
| Oregon City College | Oregon City | 1849 | 1858 | Assets donated to McMinnville College. [63] | |
| Oregon College of Art | Ashland | 1984 | The records went to Pacific College of Art & Design, [49] and since then, Pacific College of Art & Design has likely closed (it lost its tax-exempt status). [64] [65] | ||
| Oregon College of Art and Craft | Portland | 1907 [66] | 2019 | Unsuccessfully tried to merge with other local universities before closing in Spring 2019. | |
| Oregon Denturist College | Milwaukie | 1993 | |||
| Oregon Graduate Institute | Beaverton | 1963 | 2001 | Originally the Oregon Graduate Center until 1989. Merged with Oregon Health & Science University in 2001. | |
| Oregon Law School | Salem and Portland | 1902 | 1922 | Not to be confused with the University of Oregon School of Law. [67] [68] | |
| Oregon School of Design | Portland | 1992 | |||
| Pacific College of Art & Design | Medford | Lost its tax-exempt status. [64] [65] | |||
| Pioneer Pacific College | Beaverton | ||||
| Philomath College | Philomath | ||||
| Portland University | Portland | 1891 | 1900 | Was a Methodist school with ties to Willamette University. Campus and buildings sold to the Catholic Church and became the campus for the University of Portland. | |
| Saint Francis College | 1885 | 1905 | |||
| Saint Joseph College | 1844 | 1849 | |||
| Saint Michael's College | Portland | 1871 | 1928 | ||
| Sublimity College | Sublimity | 1857 | 1860 | ||
| Whitney Business College | Baker | 1887 | 1891 | [69] |
The Ohio State University is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollment in the United States, with nearly 50,000 undergraduate students and nearly 15,000 graduate students. The university consists of sixteen colleges and offers over 400 degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
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 include the 38,000 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 420-acre main campus, Samaritan Health Services, a top 10 largest non-profit employer in the state, a 84-acre Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center campus, 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.
Walla Walla University is a private Adventist university in College Place, Washington. The university has five campuses throughout the Pacific Northwest. It was founded in 1892 and is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next 20 years and was granted university status in 1969. It is one of two public universities in Oregon that are in a large city. It is governed by a board of trustees. PSU is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university 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.
The University of Oregon is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The university also operates the Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health in Portland, Oregon; the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, Oregon; and Pine Mountain Observatory in Central Oregon.
Oklahoma State University is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma. OSU was founded in 1890 under the Morrill Act. Originally known as Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, it is the flagship institution of the Oklahoma State University System that enrolls more than 34,000 students across its five institutions with an annual budget of $1.69 billion for fiscal year 2024. As of Fall 2023, 26,008 students are enrolled at the university. OSU is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". According to the National Science Foundation, OSU spent $226.5 million on research and development in 2023.
Pacific University is a private university in Forest Grove, Oregon. Founded in 1849 as the Tualatin Academy, the original Forest Grove campus is 23 miles (37 km) west of Portland. The university maintains three other campuses in Eugene, Hillsboro, and Woodburn, and has an enrollment of more than 3,000 students.
Concordia University was a private Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) university in Portland, Oregon, that closed in spring 2020. One remaining program, the accelerated bachelor's degree in nursing, continues to operate under another Concordia University System school.
The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is an art school of Willamette University and is located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1909, the art school grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and graduate degrees including the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Master of Arts (MA) degrees. It has an enrollment of about 500 students. The college merged with Willamette University in 2021.
Central Oregon Community College is a public community college in Bend, Oregon. It primarily serves residents of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook Counties. Its service district also includes portions of Klamath, Lake, and Wasco counties.
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.
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).
Bell Field, originally known as College Field (1893–1909), was an outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of Oregon State College in Corvallis, Oregon. It was the home venue of Oregon State Beavers football prior to the opening of Parker Stadium in November 1953. Track and field continued at Bell Field until its demolition in 1974.
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.
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The 42° north parallel delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada. The western boundary is formed by the Pacific Ocean.
Oregon State University Ecampus is the online education unit of Oregon State University. OSU Ecampus develops and delivers courses, degree programs, certificates and microcredentials online and at a distance to students worldwide. Ecampus courses and programs are delivered online as well as in a blended or hybrid format that combines virtual learning with face-to-face instruction.
Soaring Stones, also known as Rouse Rocks, Soaring Rocks, and Stones on Sticks, is a 1990 granite-and-steel sculpture by John T. Young. It was first installed in the Transit Mall of Portland, Oregon, and was later sited as Soaring Stones #4 at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. The sculpture was commissioned for $100,000 to replace a fountain that was removed during construction of Pioneer Place.
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.
