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© Oregon University System, 2008
Quality educational opportunity has been a priority for Oregonians even before Congress granted statehood. In 1856, the roots of Oregon public higher education were established when the Territorial Legislature acknowledged Monmouth College (later to become Western Oregon University) as the state's first chartered campus. A short three years later, the Legislature used federal support from the Morrill Act to establish the Agricultural College of Oregon (now Oregon State University) as the first state-supported institution of higher education.
Public higher education rapidly grew with the founding of the University of Oregon in 1876, the U of O Medical School (now the Oregon Health & Science University) in 1887, and the formal establishment of three state normal schools (Western Oregon University, Southern Oregon University, and Eastern Oregon University) in 1882.
As the state and its network of public universities grew in stature and complexity in the early 1900s, Oregonians developed a new approach to public higher education that would become a national model. On March 1, 1929, the Legislature established the Oregon State Board of Higher Education to provide oversight to the established schools and to eliminate unnecessary duplication. It took nearly two years for the Board to study curricula and reorganize a unified structure of higher education in Oregon. The task was made even more difficult when the Great Depression brought about postponed building maintenance, salary reductions and layoffs off for faculty and staff. But in 1931, the Board hired the system's first chancellor and effectively began to administer the Legislature's vision for a unified Oregon State System of Higher Education.
In the years following World War II, the demand for access to public higher education in Oregon grew rapidly as returning veterans and in-migration boosted the state's population and added to its economic growth. In 1946, two additional public institutions -- the Vanport Extension Center in Portland and the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls -- were created to accommodate post-war students. In 1955, the growth of the Vanport Center led to the establishment of Portland State University, and in 1959 the governance of the Oregon Institute of Technology was transferred to the higher education system.
Today, the Oregon University System's seven diverse and quality-focused institutions - Eastern Oregon University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Oregon State University, Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, University of Oregon, and Western Oregon University - provide higher education opportunities to all Oregonians who in turn enrich the economic and cultural base in the state.
Currently, OUS enrolls almost 81,000 students and awards more than 16,000 degrees annually. Program offerings represent hundreds of academic disciplines, encompassing one of the nation's most comprehensive ranges of scholarship, service and research excellence. (See the 2004 OUS Fact Book for more details.)
Among the full-time instructional faculty of almost 2,400 are world-class artisans, scholars, scientists and teachers, many who have come to Oregon, like thousands of others, to fulfill the promise of a better way of life for this and future generations.
Oregon higher education has become a national model of innovation and leadership. The Oregon University System's performance-based productivity model, shaped by the State Board of Higher Education in 1997, continues to be nationally recognized for transforming higher education and making it more accessible and accountable to Oregon citizens.
Click here for the chronological history of OUS (PDF file)