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Oregon State University (OSU) is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
land-grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
,
research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in
Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city 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 2020 Unit ...
. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering college in the nation for 2022. Undergraduate enrollment for all colleges combined averages close to 32,000, making it the state's largest university. Out-of-state students make up over one-quarter of undergraduates and an additional 5,500 students are engaged in graduate coursework through the university. Since its founding, over 272,000 students have graduated from OSU. It is classified among "Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Chartered as a land-grant university initially, OSU became one of the four inaugural members of the
Sea Grant The National Sea Grant College Program is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a national network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs involved in scientific ...
in 1971. It joined the Space Grant and Sun Grant research consortia in 1991 and 2003, respectively, making it the first public university and one of just four in total to attain membership in all four initiatives (
University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
,
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teac ...
and
Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State bec ...
are the others). OSU received a record high $449.9 million in research funding for the 2022 fiscal year and has ranked as the state's top earner in research funding for over 50 years.


History


The 1800s

The university's roots date to 1856, when it was founded as a primary and preparatory community school known as Corvallis Academy. The school's first teacher and principal was John Wesley Johnson, a famous figure in Oregon higher education. Johnson received his secondary education in Corvallis before working at the new academy. He later attended
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
and was instrumental in developing other Oregon colleges. Within a decade of its inception, college-level coursework was added to the academy's curriculum, making it the first public college in the region and a magnet for Oregon's young adults seeking a profession. The university has had 11 names since opening, eight of them during the 1800s. Like many of today's land-grant colleges and universities, name changes were common during this period and helped schools better align themselves with some of the largest available grants in agricultural research. Corvallis area Freemasons played a leading role in developing the early school. Several of the university's largest buildings are named after these early founders. The school offered its first college-level curriculum in 1865, under the administration of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...
and the school's first president, William A. Finley. On August 22, 1868, official articles of incorporation were filed for Corvallis College. October 27, 1868, is known as OSU Charter Day. The
Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the H ...
designated Corvallis College as the "agricultural college of the state of Oregon" and the state's designated recipient of the
Land Grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
. Acceptance of this grant required the college to comply with the requirements set forth in the
Morrill Land-Grant Acts The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or ...
and the name of the school was changed to Corvallis State Agricultural College. The school was then authorized to grant
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
,
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
and
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...
degrees. The first graduating class was in 1870, with
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degrees. As the school's name changed so did its mission. Coursework in the sciences and technology became the most popular starting in 1900.


The 1900s

In 1914, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, known then as the State Board of Higher Curricula, began assigning specific colleges to Oregon State University and the
University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billio ...
in an effort to eliminate duplication. "...the board confined studies in engineering and commerce to the Corvallis campus and major work in the liberal arts and related subjects to the University of Oregon in Eugene. This was the first in a series of actions to make the curricula of the two schools separate and distinct." In 1929 the legislative assembly passed the Oregon Unification Bill, which placed the school under the oversight of the newly formed Oregon State Board of Higher Education. A doctorate in education was first offered in the early 1930s, with the conferral of four
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
degrees in 1935. That year also saw the creation of the first summer session. The growing diversity in degree programs led to another name change in 1937, when the school became Oregon State College. The institution's current name, Oregon State University, was adopted on March 6, 1961, by a legislative act signed into law by Governor
Mark Hatfield Mark Odom Hatfield (July 12, 1922 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Approp ...
.


Campuses and educational outlets


Main campus (Corvallis)

The main campus is the centerpiece of
Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city 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 2020 Unit ...
. It is 83 miles south of Portland, near the middle of the state's
Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...
. Much of the main campus was designed by landscape architect
John Charles Olmsted John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920), was an American landscape architect. The nephew and adopted son of Frederick Law Olmsted, he worked with his father and his younger brother, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., in their father's firm. After their fath ...
in 1906. In 2008, Olmsted's early campus design was designated by the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
as the Oregon State University Historic District. It is the only college or university campus in Oregon to hold a
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from cer ...
designation. The Memorial Union was designed by OSU alumnus and renowned Oregon architect, Lee Arden Thomas. It has been recognized as "one of the finest examples of Neoclassical architecture in Oregon."


Branch campus (Bend)

In 2016 OSU completed the construction of a branch campus in Bend. This campus is called OSU-Cascades and offers students living in Oregon's central region an opportunity to attend select classes closer to their homes.


Ecampus (online)

Oregon State offers more than 80 degree and certificate programs made up from a selection of over 1,500 online courses in more than 110 subjects. U.S. News & World Report ranked OSU's online bachelor's degree programs 4th in the nation in 2021 and has ranked them in the top 10 since 2013. In 2021 College Choice ranked the Ecampus liberal arts program number one in the nation. The OSU faculty teaching on campus also offer many of these same programs and courses online through the Oregon State University Ecampus website. Students who pursue an online education at Oregon State earn the same diploma and transcript as on-campus students.


OSU Portland Center (offices, classrooms and meeting spaces)

In 2017, Oregon State University's Portland headquarters were relocated to the newly renovated Meier & Frank building. The offices, classrooms and meeting spaces fill the entire second floor of the historic downtown Portland building, just across the street from Pioneer Square. OSU's Portland operations include offices for the OSU Extension Service, the OSU Foundation, the OSU Alumni Association, and the OSU Athletics department. The downtown location provides the university with a more central location, in the state's largest city, to maintain a base of operations. Aside from offices, the second floor also provides classroom space for teaching, research and meeting space for outreach engagement - similar to the work at OSU's other campuses in Corvallis and Bend. Executives and university scientists working on major initiatives, such as the Marine Studies Initiative, use the space for lectures and international conferences. The OSU Portland Center is also an important part of the OSU Advantage partnership. The partnership brings members of private industry, from throughout the world, to Portland to discuss proposed commercialization initiatives.


Organization and administration


Colleges and schools

All academic courses at OSU operate under the quarter-system, which breaks down into four, 11-week terms. The professional disciplines taught at OSU are divided among 11 colleges, an honors college, and a graduate school. Each college has a dean who is responsible for all faculty, staff, students and academic programs. Colleges are divided either into departments administered by a department head/chair or schools administered by a director who oversees program coordinators. Each school or department is responsible for academic programs leading to degrees, certificates, options or minors. * College of Agricultural Sciences *
College of Business A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, or ...
* College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences * College of Education *
College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...
* College of Forestry * Graduate School * University Honors College * College of Liberal Arts * College of Pharmacy * College of Public Health and Human Sciences * College of Science * College of Veterinary Medicine


Educational extension

The OSU Educational Extension is a section for non-students and
adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ral ...
.


Extension Service

The OSU Extension service is an
agricultural extension Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of 'extension' now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for r ...
established on July 24, 1911, under the leadership of Vice Provost Ivory W. Lyles (OSU Extension Service Administration). There are OSU Extension offices, Combined Experiment & Oregon Agricultural Experiment Stations, and Branch Experiment Stations located throughout the state. Programs include
4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times i ...
Youth Development, Agriculture and Natural Resources (includes OSU Master Gardener), Family and Community Health/SNAP-Ed, Forestry and Natural Resources, OSU Open Campus, Outdoor School, and Oregon
Sea Grant The National Sea Grant College Program is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a national network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs involved in scientific ...
.


Funding

Together with university leaders, the OSU Foundation publicly launched Oregon State's first comprehensive fundraising campaign, The Campaign for OSU, on October 26, 2007, with a goal of $625 million. Donors exceeded the goal in October 2010 nearly a year ahead of schedule, resulting in a goal increase to $850 million. In March 2012, the goal was raised to $1 billion. At OSU's annual State of the University address in Portland on January 31, 2014, President Edward J. Ray announced that campaign contributions had passed $1 billion, making OSU one of 35 public universities to cross the billion-dollar fundraising mark and one of only two organizations in the Pacific Northwest to reach that milestone. The Campaign for OSU concluded on December 31, 2014, with more than $1.1 billion from 106,000 donors. The Oregon State University Foundation is a nonprofit organization chartered to raise and administer private funds in support of the university's education, research and outreach, governed by a volunteer board of trustees. It holds net assets exceeding $744 million and manages most of the university's composite endowment, valued at more than $596 million as of 2018.


International partnerships

Oregon State has varied and numerous partnership agreements with international institutions, including
James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...
in Australia, the University of Forestry in
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, Lincoln University in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...
and India's Gokula Education Foundation.


Academic profile


Admissions

Admission to Oregon State is rated "selective" by '' U.S. News & World Report''. The total student enrollment for the 2021–2022 academic term was 33,193, the largest of any university in Oregon. For fall 2015, OSU received 14,058 freshman applications; 11,016 were admitted (78.4%) and 3,593 enrolled. The average high school grade point average ( GPA) of the enrolled freshmen was 3.58, while the middle 50% range of
SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
scores were 480-610 for critical reading, 490-630 for math, and 470-590 for writing. The middle 50% range of the ACT Composite score was 21–28.


Teaching

OSU has more majors, minors and special programs than any other university or college in Oregon.


Research

Research has played a central role in the university's overall operations for much of its history. Most of OSU's research continues at the Corvallis campus, but an increasing number of endeavors are underway at various locations throughout the state and abroad. Research facilities beyond the campus include the John L. Fryer Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory in Corvallis, the Seafood Laboratory in Astoria and the Food Innovation Laboratory in
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
. The university's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) operates several laboratories, including the
Hatfield Marine Science Center The Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) is a marine science research and education center next to Yaquina Bay of the Pacific Ocean in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is operated by Oregon State University in cooperation with five state and federal ...
and multiple oceanographic research vessels based in Newport. CEOAS is now co-leading the largest ocean science project in U.S. history, the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The OOI features a fleet of undersea gliders at six sites in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans with multiple observation platforms.Largest ocean science project in U.S. history launches soon off Oregon coast
oregonlive.com
CEOAS is also leading the design and construction of the next class of ocean-faring research vessels for the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
, which will be the largest grant or contract ever received by any Oregon university. OSU also manages nearly of forest land, including the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest. The 2005
Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, or simply the Carnegie Classification, is a framework for classifying colleges and universities in the United States. It was created in 1970 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Adva ...
recognized OSU as a "comprehensive doctoral with medical/veterinary" university. It is one of three such universities in the
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
to be classified in this category. In 2006, Carnegie also recognized OSU as having "very high research activity", making it the only university in Oregon to attain these combined classifications. In 1967 the Radiation Center was constructed at the edge of campus, housing a 1.1 MW
TRIGA TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) is a class of nuclear research reactor designed and manufactured by General Atomics. The design team for TRIGA, which included Edward Teller, was led by the physicist Freeman Dyson. Design ...
Mark II Research Reactor. The reactor is equipped to utilize Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) for fuel. '' U.S. News & World Report'''s 2008 rankings placed OSU eighth in the nation in graduate nuclear engineering. In the early 2000s, researchers at the campus reactor developed a prototype for an alternative, small-scale reactor to power factories, buildings, and other individual large-scale industrial facilities. More recently, Oregon State University has partnered with a leading manufacturer of small-scale reactors,
NuScale NuScale Power is a publicly traded American company that designs and markets small modular reactors (SMRs). It is headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, United States. NuScale has been approved to build reactors in Idaho, in 2029 and 2030. The desig ...
, to provide continued research and development for commercial application. OSU was one of the early members of the federal Space Grant program. Designated in 1991, the additional grant program made Oregon State one of only 13 schools in the United States at that time to serve as a combined
Land Grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
, Sea Grant and Space Grant university. In 2001, OSU's Wave Research Laboratory was designated by the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
as a site for tsunami research under the Network for
Earthquake Engineering Earthquake engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that designs and analyzes structures, such as buildings and bridges, with earthquakes in mind. Its overall goal is to make such structures more resistant to earthquakes. An eart ...
Simulation. The O. H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory is on the edge of the campus and is one of the world's largest and most sophisticated laboratories for education, research and testing in coastal, ocean and related areas.About Us: O. H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory
, oregonstate.edu
The
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) conducts research into the effects of the environment on human disease, as one of the 27 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is located in the Resea ...
funds two research centers at OSU. The Environmental Health Sciences Center has been funded since 1969 and the Superfund Research Center has been funded since 2009. OSU administers the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, a
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
facility dedicated to forestry and ecology research. The Andrews Forest is a UNESCO
International Biosphere Reserve Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments. MAB's work enga ...
. OSU's Open Source Lab is a nonprofit founded in 2003 and funded in part by corporate sponsors that include Facebook, Google, and IBM. The organization's goal is to advance
open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
technology, and it hires and trains OSU students in software development and operations for large-scale IT projects. The lab hosts a number of projects, including a contract with the Linux Foundation.


Military

Oregon State University is one of the few universities to have
ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in a ...
detachments for each branch of the
US Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...
. Oregon State University Army ROTC is a distinguished program and has been taught regularly since 1873. The so-called Beaver Battalion is known as the West Point of the West for producing more commissioned officers than any other non-military school during World War II. It is located in McAlexander Fieldhouse, named after General Ulysses G. McAlexander, the former commander of Army ROTC. After the Second World War ended in 1945, a Department of Naval Science was added at Oregon State. Providing officer training for both the US Navy and the
US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through c ...
, it is now one of the largest in the nation and has earned the unofficial title "Naval Academy of the Northwest." On July 1, 1949, the US Army Air Corps training branch became a separate officer training unit now known as Aerospace Science. The Oregon State Air Force ROTC draws more freshmen scholarships than any other AFROTC unit in the nation and has had over 1,000 officers commissioned. In 1977, two graduates of the OSU AFROTC became the first women pilots in the Air Force. Today, the Army and Air Force ROTC programs at the university share the McAlexander Fieldhouse.


Libraries

In 1999, OSU finished a $40 million remodeling of the campus library. Known as the
Valley Library 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 ...
, the remodeled building was selected by '' The Library Journal'' as its 1999 Library of the Year, the first academic library so named.


Rankings and recognition

In 2021, '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked OSU tied for 139th nationally, tied for 71st top public and tied for 58th "most innovative" university in the U.S., and tied for 277th best globally. In its 2021 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, the ''
Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...
(ARWU)'' ranked Oregon State University's oceanography program 5th in the world, its agricultural sciences program in the top 50 worldwide, and its earth sciences, ecology and water resources program among the top 100 worldwide. Agriculture and forestry at Oregon State University rank 26th in the world (11th in the U.S.), according to ''
QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for th ...
'' in 2021. In 2012, ECONorthwest conducted an economic impact analysis that found that each year OSU has a $2.06 billion economic footprint. $1.93 billion of this total was in the state of Oregon.


Student life

Corvallis is Oregon's 10th-largest city. It is a relatively small community and many of the local events have a strong connection to the university. OSU has over 400 active student organizations and groups. The campus is only a few hours' driving distance from any number of outdoor recreation opportunities. Several federal and state natural forests and parks are popular student destinations. These include the
Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...
, a rugged coastline, several large forests, the high desert and numerous rivers and lakes.
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, Oregon's largest city, is north of campus. From 1930 to 1968, OSU was home to the Gamma chapter of Phrateres, a philanthropic-social organization for female college students. Gamma was the third chapter of the organization, which eventually had over 20 chapters in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world ...
and the U.S. Most older OSU students live off campus, but on-campus housing is available and required for most incoming freshmen. There are 16 residence halls on campus, which are organized into individual Hall Councils. The residence halls include Bloss Hall, Buxton Hall, Callahan Hall, Cauthorn Hall, Dixon Lodge, Finley Hall, Halsell Hall, Hawley Hall, International Living-Learning Center, McNary Hall, Poling Hall, Sackett Hall, Tebeau Hall, Weatherford Hall, West Hall, and Wilson Hall. Residents make up the membership and each council holds its own elections to select management over the hall government. All the councils are managed by the Residence Hall Association (RHA). The LaSells Stewart Center is the conference and performing arts center for the campus. Many famous speakers have graced the stage of the campus's main auditorium, Austin Auditorium, while the Corvallis-OSU Symphony plays there frequently. The OSU Office of Conferences and Special Events is in the auditorium. The university is home to Orange Media Network, the university's student media department. Orange Media Network encompasses the award-winning '' The Daily Barometer'' student newspaper, KBVR 88.7 FM, KBVR-TV, Prism Art and Literary Journal, lifestyle magazine Beaver's Digest, and fashion magazine DAMchic. Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement,
convocation A convocation (from the Latin '' convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Greek ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a special purpose, mostly ecclesiastical or academic. In ac ...
and athletic games are '' Hail to Old OSU'' and the Alma Mater. There is a YMCA- YWCA Round Table at the university.


Student government

The Associated Students of Oregon State University (ASOSU) is the officially recognized student government at Oregon State University and represents all students in campus affairs and at community, state and federal levels regarding issues that directly influence the quality of and access to, post-secondary education.


Diversity

Like most American universities and colleges, OSU actively works to diversify its faculty and staff. In 1993, OSU reported having difficulties retaining and hiring minority faculty members. Only 150 out of 2,284 faculty members were black, Native American, Asian, or Hispanic. In response, the school president and vice president introduced a hiring initiative to promote and enhance diversity. The initiative recognizes the compelling need to build a welcoming and inclusive university community and the direct relationship between excellence and diversity. In 2007, Scott Reed was named Vice Provost for Outreach and Engagement as OSU Extension Service and OSU Ecampus were aligned under this new division. The university's Ecampus offers a wide array of undergraduate degree programs and courses online to students living throughout the world. In accordance with the university's mission for diversity, many organizations, clubs, and departments have been formed, including the Office Of Community and Diversity and several cultural and resource centers. Oregon State University has several cultural centers aimed at promoting diversity and supporting students of color, including the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center, Native American Longhouse, Asian & Pacific Cultural Center and the Centro Cultural César Chávez. In addition to its mission of ethnic diversity, Oregon State University supports its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population with a Pride Center. In the fall of 2022, 30 percent of Oregon State University's total enrollment was composed of students of color.


Athletics

In a 2008 national ranking of academics, athletic opportunity and overall performance, Oregon State was selected as one of America's "premier" universities. The ranking, performed by ''STACK'' magazine, placed Oregon State 29th in the nation's "Elite 50" universities and was uncontested within the state for that year. Since then, the University of Oregon has also appeared in the STACK rankings. The history of Oregon State athletics dates back to 1893 when "Jimmie the Coyote" was recognized as the first official mascot.Part 5 of 20: A History of Athletic Mascots at Oregon State University
, oregonstate.edu
In 1910, the official mascot was replaced by the
beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are ...
and remains the school's mascot to this day. In 1915, the university's varsity athletic teams were invited to join the Pacific Coast (Athletic) Conference as one of four charter members.
Reser Stadium Reser Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. It is the home of the Oregon State Beavers of the Pac-12 Conference, and opened in 1953 as Parker Stadiu ...
now serves as the home field for the school's
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, Kick (football), kicking a Football (ball), ball to score a Goal (sport), goal. Unqualified, Football (word), the word ''football'' normally means the form of football tha ...
team. The school mascot is Benny the Beaver and first appeared on the football sidelines in 1952. The next year Oregon State added a football stadium to its campus, known then as Parker Stadium. Fundraisers in 2006 and 2007 helped expand
Reser Stadium Reser Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. It is the home of the Oregon State Beavers of the Pac-12 Conference, and opened in 1953 as Parker Stadiu ...
from 35,000 seats to 46,200. A
time lapse Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...
video recording of the expansion is viewable on the internet. 1962 saw OSU's (and the west coast's) first Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Terry Baker. The
University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billio ...
is the university's in-state rival for athletics. The annual
Oregon–Oregon State football rivalry The Oregon-Oregon State Football Game (Civil War) is an American college football rivalry game played annually in the state of Oregon between the Ducks of the University of Oregon in Eugene and the Beavers of Oregon State University in Corvall ...
football game is one of the longest-running rivalries in all of college football. The university's home golf course, Trysting Tree's, features championship-worthy golf and practice facilities. The name of the course can be traced back to a locally famous tree near Community Hall on campus where student couples would meet to make dates.
Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
is held in Gill Coliseum and named after former Beavers coach Slats Gill. The Coliseum is also home to the university's Collegiate wrestling team.
Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...
is played in Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. The OSU baseball team, won back-to-back
NCAA Division I Baseball Championship The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team Men's College World Series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebr ...
s in 2006 and 2007 and added a third win in 2018.
Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
is held in the OSU Softball Complex. Opened in April 2001, the $1.5 million OSU Softball Complex seats 750. Oregon State hosted a Regional and Super Regional tournament in the 2006 NCAA tournament, winning both and moving on to the Women's College World Series. Oregon State has a total of four NCAA championships. In addition to the three baseball titles (2006, 2007 and 2018), the Beavers won the 1961
NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship The NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Championship is the cross country championship held by the National Collegiate Athletic Association each autumn for individual men's runners and cross country teams from universities in Division I. Teams a ...
. In 1975, the men's
rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically att ...
Varsity-4 with coxswain team won the
Intercollegiate Rowing Association The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, while the NCAA fulfills this role for women's ope ...
National Collegiate Rowing Championships in
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city's ...
, establishing a course record which stood for 15 years. The Oregon State racquetball team has won 10 consecutive USA
racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase ve ...
intercollegiate championships, beginning in 2008. The 2018 Oregon State baseball team won the NCAA Division I Championship defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks in three games making it their third title ever in the sport of baseball managed by the same manager from the previous two titles Pat Casey.


People


Faculty and staff

OSU has several notable faculty members, including: *
Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseb ...
, novelist and short-story writer * George Poinar Jr., entomology professor whose work extracting DNA from insects fossilized in amber was the inspiration for the novel and film '' Jurassic Park'' *
William Appleman Williams William Appleman Williams (June 12, 1921 – March 5, 1990) was one of the 20th century's most prominent revisionist historians of American diplomacy. He achieved the height of his influence while on the faculty of the department of history at th ...
, historian * Ernest H. Wiegand, inventor of the modern
Maraschino cherry A maraschino cherry ( ) is a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as the Royal Ann, Rainier, or Gold varieties. In their modern form, the cherries are first preserved in a brine solution usual ...
* Pat Casey, baseball coach who was named Coach of the Year by several publications in both 2006 and 2007 when he led the baseball team to back-to-back national championships * Slats Gill, former OSU basketball coach and member of the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...
* Corinne Manogue, physicist, best known for clarifying superradiance in both gravitational and electromagnetic contexts * Tevian Dray, mathematician, co-author of scientific paper "On the existence of solutions to Einstein's equation with nonzero Bondi news" *
Ralph Miller Ralph H. Miller (March 9, 1919 – May 15, 2001) was an American college basketball coach, a head coach for 38 years at three universities: Wichita (now known as Wichita State), Iowa, and Oregon State. With an overall record of , his teams had ...
, former OSU basketball coach and member of the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...
* Dana Reason, director of the Popular Music Studies Program and acclaimed Canadian pianist and composer *
James Cassidy James Cassidy may refer to: * James Cassidy (musician) James Cassidy, also known as Creepy Cassidy and Jim Pedo, is an American musician and educator who is one of the founding members of the band Information Society (InSoc). He played bass an ...
, soil scientist, bassist and keyboard player for Information Society * Craig Robinson, former OSU head basketball coach and the brother-in-law of President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...


Alumni

A complete list of Oregon State alumni is available here. Oregon State University has numerous nationally and internationally famous alumni who have contributed significantly to their professions. Among over 200,000 OSU alumni, scientist and peace activist
Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific to ...
may be the most famous. Pauling is the only recipient of two unshared
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...
s, in the fields of chemistry and peace.


Arts and entertainment

In arts and entertainment, alumni include: *
Trevor Bardette Trevor Bardette (born Terva Gaston Hubbard; November 19, 1902 – November 28, 1977) was an American film and television actor. Among many other roles in his long and prolific career, Bardette appeared in several episodes of '' Adventures of S ...
, actor * Geffrey Davis, poet * Harley Jessup, special-effects production designer, art director * Cathy Marshall, news anchor *
George Oppen George Oppen (April 24, 1908 – July 7, 1984) was an American poet, best known as one of the members of the Objectivist group of poets. He abandoned poetry in the 1930s for political activism and moved to Mexico in 1950 to avoid the attentions o ...
,
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had ma ...
winner * Jodi Ann Paterson, model * Mike Rich, screenwriter * Travis Rush, country music singer * Lee Arden Thomas, architect who designed the OSU Memorial Union. * Sara Jean Underwood, model, actress * Kendra Sunderland, model and pornographic actress (expelled)


Business

In the business world, some OSU alumni hold or have held prominent positions in various industries, including: *
Thomas J. Autzen Thomas John Autzen (June 8, 1888 – September 8, 1958) was a Danish-American pioneer in plywood manufacturing, and founder of a family-run philanthropic foundation known as the Autzen Foundation, based in Portland, Oregon. The Autzen Foundatio ...
, plywood manufacturing pioneer and namesake of the
University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billio ...
's
Autzen Stadium Autzen Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in the northwest United States, in Eugene, Oregon. Located north of the University of Oregon campus, it is the home field of the Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12 Conference. Opened in 1967, the stadium ha ...
* Mercedes Alison Bates, the first female officer of
General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
and former vice-president of its
Betty Crocker Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was originally created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 following a contest in the ''Saturday Evening Post''. In 1954, G ...
Cooking division * Peggy Cherng, co-founder of Panda Express *
Jen-Hsun Huang Jen-Hsun "Jensen" Huang (; born February 17, 1963) is a Taiwanese American billionaire business magnate, electrical engineer, and the co-founder, current president and CEO of Nvidia Corporation. Early years and education Huang was born in Ta ...
, co-founder and CEO of
NVIDIA Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
* Timothy S. Leatherman, inventor of the Leatherman tool and founder of the Leatherman Tool Group * Don Robert, CEO of
Experian Experian is an American–Irish multinational data analytics and consumer credit reporting company. Experian collects and aggregates information on over 1 billion people and businesses including 235 million individual U.S. consumers and more ...
* Brian McMenamin, co-founder of the McMenamins restaurant/hotel/theater chain * Bernie Newcomb, co-founder of
E*TRADE E-Trade Financial Corporation (stylized as E*TRADE) is a financial services subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, which offers an electronic trading platform to trade financial assets. The company receives revenue from interest income on margin balan ...
* Staci Simonich, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University * Leonard Shoen, founder of U-Haul * John A. Young, former president and CEO of
Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...


Military

Several notable OSU alumni are associated with the military, including: *
Edward Allworth Edward Christopher Allworth (July 6, 1895 – June 24, 1966) was an American officer in the United States Army during World War I. Biography Allworth was born in Battle Ground, Washington, Allworth graduated from Oregon State University in 1916 ...
,
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...
recipient * Marion Eugene Carl, World War II
flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
and USMC
Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
* Elmer E. Hall, World War II
Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed to ...
, USMC * John Noble Holcomb,
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...
recipient * Anthony E. Van Dyke, commander of Marine forces at Henderson Hall and
Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...
of the
USMC The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...
* Ulysses G. McAlexander, Commander of Army ROTC from 1907 to 1911 and again from 1915 to 1917. Earned the nickname "Rock of the Marne" during World War I. Helped with the construction of the Memorial Union and received an honorary doctorate from the university in 1930.


Politics

In politics, notable alumni include the following: * Cecil Andrus, former governor of Idaho and
United States Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natura ...
* Rod Chandler, former U.S. Representative * John Ensign, former U.S. Senator * John Hubert Hall, former governor of Oregon * Julia Butler Hansen, former U.S. Representative *
Douglas McKay James Douglas McKay (June 24, 1893 – July 22, 1959) was an American businessman and politician from the U.S. state of Oregon. He served in World War I before going into business, where he was most successful as a car dealership owner in Salem ...
, former
governor of Oregon The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. te ...
and U.S. Secretary of the Interior * Norris Poulson, former U.S. Representative * Frederick Steiwer, former U.S. Senator * Lowell Stockman, former U.S. Representative * Jolene Unsoeld, former U.S. Representative * Mary Carlin Yates, former U.S. Ambassador to Burundi and
Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and ...
* Kevin Cameron, former U.S. Representative


Science and engineering

Notable science and engineering alumni include: * Charity Dean, M.D., MPH&TM, epidemiologist, assistant director of the California Department of Public Health in 2020 during the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United States, it has resulted in confirme ...
, co-founder and CEO of The Public Health Company. *
Douglas Engelbart Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor, and an early computer and Internet pioneer. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human–computer interaction, particularly ...
, winner National Medal of Technology, known for
computer mouse A computer mouse (plural mice, sometimes mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows a smooth ...
and
Mother of all Demos "The Mother of All Demos" is a name retroactively applied to a landmark computer demonstration, given at the Association for Computing Machinery / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (ACM/IEEE)—Computer Society's Fall Joint Comput ...
. * Paul H. Emmett, staff of the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project ...
* Milton Harris, founder of Harris Research Laboratories and former chair of the Board of Directors of the
American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...
* Sara Harris, climate scientist and 3M National Teaching Fellow at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top three ...
* Wayne L. Hubbell, Jules Stein Professor of
Ophthalmology Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medi ...
at UCLA * Donald M. Kerr, wildlife biologist and founder of the High Desert Museum *
Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific to ...
, only winner of two unshared Nobel prizes, chemist known for advancing the theory of the chemical bond and the concept of ortho-molecular medicine. * Stephen O. Rice, a pioneer in the related fields of
information theory Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification, storage, and communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist and Ralph Hartley, in the 1920s, and Claude Shannon in the 1940 ...
, communications theory, and
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...
* Ada-Rhodes Short, mechatronic design engineer and transgender rights activist * Ann Streissguth, academic and medical researcher known for her work on fetal alcohol syndrome * William Tebeau, first African-American male graduate, chemical engineering, 1948, namesake of William Tebeau Residence Hall * Earl A. Thompson, inventor of the manual transmission synchronizer in 1923 and leader of the team at
General Motors Corporation The General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and was the largest in the world for 77 years bef ...
that developed the first
Hydramatic Hydramatic (also known as Hydra-Matic) is an automatic transmission developed by both General Motors' Cadillac and Oldsmobile divisions. Introduced in 1939 for the 1940 model year vehicles, the ''Hydramatic'' was the first mass-produced fully-a ...
automatic transmission in 1940 * Marta Torres, marine geologist known for her work on the geochemistry of cold seeps and methane hydrates *
Michael Waterman Michael Spencer Waterman (born June 28, 1942) is a Professor of Biology, Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Southern California (USC), where he holds an Endowed Associates Chair in Biological Sciences, Mathematics and Computer ...
, co-inventor of the Smith-Waterman algorithm used in DNA sequence alignment. Holds an Endowed Associates Chair in Biological Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science at the
University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $ ...
. One of the foundational and lead figures in the field of
computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has fou ...
.


Sports

Oregon State athletes have had a significant showing in professional sports, including more than 15
MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
players, more than 20
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
players and more than 130
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...
players. * Derek Anderson, NFL
Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...
er * Terry Baker,
Quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ameri ...
, Heisman Trophy winner in 1962 * Darwin Barney, 2012
Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...
and 2012
Fielding Bible Award A Fielding Bible Award recognizes the best defensive player for each fielding position in Major League Baseball (MLB) based on statistical analysis. John Dewan and Baseball Info Solutions conduct the annual selection process, which commenced in ...
winner * Brent Barry, former
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
player * Brandin Cooks, wide receiver for the
Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams pla ...
* Bella Bixby (born 1995), goalkeeper for
Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Unit ...
and
United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles (1991, 1999, 2015, and ...
* Ben Carter (born 1994), American-Israeli basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League * Colby Covington, professional
Mixed Martial Artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inco ...
, former
UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
interim Welterweight Champion * Jared Cunningham - basketball player in the
Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball ...
* Michael Conforto,
MLB All-Star The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...
and former
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...
outfielder * Nathan Coy, mixed martial artist, former Maximum Fighting Championship welterweight champion *
Jacoby Ellsbury Jacoby McCabe Ellsbury ( ; born September 11, 1983) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox from 2007 through 2013 and then played for the New York Yankees from ...
, MLB All-Star, two-time
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Wor ...
champion and former
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ce ...
* Dick Fosbury, Olympian high jumper and creator of the Fosbury Flop * A. C. Green, former NBA player nicknamed "Iron Man",
NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Originally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of a ...
and 3-time NBA Champion * Les Gutches, NCAA titles 1995 and 1996, 1996 Olympic Team, Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation's best college wrestler in 1996, Freestyle Wrestling World Champion, Member of National Wrestling Hall of Fame * Mike Hass NFL reeciver 2006-2010, member of College Football Hall of Fame * Johnny Hekker, NFL Punter, 2021 Super Bowl Champion, Pr] Bowl (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018) * T. J. Houshmandzadeh, NFL
Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...
er * Joni Huntley, first American woman to high jump over *
Steven Jackson Steven Rashad Jackson (born July 22, 1983) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams. He played college football at Oregon State and was se ...
, former
Running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...
, NFL
Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...
er * Chad Johnson, former NFL wide receiver/
Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...
er * Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians outfielder, 2022
Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...
and 2022
Fielding Bible Award A Fielding Bible Award recognizes the best defensive player for each fielding position in Major League Baseball (MLB) based on statistical analysis. John Dewan and Baseball Info Solutions conduct the annual selection process, which commenced in ...
winner (Rookie season) *
Gary Payton Gary Dwayne Payton Sr. (born July 23, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played the point guard position. Widely considered one of the greatest point guards of all time, he is best known for his 13-year tenure with t ...
, 2006 NBA champion, member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and 9-time NBA All-Star * Gary Payton II, 2022 NBA champion, currently playing for the
Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...
. Son of
Gary Payton Gary Dwayne Payton Sr. (born July 23, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played the point guard position. Widely considered one of the greatest point guards of all time, he is best known for his 13-year tenure with t ...
* Robin Reed, undefeated amateur wrestler * Adley Rutschman, Baltimore Orioles catcher and 2022 Louis M. Hatter Most Valuable Oriole Award (Rookie season) * Tracy Smith, 1968 U.S. Olympic team, 10,000 meters; world-record holder, 3-mile; 6-time AAU national champion * Sean Mannion,
quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ameri ...
for the Minnesota Vikings * Markus Wheaton, wide receiver for the Chicago Bears * Bill Wold, basketball player for the Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball team in the
Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball ...


Others

Other notable alumni include: * Stacy Allison, First American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest * Pamela Cytrynbaum, journalist and restorative justice practitioner * William Oefelein, NASA astronaut * Hüsnü Özyeğin, Turkish billionaire businessman, philanthropist * Jodi Ann Paterson,
Playboy Playmate A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playm ...
of The Year *
Donald Pettit Donald Roy Pettit (born April 20, 1955) is an American astronaut and chemical engineer. He is a veteran of two long-duration stays aboard the International Space Station, one Space Shuttle mission and a six-week expedition to find meteorites in An ...
, NASA astronaut * Ernest H. Taves, psychiatrist, author and UFO skeptic * Sara Jean Underwood, Playboy Playmate of The Year


Points of interest

* Endurance Array *
Hatfield Marine Science Center The Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) is a marine science research and education center next to Yaquina Bay of the Pacific Ocean in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is operated by Oregon State University in cooperation with five state and federal ...
* Linus Pauling Institute * O. H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory * Oregon State University Cascades Campus * Oregon State University Radiation Center * Peavy Arboretum


Further reading


''Annual Catalogue of Officers and Students, Corvallis State Agricultural College, 1873-1874.''
Salem, OR: E.H. White, 1874. —Includes several annual volumes listing professors, alumni, students, and college regulations.


Notes


References


External links

*
Oregon State Athletics website
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