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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
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 key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...
in
Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Oregon, 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 Co ...
, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the university's colleges. It has the seventh-largest engineering college in the nation (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
Classified may refer to:
General
*Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive
*Classified advertising or "classifieds"
Music
*Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper
* The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...
among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
Initially chartered as a land-grant university, OSU became one of only four inaugural members of the
sea grant program in 1971.
Membership in the
Space Grant came in 1991, followed by
Sun Grant membership in 2003. Only three schools in the nation held memberships in all four research areas at this time, a distinction that has helped OSU become a leading research university today.
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.
OSU is also one of the top five doctoral university destinations in the nation for
Fulbright Scholars
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
(2022–2023).
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. Corvallis area
Freemasons
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
played a leading role in developing the academy. Several of the university's largest buildings are named after these founders today. The early academy is recognized as the first to offer a postsecondary public education in the
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Oreg ...
. The first administrator and teacher was
John Wesley Johnson
John Wesley Johnson (born 22 March 1836 – September 14, 1893) was an American academic administrator and a notable figure in the early development of Oregon's higher education. He is probably best known today as the first President of the Uni ...
, a famous figure in Oregon higher education. Johnson received his secondary education in Corvallis and his undergraduate from
Pacific University
Pacific University is a private university in Forest Grove, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Tualatin Academy, the original Forest Grove campus is west of Portland. Affiliated with the United Church of Christ, the school mainta ...
before managing the new academy. He later attended
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
and became an instrumental figure in the development and administration of several other early Oregon colleges.
Between 1860 and 1868, the
Southern Methodist Church took ownership and ran the academy privately.
In 1865,
William A. Finley
William Asa Finley (1839 – June 18, 1912) was an American academic and the first president of Corvallis College, known today as Oregon State University.
Biography Early years
Born in Missouri in 1839, Finley moved to California in 1852. He w ...
was hired as president and expanded the curriculum to include upper-level courses.
The growth in curriculum made OSU a magnet for many
Northwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
young adults seeking professions.
On August 22, 1868, the official articles of incorporation were filed for Oregon State University, known then as Corvallis College. To help ensure the state's sole public college would be well funded, the
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper house, upper and lower chamber: the Oregon State Senate, Sena ...
designated it Oregon's
Land-grant university
A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, Morrill Acts of 1862 and ...
and the "agricultural college of the state of Oregon". Two months later, on October 27, 1868, OSU was chartered as the state's first and only public college. Finley remained in his post and is recognized as OSU's first president. Although OSU officially became a public and state-owned institution in 1868, the Southern Methodist Church remained an important part of the school's administration through the mid-1880s. Up until the turn of the 20th century, the early college adopted seven name variations. As with many land-grant colleges,
name changes were common during this period, and helped schools align with the largest federal grants in agricultural research.
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 Native American tribes through treaty, cessi ...
were pivotal in helping OSU and other early American land-grant universities survive and thrive during a time when traditional colleges and universities often faced financial hardship. "This dependable flow of funds provided the long-sought financial foundation the colleges needed and encouraged state governments to make annual appropriations as well."
Acceptance of the federal grant required the college to comply with many new requirements. The school was then authorized to grant
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
,
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
and
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) 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. Those admitted to the degree have ...
degrees. OSU's land-grant designation did not go without contention. In its early development, the cash-strapped founders of the University of Oregon asked the state to designate their planned institution Oregon's land-grant university, but the request was denied. The first graduates received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1870. Within two years, the school was renamed Corvallis State Agricultural College. As the school's name changed, so did its mission. Science and technology coursework became the most popular majors starting in 1900.
The 1900s
In 1914, the
Oregon State Board of Higher Education
The Oregon State Board of Higher Education was the statutory
A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten la ...
, 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 university, 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 gra ...
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 1927, the school's name was officially changed from Oregon Agricultural College to Oregon State Agricultural College (OSAC).
In 1929, the legislative assembly passed the Oregon Unification Bill, which placed Oregon's public colleges under greater oversight of the newly renamed 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, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
degrees in 1935. That year also saw the creation of the first summer session. The growing diversity in degrees offered by the college led leaders to adopt the name "Oregon State College" in 1937.
The 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 Factions in the Republican Party (United States)#Moderates, moderate Republican Party (United States), Republican, he se ...
.
Campuses and educational outlets
Main campus (Corvallis)

The , tree-lined main campus serves as an internationally recognized arboretum and the centerpiece of
Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Oregon, 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 Co ...
. The campus is 83 miles south of Portland, near the middle of the state's
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley ( ) is a 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, the ...
. Much of the main campus was designed by landscape architect
John Charles Olmsted
John Charles Olmsted (September 14, 1852 – February 24, 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 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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
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 historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...
designation.
[
] The
Memorial Union was designed by OSU alum and renowned Oregon architect,
Lee Arden Thomas
Lee Arden Thomas (1886–1953) was an architect in Bend, Oregon, Bend and Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United States. He graduated in 1907 from Oregon State University.George P. Edmonston JrUp Close and Personal: Campus TourOregon State Un ...
. It has been recognized as "one of the finest examples of neoclassical architecture in Oregon."
OSU-Cascades (Bend)

In 2016 OSU completed the construction of a 10-acre 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.
As of 2023, the branch campus stretches across 30 acres in southwest Bend, with options to grow into 90 more acres of OSU-owned land nearby. The latest goal is to attract around 5,000 students per year within the next decade. As of 2023, enrollment was around 1,400 students.
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 ranks OSU's online
Ecampus fourth nationally (2024). The Ecampus has held a top-10-ranking since 2015. In 2021 College Choice ranked the Ecampus
college of liberal arts program the best in the nation. The same faculty teaching on campus also teach many of their programs and courses online through the 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 historic building features modern offices, classrooms and meeting spaces; which fill the entire second floor of what is now known as the Portland Building. Located next to downtown Portland's Pioneer Square, the OSU Portland Center accommodates offices for the OSU Extension Service, the OSU Foundation, the OSU Alumni Association, and the OSU Athletics Department. The downtown building 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.
Hatfield Marine Science Center (Newport)

Recognized as one of the top marine laboratories in the nation, OSU's
Hatfield Marine Science Center has been a fixture in Newport, Oregon for over 50 years. The campus serves as an oceanographic research base for six state and federal agencies and also a resource for K-12 educators and the public. OSU's agriculture, oceanography and marine science students have an opportunity to serve as summer interns at the Newport campus, while post-graduate students participate in a wide array of research programs year-around.
A $16.5 million project to build a 34,000-square-foot dormitory for OSU's post-graduate students, staff and visiting professionals was approved in 2023. The complex will include 70+ studio-style apartments and a small number of two-bedroom apartments near the Newport campus.
Food Innovation Center (Portland)
The College of Agriculture operates the Food Innovation Center (FIC) at its facility in Portland's Nato Parkway. The center is dedicated to helping Oregon's food manufacturers turn culinary innovations into commercially successful products. Researchers at the center offer services in product development, food safety, packaging design, marketing, and business plan development. The center operates as a collaboration between the College of Agricultural Sciences and the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
FIC was the first urban agricultural experiment station in the nation and is a unique resource for a wide array of food and beverage companies. FIC operates in a 33,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility and supports the state's $5 billion agriculture industry.
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 into schools or departments, administered by a chair/head/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
* College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
* College of Education
*
College of Engineering
* College of Forestry
* University Honors College
*
College of Liberal Arts
* College of Pharmacy
* College of Public Health and Human Sciences
*
College of Science
* Carlson 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 educating activities in order to gain new knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralph G. ''The Pr ...
.
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 ...
Youth Development, Agriculture and Natural Resources (includes OSU
Master Gardener
Master Gardener programs (also known as Extension Master Gardener Programs) are Volunteering, volunteer programs that train individuals in the science and Landscape design, art of gardening. These individuals pass on the information they learned ...
),
Family and Community Health/SNAP-Ed,
Forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...
and
Natural Resources
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...
, OSU Open Campus, K-12
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 r ...
.
Funding

Together with university leaders, the
Oregon State University Foundation
The Oregon State University Foundation is an American private nonprofit corporation associated with Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Oregon, Benton County in centr ...
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 $1 billion and manages most of the university's composite endowment, valued at more than $827 million.
In October 2022, the Foundation publicly launched Believe It: The Campaign for OSU, the university's second comprehensive fundraising and engagement campaign, with a $1.75 billion goal for student and faculty support, facilities and equipment and strategic initiatives. Donors have stepped forward with over $1 billion in gifts since the campaign began in 2017.
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 Cair ...
in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, the
University of Forestry in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
,
Lincoln University in
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
and
India's Gokula Education Foundation.
Academics
Undergraduate admissions
Undergraduate admission to Oregon State is rated "selective" by ''
U.S. News & World Report''. OSU is the largest university in the state and set a new record for enrollment in 2023. Close to 37,000 students attended the university during the year - the most for any Oregon university on record.
For fall 2015, OSU received 14,058 freshman applications; 11,016 were admitted (78.4%) and 3,593 enrolled.
Fall of 2022 brought in the largest freshman class the university had seen, with 7,146 new students. The average high school grade point average (
GPA
Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...
) 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 Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...
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 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 Center (FIC) in
Portland.
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 Ad ...
recognized OSU as a "comprehensive doctoral with medical/veterinary" university. It is one of three such universities in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (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 no official boundary exists, the most common ...
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.
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.

The university's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) operates several laboratories, including the
Hatfield Marine Science Center and multiple oceanographic research vessels based in
Newport, Oregon
Newport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. It was incorporated in 1882, though the name dates back to the establishment of a post office in 1868. Newport was named for Newport, Rhode Island. As of the 2010 ...
. CEOAS is co-leading the largest ocean science project in U.S. history. The Ocean Observatories Initiative (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](_blank)
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 U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
, which will be the largest grant or contract ever received by any Oregon university. The first of three planned research vessels, the Taani, was launched in May 2023 and will be stationed in Newport.
OSU also manages nearly of forest land, including the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest.

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 high-assay, low-enriched (
HALEU)
uranium zirconium hydride fuel. ''
U.S. News & World Report''
's 2008 rankings placed OSU eighth in the nation in graduate
nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes.
The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide ...
. In the early 2000s, researchers at the campus reactor developed the first working prototype
Small Modular Reactor
The small modular reactor (SMR) is a class of small nuclear fission reactor, designed to be built in a factory, shipped to operational sites for installation, and then used to power buildings or other commercial operations. The term SMR refers t ...
(SMR) to power large commercial operations, buildings, and large industrial facilities. More recently, Oregon State University has partnered with a leading manufacturer of SMRs,
NuScale (a company started in part by OSU Faculty), to provide continued research and development for commercial applications.

The university's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) operates several laboratories, including the Hatfield Marine Science Center and multiple oceanographic research vessels based in Newport. In 2001, OSU's Wave Research Laboratory was designated by the National Science Foundation as a site for tsunami research under the Network for
Earthquake Engineering Simulation. The
O. H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory
O. H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory is a research facility in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. Operated by Oregon State University’s Coastal & Ocean Engineering Program within the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineer ...
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](_blank)
, oregonstate.edu
Oregon State University operates two off-shore research test facilities near Newport for commercial
wave energy technology companies to stress test prototypes. The North and South PacWave Energy Test Facilities are located several miles off the coast of Newport and serviced by the university's Hatfield Marine Science Center. The South PacWave Test Facility is an open ocean test site consisting of four berths, which occupy two square nautical miles of ocean with a cable route to shore of approximately 12 miles in length. The North PacWave Test Facility offers a site in state waters with streamlined permitting (the expected time to permit is under one year). The site is shallower than PacWave South and closer to port.
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 Rese ...
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 within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...
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 engages w ...
.
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 and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
technology by hiring and training students in software development and operations for large-scale coding projects. The lab hosts a number of projects, including contracted work for the
Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation (LF) is a non-profit organization established in 2000 to support Linux development and open-source software projects.
Background
The Linux Foundation started as Open Source Development Labs in 2000 to standardize and prom ...
and
Oregon State Wireless Active Learning Device
The Oregon State Wireless Active Learning Device (OSWALD) is an open source learning platform developed by students of the Oregon State University to allow undergraduate students of computer science to obtain first experiences through direct techn ...
.
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.
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...
detachments for each branch of the
US Military
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...
.
Oregon State University Army ROTC
Oregon State University Army ROTC is an ROTC Battalion assigned to Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Its mission is to train Cadets in basic military leadership and commission them as 2nd Lieutenants upon the completion of a bachelor' ...
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
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It is located in McAlexander Fieldhouse, named after General
Ulysses G. McAlexander
Major General Ulysses Grant McAlexander (30 August 1864 – 18 September 1936) was an American officer who served in the United States Army. He was heavily decorated for valor, and is one of the iconic fighting men of the American Expeditionary F ...
, 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
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
and the
US Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...
, it became 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
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...
training branch became a separate officer training unit later 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. 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 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 2023, the
Center for World University Rankings
College and university rankings order higher education institutions based on various criteria, with factors differing depending on the specific ranking system. These rankings can be conducted at the national or international level, assessing inst ...
(CWUR) ranked Oregon State University in the top 1.4 percent out of 20,531 degree-granting institutions of higher education worldwide. The CWUR is known for relying heavily on outcome-based data to compile their rankings.
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
The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...
'' in 2021.
In 2012, ECONorthwest conducted an
economic impact analysis
An economic impact analysis (EIA) examines the effect of an event on the economy in a specified area, ranging from a single neighborhood to the entire globe. It usually measures changes in business revenue, business profits, personal wages, and/ ...
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 9th-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 (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...
, a rugged coastline, several large forests, the high desert and numerous rivers and lakes.
Portland, 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, making it the world's List of coun ...
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.
The LaSells Stewart Center
The LaSells Stewart Center is the performing arts and conference center on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, Oregon, USA. The Stewart Family donated the money used to construct the center, and it is dedicated to the memory of LaSel ...
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 PRAx (Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts) is a 49,000 square foot arts center at Oregon State University. It features the nearly 500 seat Lynne Hallstrom Detrick Concert Hall, 200 seat Edward J. Ray Theater, The 3,000-square-foot Kate and John Stirek Art Gallery, Dixie Luana Wooton Kenney Garden, Thomas W. Toomey Lobby and Celia Strickland Austin & Ken Austin III , Loni Austin Parrish & Scott N. Parrish Arts Plaza.
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.
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".
Oregon State University has several cultural centers aimed at promoting diversity and supporting students of color, including the
Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center
The Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center is a cultural center located at Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, Unit ...
, Native American Longhouse, Asian & Pacific Cultural Center and the Centro Cultural César Chávez. It also has a Pride Center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.
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.
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](_blank)
, oregonstate.edu In 1910, the official mascot was replaced by the
beaver
Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...
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 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 (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
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 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 th ...
video recording of the expansion is viewable on the internet. 1962 saw OSU's (and the west coast's) first
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...
winner, quarterback
Terry Baker
Terry Wayne Baker (born May 5, 1941) is an American former professional Gridiron football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football and college bas ...
. The
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, 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 gra ...
is the university's in-state rival for athletics. The annual
Oregon–Oregon State football rivalry
The Oregon–Oregon State football rivalry (also known by some fans as the Civil War) is an American college football college rivalry, rivalry game played annually in the state of Oregon between the Oregon Ducks football, Ducks of the University ...
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
A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...
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 (appro ...
is held in
Gill Coliseum
Gill Coliseum is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Corvallis, Oregon, located on the campus of Oregon State University. Opened in December 1949,Heartwell, James C. ''The History of Oregon State College Basketball, 1901/02–1952/53.'' Corvallis, OR: ...
and named after former Beavers coach
Slats Gill. The Coliseum is also home to the university's
Collegiate wrestling
Collegiate wrestling, commonly referred to as folkstyle wrestling, is the form of wrestling practiced at the post-secondary level in the United States. This style of wrestling is also practiced at the high school, middle school, and elementary ...
team.
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
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 College World Series, Men's College World Series (MCWS) at Charles Schwa ...
s in 2006 and 2007 and added a third win in 2018.
Softball
Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...
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
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
championships. In addition to the three baseball titles (2006, 2007 and 2018), the Beavers won the 1961
NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship. 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 a ...
Varsity-4 with coxswain team won the
Intercollegiate Rowing Association
The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs College rowing (United States), intercollegiate rowing between Varsity team, varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, whil ...
National Collegiate Rowing Championships in
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...
, 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 vel ...
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, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish ...
, novelist and short-story writer
*
George Poinar Jr.,
entomology
Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...
professor whose work extracting DNA from insects fossilized in amber was the inspiration for the novel and film ''
Jurassic Park
''Jurassic Park'', later referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton, centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of De-extinction#Cloning, cloned dinosaurs. It bega ...
''
*
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 t ...
, historian
*
Ernest H. Wiegand, inventor of the modern
Maraschino cherry
*
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
Tevian Dray (born March 17, 1956) is an American mathematician
who has worked in general relativity, mathematical physics,
geometry, and both science education, science and mathematics education, mathematics education. He was elected a Fellow of ...
, 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, Jamie or Jim Cassidy may refer to:
* Jim Cassidy (footballer) (1869–?), Scottish football player
* James Edwin Cassidy (1869–1951), American Roman Catholic bishop in Massachusetts
* James H. Cassidy (1869–1926), United States Represent ...
, soil scientist, bassist and keyboard player for
Information Society
An information society is a society or subculture where the usage, Content creation, creation, information distribution, distribution, manipulation and information integration, integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drive ...
*
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 was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
*
Bernadine Strik (1962–2023),
horticulturist
Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...
.
Alumni
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 and peace activist. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. ''New Scientist'' called him one of the 20 gre ...
may be the most famous. Pauling is the only recipient of two unshared
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
s, in the fields of chemistry and peace.
Another contender for the most famous alumni may be
Jensen Huang
Jen-Hsun "Jensen" Huang ( zh, t=黃仁勳, poj=N̂g Jîn-hun, hp=Huáng Rénxūn; born February 17, 1963) is a Taiwanese and American businessman, electrical engineer, and philanthropist who is the president, co-founder, and chief executive of ...
, founder of
Nvidia
Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...
. Oregon State athletes have had a significant showing in professional sports, including more than 15
MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
players, more than 20
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
players and more than 130
NFL players.
Points of interest
*
Endurance Array
*
Hatfield Marine Science Center
*
Linus Pauling Institute
*
O. H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory
O. H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory is a research facility in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. Operated by Oregon State University’s Coastal & Ocean Engineering Program within the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineer ...
*
Oregon State University Cascades Campus
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 ...
*
Oregon State University Radiation Center
The Oregon State University Radiation Center (OSURC) is a research facility that houses a nuclear reactor, Gammacell 200 irradiator, several radiation laboratories, and multiple high-bay thermal hydraulics laboratories at Oregon State University ( ...
*
Peavy Arboretum
Notes
References
Further reading
* John E. Smith
''Corvallis College.''Corvallis, OR: John E. Smith, 1953.
''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.
External links
*
Oregon State Athletics website*
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