The Western Athletic Conference football championship game was a short-lived annual postseason college football game played to determine the champion of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
99-485: The Western Athletic Conference staged a conference title football game during the three years (1996–1998) the league consisted of sixteen members. During this time, the league was split into two divisions, Pacific and Mountain, with eight teams in each division. The top finisher in each division played for the championship, which was held at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas Valley . When conference membership
198-580: A historic district designation. The Memorial Union was designed by OSU alum and renowned Oregon architect, Lee Arden Thomas . It has been recognized as "one of the finest examples of neoclassical architecture in Oregon." 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,
297-484: A "comprehensive doctoral with medical/veterinary" university. It is one of three such universities in the Pacific Northwest 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,
396-651: A "football only" member) and Utah State operated as an independent D-IA program. At the same time, Louisiana Tech (LA Tech) ended its independent Div. I-A status and also accepted an invitation to join the WAC with Boise State. In 2005, Conference USA sought new members to replenish its ranks after losing members to the Big East , which had lost members to the ACC . Four WAC schools, former SWC schools Rice and SMU , as well as Tulsa and UTEP , joined Conference USA. In response,
495-513: A $ 2.06 billion economic footprint. $ 1.93 billion of this total was in the state of Oregon. 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
594-592: A chair/head/director who oversees program coordinators. Each school or department is responsible for academic programs leading to degrees, certificates, options or minors. The OSU Educational Extension is a section for non-students and adult education . The OSU Extension service is an agricultural extension 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
693-494: A far-flung league, travel costs became a concern. The presidents of Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming met in 1998 at Denver International Airport and agreed to split off to form a new league. The breakaway group invited old-line WAC schools New Mexico and San Diego State, and newcomer UNLV to join them in the new Mountain West Conference , which began competition in 1999. A USA Today article summed up
792-458: A football team at a later date. While the WAC originally announced that all new members would join on July 1, 2022, commissioner Jeff Hurd later said that the arrival of the Texas Four "was expedited" to July 1, 2021. The conference officially confirmed this on January 21, 2021, adding that the relaunch of football was moved forward to fall 2021. The conference also confirmed media reports that
891-581: 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
990-573: A later date. On the same day, news broke that the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley , a non-football playing WAC member, had committed to create an FCS football program by 2024. The program will most likely compete as part of the newly-reinstated WAC football conference. The WAC ultimately partnered with the ASUN Conference to reestablish its football league, with the Texas Four being joined by three incoming ASUN members for at least
1089-502: A major expansion on July 1, 2021, with four schools joining. The conference reinstated football at that time, competing in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). One year later, on July 1, 2022, one FCS football school ( Lamar ) and one non-football school ( Chicago State ) left, and one FCS football school ( Southern Utah ) and one non-football school ( UT Arlington ) joined. The WAC again became
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#17327806467041188-825: A non-football conference in 2023, when the WAC and the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) merged their FCS football leagues as the United Athletic Conference . These institutions are the existing full members of the Western Athletic Conference: Members departing for the West Coast Conference in 2025 (Seattle) and the Mountain West Conference in 2026 (Grand Canyon). (Millions) These nine schools field programs in
1287-422: A non-football playing member of the conference, had committed to create an FCS football program by 2024. In addition, UTRGV will also launch women's swimming and diving for the same year. The launch of football was later put off to 2025; it has since been confirmed that UTRGV football will become part of the new ASUN–WAC Football Conference (see below). The WAC's planned reestablishment of a football conference at
1386-801: A press conference held at the NRG Center in Houston, Texas. The new members announced included four Southland Conference members from Texas in Abilene Christian University , Lamar University , Sam Houston State University , and Stephen F. Austin State University , which would soon be dubbed the "Texas Four", plus Southern Utah University from the Big Sky Conference . The conference also announced that it would most likely add another member that fielded
1485-454: 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
1584-550: A revamped Pac-8 Conference that replaced the scandal-plagued PCC, the remaining six schools formed the WAC. The Border and Skyline conferences, having each lost three of their stronger members, dissolved at the end of the 1961–62 season. The charter members of the WAC were Arizona , Arizona State , BYU , New Mexico , Utah , and Wyoming . New Mexico State and Utah State applied for charter membership and were turned down; they would eventually become WAC members 43 years later. The conference proved to be an almost perfect fit for
1683-565: A series of moves that shook the conference to its very core, beginning with Utah State and San Jose State accepting offers to join the MWC. Four similar announcements followed with UTSA and Louisiana Tech jumping to Conference USA , plus Texas State and UT Arlington heading to the Sun Belt Conference , all as of 2013–14. Boise State also canceled plans to rejoin the WAC, instead opting to place its non-football sports in
1782-595: A six-game schedule in 2023 before starting full round-robin conference play in 2024. Neither conference's announcement mentioned any plans to move to FBS. On April 17, 2023, the football league announced its permanent name of United Athletic Conference . In March 2024, however, UTRGV announced they also would be departing for the Southland for the 2024-25 academic year. Two months later, in May 2024, both Grand Canyon and Seattle announced they had accepted invitations to join
1881-611: 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 Oregon State University Ecampus website. Students who pursue an online education at Oregon State earn the same diploma and transcript as on-campus students. In 2017, Oregon State University's Portland headquarters were relocated to
1980-400: A variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 colleges. It has the seventh-largest engineering college in the nation for 2023. Undergraduate enrollment for all colleges combined averages over 32,000 while an additional 5,000 students are engaged in post-graduate coursework through the university. In 2023, over 37,000 students were enrolled at OSU – making it the largest university in
2079-560: 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
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#17327806467042178-419: Is a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve . 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 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
2277-546: Is also one of the top five doctoral university destinations in the nation for Fulbright Scholars (2022–2023). 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 administrator and teacher was John Wesley Johnson , a famous figure in Oregon higher education. Johnson received his secondary education in Corvallis and his undergraduate from Pacific University before working at
2376-633: 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. CEOAS is also leading the design and construction of the next class of ocean-faring research vessels for the National Science Foundation , which will be the largest grant or contract ever received by any Oregon university. The first of three planned research vessels,
2475-434: Is currently known as FCS football to what is currently known as FBS football at the earliest practicable date." On December 20, the two conferences jointly announced that they would fully merge their football leagues effective in 2023 under the tentative name of "ASUN–WAC Football Conference". The initial membership will be the aforementioned nine programs, with UTRGV becoming the tenth in 2025. The new football league will play
2574-510: 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 (ARWU) ranked Oregon State University's oceanography program 5th in
2673-746: 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 , it became one of the largest in the nation and has earned the unofficial title "Naval Academy of the Northwest." On July 1, 1949,
2772-465: 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 ) of
2871-553: Is under one year). The site is shallower than PacWave South and closer to port. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 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 facility dedicated to forestry and ecology research. The Andrews Forest
2970-619: The AP Poll released prior to the game. This college football -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference ( WAC ) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona , California , Texas , Utah and Washington . Due to most of
3069-455: The ASUN Conference in July 2021; that league planned to add FCS football, but not until at least 2022. The entry of the three incoming ASUN members into the new football league was officially confirmed at a February 23, 2021, ASUN press conference. These schools joined the Texas Four in a round-robin schedule officially branded interchangeably as the "ASUN–WAC Challenge" and "WAC–ASUN Challenge";
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3168-514: The Big 12 in 2012). The Big West announced that it would drop football after the 2000 season, but four of its football-playing members ( Boise State , Idaho , New Mexico State , and Utah State ) were unwilling to drop football. Boise State was invited to join the WAC and promptly departed the Big West, while New Mexico State and Idaho joined the Sun Belt Conference (NMSU as a full member, Idaho as
3267-494: The Big West Conference , before eventually deciding to simply remain in the MWC. These changes left the WAC's viability as a Division I football conference in grave doubt. The two remaining football-playing members, New Mexico State and Idaho, began making plans to compete in future seasons as FBS Independents ; they ultimately spent only the 2013 season as independents, rejoining their one-time football home of
3366-948: 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 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. Oregon State University operates two off-shore research test facilities near Newport, Oregon for commercial wave energy technology companies to stress test prototypes. The North and South PacWave Energy Test Facilities are located several miles off
3465-660: The Linux Foundation . Oregon State University is one of the few universities to have ROTC detachments for each branch of the US Military . 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
3564-541: The Missouri Valley Conference . Also, two WAC members for men's sports at the time, Air Force and Hawaiʻi, brought their women's sports into the WAC. With the expansion, the WAC was divided into two divisions, the Mountain and the Pacific. To help in organizing schedules and travel for the far-flung league, the members were divided into four quadrants of four teams each, as follows: Quadrant one
3663-606: The Oregon Legislative Assembly designated it Oregon's Land-grant university and the "agricultural college of the state of Oregon". Acceptance of this grant required the college to comply with the requirements set forth in the Morrill Land-Grant Acts . The school was then authorized to grant Bachelor of Arts , Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees. The first graduating class was in 1870, with Bachelor of Arts degrees. In 1872,
3762-525: The Sea Grant in 1971. Memberships in the Space Grant and Sun Grant research consortias were awarded in 1991 and 2003, making it one of only three schools in the nation to be designated a land, sun, sea and space grant university. 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
3861-601: The US Army Air Corps 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
3960-439: The University of Texas at Brownsville ; the new institution, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), began operation for the 2015–16 school year. UTRGV inherited UTPA's athletic program and WAC membership. In January 2017, California Baptist University announced it would transition from NCAA Division II and join the WAC in 2018. In November 2017, Cal State Bakersfield announced it would accept an invitation to
4059-599: The WAC Championship Game , held at Sam Boyd Stadium (also known as the Silver Bowl) in the Las Vegas Valley . Increasingly, most of the older, pre-1996 members—particularly Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming—felt chagrin at this new arrangement. Additional concerns centered around finances, as the expanded league stretched approximately 3,900 miles (6,300 km) from Hawaii to Oklahoma and covered nine states and four time zones. With such
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4158-467: The West Coast Conference and Pac-12 Conference , respectively; BYU joined the Big 12 Conference in 2023 while Utah followed in 2024. In 2000, the University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada) of the Big West joined as part of its plan to upgrade its athletic program. TCU left for Conference USA in 2001 (it would later leave C-USA to become the ninth member of the Mountain West in 2005, and joined
4257-819: The West Coast Conference , beginning in the 2025-26 academic year. However, in November 2024, Grand Canyon declined the invitation to join the West Coast Conference after receiving an invite to join the Mountain West Conference. GCU will join the Mountain West no later than July 1, 2026 The Western Athletic Conference currently sponsors championship competition in 9 men's and 10 women's NCAA-sanctioned sports. Nine other schools are currently associate members in four sports. The WAC sponsored football from its founding in 1962 through
4356-598: The "Texas Four" of Abilene Christian University , Lamar University , Sam Houston State University , and Stephen F. Austin State University , then members of the Southland Conference , along with Southern Utah University , currently of the Big Sky Conference . Originally, all schools were planned to join in July 2022, but the entry of the Texas Four was moved to July 2021 after the Southland expelled its departing members. The WAC also announced that it would most likely add another football-playing institution at
4455-480: The 1800s and three more in the 1900s. As with many land-grant colleges, name changes were common around the start of the 20th century and helped schools align with the period's largest available federal 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
4554-474: The 2012 season. However, the defection of all but two football-playing schools to other conferences caused the conference to drop sponsorship after fifty-one years. On January 14, 2021, the WAC announced its intention to reinstate football as a conference-sponsored sport at the FCS level, as well as the addition of five new members to the conference in all sports, including football. The new members announced include
4653-497: The 2013–14 season, shortly after Idaho opted to return all of its non-football sports to the Big Sky Conference in 2014–15. The conference responded over the next two months by adding Grand Canyon University , Chicago State University , and the University of Texas-Pan American . Then, in February 2013, the WAC announced the University of Missouri–Kansas City would join in the summer of 2013 as well. These changes would put
4752-515: The ASUN and WAC to 5 playoff-eligible football members, one short of the six required for an automatic playoff berth. This led the WAC and ASUN to renew their football partnership for the 2022 season. Both conferences would hold their own 2022 football seasons; on June 10, 2022, the WAC announced that the two leagues would determine the alliance's automatic qualifier by a process that was not announced at that time. ESPN reported on December 9, 2022, that
4851-476: The Big West and join its new conference in 2020. In January 2019, Dixie State University , now known as Utah Tech University, announced it would move its athletics to Division I and join the WAC in 2020. In June 2019, the University of Missouri–Kansas City announced it would leave the WAC to join the Summit League in 2020; this announcement came shortly before the rebranding of its athletic program as
4950-572: 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 Oregon's public colleges under greater oversight of the newly renamed Oregon State Board of Higher Education . A doctorate in education
5049-717: 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 Laboratory in Portland . The 2005 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education recognized OSU as
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#17327806467045148-491: The FCS level has also been accompanied by speculation that the conference intends to eventually move its football league back up to FBS in the future, possibly by 2030. Later that same month, the WAC moved the start of their FCS sponsorship of football to Fall 2021, with media reports indicating that the University of Central Arkansas , Eastern Kentucky University , and Jacksonville State University would be added as football affiliates for 2021. The three schools were set to join
5247-630: The High Country Athletic Conference, a parallel organization to the WAC for women's athletics, in 1990 to unify both men's and women's athletics under one administrative structure. In 1996, the WAC expanded again, adding six schools to its ranks for a total of sixteen. Rice , TCU , and SMU joined the league from the Southwest Conference , which had disbanded. Big West Conference members San Jose State and UNLV were also admitted, as well as Tulsa from
5346-605: The Kansas City Roos. In September 2019, Tarleton State University of Division II announced that it would move to Division I and join the WAC in 2020. On January 14, 2021, the Western Athletic Conference announced its intention to reinstate football as a conference-sponsored sport at the FCS level, as well as the addition of five new members to the conference in all sports, including football, at
5445-630: The McAlexander Fieldhouse. 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. In 2023, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) ranked Oregon State University in the top 1.4 percent out of 20,531 degree-granting institutions of higher education worldwide. The CWUR
5544-557: The Southland Conference in 2023 roughly three months prior to UIW's announcement, on April 8, 2022; however, three months later, it was announced that the SLC and Lamar would be accelerating the rejoining process so that Lamar could return for the 2022 athletic season instead. Jacksonville State and Sam Houston both started FBS transitions in the 2022 season, rendering both ineligible for the FCS playoffs and also dropping both
5643-463: The Southland had expelled the Texas Four after they announced their departure. Southern Utah entered as scheduled in 2022. During the aforementioned press conference, Hurd also announced that the WAC would split into two divisions for all sports except football and men's and women's basketball. One division will consist of the six Texas schools (the Texas Four plus existing members Tarleton and UTRGV). Also on January 14, 2021, news broke that UTRGV,
5742-460: The Sun Belt as football-only members in 2014 . In order to rebuild, as well as forestall further defections, the conference was forced to add two schools— Utah Valley University and CSU Bakersfield —which were invited in October 2012 to join the WAC in 2013–14, but this did not prevent two more members from leaving. Denver decided to take most of its athletic teams to The Summit League as of
5841-700: The Taani, was launched in May 2023 and will be stationed in Newport, Oregon . OSU also manages nearly 11,250 acres (4,550 ha) 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 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
5940-463: The WAC added Idaho, New Mexico State, and Utah State—all former Big West schools which left the conference in 2000 along with Boise State when that conference dropped football. The three new schools were all land grant universities , bringing the conference total to five (Nevada and Hawaii). The decade of the 2010s began with a series of conference realignment moves that would have trickle-down effects throughout Division I football, and profoundly change
6039-530: The WAC and ASUN had agreed to form a new football-only conference that planned to start play in 2024. The initial membership would consist of Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton, and Utah Tech from the WAC, plus Austin Peay , Central Arkansas , Eastern Kentucky , and North Alabama from the ASUN. UTRGV would become the 10th member upon its planned addition of football in 2025. The new football conference also reportedly plans to move "from what
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#17327806467046138-533: The WAC and ASUN initially planned to have 6 playoff-eligible teams in 2022, but each lost such a member with the start of FBS transitions by Jacksonville State and Sam Houston. The WAC has been speculated to move back up to FBS in the future following the reestablishment of the football conference at the FCS level. Oregon State University Oregon State University ( OSU ) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon . OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with
6237-441: The WAC for sports not sponsored by their primary conferences: The WAC has 34 former full members: Full members Full members (non-football) Other conference Other conference Associate members (non-football) The WAC formed out of a series of talks between Brigham Young University athletic director Eddie Kimball and other university administrators from 1958 to 1961 to form a new athletic conference that would better fit
6336-466: The WAC planned to add two additional football-playing members to begin competition in 2013. A further boost came when Boise State decided to join the Big East in football, and return to the WAC in most other sports, as of the 2013–14 academic year. So by the end of 2011, the WAC seemed to have weathered the latest round of conference changes, and once again reinvented itself for the future. But from this seemingly strong position, early 2012 brought forth
6435-403: 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 , 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 . CEOAS
6534-400: The administration of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the school's first president, William A. Finley . On August 22, 1868, the official articles of incorporation were filed for Oregon State University, known then as Corvallis College. Two months later, on October 27, 1868, OSU was chartered as the state's first public college. To help ensure the early college would be well funded,
6633-421: 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
6732-519: 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. 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. US News & World Report ranks OSU's online Ecampus fourth nationally (2024). The Ecampus has held
6831-404: The campaign began in 2017. Oregon State has varied and numerous partnership agreements with international institutions, including James Cook University in Australia , the University of Forestry in Bulgaria , Lincoln University in New Zealand and India's Gokula Education Foundation. Undergraduate admission to Oregon State is rated "selective" by U.S. News & World Report . OSU
6930-439: The centerpiece of Corvallis, Oregon . The campus is 83 miles south of Portland, near the middle of the state's Willamette Valley . Much of the main campus was designed by landscape architect John Charles Olmsted in 1906. In 2008, Olmsted's early campus design was designated by the National Register of Historic Places as the Oregon State University Historic District. It is the only college or university campus in Oregon to hold
7029-406: 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
7128-576: The conference's football -playing members leaving the WAC for other affiliations, the conference discontinued football as a sponsored sport after the 2012–13 season , left the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A) and became one of the NCAA's eleven Division I non-football conferences. The WAC thus became the first Division I conference to drop football since the Big West in 2000. The WAC then added men's soccer. The WAC underwent
7227-400: The conference's membership at eight members by 2014 with only one, New Mexico State, having been in the WAC just three years earlier. Due to losing the majority of its football-playing members, the WAC would stop sponsoring the sport after the 2012–13 season, thereby becoming a non-football conference. In 2013, the University of Texas System announced that Texas–Pan American would merge with
7326-524: The enrolled freshmen was 3.58, while the middle 50% range of SAT 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. OSU has more majors, minors and special programs than any other university or college in Oregon. Research has played a central role in the university's overall operations for much of its history. Most of OSU's research continues at
7425-482: The fall 2021 season in what it calls the ASUN–WAC (or WAC–ASUN) Challenge. The Challenge was abbreviated as "AQ7", as the top finisher of the seven teams would be an automatic qualifier for the FCS postseason. The two conferences renewed their alliance for the 2022 season, although both leagues will conduct separate conference seasons and then choose the alliance's automatic qualifier by an as-yet-undetermined process. Both
7524-527: The membership of the WAC. Boise State decided to move to the Mountain West Conference (MWC) for the 2011–12 season, and to replace departing BYU, the MWC also recruited WAC members Fresno State and Nevada for 2012–13. WAC commissioner Karl Benson courted several schools to replace those leaving, including the University of Montana , which declined, as well as the University of Denver , University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), and Texas State University-San Marcos , which all accepted effective 2012–13. But
7623-645: The name of the school was changed to Corvallis State Agricultural College. As the school's name changed so did its mission. Coursework in the sciences and technology became the most popular majors starting in 1900. 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 in an effort to eliminate duplication. "...the board confined studies in engineering and commerce to
7722-586: The nation in graduate nuclear engineering . In the early 2000s, researchers at the campus reactor developed the first working prototype Small Modular Reactor (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
7821-451: The needs and situations of certain universities which were at the time members of the Border , Skyline , and Pacific Coast Conferences. Potential member universities who were represented at the meetings included BYU , Washington State , Oregon , Oregon State , Utah , New Mexico , Arizona , Arizona State , and Wyoming . While the three Washington and Oregon schools elected to stay in
7920-426: The new academy. He later attended Yale University and became an instrumental figure in the development and administration of several other early 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 adopted eight name variations during
8019-879: 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
8118-457: The reasons behind the split. "With Hawaii and the Texas schools separated by about 3,900 miles and four time zones, travel costs were a tremendous burden for WAC teams. The costs, coupled with lagging revenue and a proposed realignment that would have separated rivals such as Colorado State and Air Force, created unrest among the eight defecting schools." BYU and Utah would later leave the MWC for
8217-506: The region were added to the WAC, and UMKC (now known for athletic purposes as Kansas City ) departed the conference in 2020 for its former home of the Summit League . This left Chicago State, which does not sponsor football, as the only WAC member east of Texas. Chicago State's departure rendered Seattle University as the only WAC member institution not geographically located in the southwestern United States. On November 5, 2021, it
8316-576: The resulting eastward shift of the conference's geographic center led Hawaii to reduce travel expenses by becoming a football-only member of the MWC and joining the California-based Big West Conference for all other sports. Further invitations were then issued by the WAC to Seattle University and the University of Texas at Arlington . These changes meant that the conference would have 10 members for 2012–13, seven of which sponsored football, and Benson announced that
8415-459: The separate WAC league table. On the same day as the WAC's initial announcement, Chicago State University announced it would leave the WAC in June 2022. Chicago State was originally added in 2013 along with the University of Missouri–Kansas City , originally with an intention for both institutions to serve as anchors for a midwestern-centered division for the conference. No other universities in
8514-591: The six schools from both a competitive and financial standpoint. Arizona and Arizona State, in particular, experienced success in baseball with Arizona garnering the 1963 College World Series (CWS) runner-up trophy and ASU winning the CWS in 1965, 1967, and 1969. Colorado State and Texas–El Paso (UTEP), at that time just renamed from Texas Western College, were accepted in September 1967 (joined in July 1968) to bring membership up to eight. With massive growth in
8613-606: 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. 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
8712-571: The state of Arizona, the balance of WAC play in the 1970s became increasingly skewed in favor of the Arizona schools, who won or tied for all but two WAC football titles from 1969 onward. In the summer of 1978, the two schools left the WAC for the Pac-8, which became the Pac-10, and were replaced in the WAC by San Diego State and, one year later, Hawaii . The WAC further expanded by adding Air Force in
8811-552: The state. Programs include 4-H Youth Development, Agriculture and Natural Resources (includes OSU Master Gardener ), Family and Community Health/SNAP-Ed , Forestry and Natural Resources , OSU Open Campus, K-12 Outdoor School , and Oregon Sea Grant . Together with university leaders, the Oregon State University Foundation publicly launched Oregon State's first comprehensive fundraising campaign, The Campaign for OSU, on October 26, 2007, with
8910-492: The state. Out-of-state students typically make up over one-quarter of the student body. Since its founding, over 272,000 students have graduated from OSU. The university is classified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as an R1: Doctoral University with very high research activity. Chartered as a land-grant university initially, OSU became one of the four inaugural members of
9009-416: The summer of 1980. A college football national championship won by Brigham Young in 1984 added to the WAC's reputation. This nine-team line-up of the WAC defined the conference for nearly 15 years. Fresno State expanded its athletic program in the early 1990s and was granted membership in 1992 as the nationwide trend against major college programs independent of conferences accelerated. The WAC merged with
9108-483: The two conferences proposed an amendment to NCAA bylaws that would allow their partnership (and presumably any others of its kind) to receive an immediate FCS playoff berth. Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State) and Tarleton are included in alliance members' schedules, but are not eligible for the FCS playoffs until completing their Division I transitions in 2024; at least for 2021, games involving those two schools did not count in alliance standings, although both were included in
9207-497: 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
9306-410: 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 in 2021. In 2012, ECONorthwest conducted an economic impact analysis that found that each year OSU has
9405-580: Was always part of the Pacific Division, and quadrant four was always part of the Mountain Division. Quadrant two was part of the Pacific Division for 1996 and 1997 before switching to the Mountain Division in 1998, while the reverse was true for quadrant three. The scheduled fourth year of the alignment was abandoned after eight schools left to form the Mountain West Conference. The division champions in football met from 1996 to 1998 in
9504-533: Was approved in 2023. The complex will include 70+ studio-style apartments and a small number of two-bedroom apartments near the Newport campus. 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
9603-408: Was cut in half in 1999 with the formation of the Mountain West Conference , both the championship game and two-division format were discontinued. All participants in the three title games were among the defections to Mountain West. Below are the results from all WAC Football Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of their primary team color. Rankings are from
9702-530: Was first offered in the early 1930s, with the conferral of four Doctor of Philosophy 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 . . The 420-acre (170 ha), tree-lined main campus serves as an internationally recognized arboretum and
9801-439: Was reported that New Mexico State and Sam Houston would be leaving the WAC for Conference USA in 2023. The WAC responded by adding Incarnate Word from the Southland Conference and UT Arlington from the Sun Belt Conference ; however, UIW later reversed course and decided to stay with the SLC only days before the 2022-23 athletic season officially began. Lamar also announced that it too would return to its former home of
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