(verified 3/17)

Western Oregon University is Oregon’s oldest public university. It was founded in 1856 and was called Monmouth University. Western Oregon University is the school’s seventh name since then.

Western Oregon University is a mid-size university. It is located in the Mid-Willamette Valley.

It is a university, not a college. But it contains two colleges: The College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

The mascot is the Wolves. This refers to men’s and women’s sports (women are not “Lady Wolves”)

WOU is a NCAA Division II university in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. It has five men’s sports teams: baseball, basketball, track and field, cross country and football and six women’s teams: soccer, volleyball, softball, basketball, cross country and track and field.

WOU is a member of the Western University Exchange (WUE) system, which offers discounted non-resident tuition rates for students in affiliated states.

WOU has 400 instructional faculty. That includes 164 tenured or tenure-track faculty and 127 full-time and 109 part-time non-tenure-track faculty positions. For full-time faculty, 69.8% hold a terminal degree (doctorate or terminal master’s), 27.1% hold a master’s degree, and 3% hold a bachelor’s degree. For part-time faculty, 14.7% hold a terminal degree, 79% hold a master’s degree, and 6.3% hold a bachelor’s degree. There are 53 full-time and seven part-time research faculty.

For undergraduates, WOU offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, and Applied Baccalaureate degrees. There are 37 majors, with 30 concentrations within those majors. Most majors also have an associated minor option. Students are required to have an official minor.

Graduate degree programs include the Master of Music in Contemporary Music, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Arts in Criminal Justice, Master of Arts in Interpreting Studies, Master of Science in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling, Master of Science in Management and Information Systems, Master of Science in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education and the Master of Science in Education.

Approximately 25 WOU students serve as members of the orientation Peer Leaders Understanding Students (PLUS) Team to help incoming students during the Summer Orientation, Advising, and Registration (SOAR) days, as well as during New Student Week.

WOU Ambassadors work with Admissions on campus, providing campus tours, work during WOU Preview Days and many other activities.

The original “Old Grove” was planted south of Campbell Hall in 1867. During the Columbus Day storm in 1962, the tops of the Douglas firs broke, crashing into Campbell’s south wing and ruining its tower. Many of the remaining the trees was later removed but a few still stand. In 1976, a “New Grove” was planted outside New P.E. thanks to donations and funds from a grant from the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of Oregon. Some of the trees in the New Grove were removed when Ackerman Hall was built in 2010.

Peter Courtney Health and Wellness Center is the official name of the physical education building that was completed in 2010.

The Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing satellite location on the Western Oregon University campus opened in 2008. It is one of five physical satellite locations for the school.