Basic facts
(verified 5/5/2022)
- 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 located in the heart of the Willamette Valley.
- WOU is a university, not a college. But currently, WOU contains two colleges: The College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
- The mascot is the Wolves. This refers to both men’s and women’s sports (women are not “Lady Wolves”) #howlaboutit
- WOU is a NCAA Division II university in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. It has six men’s sports teams: baseball, basketball, track and field, cross country, football, and soccer, and six women’s teams: soccer, volleyball, softball, basketball, cross country, and track and field. WOU also offers many club sports, Rugby being one of them.
- 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 319 instructional faculty. That includes 144 tenured or tenure-track faculty and 99 full-time and 76 part-time non-tenure-track faculty positions. For full-time faculty, 74.5% hold a terminal degree (doctorate or terminal master’s), 22.2% hold a master’s degree, and 3.3% hold a bachelor’s degree. For part-time faculty, 18.4% hold a terminal degree, 60.5% hold a master’s degree, and 21.1% hold a bachelor’s degree. There are five full-time and zero part-time research faculty.
- For undergraduates, WOU offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts and Science, and Applied Baccalaureate degrees. There are 46 majors, with 66 concentrations within those majors. Most majors also have an associated minor option. Students are not required to have an official minor.
- Graduate degree programs include the Criminal Justice, M.A.; Curriculum and Instruction, M.S.Ed.; Early Childhood Education, M.S.Ed.; Educational
Technology, M.S.Ed.; Elementary Mathematics Specialist (K-8), M.S.Ed.; English for Speakers of Other Languages or Bilingual/ESOL, M.S.Ed.; Interdisciplinary
Professional Studies, M.S.Ed.; Interpreting Studies, M.A.; Literacy Education, M.S.Ed.; Organizational Leadership, M.A.; Reading, M.S.Ed.; Rehabilitation
Counseling, M.S.; Special Education, M.S.Ed.; STEM Education, M.S.Ed.; and Teaching, M.A.T. - Approximately 22-27 WOU students serve as members of the orientation Peer Leaders Understanding Students (PLUS) Team to help incoming students during PACK Welcome events (Prepare, Advise, Connect, and Know) and New Student Week (Fall Orientation).
- 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 trees were 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.
- 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.