EUGENE—The University of Oregon released a detailed plan today (Friday, Dec. 1) for a Central Oregon campus that will break new ground in higher education.

"Our vision is to build, in cooperation with Central Oregon Community College (COCC), an opportunity for a full college education in Central Oregon that matches the best of the small colleges and universities in the nation," says John Moseley, UO provost and vice president for academic affairs, who oversaw the UO’s months-long effort to gauge and answer Central Oregon’s educational needs.

The UO’s plan–bolstered by pledges of $2.65 million in private support to supplement state government funds–offers Central Oregon students a comprehensive university experience founded on a solid science, social science and humanities core and enhanced by key professional and graduate offerings. These educational offerings will be backed with the strengths of a major research university, but offered in an attractive small-college setting.

"We did not want to establish a typical ‘branch campus’ that offers a watered-down version of a big campus, so we took an entirely new approach designed to answer the area’s unique educational needs," says Moseley. "The fact is that narrow technical skills can become obsolete almost overnight and today’s reality is that employers want people who can think quickly, analyze critically, communicate well and work effectively in groups. The answer the UO provides to that challenge is a solid liberal arts education."

Moseley’s assessment is backed by comments from local citizens, national observers, the Oregon governor’s office and the Central Oregon Regional Advisory Board, which noted in its Plan for Higher Education "…studies consistently indicate that there is continuing perceived need for ‘Arts and Sciences’ or ‘Liberal Arts’ education in Central Oregon."

In addition to essential degrees in the sciences, the social sciences and the humanities, the UO’s plan offers Central Oregon:

• Partnerships with other institutions, including Portland State University, Eastern Oregon University, Southern Oregon University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Oregon Health Sciences University and Linfield College, along with a willingness to work with Oregon State University, to provide the wide variety of programs needed by Central Oregon;

• An array of innovative majors and/or minors in important areas such as business, education, computer information technology, hospitality management, engineering technology and environmental sciences, as well as selected master’s degrees in areas such as education, business, information management, public administration and social work;

• A long history of involvement in Central Oregon, dating back to the university’s pioneering geologist Thomas Condon and anthropologist Luther Cressman, and including numerous field programs each year, the Community Service Workshops, the Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) program, educational administration and teacher training programs, and the Pine Mountain Observatory;

• A proposed Central Oregon Field Studies Center that will provide a logistical and intellectual home for field-based research in archaeology, cultural anthropology, geomorphology, geology and geophysics, linguistics, community service and other areas;

• A Cultural Events Program to bring Central Oregon many of the recitals, plays, exhibits and concerts that make Eugene a vital center for the arts;

• A Learning in Retirement Program that will be open to retirees aged 55 or older who have an interest in lifelong learning and that will offer courses in subjects including history, literature, archaeology, volcanology, law and psychology;

• A strong record of student recruitment within Oregon as well as nationally and internationally, and specific ideas for recruitment to the Central Oregon campus;

• An outstanding international academic reputation, including membership in such organizations as the Association of American Universities and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities;

• Leadership in computer networking and instructional technology, and the ability to bring state-of-the-art connectivity to Central Oregon, both on the COCC campus and beyond; and

• A proven ability to raise funds, including grants and contracts, to support the Central Oregon campus ($2.65 million in private support for Central Oregon has already been pledged).

A summary as well as the full text of the comprehensive UO plan will be made available on the web at http://comm.uoregon.edu/Bend/.

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