The proposed merger of two of Oregon’s oldest universities cleared a key hurdle this month, paving the way for Willamette University in Salem and Pacific University in Forest Grove to begin operating as a single legal entity by the start of 2027.
The combined school is likely to be known as the University of the Northwest and would enroll more than 6,000 students at campuses in Salem, Forest Grove, Portland and Hillsboro.
Governing boards at both schools signed off on the terms of the proposed merger earlier this month, according to a joint statement from the two universities.
Plans call for Willamette’s current president, Steve Thorsett, to serve as the chancellor of the new university and oversee business operations. Jenny Coyle, Pacific’s current president, will serve as the president of the merged campuses, overseeing academic and student affairs. The two schools would eventually be governed by a single board of trustees.
Mergers of private higher education institutions require approvals from both the U.S. Department of Education and the Seattle-based Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, which evaluates schools to ensure that they meet the standards required to participate in federal financial aid programs. State regulators will also need to approve the plan.
Because of the lengthy approval process, it could take until 2028 until the merger of the two schools is fully complete, said Lauren Milligan, a spokesperson for Willamette. Until then, both universities will maintain their own separate accreditation and financial aid programs. Even after the proposed merger, the two schools plan to maintain their own admissions programs, athletics and academic programming.
The two schools, both among the oldest universities in the West, each offer traditional arts and sciences degrees to undergraduates, but do not have broad overlap in their array of graduate and pre-professional offerings.
Willamette is known for its law school, graduate school of management and, since 2020, for its stewardship of the Pacific Northwest College of Art in downtown Portland, which merged with Willamette in 2020.
Pacific, which has campuses in Forest Grove, Hillsboro and Portland, offers graduate degree programs in education, social work, optometry, occupational and physical therapy and clinical psychology, and says it graduates more health care providers than any other private university in Oregon.
Mergers of smaller private universities have become increasingly common in the United States over the last decade as the cost of higher education has spiraled and there have been fewer students in the pipeline due to declining birth rates.
For example, the University of Redlands and Woodbury University in Southern California announced July 6 that they had completed a merger. In North Carolina, Elon University and Queens University of Charlotte announced plans to merge in fall 2025, something leaders of both schools framed as an effort to respond to the needs of local employers.
Both Thorsett and Coyle have said they hope that the combined campuses will open up access to a greater alumni network and more career pathways for current students, particularly in healthcare, law and education.
Public institutions in Oregon have been buffeted by the same negative economic and demographic forces. Leaders at Southern Oregon University recently approved plans to cut $20 million from the school’s budget, eliminating three academic programs and cutting more than 60 positions. And Portland State, the University of Oregon and Oregon State University are all planning for millions of dollars in budget cuts.
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