By Starla Pointer, McMinnville News-Register, Nov. 12, 2019
Linfield College’s Board of Trustees approved a resolution favoring a name change at its fall meeting this month. If the board gives formal approval in February, the McMinnville-based school will become “Linfield University” beginning in the 2020-21 academic year.
It would be the institution’s fourth name in just over 160 years. The school was founded in 1858 as Baptist College at McMinnville, soon renamed McMinnville College, then named Linfield College in 1922 following a major donation by the Linfield family.
Over the years, trustees said, Linfield also has gone through “a multiplicity of revisions in curriculum, programs and structures” in order to meet the needs of students “in widely-divergent historical eras and to evolve as a dynamic organization.” The change also would help in marketing the college and attracting more students, their resolution said.
President Miles Davis announced the potential name change in late October, saying the term “university” would define the school’s mission as it moves forward with graduate programs, as well as undergraduate studies.
Davis said Linfield is working toward grad programs in health fields, as an expansion of its popular bachelor’s degree / registered nursing program; and in other areas, such as the wine studies program, which already is partnering with a university in France to offer a combined bachelor/master’s degree program that starts on the McMinnville campus and finishes with two years in Europe.
Linfield surveyed alumni in October about the idea of a name change. Davis said most of the 2,000 responses he received were supportive of “Linfield University.” Only about 7% responded negatively, most of them saying they are fine with the word “college.”
No matter what it’s called, Davis said Linfield will always retain its small-school friendliness and opportunities, which range from international studies to classes taught by professors to chances to play sports, join the marching band or audition for a play no matter what their major.
Trustees said the initial Linfield University structure probably will consist of a College of Arts and Sciences, a School of Nursing, and a School of Business. All students will take classes at the College of Arts and Sciences on the McMinnville campus first “so that the distinctive interdisciplinary features of a Linfield education will remain accessible to all, in both undergraduate and graduate programs.”
