Linfield College

Linfield College is an independent, comprehensive undergraduate college recognized for its strong teaching faculty, outstanding science programs, and distinctive international emphasis. Linfield has a challenging and exciting academic program that features a broad liberal arts core and an atmosphere in which there is genuine concern for individuals and their progress. Read our Mission Statement.

Linfield includes:

• A residential campus in McMinnville, Oregon
• A campus in Portland, Oregon, specializing in Nursing and Health Sciences
• A Division of Continuing Education offers a set of adult degree courses online and at eight sites in Oregon.

The Liberal Arts

Students in all three programs complete a liberal arts curriculum. The general education requirement called The Linfield Curriculum fosters the development of wholly educated individuals through a series of courses spanning the arts and humanities, natural sciences, and social and behavioral sciences. The Linfield Curriculum encourages inquiry, analysis, and imagination, habits of mind that provide the foundation for reasoned action, wonder and continued learning in all aspects of life.

Pioneer Heritage

Linfield is one of the oldest colleges in the Pacific Northwest. It traces its roots to a time of expansion and excitement on the Western frontier. The Baptist College at McMinnville was chartered in 1858 by the Oregon Territorial Legislature. It was later named McMinnville College.

The name was changed to Linfield College in 1922 in memory of a Baptist minister whose widow, Frances Ross Linfield, gave property worth more than $250,000 to the college. Six years later, Linfield was fully accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.

There are several other important milestones in Linfield’s history:

• The Linfield Research Institute, which gives undergraduates the opportunity to work with faculty on research, was established in 1956. It has contributed to Linfield’s strong record in science education.
• The Linfield Division of Continuing Education began in 1975. Today, it serves eight communities in Oregon, giving working adults the opportunity to complete a bachelor’s degree.
• In 1976, Linfield began a student exchange program with Kanto Gakuin University in Japan. Today, Linfield offers study abroad in Austria, Costa Rica, Ecuador, England, France, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, and China (Beijing and Hong Kong). January Term, with its popular four-week intensive courses, typically offers classes at 15 domestic and international locations.
• Linfield’s Portland Campus was established in 1982 when the college entered into an affiliation with Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center and began offering a bachelor’s degree program in nursing. The Portland Campus also offers degrees in health sciences and environmental studies.
• In 1998, Linfield more than doubled the physical size of its McMinnville Campus with the acquisition of 115 acres and four buildings from the Hewlett-Packard Company. As a result, Linfield has grown from 78 acres in 1998 to 193 today. The James F. Miller Fine Arts Center opened in 2001, followed in 2003 by Kenneth W. Ford Hall, which houses the Marshall Theatre, and the Jereld R. Nicholson Library. Construction of a new music building was completed in the summer of 2006.

The pioneer spirit and commitment to learning have guided Linfield’s growth for over 140 years. While the college has changed much from the early days, its mission has remained constant – to teach undergraduates in an atmosphere of academic freedom that fosters intellectual rigor, creativity, and a sense of personal and social responsibility.