Mission Statement

Mission

Linfield College advances a vision of learning, life, and community that

promotes intellectual challenge and creativity,
values both theoretical and practical knowledge,
engages thoughtful dialogue in a climate of mutual respect,
honors the rich texture of diverse cultures and varied ways of understanding,
piques curiosity for a lifetime of inquiry,
and inspires the courage to live by moral and spiritual principle and to defend freedom of conscience.

Concise Statement

Linfield: Connecting Learning, Life, and Community

Organization and Governance

Linfield College is a four-year, non-profit, coeducational, liberal arts institution historically and currently affiliated with the American Baptist Churches. All college operations are governed by administration and faculty, with ultimate responsibility resting with the Board of Trustees. The college is committed to the teaching of undergraduates in an atmosphere of academic freedom that offers intellectual rigor, creativity, and a sense of personal and social responsibility.

Linfield's Academic Organization

This catalog provides separate sections describing the college’s three main academic/administration units: the McMinnville Campus; the Portland Campus; and the Division of Continuing Education.

The McMinnville Campus is the home of most of the college’s academic departments. It also houses the International Programs Office, the Office of Career Services, and the Alumni Relations Office.
The McMinnville Campus section includes complete descriptions of each academic department operating in McMinnville, along with listings of courses specific to the Portland Campus and DCE.
The Portland Campus houses the college’s Nursing and Health Sciences programs. Within the Portland Campus section are descriptions of these programs.
The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) is headquartered on the McMinnville Campus and branches into eight satellite locations in Oregon.
The DCE section describes the Adult Degree Program as well as admission and administrative policies that differ from those on the other two campuses.

Linfield College: A World of Difference

Linfield College is an independent, comprehensive undergraduate institution, nationally 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.

In its McMinnville, Portland, and Adult Degree Programs, Linfield enrolls more than 2,500 students and offers 45 majors and three undergraduate degrees — Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing. All students are required to complete an inquiry-based general education program, the Linfield Curriculum, consisting of an Inquiry Seminar, one course in each of the six Modes of Inquiry, a writing-intensive requirement, a two-course diversity requirement addressing both national and international pluralisms, and an upper-division course outside the major.

Linfield provides students with an international experience. Students from 30 states and 21 countries live and study together. Over 50 percent of Linfield students study abroad as part of their regular academic experience.

Linfield's Pioneer Heritage

Linfield is one of the oldest colleges in the Pacific Northwest. It traces its roots to an institution established by the Baptists in 1849 – 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. The college is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA.

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 students throughout 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.
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. The Vivian A. Bull Music Center opened in 2006.

The pioneer spirit and commitment to learning have guided Linfield’s growth for more than 150 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.