Linfield College

Linfield College is an American private institution of higher learning located in McMinnville, Oregon, United States. As a four-year, undergraduate, liberal arts and sciences college with a campus in Portland, Oregon, it also has an adult degree program located online and in eight communities throughout the state. Linfield Wildcats athletics participates in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference. There are a combined 2,266 students^[2] at Linfield, which employs over 153 full-time professors^[1] at the 195-acre (790,000 m²) campus.^[3]

History

Linfield traces its history back to 1849 when the Oregon Baptist Educational Society was created in Oregon City.^[4] That group organized in order to start a Baptist school in the region.^[4] In 1855, Sebastian C. Adams started to teach classes in McMinnville, and in 1857 the Baptist group purchased Adams' land in order to start their school.^[4] The Baptist College at McMinnville was chartered in 1858 by the Oregon Territorial Legislature, and later became McMinnville College before acquiring its current name.^[5]

In 1922, the name was changed to Linfield College in memory of a Baptist minister, the Rev. George Fisher Linfield whose widow, Frances Ross Linfield, gave property to the college to promote Christian education and as a memorial to her husband. In his 1938 book, Bricks Without Straw: The Story of Linfield College, Professor Jonas A. "Steine" Jonasson quotes from the minutes of the college's board of trustees to explain Mrs. Linfield's motivation for her large land gift to the college: "Mrs. Linfield's dual purpose in making the gift to McMinnville College was to 'perpetuate the name, scholarly attainments and Christian influence of her late husband, Rev. George Fisher Linfield, and to promote the cause of Christian education.'^[6]

The Linfield Division of Continuing Education (Adult Degree Program) began in 1975. Today it serves eight communities in Oregon as well as online degree programs giving working adults the opportunity to complete a bachelor's degree or certificate program.

In 1982, the Linfield College-Portland Campus was established when the college entered into an affiliation with Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital & Medical Center and began offering a bachelor's degree program in nursing.

In the 2007-2008 academic year Linfield celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary.^[7]

Portland Campus

The Portland Campus, home of the Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing, was established in 1982 and is located in historic Northwest Portland adjacent to the Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center. The Portland Campus became the successor to the Good Samaritan Hospital Diploma School of Nursing, established by Emily Loveridge in 1890.

Accreditation

Linfield College is regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Specialized accreditation is granted to individual programs. The Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing is accredited by the Oregon State Board of Nursing and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The education program is approved for training of education and secondary teachers by the State of Oregon's Teachers Standards and Practices Commission. Linfield College's music program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, and its athletic training program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education.

Academics

For six consecutive years, Linfield was named the #1 college in the western region by US News & World Report for the Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelor's category.^[8] In the U.S. News and World Report College Rankings for 2007, Linfield College was recategorized and ranked as a Liberal Arts College in a restructuring of rankings.^[9] In 2011 it was ranked 105.^[10] Linfield has been named by The Princeton Review as one of the Best Colleges in the Western Region.^[11] 93 percent of Linfield professors have the highest degree in their field.^[2] Since 1999, 20 graduates have won Fulbright grants.^[2] In 2009, Language Professor Peter Richardson was awarded Oregon Professor of the Year^[12]

Athletics

The Linfield College Wildcat football team has the longest streak of winning seasons in all levels of the NCAA. As of 2011, the team has 57 consecutive winning seasons. Linfield has won four national college football titles (NCAA Division III: 2004, NAIA Division II: 1982, 1984, 1986) and two in baseball (NAIA Division II: 1966, 1971). The Linfield Softball team won two NCAA Division III Softball Championships in May 2007 & May 2011.

Top athletics alumni include former New York Yankee Scott Brosius, who graduated from Linfield and now is the head baseball coach at the college; former San Diego Charger Brett Elliott, the quarterback of the 2004 championship team; and former Miami Dolphins general manager, Randy Mueller, quarterback of Linfield's 1982 NAIA Championship squad.

Linfield offers varsity sports in Baseball, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Cross-Country, Football, Men's Golf, Women's Golf, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Soccer, Men's Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Women's Tennis, Men's Tennis, Track & Field, and Women's Volleyball.

Media organizations

KSLC FM radio

KSLC is an entirely student-run station with reception throughout town and the immediate vicinity. The full time student-staff consists of nine members, who work under the guidance of one faculty advisor. Students are encouraged to get involved through the broadcast practices class or just volunteer. It plays a wide variety of music and also broadcasts Linfield Wildcat sporting events. There are specialty shows every weeknight in addition: Punk, Heavy Rock, World Music and Hip Hop are among the most popular. The station was housed in Pioneer Hall until 2007 when a new facility was completed in the basement of Renshaw Hall.

The Linfield Review

The Linfield Review is Linfield's student-run weekly campus newspaper. The newspaper is staffed only by students of the college. and funded mostly through the Associated Students of Linfield College. According to the March 16, 2007 issue of the newspaper, the Linfield Review took third place in the Best in Show contest at the Associated Collegiate Press national college newspaper convention in Portland.^[13]

Greek organizations

As of 2007, there are four fraternities and four sororities at Linfield College. The sororities are Alpha Phi (ΑΦ), Zeta Tau Alpha (ΖΤΑ), Sigma Kappa Phi (ΣΚΦ), and Phi Sigma Sigma (ΦΣΣ). The fraternities include Delta Psi Delta (ΔΨΔ), Kappa Sigma (ΚΣ), Pi Kappa Alpha (ΠΚΑ), and Theta Chi (ΘΧ). Sigma Kappa Phi and Delta Psi Delta are both local organizations and have no national affiliation. All four fraternities at Linfield have houses, whereas the sororities do not.

Notable people

Notable people who have attended or taught at Linfield College, include athletes such as Scott Brosius, former New York Yankee and 1998 World Series MVP, Kenneth Scott Latourette, scholar of Christianity and Chinese History, and Amy Tan,^[14] the author of "The Joy Luck Club," "The Bonesetter's Daughter," and "The Kitchen God's Wife".

Notes & references

External links

• Official website