Pacific and Willamette Universities are taking formal steps toward a merger that would create Oregon’s largest private university. The institutions have signed a letter of intent to pursue due diligence and negotiate a definitive agreement that, if approved, would combine them into a single institution provisionally called the University of the Northwest.
The merger would unite Oregon’s two founding institutions of higher education, which together enroll about 6,000 students and share a network of more than 73,000 alumni. Willamette University President Steve Thorsett called the proposal “a defining moment for private higher education in the region,” and said the goal is to “build the institution Oregon needs for its next chapter.”
The combined university would operate campuses in Forest Grove, Hillsboro, Portland and Salem, linking programs that already span the liberal arts and sciences, law, business and health professions. Leaders say a single structure would allow them to coordinate offerings more closely and create new routes for students to move between disciplines and degrees.
Academic footprint and student pathways
If the merger is approved, the new university would bring together undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in fields including law, business, health professions, education, optometry, counseling, art and design, and computing and data science. Both institutions already promote pathways that let students step into advanced or accelerated programs, with the goal of helping them reach career-ready credentials sooner and with less debt. A combined university would extend those arrangements across campuses, opening preferred-admissions and accelerated options to students at either school.
Pacific University President Jenny Coyle said the shared aim is to “address the region’s most pressing workforce needs while preserving the personalized, mission-driven education that defines both of our institutions.” With campuses across the Portland metro area and the Mid-Willamette Valley, she said, a unified institution could “provide students opportunity” while preparing graduates to use their skills “to uplift communities.”
The structural model under discussion is a collegiate university, where distinct schools and colleges retain their character, identities and historic campuses under a shared administrative structure. The undergraduate colleges at Pacific, Willamette and the Pacific Northwest College of Art would keep their current names and continue operating on their existing campuses while maintaining separate admissions requirements, academic programs and athletics.
Shared history and what comes next
Supporters of the merger point to a long history of leadership and service at both institutions. Pacific launched the state’s first degree programs in teaching, optometry, occupational therapy and physical therapy and is now the top private educator of healthcare professionals in Oregon. Willamette, recognized as the first university in the American West, created Oregon’s first medical school and law school and has produced generations of civic, legal and cultural leaders.
Coyle said both schools have “championed the power of education to transform students’ lives and, in turn, serve the world outside the walls of our institutions.” She described the proposed University of the Northwest as an extension of that mission, noting that Pacific and Willamette “have educated the leaders who built Oregon” and are now preparing to educate “the leaders who will build Oregon’s future.”
State higher education officials are watching the process. Ben Cannon, executive director of Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission, called the merger effort a “bold approach” at a time when “increased investment and innovation in all sectors of higher education is crucial for our state’s economic future,” and said the commission looks forward to supporting work that “expand[s] access to higher education for all Oregonians.”
For now, the agreement remains an early step rather than a final decision. Over the coming months, leadership teams at both universities plan to conduct financial and academic reviews, negotiate the terms of a definitive merger agreement and move through a series of regulatory and third-party approvals. Operational details, including governance structures, branding and timelines for any transition, are expected to emerge as those processes move ahead. Until then, Pacific and Willamette will continue to operate independently while they explore whether a combined University of the Northwest can deliver on the access and regional impact they have outlined.