Portland State University serves as a center of opportunity for nearly 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Located in Portland, Oregon, one of the nation’s most livable cities, the University’s innovative approach to education combines academic rigor in the classroom with field-based experiences through internships and classroom projects with community partners. The University’s 49-acre downtown campus exhibits Portland State’s commitment to sustainability with green buildings, while many of the 124 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees incorporate sustainability into the curriculum. PSU’s motto, “Let Knowledge Serve the City,” inspires the teaching and research of an accomplished faculty whose work and students span the globe.

ORIGINS
The University was established as Vanport Extension Center in 1946 and in 1952 moved to downtown Portland. In 1955, the Vanport Extension Center became Portland State College, a four-year, degree-granting institution. Graduate studies were added in 1961, doctoral programs began in 1968, and the institution was granted university status in 1969.

EDUCATION
Portland State University is a nationally acclaimed leader in community-based learning. Located in downtown Portland’s tree-lined South Park 

Blocks, the University is the largest, most diverse and only urban university in the Oregon University System. It is Oregon’s fastest growing public institution, serving more students and conferring more graduate degrees each year than any other school in the Oregon University System.

PSU’s award-winning general education program, called University Studies, provides students with learning experiences designed to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and attitudes that will build a foundation for lifelong learning.

The University offers more than 120 majors, minors and areas of concentration. Portland State is home to Oregon’s largest business school and the Graduate School of Education is Oregon’s largest and most comprehensive school of its kind. PSU also offers the largest academic summer program in the state of Oregon.

The Portland State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics strives to provide an athletic program that develops the whole person through education and competition.

Student-athletes have access to their own computer lab in the Stott Center, which is open whenever the Stott Center itself is. The lab’s 15 computers are replaced every other year.

Student-athletes work with an academic advisor and have access to the Skills Enhancement and Tutoring Center to ensure they are able to get the most out of their education.  Student-athletes are also able to attend seminars given by the career center.

GREEN. IT'S MORE THAN OUR SCHOOL COLOR
At Portland State we do more than just study sustainability. We engage directly with the community around us to make sustainability real. Our goal is to harness the strengths of our singular urban university - our new ideas, our innovative partnerships, our academic rigor - toward solving the environmental, social, and economic problems of our time.

In September 2008, Portland State University received the biggest donation in its history: $25 million from the James F. and Maron L. Miller Foundation for research and projects focused on sustainability.

ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY
If you’re encountering the concept of sustainability for the first time, you may be asking yourself what all the buzz is about. When pressed to provide a definition, most sustainability professionals offer some variation on the following definition: Sustainability means meeting the economic, social, and environmental needs of the present without compromising the similar needs of future generations.

Sustainability is a process. By thinking about sustainability as a continuum rather than an endpoint, we as a University are better positioned to identify our successes while simultaneously focusing on future goals. Portland State aims to be a living laboratory of sustainability, with our efforts at research and education fully integrated with the community around us.

PORTLAND STATE PROFILE

ACADEMIC UNITS
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• College of Urban and Public Affairs
• Graduate School of Education
• Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science
• School of Business Administration
• School of Extended Studies
• School of Fine and Performing Arts
• School of Social Work

MOST POPULAR MAJORS
• Business Administration and Management
• Social Sciences
• Psychology

TOP-50 GRADUATE PROGRAMS
• Environmental Policy and Management
• City Management and Urban Policy
• Public Affairs
• Rehabilitation Counseling
• Social Work

Source: U.S. News & World Report, 2012 Best Graduate Schools

ENROLLMENT: 29,703
DEGREES AWARDED IN 2011: 5,784
FACULTY AND STAFF: 2,110
LIBRARY: 1.3 million volumes
ALUMNI: over 118,000
MOTTO: Let knowledge serve the city
FOUNDED: 1946
MOVED TO SOUTH PARK BLOCKS: 1952
FIRST BACHELOR'S DEGREES AWARDED: 1956
FIRST MASTER'S DEGREES: 1964
FIRST DOCTORAL DEGREES: 1972
CAMPUS ACREAGE: 49 acres
EDUCATIONAL SQUARE FOOTAGE: 3.2 million (4.5 million total)
PSU BUILDINGS: 50
RESIDENTIAL STUDENT HOUSING PROPERTIES: 12
ECONOMIC IMPACT: more than $1.4 billion