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…