Linfield University is a private liberal arts college with campuses in McMinnville, and Portland, Oregon. Linfield Wildcats athletics participate in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference. Linfield reported a total of 1,755 students after the fall 2022 census date. The institution officially changed its name from Linfield College to Linfield University in 2020.
History
The 1800s Linfield traces its history back to the earliest days of Oregon Territory, when pioneer Baptists in Oregon City created the Oregon Baptist Educational Society in 1848.Corning, Howard M. (1989) Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 148. This society was organized to establish a Baptist school in the region, which began as Oregon City College in 1849. In 1855, Sebastian C. Adams began to agitate for a school in McMinnville. Adams and his associates were members of the Christian Church, and so the school became a Christian school. To begin, of property were donated by W. T. Newby and a group was formed to establish the school. The group included William Dawson, James McBride, Newby, and Adams, and they bore the major part of the expenses of starting the school. These men built a building and convinced Adams, who was a teacher, to operate the school. After about a year and a half and because of the difficulty of running the school alone and funding problems, Adams suggested that the school be turned over to the Baptists who were attempting to start up the West Union Institute that had been chartered in 1858 by the Oregon Territorial Legislature. The Adams group imposed the condition that the Baptists keep at least one professor employed continuously in the college department.Bancroft, Hubert Howe, "The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft", Volume XXX: "History of Oregon", Volume II, The History Company, San Francisco, California. 1888. pgs. 684 & 686 Other accounts indicate that the Baptist group purchased the land in 1857 in order to start their school. The Oregon Territorial Legislature chartered the Baptist College at McMinnville in 1858. The school later became McMinnville College in 1898.
The 1900s In 1922, the name was changed to Linfield College in memory of a Baptist minister, the Rev. George Fisher Linfield whose widow, Frances Eleanor Ross Linfield, gave a substantial donation to the college to promote Christian education and as a memorial to her late husband. Mrs. Linfield served as Dean of Women from 1921 to 1928, and sat on the Board of Directors from 1922 to her death in 1940. Her gift included real estate in Spokane, Washington, valued at $250,000 (a sum worth nearly $4 million in 2020).According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic's Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, $250,000 in 1922 would equate to nearly $3,800,000 in 2020. See: https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm Mrs. Linfield wanted to perpetuate memory of the name and influence of her late husband, George Fisher Linfield, as well as support Christian education.
In 1982, the Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing 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.
The 2000s Linfield offered buyouts to 13 professors in liberal-arts programs with shrinking enrollment in 2019, shortly after President Miles K. Davis arrived. He also announced efforts to shift resources to the nursing and business programs, which account for the majority of students. Those shifts led to strained relationships with some faculty members in the traditional liberals arts disciplines.
Following sexual abuse charges against a former trustee that involved students in 2017 and 2019, faculty members voted 88 to 18 on a motion of no confidence in David C. Baca, the chair of the college's board of trustees, in May 2020. The board continued to support Baca who offered to resign. Students then circulated a petition calling for Baca to step down from his position. An outside agency also investigated a claim made by a faculty member of "inappropriate touching" by two trustees.
The school officially changed its name to Linfield University in 2020. Along with the new name, Linfield unveiled a new logo and seal for the institution. The logo bears the letter "L" inside an acorn with oak leaves. According to the university, "Linfield has used an image of an acorn as part of its logo design since 2010, and a representation of an oak leaf in years previous to that."
In April 2021, President Miles K. Davis was accused by several faculty members of making antisemitic remarks. Davis denied the allegations in a letter to the Anti-Defamation League, which has suggested an investigation into the claims as well as antisemitism and bias training for institutional leaders. An earlier investigation into alleged remarks by Davis substantiated one allegation but was unable to confirm the other claims. One of the faculty members filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, claiming religious retaliation and harassment by Davis and Baca. On April 19, 2021, faculty members passed a resolution of no confidence in Davis and Baca, and called for their resignations. The college fired one of the whistleblowers, a Jewish tenured professor, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, who filed a lawsuit against the school. Due in part to the termination of Pollack-Pelzner's employment, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) censured Linfield for, in the AAUP's opinion, not respecting Pollack-Pelzner's academic freedom and not following institutional policies. In February, 2023, Linfield reached a $1 million settlement with the fired professor.
In September 2021, Baca stepped down as chair of the board of trustees.
In November, 2023, Davis announced his intention to resign in early 2024. Rebecca L. Johnson was appointed interim president on December 26, 2023. Mark Blegen became president effective July 1, 2025.
Academics Linfield University grants degrees at the baccalaureate and master's degree level. The institution offers 55 undergraduate majors, 48 minors, 5 graduate degrees and 8 certificate programs, in addition to pre-professional undergraduate programs in health, engineering, business, law and pre-medicine. These academic programs are housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business and the Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing. Its three most popular majors, based on 2024 graduates, were nursing (291), exercise science and kinesiology (19), and psychology (18).
Linfield has a dual enrollment agreement with Portland Community College.
International education Linfield offers several study abroad programs through its International Programs Office. Linfield covers the cost of round-trip airfare for a student's first international experience.
In 2019, Linfield began a five-year program with Ecole Superieure d’Agriculture (ESA) in Angers, France. Wine studies students spend three years at Linfield University and two years at ESA, earning a bachelor's degree in wine studies from Linfield and a master's degree in vine, wine, and terroir management from ESA.
In 2023, Linfield signed a memorandum of understanding with Sias University in Zhengzhou, China, which calls for the development of a joint-supervision dual degree program and mutual student exchanges.
Rankings Several national ranking sites have recognized Linfield for the quality of its academic programs. Washington Monthly identifies Linfield as one of the top liberal arts colleges nationally, including it on its ranking lists from 2019–2024. Linfield has also been on Money Magazine's Best Colleges in America list in 2023 and 2024; named a Best College in the West by Princeton Review from 2020–2025; and among America's Top Colleges by Forbes Magazine in 2022 and 2023.
Linfield has been recognized for the social mobility of graduates. From 2022–2025, U.S. News & World Report ranked them No. 1 in Oregon for social mobility on its Top Performers on Social Mobility list. Washington Monthly named Linfield the No. 1 Liberal Arts College in Oregon for Earning Performance from 2020–2024, and in 2024, the publication named Linfield the No. 13 liberal arts college in the United States for earning performance. Linfield also ranked as a top liberal arts college in Washington and Oregon in Washington Monthly's "Best Bang for the Buck" list in 2016 and 2017, as well as from 2020–2024.
A 2015 study from The Economist ranked Linfield 27th nationally out of 1,275 colleges and universities when it came to the economic value of a degree. Also in 2015, Linfield was ranked among the best in the Pacific Northwest when it comes to admitting students from disadvantaged families and helping them move up the economic ladder. The study, "The Equality of Opportunity," was conducted by researchers from University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, Brown University and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The diversity of Linfield's student body was recognized by Washington Monthly from 2017–2022, naming the institution on its "Best ethnic diversity among liberal arts colleges in the Pacific Northwest." Linfield has also been recognized for as the Best Liberal Arts College in Oregon for First-Generation Students by Washington Monthly in 2020.
Linfield University was included in the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education's annual list of "10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech" in 2022.
Linfield's efforts towards sustainability earned it a place on Princeton Review's "Guide to Green Colleges" list from 2010-2025.
Linfield's nursing and business programs have received national recognition for their excellence. U.S. News & World Report named Linfield's online business degree among its list of "Best Online Bachelor's in Business Programs" in 2025. The nursing program was ranked among the Best Undergraduate Nursing Programs in 2022–2024 by U.S. News & World Report.
The pet-friendly environment and policies of the McMinnville campus was recognized in College Magazine in 2023. The publication named Linfield the No. 6 Best College in the U.S. for Students Who Can't Imagine Life Without Animals. Specifically recognized were Linfield's pet-friendly residence hall and apartment.
In 2024, the Broadcast Education Association named Linfield the No. 1 university in the Pacific Northwest for student achievement in media.
Campuses
McMinnville campus Linfield's primary location in McMinnville, Oregon, moved to its present location in 1881. The original location was at 5th and C Street closer to downtown McMinnville. From a marker on the present campus: "...The board of Trustees met on August 2, 1881 and took action which resulted in moving (McMinnville) Linfield College from 5th & C streets to its present location, actuated by the gift of Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Cozine." Pioneer Hall, the oldest building at Linfield University, opened in 1883 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the late 1990s, the institution acquired a former Hewlett-Packard property adjacent to the McMinnville campus, which more than doubled the size of the campus and opened new opportunities for the school.
The McMinnville campus currently sits at 189 acres and houses the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Business.
Portland campus Linfield's presence in Portland, Oregon, began in 1982. In response to a national trend for nursing education to be a part of colleges and universities, the Good Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing became the Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing under the auspices of Linfield College.