Lewis & Clark College history

The first class graduated in 1873.

1884 Richard Hopwood Thornton begins teaching the first law students at Northwestern College of Law in Portland, then the state’s law school.

1886 Northwestern College of Law graduates its first two students.

In 1905 the trustees officially adopted the name Albany College, transferred ownership to the Synod of Oregon, and established the bachelor of arts degree.

1915 The state of Oregon establishes a law school in Eugene, while the Northwestern College of Law remains in Portland and becomes an independent entity.

The Benjamin Godfrey Mansion was declared a national historical site by the Department of the Interior in 1934.

Enrollment grew so rapidly on the extension campus that in 1938 the trustees voted to move all operations to Oregon’s urban center.

They persuaded Morgan Odell, a widely respected scholar of religion and philosophy, to assume the presidency of the institution in 1942.

1945 The college establishes its first graduate program, a master’s degree in secondary education.

1946 Enrollment increases as veterans return from World War II. College begins importing military buildings to serve as classrooms, offices, a theatre, and dining commons.

1951 The graduate program is expanded with the addition of Master of Music Education degrees.

More than 11,000 students have participated in our overseas and off-campus programs since they began in 1962.

1963 William Stafford, professor of English, wins the National Book Award in Poetry for Traveling Through the Dark.

In 1965 the school merged with Lewis & Clark and was renamed Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College.

In 1966, almost 100 years after Albany Collegiate Institute was chartered, Lewis & Clark and the Synod of Oregon agreed to sever their formal bonds.

1970 New law school buildings open on a 20-acre site just west of the Fir Acres campus.

1978 Pioneer Athletic Hall of Fame inducts 10 charter members.

1982 College adopts new student governance model, which includes the Student Academic Affairs Board.

The college issues the first Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology degree; by 1983, master of science degrees were also offered.

In 1984, the institution consolidated postgraduate programs in education, counseling psychology, and public administration into what is now the Graduate School of Education and Counseling.

1992 Doctor Robert B. Pamplin Jr. ’64, ’65, ’66, chair of the Board of Trustees, challenges Lewis & Clark community to a series of physical fitness events to earn $1 million toward expansion of Aubrey R. Watzek Library.

1993 Doctor Robert B. Pamplin Jr. announces a $12 million gift commitment, the largest in the college’s history, to endow the Doctor Robert B. Pamplin Jr.

When the restaurant closed (approximately 1994) it was purchased by the Lewis and Clark Community College Foundation.

1995 Aubrey R. Watzek Library is renovated and expanded to nearly double its original size.

In 2000, Lewis & Clark purchased from the Sisters of Saint Francis an 18-acre estate immediately south of the undergraduate campus.

2001 Renamed Graduate School of Education moves into its new home on south campus.

2002 Lewis & Clark is one of only four colleges in the nation this year to receive a Truman Foundation Honor Institution Award recognizing commitment to encouraging outstanding young people to pursue careers in public service.

2003 College’s traveling exhibition, “The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” opens at the Jefferson Library, near Monticello, Virginia.

2004 Graduate School of Education establishes a doctoral program in educational leadership.

2005 Lewis & Clark dedicates John R. Howard Hall, a 50,000-square-foot environmentally sustainable academic building on the Fir Acres campus.

2007 Lewis & Clark Law School opens the Small Business Legal Clinic, providing legal advice to local small businesses and entrepreneurs.

2008 The family of William Stafford donates his papers to Lewis & Clark College.

2011 The Diane Gregg Memorial Pavilion is dedicated in April, completing architect Paul Thiry’s original vision for Agnes Flanagan Chapel.

Matt Wuerker BA ’79 wins the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.

2013 Mary Szybist, associate professor of English, wins the 2013 National Book Award in Poetry for Incarnadine.

2016 Tamily Weissman-Unni, assistant professor of biology, wins an $823,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and is named a CAREER award recipient, the NSF’s most prestigious award for junior faculty.