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Southern Oregon University company history timeline

1872

Southern Oregon University began as Ashland Academy in 1872, founded by Ashland's Methodist Episcopal Church.

1882

While Oregon lawmakers designated the institution in 1882 as an official state normal school – a teachers’ college – the state provided no funding.

1890

Joseph Henry Skidmore served as its first president. It closed in 1890 and reopened five years later, still relying on tuition and donations for revenue.

1897

The Oregon Legislature finally recognized the institution’s needs in 1897 and approved a first-time appropriation of $7,500.

1909

The school flourished, but the legislature reversed course in 1909 and eliminated funding for Oregon’s normal schools.

1925

Southern Oregon State Normal School closed at the end of the school year and remained shuttered until state funding was reestablished in 1925.

1926

The state restarted Southern Oregon State Normal School in Ashland on 24 acres at its current location in 1926.

1932

In 1932, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education renamed the institute Southern Oregon Normal School.

1935

The school’s speech and drama professor, Angus Bowmer, staged a Fourth of July production of Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” in 1935, launching what would become the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

2022

Story recap for Softball at Northwest on April 15, 2022 at 1:00 P.M.

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Founded
1872
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Headquarters
Ashland, OR
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Southern Oregon University may also be known as or be related to PSI CHI The National Honor Society In Psychology and Southern Oregon University.