Message from the President

Welcome to the University of Oregon

Dave Frohnmayer,
President, University of Oregon

As you look toward higher education, you undoubtedly are asking many questions: Where can I learn to live as well as to make a living? Where can I fill my passions with perspective? Why should I seriously consider attending the University of Oregon?

The quick answer—the University of Oregon is a place where you can begin to make a difference in the world …a place where the needs of your heart and your mind can be met—for today and for the future.

The University of Oregon offers a unique combination of history, people, mission, place, and leadership to create a university where dreams take shape, where hopes become reality, and where work leads to success.

Yes, we have our stellar points and many are impressive:

We are one of only sixty-two public and private institutions in the United States and Canada selected for membership in the exclusive Association of American Universities.

We have consistently been listed in the Fiske Guide to Colleges as one of the nation's best bargains for students.

We offer freshman interest groups, designed to offer you tools to help you navigate between increased personal freedom and new responsibilities.

We create programs in the sciences, the arts, the professions, and the liberal arts that are grounded in research, nourished by the creation of knowledge.

We promise a community of students, faculty, and staff members dedicated to you and to the accomplishment of your dreams.

Our faculty and alumni have included such leaders as Oregon Governor Tom McCall, U.S. Senator Wayne Morse, writer Ken Kesey, Academy Award-winning director James Ivory, NFL quarterback Dan Fouts, and architect Johnpaul Jones.

Our graduates include two Nobel Prize winners, nine Pulitzer Prize recipients, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a polar explorer, a pioneer in desktop publishing, the producer of hit TV shows, and a pioneer fishing guide on the McKenzie River.

Every school in the nation can brag about its outstanding graduates and faculty members, can name someone famous who went there, and can claim to be best in something.

But few universities, I believe, can offer a history that springs so directly from the pioneering roots of the Oregon Trail. Few can show people who come here to teach and stay here to make a difference. Few can promise a sense of mission that opens for all the doors to intellectual achievement, creative accomplishment, and personal success. Few can hope for a place that so perfectly combines the feel of the classic college town with the culture and cafés of a larger city. Few are situated in such a splendid natural environment. And few can claim the way in which this university instills in its daily life and long-term planning a sense of direction that can make a difference for you.

I hope as you come to know us better you will realize that the University of Oregon is the place where you can see your dreams stay with you ever after, truly altering the color of your mind.

Sincerely,

Dave Frohnmayer
President, University of Oregon