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About University of Portland

The University of Portland, more commonly referred to as simply UP, is a private Roman Catholic university located in Portland, which is the county seat of Multnomah County, situated in the US state of Oregon, with a population estimated at a number of more than 582 000 inhabitants, fact which makes it the 29th most populous city in USA, the most populous city in the state, as well as the 3rd most populous city in the Pacific Northwest, after Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

UP was officially established in 1901, but its history dates since way back in 1891, with the establishment of a Methodist Episcopal Church-founded university, on Waud's Bluff. According to the story, Archbishop Alexander Christie, the head of the Archdiocese of Oregon City, saw a large building on the bluff from aboard a ship on the nearby Columbia River, which later learned that it was called West Hall. He purchased West Hall and renamed it Columbia University, after the nearby Columbia River. In 1902, at the request of the archbishop, the Congregation of the Holy Cross agreed to take over ownership, the university still being, today, affiliated with the Congragation, being the sister school of the University of Notre Dame.

The university offers students various educational programs in numerous fields of study, through 5 colleges and schools: the School of Education, the Pamplin School of Business, College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Engineering and the School of Nursing, with the most popular majors, at the undergraduate level, being: biology, nursing, marketing and management, psychology, Spanish and Finance.

Athletics

UP's athletic teams are known as the Portland Pilots, who compete in NCAA Division I, in the West Coast Conference (WCC), in various sports, being perhaps best known for their relatively recent success in women's soccer, in which they won the NCAA Division I National Championship in 2002 and 2005, the university also being known for its men's cross country team, which won 31 straight West Coast Conference Championships, representing one of the longest active conference championship appereances in the NCAA.

Notable Alumni

Among the most resonant names, on the list of notable alumni, there are: Muriel Lezak - neuropsychologist, Darwin Cook - former NBA player, Michael Merzenich - professor emeritus neuroscientist, businessman, Kunal Nayyar - actor, CBS's "The Big Bang Theory", Donald Shiley - co-inventor of the artificial heart valve, Paul Winfield - actor, and George Van Hoomissen - former justice on the Oregon Supreme Court, among others.