Welcome to SOU

The University
Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a contemporary, public liberal arts and sciences university with selected professional programs at the bachelor’s and master’s levels. One of seven institutions in the Oregon University System (OUS), SOU is an inclusive campus community dedicated to student success, intellectual growth, and responsible global citizenship. Last year, The New York Times named Southern Oregon University as a “hidden gem” of higher education.

Southern Oregon University is committed to providing its 5,000 students a challenging and practical liberal arts education centered on student learning and civic engagement. SOU offers more than 100 areas of study with 34 majors, as well as partnerships, public service, outreach, sustainable practices, and economic development activities that address regional needs. SOU’s outstanding programs draw on and enrich our unique arts community and bioregion.

SOU serves the whole of southern Oregon and the northernmost counties of California. The University is a major partner in the economic, cultural, and environmental developments of this vast area, offering students valuable opportunities to find their place within our unique bioregion with its diverse community. An OUS-designated Center of Excellence in the Fine and Performing Arts, SOU has also gained recognition for its outstanding education and research in science fields and technology.

SOU’s culture of close faculty-student mentoring relationships is ideal for undergraduate instruction (21:1). Classes are taught by faculty, who are experts in their fields—93 percent hold terminal degrees—in a friendly, service-oriented environment.

Pursue Your Passions—Students engage in hands-on research and community projects that complement classroom, laboratory, and studio learning. SOU also offers numerous postbaccalaureate certificates and the Accelerated Baccalaureate Degree Program, which allows students to graduate with their four-year degree in three years.

SOU, committed to student success, offers the Ronald E. McNair Achievement program. The McNair program provides undergraduate students assistance in locating, applying for, and being accepted into doctoral programs. With state-of-the-art equipment and techniques, the SOU Biotechnology Center enhances undergraduate research in the emerging interdisciplinary fields of biotechnology.

The University’s Schneider Museum of Art (SMA) hosts major art exhibitions and youth programs, and the Center for the Visual Arts (CVA) features artwork by faculty, students, and visiting artists. SOU is home to the Southern Oregon Singers, the Rogue Valley Symphony, and the Chamber Music Concert Series (CMC). Its Music Department also provides frequent concerts and recitals by exceptional faculty and students.

Become a Global Citizen—Named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll in 2007, Southern Oregon University emphasizes worldwide citizenship through international student enrollment, exchange programs, and longstanding sister university alliances—the most notable alliance is the Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico. SOU students are globally engaged with international internships in 45 different countries on six continents.

The University’s rising national reputation is based on its faculty’s notable research and creative talents, as well as its practical liberal learning. Southern is one of 24 institutions across the nation to be selected for membership in the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC).

SOU is environmental progressive as one of the first universities in the nation to offset 100 percent of its electric and natural gas use with clean, renewable power. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized SOU’s commitment to sustainability by naming the University the 2007-2008 Individual Conference Green Power Challenge Champion.

Find Your Place—Southern Oregon University’s main campus in Ashland is largely residential, where students live on campus or in Ashland’s student-friendly neighborhoods. On-campus housing includes three complexes with residence halls and superb dining, as well as apartments for upper-class students, family housing in Old Mill Village with childcare service, and a facility for groups participating in SOU’s educational enrichment offerings. SOU serves a growing number of students who commute from as far away as Grants Pass, Oregon, and Redding, California, as well as providing many educational programs and services at the Medford Campus. SOU has fruitful and growing partnerships with community colleges such as Rogue Community College (RCC) and the College of the Siskiyous, and with universities such as Oregon Health & Science University.

SOU and the community are focal points for rich cultural activities and organizations. Created in 1935 by SOU’s Theatre Professor Angus Bowmer, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is now one of the top five regional theatres in the nation and one of the top three rotating repertory theaters with Shakespeare at their core worldwide. The festival draws more than 380,000 patrons annually.

Distinguished Alumni include:
Michael Geisen (Master’s of Arts in Teaching, 2001) was named 2007 National Teacher of the Year.

Tyler Burrell (Bachelor’s of Arts in Theater Arts, 1993) stars in the CBS comedy, “Back to You,” as well as appearing in The Incredible Hulk (2008), National Treasure II: Book of Secrets (2007) Friends with Money (2006), In Good Company (2004), Black Hawk Down (2001).

José Luis Romero Hicks (Master’s in Social Science, 1979) serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Guanajuato, the managing partner of the law firm RomeroHicks & Galindo, and a member of the Mexican Council on Foreign Affairs

Ashland Campus
Southern Oregon University occupies a 175-acre campus with fourteen academic buildings, thirteen residence halls, family housing, a student union, and multi-use facilities. All classrooms on campus are accessible to disabled students. Beautifully landscaped grounds and architecturally pleasing buildings provide a pleasant environment for academic endeavors, student club activities, and opportunities to think and study together with peers and faculty. Among the newer facilities are the Computing Services Center, the ACCESS Center for Student Services, the Schneider Museum of Art addition, and the Center for the Visual Arts.

SOU recently dedicated the Lenn and Dixie Hannon Library following a major renovation and expansion. The project nearly doubled the size of the existing library and yielded a new learning center with contemporary services and technologies, ample study spaces, seminar rooms, reading areas with fireplaces, and a coffee shop. The academic and student services are exceptional. Hannon Library won the 2004 Federal Depository Library of the Year award from the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Ashland and SOU are home to many unique facilities and services, such as the nation’s only Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory and the nationally recognized Jefferson Public Radio (JPR). Southern Oregon University hosts one of the largest Native American powwows and a popular Hawaiian luau, both of which are coordinated by student multicultural groups. SOU offers the only Native American studies certificate and minor programs in Oregon, in addition to providing a popular education camp for Native American youth in the summer. Among its extensive array of youth programs is the award-winning Academia Latina for middle school Hispanic and Latino children. SOU also has an established reputation for the size and scope of its extended programs for senior citizens.

Medford Campus
Established in 1984, the Medford Campus provides many of the courses and services available on the main campus in Ashland. The Medford Campus includes degree completion and graduate programs, classrooms, computer labs, registration, academic advising, a bookstore, and distance-learning capabilities.

The Medford Campus is part of the Higher Education Center (HEC), which represents a one-of-a-kind partnership in Oregon. The HEC strengthens the shared commitment SOU and Rogue Community College (RCC) have had for years. Their collective efforts better serve students at both institutions through more efficient class scheduling, increased communication, and centralized services.

The HEC also serves as the hub for professional development in the Rogue Valley. The business community benefits from seminars, customized training, a business communication institute, mentorship and internship programs, and networking opportunities.

Accreditation
Southern Oregon University is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The Department of Chemistry programs have earned the approval of the American Chemical Society. The programs of the School of Education are accredited by the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission. The Department of Music is an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Music.

The Region
In 2003, Outside Magazine ranked Southern Oregon University twentieth in the nation on their list of coolest places to study, live, and work. The region is a uniquely diverse geographic, geological, and ecological area. It is distinguished by the Rogue, Umpqua, and Klamath Rivers; Crater Lake National Park; many lakes; and the convergence of three mountain ranges: the Cascades, the Siskiyous, and the Coast Range. Such qualities give rise to the University’s distinctions in environmental studies, as well as its tremendous recreational opportunities, ranging from golf, rafting, fishing, and sailing to hiking, skiing, biking, horseback riding, and camping.

Arts and culture, recreation, tourism, retail sales, natural resources, and burgeoning health care services are the driving forces of the region’s economy. Technology industries are diversifying the economy as new companies move into the area, start-up firms emerge, and technology advances locally. There are three medical centers that offer world-class health care services.

The region hosts five fairs and thirteen festivals, in addition to nearly thirty art galleries and more than two dozen cultural and art museums. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and Britt Music Festivals in Jacksonville are the most notable festivals. Theatre venues include Oregon Cabaret Theatre and Medford’s Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater. Recreational facilities include 151 public and 110 commercial campgrounds, seventeen golf courses, three racetracks, two ski areas, two ice-skating rinks, and four horse stables. There are sixty-four registered guided tours in southern Oregon.

Ashland and SOU
Southern is located in Ashland at the base of the Siskiyou Mountains in the Rogue Valley. It is a five-hour drive or a one-hour flight from Portland to the north or from San Francisco to the south. With a population of 20,000, this charming town boasts eighty-five restaurants and ninety-three lodging facilities, sixty-six of which are bed and breakfasts. Its restaurants, delis, bakeries, banks, bookstores, ice-cream parlors, vintage movie theatre, specialty shops, and clothing stores are within easy walking distance of campus. The annual Ashland Independent Film Festival (AIFF) is a popular attraction. A bicycle path leads from SOU to downtown Ashland and beyond. The city offers an ideal setting for picnics and strolls in its beautiful Lithia Park with its duck ponds, paths, arboretum, and creek.

Ashland is surrounded by forests, mountains, lakes, and rivers that provide spectacular areas for outdoor sports and ecological studies. Benefiting from a mild four-season climate, Ashland’s average rainfall is twenty inches, less than half that of Portland or Eugene. Although the valley floor is generally free of snow, winter recreational facilities are just a thirty-minute drive away at Mt. Ashland Ski and Snowboard Resort. Cross-country ski opportunities are available in the Siskiyou and Cascade Mountains. Just minutes away, Emigrant Lake offers waterslides, sailing, and a park. Lake of the Woods, located at the base of Mount McLaughlin, is less than an hour’s drive from campus.