Linfield came one step closer to opening the doors on its new Portland Campus this month. The college took possession of the property Monday, June 1 after announcing the acquisition of the 20-acre location in November 2018. The University of Western States leased back the facilities through May 2020.
Five of the ten buildings are being renovated or refreshed prior to classes moving onto campus, scheduled to coincide with the start of the spring semester in February 2021. The primary focus of the renovation is creating new teaching spaces and updated simulation labs for the new Portland Campus, home of Linfield’s nationally recognized School of Nursing and the new Master of Nursing (MSN) in Healthcare Ecosystems.
“The renovation and expansion at the new campus will increase the capacity of our high-fidelity simulation labs by 700 percent,” said Mary Ann Rodriguez, Linfield’s vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer. “These realistic learning lab spaces provide powerful interactive opportunities for Linfield students to become highly skilled healthcare professionals.”
The current facilities in northwest Portland, where the Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing has been located since 1982, are at full capacity. The additional space at the new Portland Campus will allow Linfield to grow their high demand nursing programs, which account for 40 percent of its current undergraduate enrollment.
“The West Coast has a nursing shortage,” said Kim Dupree Jones, Linfield’s dean of nursing. “Linfield’s new campus will allow us to enroll larger student classes in our high demand nursing programs and prepare the next generation of Linfield graduates for careers in clinical, home-based and acute care settings. We are counting down the days until we can welcome more students into our program.”
The full timeline for the new Linfield University Portland Campus is:
- June 1, 2020: Official campus turnover to Linfield
- June 1 – Nov. 13, 2020: Renovation period
- Dec. 21, 2020 – Jan. 29, 2021: Install infrastructure and move-in equipment/furniture
- Feb. 1 – Feb. 5, 2021: Final preparations
- Feb. 8, 2021: First day of classes at new Linfield University Portland Campus
Founded in 1858, Linfield is a four-year independent college with campuses in McMinnville and Portland. Twenty-five percent of Linfield students are first-generation college students, and more than one-third are U.S. students of color. The U.S. State Department honored Linfield for being Oregon’s top producer of Fulbright Scholars in 2017-18.
