Former names | St. Mary's Academy and College Marylhurst College |
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Motto | Cor Sapientis Quaerit Doctrinam (Latin) The heart of the wise seeks knowledge |
Type | Private |
Active | 1893 | –2018
Affiliation | Roman Catholic (Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary) |
President | Melody Rose[1] |
Location | , , United States 45°23′54″N 122°38′46″W / 45.39833°N 122.64611°W |
Campus | Suburban 63 acres (250,000 m2) |
Colors | Gold and Royal blue[2] |
Website | marylhurst.edu |
Marylhurst University was a private applied liberal arts and business university in Marylhurst, Oregon. Marylhurst was founded as St. Mary's College in 1893 and run for many years by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The former campus is located about nine miles south of Portland, Oregon on the Willamette River. Although Marylhurst University was a Roman Catholic school, it served students of all faiths and backgrounds.
The university offered bachelor's degree completion programs in diverse liberal arts and business fields, and graduate degrees in such fields as business and nonprofit administration, food systems and society, teaching, art therapy counseling, divinity and applied theology, and interdisciplinary studies. After its establishment in 1893, Marylhurst became the first women's liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest. In 1974, Marylhurst College became a co-educational institution, and in 1998 it was reorganized as Marylhurst University through the addition of new academic programs.
The university's student population peaked around 2,000 during the Great Recession of 2007–2009,[3] and declined from 1,409 to 743 in just four years, from fall 2013 to fall 2017.
The university closed at the end of the summer of 2018,[4][3] and this declining enrollment was given as the main reason. Prior to the closure, however, Marylhurst's faculty challenged the narrative of closure as essential.[5]