Highlights from the 2023-24 Year
Grand Opening
Shiley-Marcos Center for Design & Innovation
In January 2024, the University’s new Shiley-Marcos Center for Design & Innovation opened as a collaborative space to spur creativity, invention and hands-on education. Within months of its opening, students across campus hailed the building’s labs and maker spaces as an “testament” to how UP values innovation.
Awards & Rankings
University of Portland is one of the 25 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the first Carnegie Leadership for Public Purpose Classification, which recognizes institutions committed to campus-wide efforts to advance leadership in pursuit of public goods like justice, equity, diversity and liberty.
University of Portland is the top-ranked private school among ‘Regional Universities–West” for 2024-25 in U.S. News & World Report’s listing of Best Colleges and Universities.
The Wall Street Journal ranked UP 71st nationally—#1 among all colleges and universities in the Pacific Northwest—in its 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. Rankings.
Money magazine’s analysis of ‘The Best Colleges in America—2024’ gave UP a 4.5-star rating out of 5, based on metrics like quality of education, affordability and student outcomes.
Over the past 10 years, UP is Oregon’s leader among all schools, public and private, in four-year graduation rates, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The University also landed a first-time ranking in The Princeton Review's top 389 schools for 2024.
Welcoming the UP Class of 2028
In August, President Robert D. Kelly and the University community welcomed the incoming first-year Class of 2028 on Move-In Day and Orientation Weekend, which included inspiring last words of advice from parents to their new Pilots.
Community Honors & Highlights
Fulbright Student Awards
Six UP graduates received Fulbright U.S. Student Awards from the U.S. Department of State for 2024-2025.
Goldwater Scholarship Winners
Three UP students received a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for their achievements and future promise in STEM research fields.
University Leadership
After a months-long national search, Dr. Alvin A. Sturdivant was named the University’s inaugural Vice President for Student Affairs & Inclusive Excellence.
In 2024, UP President Dr. Robert D. Kelly was elected Board Chair of the Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges and Universities.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek made two 2023 appointments involving the University: Dr. Michael DeVaughn, Dean of the Pamplin School of Business, was named to the Port of Portland Commission, and Education Professor Katie Danielson joined the Oregon Early Literacy Educator Preparation Council to boost statewide reading and writing proficiency.
Transformational Gift
The University announced a $20 million dollar gift from a multi-generational family whose ties to UP span more than 65 years. The historic gift will support the University’s priorities of enhancing student access, supporting academic excellence, and strengthening student formation.
Grants
UP received a $150,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to build engaged humanities curriculum and experiences that connect UP faculty and students with timely issues in the community.
A three-year grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation will expand the summer research program for UP science students.
UP School of Nursing & Health Innovations received a grant from the American Nurses Association to promote diversity and eliminate racism in nursing. Bolstered by a $127,500 grant from the Cambia Health Foundation, UP will lead the way in creating a “Model for Palliative Care Nursing Education.”
University scientists begin studying the impact of urbanization on wildlife health through a National Science Foundation grant.
National AI Conference
In October 2024, UP convened faculty, administrators and religious affiliates from 19 Catholic institution for a conference on artificial intelligence: Catholic Higher Education and AI: Mission-Based Teaching for the Future of Humanity.
Commencement 2024
In the spring, the University honored its remarkable, resilient graduating class of 2024 at the Chiles Center. Most in the graduating class entered college during the COVID-19 pandemic in the fall of 2020, persevering through a first year of online instruction and mask mandates to earn their degrees in front of family, friends and the UP community.
Women's Basketball
WCC Champions!
Pilot women’s basketball wins second straight WCC Tournament Championship, advances to NCAA Tournament for second year in a row.
Pilot Athletics
In 2023, UP Alumna Megan Rapinoe ’08 announced her retirement from professional soccer, and she was one of nine Pilots inducted into the UP Athletics Hall of Fame in September 2024.
Pilot men’s soccer advances to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season.
UP athletes achieved a 95-percent graduation success rate in 2023.
University of Portland has been selected to serve as Institutional Host for NCAA Women’s Basketball Regional in 2028.
The UP Women’s Ultimate Frisbee Team brought home the Division III National Championship.
