College Milestones

1867	Oregon Legislature grants charter to Albany Collegiate Institute on February 2. The institute, founded by a group of Presbyterian pioneers, is located in Willamette Valley town of Albany, 60 miles south of Portland. William Monteith serves as first president with 40 students enrolled.
1873	Four women students—College's first alumnae—graduate.
1884	Richard Hopwood Thornton begins teaching the first law students at Northwestern College of Law in Portland, then the state's law school.
1886	Northwestern College of Law graduates first two students to begin practicing law.
1891	Albany students select orange and black as school colors to honor President Elbert Condit's alma mater, Princeton.
1892	Albany adopts its first school song, "The Orange and the Black."
1902	Albany publishes its first yearbook.
1905	Albany Collegiate Institute officially becomes Albany College.
1934	College opens a lower-division extension campus in Portland.
1938	Albany campus closes with June graduation; remaining students and faculty move to Portland.
1942	Trustees name Morgan Odell president and purchase Fir Acres estate from the Lloyd Frank family for $46,000. Trustees vote to change the institution’s name to Lewis & Clark College. Classes start with 135 students and eight faculty members. Student newspaper, The Pioneer Log, begins publication.
1946	Enrollment increases as veterans return from World War II. College begins importing military buildings to serve as classrooms, offices, a theatre, and dining commons. Students adopt the name "Pioneers."
1960	John R. Howard becomes Lewis & Clark's 20th president.
1962	Powerful Columbus Day storm rocks the Pacific Northwest; biology building is destroyed and the campus suffers other damage as trees are downed by the storm. College begins an overseas and off-campus program, which sends students abroad, immerses them in foreign cultures, and introduces them to contemporary world issues.
1965	Northwestern College of Law merges with Lewis & Clark College.
1967	Two new buildings—Aubrey R. Watzek Library and Agnes Flanagan Chapel—open.
1970	New law school buildings open on a 20-acre site just west of the Fir Acres campus.
1978	Pioneer Athletic Hall of Fame inducts 10 charter members.
1981	James A. Gardner becomes the College's 21st president.
1982	College adopts new student governance model, which includes Student Academic Affairs Board. SAAB’s responsibilities include helping formulate student policy on academic issues and granting funds for student-motivated research.
1984	College consolidates postgraduate programs in education, counseling psychology, and public administration into Graduate School of Professional Studies.

1989	Michael Mooney becomes the College's 22nd president.
1992	Robert B. Pamplin Jr. '64, '65, '66, chair of Lewis & Clark's Board of Trustees, challenges College students, faculty, staff, and alumni to a series of physical fitness events. Chairman's Challenge generates international media coverage and earns $1 million toward expansion of Aubrey R. Watzek Library. Stephen Dow Beckham, professor of history, is named 1992 Oregon Professor of the Year by Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He is one of five finalists for National Professor of the Year.
1993	Trustees approve awarding of a single degree, the bachelor of arts degree, to graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences. Trustees approve new College seal incorporating new motto: Explorare, Discere, Sociare (to explore, to learn, to work together).
1995	Aubrey R. Watzek Library, renovated and expanded to nearly double its former size, opens.
1996	Graduate school’s program in public administration is transferred to Portland State University. Paul L. Boley Law Library is designated the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Depository Library (PTDL) for Oregon. It is the first and only law school library to carry this important designation.
1997	Laura Provinzino '98 from St. Cloud, Minnesota, is named Lewis & Clark's first Rhodes Scholar. College dedicates new Fred W. Fields Center for the Visual Arts and James F. Miller Center for the Humanities.
2000	Lewis & Clark College purchases from the Sisters of St. Francis an 18-acre site immediately south of Fir Acres campus.
2001	Renamed Graduate School of Education moves into new home on south campus, completely renovated thanks to a $4.5-million gift from the Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation. Sue D. Cooley donates her family home to Lewis & Clark for use as presidential residence.
2002	Lewis & Clark College is one of only four colleges in the nation to receive a 2002 Truman Foundation Honor Institution Award, recognizing the College's commitment to encouraging outstanding young people to pursue careers in public service. Law school dedicates Louise and Erskine Wood Sr. Hall, part of the $15-million renovation of the Paul L. Boley Law Library complex. The project is built according to U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver standards. College dedicates three new apartment-style residence halls (Roberts Hall, East Hall, and West Hall) for upperclass students. College renames gallery the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art. Nicole Aas-Rouxparis, professor of French, named 2002 Oregon Professor of the Year by Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
2003	Lewis & Clark College's traveling exhibition, The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, opens at Jefferson Library, near Monticello, Virginia. Exhibit tours the nation. College publishes The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography and Essays, which documents 200 years of every printed publication related to the expedition. President Michael Mooney concludes his term in office. Paul E. Bragdon, former Reed College president, is named interim president and serves until summer 2004.
	Undergraduate parliamentary debate team ranked tops in the nation by the National Parliamentary Debate Association. Lights installed at Griswold Stadium allow for expanded use of the field and pave the way for the return of women's varsity soccer.
2004	College of Arts and Sciences adds two new programs: a minor in classical studies and a theatre minor with dance emphasis. Oregon Repertory Singers, the Portland-based and internationally renowned choral group, is named the first choir in residence at Lewis & Clark.
	Graduate School of Education establishes a program leading to a doctorate in educational leadership. The Law School establishes The Kitzhaber Center, a natural resources policy institute, named in honor of and headed by John Kitzhaber, Oregon’s former governor.
	Thomas J. Hochstettler becomes Lewis & Clark’s 23rd president. Opening Convocation welcomes largest incoming undergraduate class since 1988. Three Olympic athletes at the Athens games have ties to Lewis & Clark: Hilary Gehman, former club crew coach, and Stacey Borgman, law student, rowed for the United States. Neil Weare ’02 represented Guam in the 1500-meter race.

2005	Lewis & Clark is named one of the nation’s best colleges for fostering social responsibility and public service. The College is one of 81 institutions in 33 states to earn the designation from the Princeton Review and Campus Compact.
	Roberts Residence Hall earns a LEED v2 Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. Lewis & Clark uses LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, as a guide to pursue the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly and sustainable building strategies.
	On Earth Day, Lewis & Clark puts its “green” face forward with the dedication of John R. Howard Hall, the newest environmentally sustainable academic building on the Fir Acres campus. The College takes another step in environmental leadership by becoming the first Oregon higher education institution to sign the international Talloires Declaration of the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future.
	Paul L. Boley Law Library celebrates the acquisition of its 500,000th volume.
	Graduate school enhances its name to reflect all key programs of study: the Graduate School of Education and Counseling.
	Graduate school joins an elite group of national schools of education by earning accreditation from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, known as NCATE. Accreditation by the council ensures that teacher candidates know their subject and know how to teach it effectively. The school’s teacher certification program with the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission is renewed through 2010.

2006	John R. Howard Hall earns LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. Lewis & Clark uses LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) as a guide to pursue the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly and sustainable building strategies. Howard Hall joins approximately 40 other comparably rated buildings across the country. Seven buildings have achieved the higher platinum rating.
	Lewis & Clark is in the top 25 list for the number of Peace Corps volunteers from small schools. The College, ranked number 20, has 17 alumni currently serving as volunteers. Nearly 300 Lewis & Clark alumni have served in the Peace Corps since the agency’s founding.
	The Graduate School of Education and Counseling launched the Oregon New Teacher Initiative, a statewide network supporting K-12 learning through development and implementation of school based professional development and programming for beginning teachers.
	More than 100 public radio stations across the country broadcast the College’s 13-part series “Unfinished Journey: The Lewis and Clark Expedition.” Coproduced with Oregon Public Broadcasting, the well-received series is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The production chronicles the epic journey of discovery across an uncharted land and the journey’s enduring and controversial legacy.
	An institution-wide Planning Task Force garnered broad community consensus on long-term institutional priorities intended to serve as a touchstone for shaping concrete initiatives and actions in the years ahead. Among the findings, the Task Force identified five core institutional values: intellectual rigor in a supportive environment; Northwest heritage, expansive horizons; a passion for global engagement; community engagement; and wisdom and leadership.
	College of Arts and Sciences adds new ethnic studies minor program, and implements Exploration and Discovery as the new core course.
	Lydia Loren, law professor, is named interim dean of the law school. She is the first woman to lead the law school. She succeeds James L. Huffman, Erskine Wood Sr. Professor of Law, who stepped down after serving for 13 years as dean to return to teaching and scholarly research.