February 1, 2022
Dear Bearcats,
Today is Willamette Day, the 180th anniversary of the founding of Willamette as the first university in the western United States. From the beginning, we have evolved to serve the needs of our region and the world, with programs in the liberal arts and sciences soon augmented with the region's first professional education in the fine arts, in law, and in medicine. We were one of the first universities in the country founded to serve all students regardless of race or sex, and we have become known through the work of tens of thousands of graduates as leaders throughout civic society. Although much has changed since the mid-19th century, what has not changed is our foundational commitment to service expressed in our motto, non nobis solum nati sumus.
On this Willamette Day, I want to express my gratitude to the hundreds of faculty and staff on both our Salem and Portland campuses whose commitment to our students is deeply inspiring. I want to honor the generations of alumni whose support has helped build a scrappy, one-building school into the Northwest's leading private university. And I want to thank our students, whose education is our most important purpose, and who we look to to turn the knowledge and skills they learn here into action on behalf of a more just and sustainable world.
Happy Willamette Day!
Steve