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Willamette’s new students: thinkers, doers, and leaders poised to make an impact

by Paul McKean,

  • Welcome barbecue
    Students relax during the Welcome barbecue.
  • Students moving in
    Willamette student-athletes were on hand to help new students move in.
  • Students moving in
    Students and families during Opening Days.
  • Students during matriculation
    Undergraduate students place candles into the Mill Stream during the Matriculation ceremony.
  • Speakers during convocation
    Dani Cone BA'97 gets ready to address the Opening Convocation ceremony with President Steve Thorsett and Provost Carol Long.
  • Students during orientation.
    Students hanging out during orientation.
  • College of Law group photo.
    The new class of College of Law students.
  • Students and family in residence halls.
    Students and families moving into the Salem campus residence halls.
  • A group of students.
    Students in Jackson Plaza during Opening Days on the Salem campus.

They are environmental advocates, mentors, crocheters, budding entrepreneurs, artists, and nationally-ranked Irish dancers. Some have designed video games or raised money for Alzheimer's research; others have competed in rodeos, studied the nesting habits of owls, or played in rock bands.

All are members of a class of more than 900 new students who joined the Willamette University community as the academic year kicked off with celebration and community.

During orientation events at each of Willamette’s five colleges, students met new friends and professors, moved into residence halls or apartments, attended pre-orientation activities, and started the next chapter of their academic, artistic, and professional lives.

At PNCA, new students were welcomed to the vibrant living community of Portland's ArtHouse. Then, they engaged in community-building activities, shared meals together, and attended sessions practicing mindful and productive communication across differences. There was also time for fun at an ice cream social and farewell dinner with friends and family.

 

“This is your test kitchen”

At the annual Opening Convocation ceremony on the Salem campus, new undergraduate students and their families were welcomed to the Willamette community.

“Our goal is to prepare engaged leaders and shapers of society,” Willamette University President Steve Thorsett told the gathering of new students. “We will be attentive to helping you cultivate your sense of civic connection and duty, your love of humanity, and your commitment to building a more just and generous world.”

Convocation speaker Dani Cone BA’98, a Seattle coffee and grocery entrepreneur, spoke passionately about finding her place at Willamette. The freedom to explore and the community she found on campus put her on a path that would lead to founding three coffee shops, a pie company, and three neighborhood markets.

“I didn’t really realize at the time that the motto — Not unto ourselves alone are we born — would become a part of everything that I do,” Cone said. “It felt like those words were kind of a big, far-off ideal. But really they weren’t: I just hadn’t yet connected the dots between those words and making coffee and that feeling I found here of community.”

Cone also challenged the new Willamette students to find their own path.

“You make a difference — it’s your choice how,” Cone said. “This is your test kitchen.”

a quick snapshot of Willamette’s incoming students

Willamette University welcomed over 900 students to its Salem and Portland campuses. Here are some highlights about the incoming students at Willamette:

Graphic depicting statistics about the incoming class including: new undergraduates - 529, transfer students - 91, students of color - 39%, first generation - 26%, 5 countries, 5 schools, 34 states, 123 law students, 33 pnca students, 68 mba students, 48 scis students, 297 new graduate students.

Undergraduate Students (Willamette College & PNCA combined)

  • 529 new undergraduate students
  • 91 transfer students
  • Top major interest: Business, Psychology (Willamette College); Illustration, Animation (PNCA)

Willamette College

  • 39% students of color
  • Average weighted GPA: 3.8
  • 26% first generation students

College of Law

  • Total students: 121 plus 1 MLS and 1 LLM students
  • Schools represented: 63
  • Percentage of Oregon residents: 33%
  • Students of color: 34%

Atkinson Graduate School of Management

  • 68 new MBA students

Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies at PNCA

  • 33 new graduate students (summer and fall 2024 combined)

School of Computing and Information Sciences

  • 36 Masters of Data Science students
  • 12 Masters of Computer Science students

Overall

  • 5 countries represented
  • 34 states represented

Note: numbers reflect new population at first day of classes.

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