page_title: Portland State University
section_title: 1946–1964: Establishment
hierarchical_section_title: Portland State University / History / 1946–1964: Establishment
caption_attribution_description: Lincoln High School (now Lincoln Hall of Portland State University) in w:Portland, Oregon circa 1920
context_page_description: Portland State University is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades and was granted university status in 1969. It is the only public urban university in the state of Oregon that is located in a large city. It is governed by a board of trustees. The university is categorized as an R2: Doctoral University – Higher Research Activity in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
  Portland State is composed of seven constituent colleges, offering undergraduate degrees in one hundred twenty-three fields, and postgraduate degrees in one hundred seventeen fields. Schools at Portland State include the School of Business Administration, College of Education, School of Social Work, College of Urban and Public Affairs, College of the Arts, Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The athletic teams are known as the Portland State Vikings with school colors of green and white.
context_section_description: Portland State University was established as the Vanport Extension Center in June 1946, founded by Stephen Edward Epler, a native of Iowa. Epler graduated from Cotner College in Lincoln, Nebraska, and later Columbia University in New York City, before joining the army to fight in World War II. After returning to the United States after serving, Epler became a veterans' counselor in Oregon's General Extension Division in Portland. The Vanport Extension Center was conceived by Epler in order to satisfy the demand for higher education in Portland for returning World War II veterans, taking advantage of the G.I. Bill. The G.I. Bill was passed in 1944 to provide college, high school or vocational education for returning World War II veterans, as well as one year of unemployment compensation.
  The first classes were held in the Vanport Junior High School. This first summer session had 221 students, and tuition and fees were $50. Over 1,410 students registered for the 1946 fall term, which was delayed until October 7, 1946 due to a lack of space. Since the population in Vanport was decreasing after World War II, the extension center was able to use buildings created for other purposes: two childcare centers, a recreation building with three classrooms, and a shopping center, which required substantial modification to house a library, offices, and six classrooms. In addition to Vanport Junior High School, Lincoln and Jefferson high schools were used after school hours, as well as the University of Oregon's dental and medical schools, located in Portland.
  Following the May 30 Vanport Flood of 1948, the college became known as "the college that wouldn't die" for refusing to close after the flood. The term was coined by Lois Hennessy, a student who wrote about the college and the flood in the Christian Science Monitor, though students nicknamed the school "The college without a future."  (Hennessy was the mother of poet Gary Snyder.)  The school occupied Grant High School in the summer of 1948, then to hastily converted buildings at the Oregon Shipyard, known as the Oregon Ship. In 1953, the school moved to downtown Portland and occupied the vacated buildings of Lincoln High School on SW Broadway Street, including Lincoln Hall, then known as "Old Main."
  The school changed its name to the Portland State Extension Center between December 1951 and February 1952, and also earned a colloquial title, "The U by the Slough." In 1955, the Center changed its name to Portland State College to mark its maturation into a four-year degree-granting institution, although severe restrictions were placed on the college's curriculum and growth. Epler, who had campaigned for a presidency role at the college, was not elected by the State Board. Without an administrative stake in the college, Epler left and accepted presidency at Reedley College in California. By 1956, the veteran population at the college had subsided, and baby food was no longer stocked in the bookstore.
caption: Lincoln Hall circa 1920. Then a high school, it now serves as the university's theatre and performing arts center.
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