page_title: Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland-Metro
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland-Metro / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A wide angle lens view of the main Oregon Tech Wilsonville campus
context_page_description: The Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland-Metro, also known as Oregon Tech Portland-Metro is a public polytechnic and research university located in Wilsonville, Oregon, United States. It is an urban, industry-focused campus, in the heart of the Silicon Forest located in the same vicinity as Silicon Forest technology companies such as Mentor Graphics, Rockwell Collins, FLIR, Microsoft, Xerox, Convergence, Tektronix and DWFritz.
  US News and Education World Report ranks Oregon Tech two in public schools in the west, fifth in regional colleges west and #12 in best value schools. In a 2019 report, the University was ranked in the upper 1 percent in the nation in PayScale's release of top colleges based on graduates' return on tuition and borrowing investments.
  The campus focuses heavily on renewable energy with a commitment to environmental sustainability within the city of Wilsonville and the Portland Metro area.
context_section_description: Oregon Tech's four locations in the Portland metropolitan area were consolidated into a single campus in 2012 at InFocus' former headquarters in Wilsonville following a rebranding campaign launched in the same year. The Oregon Tech Portland-Metro campus was officially operational in 2012. The last major renovations at this campus were complete in June, 2015. This included the addition of four new offices for staff on the second floor of the campus and the renovation of a classroom on the fourth floor. Minor improvements to individual classes and the usability of space and resources was still in process until early 2016 when resources to all departments had been allocated.
  The original In-Focus building began construction in 1999 and was completed in 2001. After purchasing the building from In-Focus in 2008, Oregon Tech planned to keep much of the original "modern" design and architecture. The Portland-Metro campus currently occupies the first, second and fourth floors of the building, while Rockwell Collins, an Iowa-based aviation-electronics company, occupies the third floor.
  Plans for expansion of the Klamath Falls campus were discussed in 2007 and 2008 to merge the Portland area sites, allow for a threefold increase in the number of students it serves and spur the creation of new degrees in specialized scientific and technical fields.
  
  Oregon lawmakers approved using $20 million in lottery-backed bonds to cover two-thirds of the building's cost, $20.6 million to purchase the structure and $9.4 million for renovations and related costs. 
  While offering many of the same programs that the Klamath campus has, there are two signature programs at this campus: medical lab sciences, in partnership with the Oregon Health and Science University, and renewable energy engineering. Current enrollment at this campus is about 750 to 1,000 students per term. Many undergraduate students typically intern and work professionally while working towards a degree..
caption: Wide angle lens of OT Wilsonville (2016)
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