Willamette University and Pacific University have formally agreed to merge, creating what would become Oregon's largest private university with approximately 6,000 students.gettyFollowing months of discussion and a letter of intent announced last December, Willamette University and Pacific University have formally agreed to merge. When fully implemented, the agreement, confirmed yesterday in announcements from each institution, would create the largest private university in Oregon with a combined enrollment of about 6,000 students.Willamette University was founded in 1842, making it the oldest college in the West. Located in Salem, Oregon, with a satellite campus in Portland, Willamette has an enrollment of about 2,500 students. It launched the state’s first medical school and law school, and in 2021 it merged with the state’s first professional art and design school, the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), with an enrollment of about 500 students.Pacific University, located in Forest Grove with a second campus in Hillsboro, was founded in 1849. Its current enrollment tops 3,000 students. Pacific started Oregon’s first degree programs in teaching, optometry, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.When unified, the new university, provisionally named the University of the Northwest, will offer academic programs spanning the liberal arts and sciences, business and management, law, education, optometry and healthcare, computing and data science, and art and design. It also will bring together a network of more than 73,000 alumni.“This merger is built on shared values, complementary missions, and a common purpose,” said Pacific University President Jenny Coyle, in a statement. “As institutions across the country are having to do more with less, we decided we want to do more with more.”A Unique StructurePlans call for the two universities, whose current main campuses are about 50 miles apart, to come together under a single board of trustees as they transition to a single entity that ultimately would be operated as what’s being called a “collegiate university.” Under that structure, both universities would maintain their character, identities, and historic campuses while operating under a shared administrative structure as a single institution.Pacific, Willamette, and PNCA would continue to operate with their current names as colleges within the combined university on their respective campuses. They would maintain separate admissions requirements, academic programs and intercollegiate athletics.Like most regional private universities, the institutions have faced ongoing financial and enrollment pressures in recent years. While their leaders insist that financial considerations are not the main motivation for the merger, the plan could create meaningful efficiencies and savings at a time when colleges and universities across the nation are facing increasing financial stringencies. “So many universities in Oregon have been retrenching, cutting programs and support for students,” said Willamette University President Steve Thorsett, in a university release. “We felt that this is a moment not for retreat, but for innovation and leadership. By combining Willamette and Pacific's distinctive strengths, we intend to build a university with the scale to thrive and to maintain the academic quality we’re both known for.”It’s expected that the combined university would be led by the two current presidents of Willamette and Pacific. Thorsett would be the chancellor and be in charge of business operations. Coyle would serve as president and oversee academics and student affairs. In practice, it is very difficult to separate those two domains and responsibilities, so how well that kind of split leadership will work in the long run remains to be seen.The final, official joining of Willamette and Pacific into one institution still requires additional regulatory and accreditor approval, which could take as long as two years to complete.Meanwhile, aspirations for the new institution are high. On its website, Pacific University describes the plan as a “merger of equals” with the potential for the two “historic institutions to continue their legacy of service with a greater capacity to grow and serve the emerging needs of the state and the region.”