“The high-tech industry was getting into full bloom about that time in the Vancouver area,” said Al Bauer, a longtime local educator and Democratic state senator. “It required certain courses of study.”
A consortium of several Washington universities, the Southwest Washington Joint Center for Education, was founded in 1983 as the first attempt at four-year education in the region. Washington State University was among the colleges offering classes in the Joint Center.
Robert Schaefer, a Vancouver attorney, Columbia River Economic Development Council board member and former speaker of the House, was among those who championed the idea.
“We were trying to get as broad a program for Clark County as we could,” Schaefer said.
But higher education advocates argued that Clark County needed a more concentrated effort to bring higher education to the region in the form of a branch campus. Over the course of several years, WSU absorbed the functions of the Joint Center. Bauer in 1989 saw the passage of Senate Bill 6095, formally establishing WSU Vancouver as a branch campus in the region. The university at the time only offered upper-division and graduate coursework.
Clark College’s Bauer Hall, where WSU Vancouver initially held classes, is named for the former senator.
“Generations can thank that group of people that worked it out,” Bauer said.
Robert Schimelpfenig, an archivist with the WSU Vancouver library, recently wrote an article for the Clark County Historical Museum’s annual publication, detailing the history of the founding of the university. In the mid-1990s, he wrote, the average student was 34, there were twice as many women as men, half were transfer students and many had children at home and full-time jobs.
WSU Vancouver broke ground on its Salmon Creek campus in 1994, with classes beginning in 1996. It began accepting freshmen in 2006.
And with changes in scenery, so too have come changes in demographics.
Today’s student population of about 3,500 students is much more diverse, according to WSU Vancouver’s website. About 53 percent of students are women, 44 percent are first-generation college students and the average student is 26 years old — more in line with traditional college students.
“There’s more students trying to start at that four-year level,” Schimelpfenig said.
Schimelpfenig said expansion at the university, including student housing, could be a turning point for the university.
“I think we’re ready to bust out a little more,” he said.
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