Materials Documenting the Establishment of a Four Year College in Southwest Washington

WSU Vancouver officially opened its doors as a branch campus of Washington State University in 1989. In the years prior to the campus opening, attempts were made to establish an institute of higher education and a four year university. In 1966 the Clark County Four Year College Association submited briefs in support of locating Washington State's next four year college in Southwest Washington. Twenty years later, the Southwest Washington Joint Center for Education established an institute for higher learning at Hudson's Bay High School and on the campus of Clark College in Vancouver, Washington. As a lead institute in the formation of the center, WSU began offering graduate courses to residents of Southwest Washington. In an effort to address the need for a better trained and educated workforce in the region local legislators, business leader, and educators assembled proposals to establish a Vancouver branch of Washington State University. In 2006 WSU Vancouver became a four year university, 40 years after the initial vision proposed by the Clark County Four Year College Association.