The Linfield Board of Trustees voted Saturday to approve a name change from Linfield College to Linfield University.
 
"Linfield will change its name, but what won't change is what makes us special," said President Miles K. Davis. "Linfield will remain a small, high-quality, liberal arts institution. Now, though, we will be able to expand by having schools and colleges within the university and by offering master's degrees.
 
"What we're not doing is rejecting the past," Davis said, "but building toward a bright future."
 
Linfield will immediately start working on the name-change transition, with the goal of having everything updated before students and staff arrive for the fall semester.
 
The structure of creating new schools in areas such as nursing and business is still being worked out. The Board of Trustees will likely vote on a proposal about the details at its May meeting. Linfield University will also offer master's degrees, although specific program information isn't yet available.
 
A recent survey of Linfield alumni overwhelmingly supported changing from a college to a university.
 
This will be the third time Linfield's name has changed in its 162-year history. Founded as the Baptist College at McMinnville in 1858 and shortened to McMinnville College in 1883, it became Linfield College in 1922.
 
Linfield is a four-year independent college with campuses in McMinnville and Portland. Twenty-eight percent of Linfield students are first-generation college students, and more than one-third are U.S. students of color. The U.S. State Department has honored Linfield for being a top producer of Fulbright Scholars three years in a row.