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About Our Location

Willamette University is located in Salem, Oregon (population 135,000). Salem is Oregon's capital city and a hub of the I-5 business/technology/government corridor. Salem is one the fastest growing areas in the Northwest and has been twice honored as an All American City. Salem offers a lifestyle that is friendly, uncomplicated and inexpensive compared to the larger cities of the West.

The downtown area is a short walk from the Graduate School of Education, offering major department stores linked with sky-bridges, traditional and ethnic restaurants, coffee houses and movie theaters. Salem is home to many historic sites, 96 city parks, indoor and outdoor concerts featuring international performers, art and wine festivals, bike paths, running trails and the Oregon State Fair. Life in Salem is pleasant and only as fast-paced as you want it to be. This manageable pace and relaxed atmosphere enable you to focus your energies on success in your graduate program.

Graduate School of Education students find pleasure in the region's beautiful natural environment and close opportunities for big-city excitement. An extraordinary variety of activities are within a short drive of Salem. Students can ski the Cascade Mountains, enjoy the beaches of the Pacific Ocean, hike and mountain bike the Willamette National Forest, windsurf and hike the Columbia River Gorge - or explore the urban and cultural offerings of the Portland metropolitan area - all within an hour or two of the School.

A note about the weather: Don't believe what you hear - one way or the other. It doesn't rain all the time. The summers are mainly warm and sunny; the fall is usually clear and beautiful; the spring is a little bit of everything. In the winter it's fine library weather. If you don't own an umbrella, you will. There will, of course, be many winter days when it doesn't rain. Some of them will even be clear. Two or three days a year it will snow a little.