(Sherm Bloomer, chancellor and dean of OSU-Cascades, with members of the university’s student government, Whitney McFarlane (left), president and Adam Nickerson (right), director of legislative affairs | Photo courtesy of OSU-Cascades)
Oregon State University – Cascades (OSU-Cascades) is being guided by a long-range vision — three decades into the future, in fact. Established in 2001, with its new Bend campus opening in 2016, the four-year university has graduated 5,500 students to date, boasted an enrollment of 1,370 students in fall 2024, and aims to serve 2,200 students by 2030.
According to Sherm Bloomer, chancellor and dean of OSU-Cascades, who contributed to the original proposal for the campus, and ran OSU’s budget office for ten years, “fulfillment of our 30-year expansion plans will enable us to eventually accommodate up to 5,000 students.”
These plans include a recently opened Student Success Center, 13 future buildings, roads, sidewalks, parking, athletic fields, a pedestrian and bike path, and green spaces on Bend’s west side. In total, 118 acres of OSU-Cascades properties — previously occupied by a pumice mine and a Deschutes County construction and demolition landfill — are being transformed into a 128-acre campus. The effort has been hailed as “one of the most innovative university development projects in the country.”
“We’re committed to creating a sense of community here for both students and employees, who picked OSU-Cascades to study and work for a reason,” said Bloomer. “We’re relatively small, and we’re accessible; students want to be close to home. Currently, 43 percent of students come from the tri-county area; 17 percent from Portland; and 22 percent from out of state.”
“But that’s just the beginning,” Bloomer added. “Once we bring students here, we are dedicated to doing everything we can to ensure that these students graduate.”
Which leads to OSU-Cascades’ quest for funding from the 2025 Oregon legislature to expedite 24 acres of land reclamation for the next item on its long-range agenda — a Student Health & Recreation Center dedicated to mental, clinical, and physical health — as well as provide space to serve the growing campus’s academic, research, and student housing needs over the next decade.
“We’re Oregon’s only public university campus without on-site health and recreation facilities,” Bloomer said. “And studies show that supporting optimal wellness is essential for student retention, academic progress, and degree completion. Students — including those with disabilities, chronic illness or lack of adequate financial resources — deserve and need equitable access to health resources.”
Bloomer knows from his years in higher education that “a college degree creates opportunity for students, enables them to earn more money, helps deliver talented, energetic additions to the workforce, and helps the region and the state grow. It’s an investment that provides long-term economic development return.”
“Oregon’s legislators have been tremendously supportive of OSU-Cascade’s development thus far,” noted Bloomer. “Of the project’s total cost of $84M ($22M for land reclamation, and $62M for building construction and infrastructure), we’re seeking $42M in state funding during the current legislative session, and will contribute $22M ourselves through debt, gifts, and grants. Our students are also playing a pivotal role, having voted in 2017 to increase fees to help the expansion effort. (This contribution is estimated to total at least $20M.)
In addition, a group of students will accompany Chancellor Bloomer, members of his Advocacy and Advisory Board, and community supporters on a May 5 visit to Salem to meet with legislators to ensure they understand the campus’s needs. As Bloomer explained, “The best way to create awareness is in person, and students are the best advocates we have. Their stories of how the OSU-Cascades experience has changed the direction of their lives are extremely compelling and powerful.”
Coordinating the student contingent is Adam Nickerson, who serves on OSU-Cascade’s student government as director of legislative efforts.
Acknowledging some of the reasons for OSU-Cascades’ appeal — such as “small class sizes that enable students to feel more connected with their professors; time to form close-knit relationships; and the opportunity to learn professional skills and grow their interests” — Nickerson believes that “students who succeed here are more likely to succeed anywhere.”
But he believes just as strongly that there’s more work to be done. “We’ve been working on securing funding to build out the campus since 2019,” Nickerson said, one “pivotal” example being the Student Success Center. “Its official opening earlier this year attracted 300 students, all of whom are excited to start studying there — their degree of enthusiasm is huge.”
However, he pointed out, “We’re the only campus of this size in Oregon without an on-site health and recreation facility. The Student Health & Recreation Center is critical in increasing retention and building a culture. OSU-Cascades can’t continue to retain students without a place to exercise, and help them feel at home.”
Nickerson “feels very positive this year” in approaching legislators and seeking funding support, in part due to their previous visits to the campus, “which enables them to gain a wider, on-the-ground perspective. OSU has two separate campuses (the far larger one located in Corvallis with 24,000+ students) with two separate sets of needs. It’s vital that legislators understand what a huge priority this is for OSU-Cascades, where we’re all working together to serve our students in the ways we’re needed.”
