The Oregon Graduate Center for Study and Research (OGC) was incorporated on 2 April 1963 as a university at the behest of Gov.

Tek started an in-house continuing education program in the late 1950s that rivaled the local community colleges in size.

Benedict liked the Oxford University tutorial system in the United Kingdom and the Technische Hochschule network in West Germany.

Carl Miller, a structural engineer, was the first staff member hired, and laser expert J. Richard Kerr was the second.

OGC moved to a newly developed 74-acre site at 20000 NW Walker Road on the Hillsboro-Beaverton boundary in August 1969, which was intended to be its permanent campus, adjacent to the Oregon National Primate Research Center.

OGC had no undergraduates, dormitories, sororities, fraternities, student-athletes, mascots, Latin motto, homecoming parade or social science departments, ever.

[6] The first master's degree was awarded to Terry D. Lee in organic chemistry in 1971, and the first doctor of philosophy to Paul M. Perry in applied physics in 1973.

The original board of trustees of OGC was Harry Alpert (U of O), Henry Cabell, Vernon Cheldelin (OSU), Arno H. Denecke, S.L.

Diack (chairman), physicist Walter P. Dyke (Linfield College, Field Emission Corp.), Gerald W. Frank (Governor's Advisory Committee), educator James T. Marr, Harold M. Phillips, Donald E. Pickering (OHSU), G. Herbert Smith (Willamette University), Willard B. Spalding (dean of PSC), Richard H. Sullivan (president of Reed College), metallurgist R.H. "Rudy" Thielemann (Martin Marietta Metals Co.), C. H. Vollum and Harry White.

His major accomplishment was acquiring the new campus on Walker Road from Tektronix Foundation, where the first new building was dedicated on 15 August 1969.

[3] E. Robert de Luccia, a Pacific Power & Light Co. executive and board member became interim president in 1969, following Benedict's dismissal.

Mergers with Lewis & Clark College and PSU and a takeover by Tek were proposed, and most OGC employees were looking for other jobs.

Negotiations with PSU failed to produce a merger, a request for $1.5M in operating funds from the state legislature was denied, and OGC was on the brink of extinction during this time.

Electrical engineer F. Paul Carlson was hired by OGC as the vice-president for development in 1977 in the midst of a financial crisis, and became acting president in 1979.

[15] Ground was broken for the Samuel L. Diack Memorial Library in 1979, and the building was completed in 1980, named in honor of the first chairman.

The Computer Science building was completed in 1981, with Richard B. Kieburtz coming from State University of New York at Stony Brook to head the new department.

Prolific author Lawrence E. Murr was a professor of MS&E and the vice-president for academic affairs during Carlson's term.

Carlson returned briefly in 1986 as acting president of OGC upon Kahne's departure, then resigned as chairman of the board and took a job with Honeywell.

[24] Paul E. Bragdon, a lawyer and president of Reed College 1971–1988, was succeeded Sangrey in 1994, and took on the task of rescuing OGI from a $2M deficit.

[26] Paul Clayton, a professor of materials science and engineering and the campus provost, served briefly as an interim president in 1998 after Bragdon's departure.

[1] The last president, Edward W. Thompson came to OGI in 1998 from HRL Laboratories, where he led a team of 40 researchers developing technology for defense contracting, telecommunications and space.

The name of OGC was changed on 1 November 1989 to the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology (OGI), on Dwight Sangrey's watch.

[28] Sangrey foresaw an education-business complex for OGI similar to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

They were: Harlan U. Anderson, Robert L. Autrey, Douglas F. Barofsky, Edward J. Baum, Warren E. Budden-baum, G. Doyle Daves Jr., Roger Eiss, the late Richard A. Elliott, Stephen Fisk, George A.

[54] Non-degree programs offered by OGI included Saturday Academy, an Applied Mathematics Certificate, the Solid State Devices Consortium,[55] and short courses under the Center for Professional Development umbrella.

Victor Atiyeh in 1985 in conjunction with PSU, OSU and U of O. OGI quickly became very competitive with other Oregon universities in research and graduate degrees in STEM fields.

Although OHSU is the state medical school, it had become a public corporation in 1995; this was closer to OGI's business model than either OSU or PSU.

OHSU sold the 40-acre OGI School of Science and Engineering campus at 20000 NW Walker Road in Hillsboro in 2007 for $44.4M, but also signed a 7-year lease for the property.

graduate Terry Lee earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at the U of O in 1977, and returned to OGC as a post-doctoral fellow in mass spectrometry.

[64] First Ph.D. graduate Paul Perry became a computer services manager at Western Geophysical Exploration Production in Texas.