[3] Liberal arts' students may earn a wide range of major and minor degrees by attending classes at one of the three university campuses or studying online.

[15] The school opened under the management of Gerard Taillandier, an acclaimed organist from Oakland, California[16][17][18] Within two years the department of art was added, chaired by professor Farley McLouth.

[19] Starting in the early 1900s, however, advancements developed during the recent American Industrial Revolution introduced students to new career opportunities in the sciences and technology.

According to college records, a reduced interest by students and a new state policy requiring the university to focus curricula on the sciences and technology forced administrators to de-emphasize liberal arts majors in 1914 and over the subsequent four decades.

Early journalism students were often assigned to staff the university's statewide agricultural extension bulletins as part of their coursework.

Higher education budget shortfalls, created by the Great Depression, reinforced the state's need to reduce OSU's liberal arts programs once again.

[35] During World War II, majors in liberal arts began to grow in popularity again, as many agriculture and engineering students left college to serve in the military.

Meanwhile, student interest in the liberal arts continued to grow throughout the '60s, as the number of programs and the size of the school expanded.

A year later economics, history, political science and Russian studies were also added as formal departments with bachelor's degree programs.

Head of the broadcast media communications department, Richard Weinman, was hired as a regular host and contributor for KOAC's statewide newscasts (1970s-1990s).

[55] In 1981, Oregon Public Broadcasting was created and the headquarters for the state radio and TV network were relocated from the Corvallis campus to Portland.

However, the station remained an important part of the OPB radio network through its closure in 2009 and received two Peabody Awards over its life.

Oregon State University's College of Liberal Arts offers a wide range of majors, minors, and concentrations within its seven schools.

[66] U.S. News & World Report ranked several college of liberal arts schools as a combined 226th amongst global universities in 2021.

[67] U.S. News & World Report no longer provides rankings for all majors offered within a college of liberal arts at "global" universities.

The most common majors used in their rankings were limited to criminology and criminal justice, English, history, political science, and sociology.

The UO board believed they were "duplicative" of programs offered by their own university and made the request numerous times over the previous 70 years.