- The August 2010 issue of Outside magazine named Ashland to the top 25 best towns in America for the outdoor life. Ashland was chosen because it’s the best trail running town in the country.
The earthen dam at Emigrant Lake is a favorite spot to begin a run.
- Ashland consistently appears on the Outside Best list. In March, 2009, Outside magazine named SOU #20 of its top 40 schools in America where you can “hit the books and the back country.”
- In August 2009 Outside named Ashland one of the 10 Best Small Towns in America.
- The September 2010 issue of Money magazine named Ashland #16 on its list of the 25 Best Places to Retire in America. All 25 were college towns. The article cites the Shakespeare Festival, Crater Lake and other attractions but says, “While these are all good reasons to move to Ashland, the Southern Oregon University is a great reason to stay. For a fee of $100, members have carte blanche to take as many as 90 courses a quarter, three quarters a year, with topics covering everything from Japan in film to English country dancing.”
- In July 2006, the New York Times carried a list of “hidden gems” in higher education to be considered instead of Harvard, Yale, Stanford or Penn. The article said “The following colleges, compiled with help from a dozen higher education experts and counselors, stress undergraduate teaching, have established or rising scholarship, even if they come up short on standardized test scores, and are alternatives to the usual suspects.” SOU was one of only seven colleges and universities on the list from the West, and one of only 20 in total.
- SOU is the public liberal arts university of the West, providing exceptional undergraduate and graduate education that is affordable and accessible
- SOU is in the top 30% in the “Masters Universities” category of national college and university rankings announced by The Washington Monthly magazine
- SOU was recently named to the top 100 “Cool Schools” by Sierra Club magazine for its commitments to sustainability and environmental education
- SOU is the first university in Oregon—and one of the first in the nation—to offset 100 percent of its energy use with clean, renewable power
- The Environmental Protection Agency ranks SOU in the top 20 in the nation among colleges and universities in the use of Green Power
- The SOU/RCC Higher Education Center is the first LEED platinum-certified commercial building in southern Oregon, and the first in the Oregon University System
- SOU Raider teams are doing well across the board this year. The Raider athletic program is currently ranked among the top 20 NAIA programs in the country.
- In the last decade, SOU athletics has produced more than 90 All-Americans, 15 Cascade Conference Players of the Year, and 24 Cascade Conference Championship teams
- SOU’s enrollment is at an all-time record high this year
- SOU students have discretionary spending of more than $27 million
- SOU is the largest employer in Ashland and has an annual payroll of $51* million
- Last year more than 400 SOU classes and 8,960 students included community-based activities, benefitting organizations throughout the Rogue Valley
- SOU alumni include Emmy-nominated TV and movie star Ty Burrell, the poet laureate of Oregon Paulann Peterson, and last year’s National Teacher of the Year Michael Geisen
- SOU’s ROTC program tops the nation in National Guard scholarships
- SOU’s President Mary Cullinan is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Leadership Award for District VIII of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education
- A national survey tracks five straight years of academic progress at SOU
- SOU’s MBA program stands out in a national exam
Looking up toward Mt. Ashland after an early fall snow.