A research university on a working harbor
AES Education is the public name of the Atlantic Educational Society. We are a private nonprofit university. The campus sits on 186 acres above the south shore of Calder Bay, and the work has not moved far from the dock where the first class met.
Mission
To educate students who can do skilled work on this coast and carry that skill elsewhere: teachers, nurses, engineers, scientists, designers, and managers. We do this through degrees with a required field term, research that answers local questions, and a campus that students can afford to finish.
Charter obligation
The 1974 charter, still in force, says the Society will keep a teaching program for coastal schools, a laboratory open to the port, and a share of scholarships for students whose families work the waterfront. The board reviews that obligation every June.
The principles behind an AES education
Our academic requirements and operating principles were reviewed by the faculty senate in May 2025.
Work you can point to
A degree here includes a senior project, a student-teaching portfolio, a clinical log, or a cruise report. The catalog does not treat that work as optional.
The coast is the subject
We study the places that employ our neighbors: kelp beds, harbors, rural schools, clinics, and the small businesses on the working waterfront.
Plain advising
Students keep one faculty advisor from the first term through the senior project. Office hours are posted, and the ratio is 13 students to each faculty member.
Public purpose
The Society’s charter requires that a share of research time be spent on questions brought by the port, the school districts, or the county health department.
Open methods
Cruise logs, sensor streams from the Harbor Data Observatory, and senior theses are deposited in the Seacliff Library within a year of completion.
Care on campus
The health center, counseling service, and dining hall are staffed through the academic year, including the summer field term. Students are not sent off campus for routine care.
Fifty-two years on Seacliff Road
Dates below are taken from the board minutes and the accreditation file.
Charter
The Atlantic Educational Society opens with 86 students in a converted cannery warehouse on Seacliff Road. The first majors are marine biology, elementary education, and business.
First graduating class
Seventy-one students graduate. Forty-four take jobs in coastal school districts, the port, or local processors. The rest continue at graduate schools in Oregon and Washington.
Marine laboratory and accreditation
The Calder Bay Marine Laboratory opens on the south jetty. The same year, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities grants initial accreditation.
Partner schools
The School of Education signs placement agreements with six coastal districts, including Yarrow County. Student teaching becomes a full-year requirement for licensure candidates.
Pearl Graduate Center
Evening programs in educational leadership, public health, and business open at 412 Riverfront Avenue in Portland. Credits are recorded by the Calder Bay registrar.
Hester endowment
The Hester family gift establishes marine scholarships and pushes the endowment past $100 million. The gift later funds the sciences hall that carries the family name.
Lisbon Study Center
A semester program in coastal policy and environmental design opens at Rua das Ondas 18. Enrollment is capped at 40 AES students plus visiting fellows.
Voss presidency
Dr. Helena Voss becomes the seventh president. Her first budget restores the summer field term, which had been reduced after the 2008 enrollment dip.
Accreditation reaffirmed
NWCCU reaffirms accreditation for ten years, with a commendation for the field requirement and a recommendation to expand coastal-engineering lab space. That recommendation becomes Hester Hall.
Hester Hall in use
Classes begin in Hester Marine Sciences Hall on September 8, 2026. The building holds teaching labs, the kelp culture room, and the Harbor Data Observatory operations desk.
University leadership
The board of trustees appoints the president. The president appoints the vice presidents, subject to board confirmation.
Dr. Helena Voss
PresidentMarine geochemist and president since July 2019. Dr. Voss earned her Ph.D. in oceanography in 1998 and previously chaired the College of Marine & Environmental Sciences. She led the 2022 NWCCU reaffirmation and the opening of Hester Marine Sciences Hall.
Prof. Marcus Ellison
ProvostA curriculum scholar who came to AES in 2006 to build the partner-school network. As provost he oversees the six colleges, the academic catalog, and faculty review. He still teaches one section of educational leadership each spring.
Dr. Naomi Okada
Vice President for ResearchFisheries ecologist and director of the Calder Bay Marine Laboratory. Dr. Okada manages the FY2025 research portfolio of $86.4 million and is principal investigator on the kelp-recovery survey.
Camille Duarte, MPA
Vice President for Finance & AdministrationMs. Duarte joined AES from the Calder Bay Port Authority in 2017. She oversees the budget, the endowment ($412 million as of June 30, 2025), facilities, and the Harbor Portal.
Accreditation
Institutional accreditation is held through the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The last comprehensive review was in 2022. The next mid-cycle report is due in 2027.
Professional programs carry their own accreditation. A student who needs a licensure letter can request it from the registrar at [email protected]. Letters go out within five business days.