186 acres above the south shore
The Calder Bay campus is a teaching campus, not a resort. Students live in four houses, eat in those houses, and walk to class. The laboratory, the library, and the boathouse are the buildings people actually use.
What is on the campus
Forty-two buildings sit on 186 acres between Seacliff Road and the jetty. The oldest teaching space is the 1976 wing of Alder Hall. The newest is Hester Marine Sciences Hall, occupied on September 8, 2026.
First-year students live on campus unless they commute from family housing inside 30 miles. In fall 2026 that was 94% of the entering class. Upper-division students may move off campus; most who stay on campus are in Pilot or Yarrow, which take returns.
Places students use every week
Hours and booking rules are posted in the Harbor Portal. The notes here are the standing ones.
Four residential houses
Seacliff, Alder, Pilot, and Yarrow house about 2,400 students. First-year students are required to live in a house unless they live with family inside 30 miles. Each house has a faculty resident and a dining room that serves breakfast and dinner.
Dining
The four house dining rooms and the Jetty Café in the student union. Menus publish the allergens for each dish. During the summer field term, Pilot House stays open for students living on campus for the laboratory session.
Boathouse and recreation
The boathouse holds the rowing shells, the sailing fleet of twelve 420s, and a fitness room. The pool is 25 yards. Students do not pay a separate recreation fee; it is inside the $1,840 required fee.
Seacliff Library
Open 8 a.m. to midnight in term, with 24-hour access the week before finals. The collection is 480,000 volumes plus the cruise-report archive. Group rooms are booked in the Harbor Portal. The writing studio is on the second floor.
Tide Hall
A 620-seat hall used for convocation, the harbor chorus, and outside speakers. Student groups may book it through the campus events office when the academic calendar is clear. There is no separate performing-arts major using it as a conservatory.
The bluff and the jetty path
A public path runs from the houses down to the south jetty. The marine laboratory sits at the end of that path. The bluff itself is 42 acres of shore pine that the facilities crew does not turf.
86 recognized student organizations
A group is recognized when ten students and a faculty advisor file a charter with the student affairs office. Recognition is what unlocks a room and a small budget.
Academic
- Tidepool Survey
- Coastal Engineering Studio
- Student Teachers Association
- Fisheries Club
- Harbor Data Club
- Pre-Health Society
- Accounting Society
- Public History Workshop
Arts
- Harbor Chorus
- Jazz Combos (3)
- Seacliff Review (literary)
- Photo Club
- Design Build Crew
- Chamber Players
Service
- Net Mending Cooperative
- Yarrow Tutors
- Beach Cleanup Crew
- Tax Assistance (VITA)
- Clinic Transport
- Food Recovery
Recreation
- Sailing Club
- Club Rowing
- Trail Running
- Climbing
- Soccer intramurals
- Open-water swim
Traditions that are still on the calendar
These are dates the campus keeps. They are organized by students and staff, not by an outside production company.
First Tide
On the second morning of orientation, the first-year class walks the jetty path at dawn with the faculty residents. No speeches. The walk ends at the laboratory dock, and breakfast is in Pilot House.
Net Mending Night
The Thursday before midterms, students and a few retired fishermen mend gear in the boathouse. It began in 1981 as a fundraiser for the Dockworkers’ Dependent Grant and never became a ticketed event.
Harbor Lights
The first Friday of December. Houses outline their eaves, the chorus sings in Tide Hall, and the port switches the channel markers to the festival pattern for one hour.
Faculty Chowder
During the last week of fall term the faculty serve chowder in the four dining rooms after 9 p.m. Students who are in the building to study eat. It is not a performance.
Senior Launch
Graduating students who want to row a short course in the bay do so the morning of commencement. The course is from the laboratory dock to the channel marker and back. It is optional, and the shells are coxed by the rowing coaches.
Kelp Week
A teaching week in May. Laboratory courses move outside, the design studios pin work in the union, and the research office posts the summer fellowship awards on the Hester Hall board.
NCAA Division II, Cascade Athletic Conference
Fourteen varsity teams. The conference is the one AES has competed in since moving to Division II in 1998. Athletes hold the same academic standing rules as other students.
Sailing
Cascade Athletic ConferenceConference title, fall 2025
Women’s rowing
Cascade Athletic ConferenceSecond at the conference championship, 2026
Men’s soccer
NCAA Division IIConference semifinal, 2025
Women’s soccer
NCAA Division IIEleven Academic All-Conference selections, 2025
Cross country
NCAA Division IIRegional qualifier, women’s team, 2025
Swimming
NCAA Division IIFour conference champions in the 100 and 200 free
Basketball
NCAA Division IIMen 16–12, women 18–9 in 2025–26
Track & field
NCAA Division IIHost of the April coastal meet at Bluff Field
Health on campus
The health fee is inside the required fee. Students do not pay a visit charge for primary care at the Seacliff clinic. Counseling visits are included as well.
Counseling
The counseling service is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, with a counselor on call after hours through campus safety at (541) 628-4911. The first appointment is usually within a week. Crisis visits are the same day.
Seacliff Clinic
Two nurse practitioners and a rotating physician. Weekdays 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during term. Referrals to Shoreline Health are arranged by the clinic, not left to the student to find.
After an injury on the water
Field courses carry a safety lead. Incidents are reported to campus safety the same day. The marine laboratory keeps a first-aid room and a direct line to the Calder Bay fire boat.
Food and housing concerns
Students who cannot eat what the house is serving, or who need a housing change, write [email protected]. The office answers within two business days and does not require a public explanation.