Multnomah University is a Christian educational institution in Portland, Oregon, United States. Specializing in Biblical studies and theology, Multnomah University consists of an undergraduate liberal arts program at Multnomah Bible College, as well as a masters level program at Multnomah Biblical Seminary. All students in the undergraduate program receive a bachelor's degree in Biblical studies/theology, and must also complete a second major or minor. Students at Multnomah Biblical seminary can pursue a graduate certificate, or various master's degrees. On February 14, 1936, Rev. John G. Mitchell called a meeting of Portland-area ministers and Christian businessmen to discuss the idea of creating a Bible school in the Pacific Northwest. Mitchell, working with Dr. B.B. Sutcliffe, Dr. Willard Aldrich, and others founded the school that year. The following October, classes began with 49 students and a half-dozen faculty in a former mortuary. In 1943 Willard Aldrich became president of the school, and at age 34 the youngest president of a college in the United States. Willard served as president up until his retirement in 1978.