Portland State
Oregon History
Measures
Animals
Oregon in Media
100

PSU was founded in this year.

What is 1946?

100

The two men who settled in Portland, Oregon both wanted to name it after their hometowns. Unable to reach a compromise, they flipped a coin to decide who would get the honor. Francis Pettygrove won the toss and named the city after this place.

What is Portland, Maine?

100

100cm = 1 of this.

What is a meter?

100

This mammal is known for having the most powerful bite.

What is a hippopotamus?

100

This famous 1980 horror film starring Jack Nicholson used the Timberline Lodge for exterior shots.

What is the Shining?

200

Portland State's original name.

What is Vanport Extension Center (Vanport College)

200

Approximately one million people a year visit this famous cheese factory. 

What is Tillamook Creamery?

200

1 tablespoon = 3 of these

What is a teaspoon?

200

This sea creature can change its gender. 

What is an oyster?

200

According to its creator Matt Groening, this character on “The Simpsons” is named after Burnside Street and Montgomery Street in Portland, Oregon.

Who is Mr. Burns?

300

This is Portland State's motto.

Doctrina urbi serviat (Let knowledge serve the city)

300

Founded as a weekly by Thomas Dryer in 1850 and published daily since 1861, this is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast. This paper is also one of the few to have an explicitly statewide focus.

What is the Oregonian?

300

1 second = a million of these

What is a nanosecond?

300

People from this country are primarily responsible for importing cats into North America. 

What is England?

300

This Ken Kesey novel later turned into a film, is set in a psychiatric hospital in Salem, Oregon.

What is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

400
Smith Memorial Student Union is named after this person.

Who is Michael J. Smith.

400

This river was once deemed mythical and referred to as "the River of the West" by European explorers.

What is the Columbia River.

400

5280 ft = 1 of these

What is a mile?

400

The 'Portuguese Man O War' is this type of animal.

What are jellyfish?

400

Located 75 miles northwest of Portland, this Oregon city is the setting for the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring 1990 film "Kindergarten Cop."

What is Astoria?

500

Alumni Carolyn Davidson created the iconic logo for this American multinational company while attending PSU in 1971. 

What is Nike?

500

This US President won his election partially from his rallying cry of "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!", which led to the Oregon country border being set at the 49th parallel under the 1846 Oregon Treaty with the United Kingdom. 

Who is James K. Polk?

500

One British thermal unit = about 1,055 of these units of energy named for a British physicist

What is a joule?

500

A desert bull may walk 50 miles a day to find food & water; he's guided by this, an elephant's proverbial strength.

What is memory?

500

A certain author's 1957 research trip to Florence, Oregon, began as an attempt to write an article on environmental efforts to use grasses to slow the spread of beach sands. Instead, the trip inspired this 1965 science-fiction novel which has received multiple film adaptations.

What is Dune.

M
e
n
u