Doubling Up

Linfield unveils bachelor’s, master’s combo

The first interdisciplinary wine studies degree in the U.S. will now be the first in the nation with a five-year program leading to both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in wine studies. 

Grace and Ken Evenstad Center for Wine Education at Linfield College in McMinnville is teaming up with École Supérieure d’Agricultures (ESA) in Angers, France, for the initiative. Students who complete the program will receive a bachelor’s degree in wine studies from Linfield and an international vintage master’s degree from ESA.

“This 3/2 program provides an accelerated pathway for students to gain both a bachelor’s and master’s degree, and to gain important work experience in the heart of Oregon’s wine country and in three or more European countries,” said Gregory V. Jones, Director of the Evenstad Center for Wine Education at Linfield. 

Jones called the effort “an exciting opportunity through a unique program,” and says it will open doors to wine-industry careers worldwide for graduates. 

Students in the program will spend the first three years at Linfield, earning 90 semester credits in wine studies. They will spend the next two years at ESA, studying in either Spain or Hungary during their first semester and in Portugal or Italy during their second. 

Students’ third semester will be in France, and they will spend their fourth semester conducting a professional thesis project at a private company, research laboratory or public institution in any of the countries in which they have studied or in Chile, South Africa, Switzerland or England. 

Participants also have the option of completing internships during academic breaks in the final two years of the program. All classes are taught in English, but students are encouraged to study the language of the country in which they complete their internship.

The program is limited to five students per year, and students must apply by the spring of their junior year at Linfield. The first Linfield students could start at ESA as early as the fall of 2019. 

For more information, visit linfield.edu/wine.