Short answers, pulled from the story.
The University of Portland was founded on the 5th of September 1901, when it opened as Columbia University with 52 students and eight Catholic priests serving as faculty. The Congregation of Holy Cross took ownership in 1902, and the school adopted its current name in 1935.
The University of Portland is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, the same religious order that founded the University of Notre Dame. The Congregation took formal ownership of UP in 1902 at the request of Archbishop Alexander Christie.
Donald Shiley graduated from the University of Portland in 1951 with a bachelor's degree in general engineering. He later invented a heart valve and other medical devices credited with saving thousands of lives. In 2007 he and his wife Darlene gave $12 million to the engineering school, followed by an additional $8 million gift, resulting in the school being renamed the Donald P. Shiley School of Engineering.
The University of Portland women's soccer team won the NCAA Division I National Championship in 2002 and again in 2005. Both championship runs were led by Canadian international Christine Sinclair, and the 2005 title also featured Megan Rapinoe.
The University of Portland has an annual economic impact of $170 million on Portland. It is North Portland's largest corporation, and more than 17,000 alumni live in the Portland metropolitan area.
Portland University, a Methodist Episcopal institution founded in 1891, was the first school on Waud's Bluff. Financial difficulties following the Panic of 1893 forced it off campus, and its main building, West Hall, sat vacant for several years before the Archdiocese of Portland purchased it and opened Columbia University in 1901. West Hall was later renamed Waldschmidt Hall in 1992.