Seattle Pacific is a place where 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students gain a superb education grounded on the gospel of Jesus Christ — and gain the tools to influence the world for good. Outstanding scholarship and thoughtful faith is a powerful combination that brings about change in the lives of graduates, and in the people and communities they go on to serve.
The University was founded in 1891 by Free Methodist pioneers who valued a non-sectarian approach to education that welcomed all those seeking scholarly excellence rooted in the Christian gospel; they also sought to take the gospel into the world in order to bring about the flourishing of God’s children.
Today, that tradition continues in a clear line from our founders. It is in our “DNA,” so to speak, the desire to engage the culture and change the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
University Vision
Engaging the culture, changing the world.
Mission and Signatures
At Seattle Pacific University, we seek to ground everything we do on the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. Such a claim is both personal, a commitment by each member of our community, and institutional, a corporate aspiration that has guided this institution from its founding.
Even while we celebrate the rich diversity of the Church throughout the world, we anchor our faith on the person of Jesus Christ, the authority of Holy Scripture, and the tradition of the Christian Church throughout history.
We have adopted four signature commitments to guide us as we engage the culture and help to bring about positive change in the world.
Seattle Pacific will be a place that ...
- Masters the tools of rigorous learning and is a vibrant intellectual community.
- Embraces the Christian story, becoming biblically and theologically literate.
- Understands and engages our multicultural and complex world.
- Values the centrality of character formation in the life of the individual.
Seattle and the Pacific Northwest
Located in a quiet north Queen Anne residential neighborhood, Seattle Pacific University’s 40-acre campus borders the Lake Washington Ship Canal and boasts majestic trees, open lawns, beautiful gardens, and views of the Cascade mountains.
Just minutes from downtown Seattle, SPU benefits from a close proximity to this major trade center, popular tourist destination, and gateway to Canada and the Pacific Rim. The University capitalizes on its setting by using the city itself as an urban classroom. Combining classroom education with practical experience is often the best way to master a discipline. Seattle’s urban opportunities offer students that critical link. Many SPU students have internships for businesses and organizations such as Microsoft, Boeing, Fred Hutchinson, the Mariners, KING TV, the Empty Space Theatre, the Seattle Opera, The Children’s Project, and others.
The city is surrounded by water and mountains, and bridges, ferry boats, and snow-capped peaks are a part of everyday life. Because of those natural assets, the Pacific Northwest offers unparalleled recreational opportunities: hiking, skiing, boating, fishing, and scuba diving, to name a few.
At SPU’s two island campuses, the beauty of the Pacific Northwest provides rest and research possibilities. At seaside Camp Casey on Whidbey Island, retreats and workshops are conducted in the rustic setting of a former military fort. On a 965-acre environmental preserve on Blakely Island, students study life above and below the sea.