“Today … colleges and universities are seen principally as providing tickets to financial security and economic status. … Can colleges and universities, at this late date, still choose to be places of public purpose?”

Robert Zemsky, Founding Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Research on Higher EducationWe have a big idea at Seattle Pacific University! We have worked hard over the years to craft and articulate this unique vision. Everything begins here.

The vision for Seattle Pacific University is to engage the culture and change the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe God wants all of his children, everywhere, to flourish, always. That’s a bedrock assumption for us. Our task then is to participate in that drama, to help make the world better.

We want to equip students to become graduates who are change agents. We want to equip and support our faculty, in their scholarship and their teaching, to be change agents. We try to model grace-filled community, a deep core value for us, so that this too might bring about change.

We understand that this vision may not fit any other institution as comfortably; indeed, it may just define a whole new category within the world of higher education.

But our big question is clear and bold: How can we be more effective players in God’s worldwide drama? That’s the driver for 2014: A Blueprint for Excellence.

Resources
• Senior Jared Wiley traveled to tsunami-devastated Indonesia to assist in  recovery efforts.
• Each year, SPU performs the music of Advent in Seattle’s Benaroya Hall.
• Alumnus and neuroscientist David Wong ’61 helped revolutionize the treatment of depression.
• Associate Professor of Theology Delia Nüesch-Olver is a leader in global and urban ministry.

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