President
Deana L. Porterfield, EdD
Mission
Seattle Pacific University is a Christian university fully committed to engaging the culture and changing the world by graduating people of competence and character, becoming people of wisdom, and modeling grace-filled community.
Denominational affiliation
SPU is a private university founded in 1891 by the Free Methodist Church of North America. It remains a private nonsectarian institution of Christian higher education affiliated with The Free Methodist Church USA. Responsibility for the governance and control of Seattle Pacific University rests exclusively with the Board of Trustees, which elects its own members, of which one third must be a member of a Free Methodist church.
Location
SPU’s 43-acre city campus is located in a residential neighborhood on the north slope of Queen Anne Hill, only 10 minutes from the heart of downtown Seattle. SPU also owns and operates a wilderness campus and field station on Blakely Island, and a seaside campus/retreat facility on Whidbey Island.
Enrollment
(Statistics are based on Autumn Quarter 2022)
Total enrollment: 3,114
Undergraduate enrollment: 2,428
Post-baccalaureate enrollment: 33
Graduate enrollment: 653
(Summer 2021–Summer 2022)
Continuing education enrollment: 1,306
Academic programs offered
Undergraduate majors: 70
Undergraduate minors: 67
Master’s degree programs: 26
Doctoral degree programs: 5
Graduate certificates: 14
Students
(undergraduate through doctoral)
Average age of students
Undergraduate: 20
Post-baccalaureate: 33
Master’s: 33
Doctoral: 34
Gender
Men: 31%
Women: 69%
Student-faculty ratio
12:1 (based on Common Data Set definition)
Undergraduate information
Average high school GPA
Entering freshmen: 3.56
Entering transfers: 3.30
Average SAT scores of entering freshmen
National average: 1051
Washington state average: 1072
SPU average: 1217
Class size
82% of Autumn Quarter 2022 undergraduate classes had enrollments of 30 or less.
Ethnic diversity
51% (undergraduate ethnic minority students)
Retention rate
78% (based on first-year persistence)
Six-year graduation rate
64% (reported Autumn 2022)
Top 10 undergraduate programs
By number of students enrolled Autumn Quarter and accepted into a major:
- Psychology
- Nursing
- Computer Science
- Business Administration
- Physiology
- Exercise Science
- Applied Human Biology
- Mechanical Engineering
- Integrated Studies
- Sociology
More information
For more information and facts about Seattle Pacific University, you can visit these sites:
Updated October 19, 2022