I am pleased to provide this report on the accomplishments and events at Seattle Pacific University during the past academic year. It summarizes the University’s high-level academic, athletic, fundraising, and alumni milestones. You’ll also read about the many ways our students, faculty, and staff are serving the community around us.
There are many areas of need in our broader region, including human trafficking, hunger, homelessness, and more. In order to address these needs, it is our goal at SPU to graduate students who are able to move from our campus ready to embody the University’s vision of “Engaging the Culture and Changing the World.”
We seek to graduate people who live lives of service, graduates who recognize the gaps, the inequities, and the needs in our world, and then imagine how life could, or should, be, and work toward that end — seeking change that brings shalom, human flourishing, wholeness, and harmony.
As an expression of this vision, Seattle Pacific hosted Tent City 3 for a three-month period this winter and early spring. We welcomed close to 100 men and women right into the midst of our campus and community. Through this experience, SPU students, faculty, and staff had a unique opportunity to care for — and learn from — our neighbors. While the residents of Tent City 3 were a part of our campus community, I was privileged to get to know them personally and hear their stories. It was a growing experience for many of us.
Hosting a homeless community is an outcome of the rich history and legacy of our University founders who set in motion our focus on Christian service and academic rigor.
I hope to see you on campus in the near future.
Daniel J. Martin
President
@SPUPres