What’s happening at SPU? This is where you’ll find the latest news about research, events, activities, achievements, and milestones in the life of SPU and its people.
Now in its 22nd year, the Day of Common Learning at Seattle Pacific University is a campuswide event in which students, faculty, and staff have the opportunity to engage in deep thought and conversation around a topic of interest and concern.
This year's theme is "Digital Discernment: Navigating Life, Faith, and Technology." The keynote speaker is Dr. Kate Ott, a highly respected scholar and nationally recognized expert in a number of ethical discourses. As a feminist and Christian ethicist, Dr. Ott specializes in technology, children and youth, sexuality, pedagogy, and professional ethics. She has authored several books, including Christian Ethics for a Digital Society and, most recently, Sex, Tech & Faith: Ethics for a Digital Age.
Several afternoon sessions will be held related to day's theme led by faculty from various disciplines, including "AI Tools in the Classroom – a Live Experiment," "Digital and Information Equity in Seattle," "Discerning Climate Change Information," and :AI, Faith, and the Future."
Learn more about the day's events here.
Pulitzer-prize winning author, historian, and theologian Dr. Ronald C. White, will share about his new book on Joshua L. Chamberlain, the famous Civil War general who was also a committed Christian and abolitionist. This latest release is an important companion for his previous books on Lincoln, Grant, and the social gospel. Enjoy significant conversations around issues of racial justice and Christian participation in war. This event is free; no registration required.
"On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain”
Thursday, January 25, 2024, 7–9 p.m.
First Free Methodist Church (Fine Center), adjacent to campus
If you’ve ever wondered whether seminary was for you, Seattle Pacific Seminary invites you to explore your calling and vocation at Discernment Days. This year, we're hosting a two-day event on January 29-30th. Prospective students will have the opportunity to visit classes, meet with current students, faculty, and administrators, and tour the campus. The event is free, and food is included! You can come for one or both days.
For the 13th year in a row, SPU has been announced as a winner of the NCAA Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence. SPU is just one of eight schools in Division II to win the award all 13 years that it has been presented. This year, a total of 44 schools were on the prestigious list. The award recognizes a four-year academic success rate (ASR) of 90 percent or higher. Congratulations to our Falcon athletes!
Virtually walk through the Seattle Pacific campus on a sunny Seattle day. Enter a classroom to see what your day-to-day life will be like. Soar over the Seattle waterfront, Golden Gardens Beach, or downtown. Welcome to Seattle Pacific University’s state-of-the-art 360 virtual tour.
How do churches support families in the faith formation of children? How do church leaders navigate topics of disability, mental health, and sexuality through a Christian lens, and move toward racially conscious ministries? How do parents understand the scriptures on these topics and how do they read them with their children?
These questions and more will be the focus of a research project led by Katherine Douglass, Seattle Pacific University associate professor of educational ministry and practical theology. She received a $1 million grant from Lily Endowment Inc. as part of the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative to study faith socialization in families. The grant will also bring together ministry leaders and parents for a trip to Hawaii to learn about the impact of disease, family, religion, and government within the former leper colony on Moloka’i.
Douglass will be working with undergraduate and graduate students along with four SPU professors and staff in theology, psychology, and multi-ethnic programs
Read the full press release.
Faith & Co. is a partnership between academic departments, entrepreneurial companies, and mission-driven institutions. Supported by generous donor funding and facilitated by Seattle Pacific University, this bold experiment in exploring the potential of educational film and Christian vocation has united a team of experts to deliver rigorous, high-quality resources in the spirit of teaching and learning. Faith & Co. is an educational and formational experience that will deepen connections between your faith and work.
George Scranton, professor emeritus of theatre, passed away on Nov. 28. George was an SPU alumnus and served on the faculty for more than 40 years.
Jaeil Lee, professor and co-director in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, received the 2023-24 WA-FCS Research Scholar of the Year Award at the Washington State AAFCS (American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences) annual conference in Vancouver, WA.
The latest SPU Voices podcast features Tod Yansomboon, an international student from Thailand currently in his final quarter at SPU. Tod left his home at the age of 15 to attend high school in the U.S. in pursuit of his overarching goal: to understand business and how business can help others. After three years of high school in three different U.S. states, Tod arrived on the SPU campus to study business administration and found his dreams all coming true — until COVID hit. Forced to return home without much hope of returning, Tod turned to social media for community and support. He is now a true social media influencer with over one million subscribers, and his videos have been being viewed over 200 million times.
Dr. Christopher Jones ’94 hopes the families in his medical practice never need to ask: “Is my kid sick enough that I should pay for a doctor’s visit?” Medical director of HopeCentral, a nonprofit health center, he and his team have adapted the concept of concierge medicine to a diverse Seattle neighborhood.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy Leland Saunders earned a $10,100 Graves Award in Humanities for his research project, “The Structure of Moral Judgement: Philosophical Perspectives.” His research responds to recent arguments that human beings’ concepts of morality are just a quirk of evolution and don't connect to anything deeper.