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.
Seattle Pacific University received an affirmation of accreditation through the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. This marks the 90th year the University was accredited by NWCCU.
Pastor Rebecca Worl was born and raised as a missionary kid in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After returning to the States, she finished school in Bellingham and went on to receive her undergraduate degree in theology from Seattle Pacific. Becca then earned her master’s in Theological and Biblical Studies at Fuller and subsequently served as associate pastor on staff at Cedar Creek Covenant in Maple Valley. In 2022, she joined the Pine Lake Covenant Church team as student ministries pastor, in addition to being a retreat speaker and itinerant preacher in the ECC.
Join church historian Dr. Priscilla Pope-Levison and biblical scholar Dr. Jack Levison for this annual lecture as they unearth early American women’s fascinating interpretations of Paul’s mandate for women to keep silent in churches (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). Levison and Pope-Levison will explore some of the earliest treatises on this topic written within a generation of the Revolutionary War.
The lecture is Tuesday, Oct. 3, 7 p.m. in First Free Methodist Church.
Seattle Pacific University received an anonymous gift of $125,000 from two alumni to expand the University’s student ministry outreach program. The gift will be directed to the student ministry coordinator and residence hall ministry coordinator programs, as well as provide additional resources for campus Chapel offerings.
For the eighth year in a row, Seattle Pacific has been named a “Best National University” in U.S. News & World Report’s best college annual rankings for 2024. U.S. News defines national universities as those institutions offering a full range of undergraduate majors plus master's and doctoral programs and committed to producing groundbreaking research.
September 17 is Constitution Day, the anniversary of the date when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 adjourned with a new charter for the new American Republic.
In 2004, the U.S. Congress passed legislation requiring educational institutions who receive federal funding to provide their communities with information concerning the U.S. Constitution. For nearly two decades, as part of Seattle Pacific University’s commemoration, we have been fortunate to have Professor (now Emeritus Professor) of History Bill Woodward offer his expert analysis of one of our country’s most important documents.
This year's essay is titled “The Second Amendment, the NRA, and a One-Armed General.” In it, Professor Woodward builds on his 2019 essay, which showed how the “well-regulated militia” of the Second Amendment developed over the century following the writing of the Constitution. Now Professor Woodward focuses on Washington state’s own early-20th-century Adjutant General James Drain, an Olympian marksman and National Rifle Association officer. Drain was one of several individuals key to the development and passage of a Militia Act in 1903 that transformed the National Guard and, effectively, the application of the Second Amendment’s militia clause.
Professor Brent Ruby graduated from SPU in ’89 with a degree in exercise science. He now serves as a professor at the University of Montana, where his research includes the physical and mental toll fighting wildfires has on the people who battle these blazes. Being away from loved ones can also weigh on firefighters, which led Ruby to write a children’s book called Wrango and Banjo on the Fireline that tells the story of a canine fire crew battling wildfires with the goal of helping the children of these heroes better understand the demands of their parents’ job.
Brent talks about his journey since leaving SPU in this episode of SPU Voices podcast. Listen or read the podcast transcript.
On July 1, Deana L. Porterfield became SPU’s 12th president and the first female president in the University’s 132-year history.
President Porterfield has more than 35 years of experience working in higher education, including nine years as president of Roberts Wesleyan University and Northeastern Seminary.
She was raised in Northern California and spent 30 years in Southern California before moving to Western New York. President Porterfield and her husband, Doug, who is a native of Washington state, have two married daughters and five grandchildren.
When animals and people cross paths, Todd Jacobsen '10, of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, maintains the peace.
Deep in the woods of rural Washington, a hunter and his son return to a 12-foot-deep sinkhole they discovered the previous year. To their surprise, an elk calf is trapped at the bottom of the pit. Springing into action, the hunter contacts the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which deploys Todd Jacobsen ’12. With the help of a tractor and dart gun, he lifts the elk out to safety.
It’s just another day’s work for Jacobsen, a wildlife conflict specialist for Klickitat, Skamania, and Clark Counties with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
In the latest SPU Voices podcast, meet Falcon athlete and NCAA Division II indoor track and field champion Vanessa Aniteye, who was nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award! She talks about being an athlete, getting married and having a son, and coming to SPU to resume her track and filed pursuits.
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.