Engaged Students

The wide range of opportunities to study abroad gives Whitworth students the chance to explore the world...

Taking learning to new horizons

• Whitworth students develop intercultural competence by participating in study-abroad programs over Jan Term or during a full semester through the university’s innovative 4-1-4 academic calendar.

• Whitworth’s 30 international study programs include ancient Philosophy in Europe, computer science in India, women’s studies in Thailand, politics and culture in South Africa and Latin American Studies at the university’s new Costa Rica Center.

• More than half the members of the Whitworth Class of 2010 participated in at least one international or domestic off-campus study program during their college years.

Great Teaching

Whitworth faculty are outstanding scholars, and more importantly, dedicated teachers...

Distinguished Scholars; Individual Attention

• While some Christian universities limit engagement with challenging ideas or secular scholarship, Whitworth encourages tough questions and a fearless search for answers wherever they may be found. And though many other institutions deny any role for faith in the pursuit of truth, Whitworth consistently affirms Christian conviction and intellectual curiosity as complementary rather than competing values. These dual commitments set Whitworth University apart in the higher education landscape.

• Whitworth combines high-quality academic instruction with personal attention to create a sense of belonging that’s often lost at larger institutions. With the university’s student-faculty ratio of 11:1, students are not just a number in a professor’s gradebook. Professors frequently meet students for coffee or lunch or invite them to their homes, and it is this kind of one-on-one interaction that results in Whitworth’s personalized learning environment as well as in mentoring relationships that can last a lifetime.

• Scholarly activity is viewed at Whitworth as an aid, rather than an obstacle, to great teaching. In fact, many professors engage students fully in the daunting enterprise of discovery and dissemination of new knowledge and in the creation of original contributions to their fields. Students work alongside faculty on research ranging from assessing the impact of micro-lending in low-income neighborhoods and developing countries to exploring the theological insights of early Christian aesthetics and the role particular enzymes play in memory function for treating Alzheimer's patients.

Whitworth offers degrees in the following majors: Accounting, American Studies, Applied Physics, Art, Arts Administration, Athletic Training, Biology, Biophysics, Business Management, Chemistry, Communication, Computer Science, Cross-Cultural Studies, Economics, Education (Elementary, Secondary, Special Education), Engineering Physics, English, French, Health Sciences, History, International Business, International Studies, Journalism & Mass Communication, Kinesiology, Marketing, Mathematical Economics, Mathematics, Music, Music Education, Nursing, Peace Studies, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Spanish, Speech Communication, Theatre, Theology.

Vibrant Community

The pristine beauty of the Spokane region lends itself to a diverse range of outdoor activity...

A diverse range of activity in a beautiful physical setting

• Whitworth’s 200-acre campus of red-brick buildings and tall pines is located seven miles north of downtown Spokane in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. An active campus life offers 11 distinct residence halls, dozens of student organizations, abundant opportunities to enjoy fine and performing arts, and a highly successful NCAA Division III athletics program with 20 varsity sports.

• Whitworth’s nationally recognized student-leadership program offers students numerous opportunities to get involved. Within residence halls, students serve as residence assistants, medics, cultural-diversity advocates, and small-group coordinators.

• Whitworth’s student leaders focus on building strong peer relationships and respect for shared values so that students become good decision-makers rather than just good rule-followers. In fact, Whitworth students meet each fall to establish their own policies for living in community and holding one another accountable to the campus code of conduct.

• As a Christian institution, Whitworth takes seriously Christ's example of loving across racial, ethnic, gender, socio-economic and religious differences. With such a high standard, Whitworth remains focused on being an inclusive community that seeks out and welcomes people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives who support our mission. Whitworth partners with the Northwest Leadership Foundation on the innovative Act Six Leadership & Scholarship Initiative that brings a multicultural cadre of up to 10 mostly first-generation, lower-income students from Spokane to Whitworth each year. Whitworth, the first college to join the program, provides scholarships covering 100 percent of financial need as well as extensive training to student participants.

Successful Outcomes

Whitworth graduates excel in careers with a purpose as well as in prestigious graduate school programs throughout the country...

Careers with purpose

• Whitworth has a strong track record for placing students in successful careers and top graduate schools such as Harvard University Law School, University of Washington School of Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Stanford University. But aside from preparing our graduates to succeed in their careers, we also encourage them to find and live out their vocations by connecting their deepest convictions to their work and to other major life decisions.

• Whitworth students explore how they can use their gifts, passions, skills, and sense of purpose to serve the world by taking part in the university’s nationally recognized freshman-seminar, service-learning and internship experiences across the curriculum, as well as faculty/alumni mentoring relationships.

• Notable alumni include Ross Anderson, a reporter for the Seattle Times who shared the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in journalism for his articles on the Exxon Valdez accident; Frank Hernandez, an internationally recognized opera singer and winner of an ARIA Award, the George London Competition, and the Puccini Competition; Ray Washburn, a former professional baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals who pitched a no-hitter and won multiple World Series games in his career; Peter Blomquist, the regional director of the CARE Northwest office and former head of the Starbucks Foundation; Desiree DeSoto, a professional long-board surfer who competes internationally; and Marvin Sather, a high school English teacher who received Washington State’s Teacher of the Year Award in 1999.