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News

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 º£½ÇÍø.



  • Plan to attend this unique business pitch event designed to encourage SPU students from a variety of majors to develop entrepreneurial projects with social impact.

    Mar 19, 2025

    The Social Venture Plan Competition (SVPC) asks teams of students from diverse disciplines to develop an entrepreneurial project that addresses dual bottom lines: social and financial. Participants tackle challenging social issues while proposing innovative ways to provide sustainable funding for their solutions through a business activity.

    Businessº£½ÇÍø, entrepreneurs, and other community partners evaluate and score the plans, after which competitors pitch their projects to faculty, staff, students, and judges at a live trade-show display event on the SPU campus. The teams with the highest cumulative scores from the two phases of the competition win cash prizes.

    Wednesday, April 16
    2–6 p.m.
    Upper Gwinn Commons

  • Mar 12, 2025

    Registration is open for summer camps in youth soccer, basketball, running, volleyball, and rowing. .

  • Learn about two new science majors — data science and biomedical engineering — beginning Autumn Quarter 2025.

    Mar 11, 2025

    Beginning Autumn Quarter 2025, º£½ÇÍø Pacific will offer two new academic programs in the sciences. 

    The data science (BS) program will equip students with the mathematical, statistical, and computational skills needed to extract meaningful insights from data. Through hands-on learning and ethical inquiry, students prepare for careers in data-driven industries, applying their expertise across diverse fields.

    The biomedical engineering (BS) program blends engineering with biology and health sciences to prepare students for a hands-on, interdisciplinary career. This degree also prepares students to design cutting-edge biomedical devices while earning both a biomedical engineering degree and an ABET-accredited general ngineering degree.

  • Mar 8, 2025

    The field is set for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championships March 6-8 at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington. The Falcons advanced to the finals and will play Saturday, March 8.

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  • "A Scientist’s Reflection on Our Walking God" is the subject of a public lecture by Professor of Biology Cara Wall-Scheffler on April 8.

    Mar 6, 2025

    "The Role of the Body in a Digital Age: A Scientist’s Reflection on Our Walking God" is the title of public lecture on Tuesday, April 8, by SPU Professor of Biology and biological anthropologist Cara Wall-Scheffler. She will explore how studying bipedalism (walking on two legs) helps us understand our own humanity, in addition to providing some nuanced framing for Biblical narratives that specifically report on wallking. She will also investigate stories of God walking and what that means for Christian theology.

    The annual Winifred E. Weter Faculty Award Lecture for Meritorious Scholarship, delivered each year by a selected SPU faculty member, provides a public platform in which the claims of the liberal arts in the Christian university are espoused.

    Winifred E. Weter Faculty Award Lecture for Meritorious Scholarship
    Tuesday, April 8, 7 p.m.
    Upper Gwinn Commons
    Light refreshments will be served.
    Free and open to the public. 

  • The Center for Faithful Business will honor Jeff Van Duzer, former provost and dean, with the 2025 Frank Haas Integrity in Business Award on April 3.

    Mar 6, 2025

    The Center for Faithful Business will present the 2025 Frank Haas Integrity in Business Award to Jeff Van Duzer, former º£½ÇÍø Pacific provost, dean, and professor, on Thursday, April 3, 7–8:30 p.m. in Upper Gwinn Commons. Dessert and beverages will be provided. . 

  • The Percussions Ensemble presents a concert featuring traditional Malinke drumming from northeast Guinea.

    Mar 6, 2025

    The SPU Percussion Ensemble presents a winter concert on Tuesday, March 11, 7:30 p.m. in the EE Bach Theater in McKinley Hall. Percussion works by Mitchell Peters, John H Beck, Bella Fleck, Eric Sammut, Carlos Chavez, William Kraft, Rich O'Meara, Patrick Speranz and George Hamilton Green will be the program. Also featured is traditional Malinke drumming from northeast Guinea.

    Admission is free and open to the public.

  • Feb 24, 2025

    Annika Esvelt wasn't planning to run a fifth year until an unexpected fall inspired her comeback season. The graduate student is having the best year of her career. . 

  • Enjoy and evening of choral music featuring the Concert and Treble choirs on Thursday, Feb. 27.

    Feb 24, 2025

    The SPU Music Department hosts an evening of choral music featuring the Concert and Treble choirs on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, 7:30 p.m. at First Free Methodist Church, adjacent to campus. Join Music faculty Beth Ann Bonnecroy, Ryan Ellis, and guest director Vanessa Bruce, gospel music composer/arranger, for a program that celebrates life, resilience, hope, and faith. The concert is free and open to the public.

    The Treble Choir will feature music by composers such as Tracy Wong, Susan LaBarr, and Tony Young. The Concert Choir celebrates Black History Month with Bruce and her arrangements as well as composers such as Grayson Warren Brown, Carl Haywood, and Roland Carter.

  • Feb 19, 2025

    Annika Esvelt, Andrew Bell, and Hannah Chang found just the right balance on Tuesday afternoon.

    Esvelt ran to victory in the mile and 3000 meters, Bell capped a phenomenal freshman season by winning the men's 60-meter hurdles, and Chang added an indoor 60 hurdles title to her outdoor crown in the 100s on the final day of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.That capped a productive two days for the Falcons inside The Podium. They headed for home with five titles (four on Tuesday plus Maya Ewing's in the women's 5000 meters on Monday).

    They also rewrote three school records: another one by Bell in the hurdles, one in the women's pole vault by Lizzy Daugherty and Monday's sub-7 second performance by Robert Joshua in the men's 60 dash, the first SPU athlete ever to do that.

Holistic Health Care in the Rainier Valley

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 º£½ÇÍø neighborhood.

Assistant Professor of Philosophy Leland Saunders

What Makes Us Moral?

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.