Founded in 1891, Seattle University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit Catholic university located on a 50-acre campus in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood of Seattle, in Washington State.

The school initially served as a high school and a college and in 1931 it became coeducational, admitting women for the first time. It became known as Seattle University in 1948.

There are nine academic colleges and schools at Seattle University, that between them offer 64 undergraduate programs, 28 certificate programs and more than 31 graduate programs. Among the schools are the Albers School of Business and Economics, which regularly features among the best business schools in the western United States, and the College of Arts and Sciences which is the largest undergraduate and graduate college.

The university’s downtown campus contains a number of notable features and buildings, including the award-winning Chapel of St. Ignatius, the Centennial Fountain, and the historic Piggot Hall.

The Seattle University sports teams are known as the Redhawks and have a rich history of sporting triumphs. They are among a handful of teams to have beaten the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters, and have produced basketball stars including Elgin Baylor, Eddie Miles, Clint Richardson and Tom Workman. 

The university’s tennis teams have also had great success over the years, thanks to the likes of Janet Hopps Adkisson and Tom Gorman’s university triumphs.

Other notable former students include Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, Major William D. Swenson, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2013, and founder of Emaar Properties Mohamed Alabbar.