Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is a Christian university of the liberal arts, sciences and professions, located on the north slope of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, Washington, USA. It was founded in 1891 by the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church as the Seattle Seminary. It became the Seattle Seminary and College in 1913, changed names again to Seattle Pacific College in 1915, and took its present name in 1977. Seattle Pacific University is a member of the Christian College Consortium.

SPU enjoys a 43-acre (17 ha) campus on the northern slope of the residential neighborhood of Queen Anne Hill, close to the artsy Fremont neighborhood. Some of the massive trees in the campus' Tiffany Loop are the oldest remaining original trees in Seattle. One of these trees collapsed in Winter 2006, which led to the inspection and removal of three other trees in the vicinity. The barriers to equality at the school began to collapse in 2011 as an LGBTQ group "Haven" is now able to meet on campus. SPU also owns and operates two satellite campuses: a wilderness field station specializing in biology on Blakely Island in the San Juan Islands and former military fort turned retreat facility at Camp Casey on Whidbey Island.

Seattle (pronounced /siːˈætɫ̩/ ( listen) see-AT-əl or /siːˈæɾɫ̩/) is the county seat of King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country. The city is a major coastal seaport situated on a narrow isthmus between Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington, about 114 miles (183 km) south of the Canada–United States border. In 2010, Seattle was the sixth busiest port in the United States, serving as a major gateway for trade with Asia.

The Seattle area had been inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent white settlers.Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to its current site and renamed "Seattle" in 1853, after Chief Seattle of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.

Pacific University is a private university located in Oregon, United States. The first campus began more than 160 years ago and is located about 38 km (23 mi) west of Portland in Forest Grove. Pacific University has four campuses within Oregon in the cities of Forest Grove, Portland, Eugene and Hillsboro.

Established as Tualatin Academy in 1849, the school has an enrollment of nearly 3,200 students. Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC), the university's motto is Pro Christo et Regno Ejus, which is Latin for "For Christ and His Kingdom." Although the university is no longer formally associated with the UCC, it still maintains a close working relationship with the organization. The university is now a small private, independent liberal arts school, offering graduate programs in education, optometry, writing, and health professions.

Tabitha Brown, a pioneer emigrant from Massachusetts, immigrated to the Oregon Country over the new Applegate Trail in 1846. After arriving in Oregon she helped to start an orphanage and school along with Rev. Harvey L. Clark in Forest Grove in 1847 to care for the orphans of Applegate Trail party. In March 1848, Tualatin Academy was established from the orphanage with Clark donating 200 acres (80.9 ha) to the school.George H. Atkinson had advocated the founding of the school and with support of the Presbyterians and Congregationalists helped to start the academy.Eliza Hart Spalding, part of the Whitman Mission, was its first teacher.^{[citation needed]}