Administration: One of six state-funded, four-year institutions of higher education in Washington, WWU operates on a September-to-June academic year (quarter system) with six- and nine-week summer sessions. Dr. Bruce Shepard is Western’s 13th president. He replaced Dr. Karen W. Morse on Sept. 1, 2008.
Location: Situated in Bellingham, 90 miles north of Seattle and 50 miles south of Vancouver, B.C., Western is within walking distance of Bellingham Bay and just an hour’s drive from the ski area on 10,778-foot Mount Baker.
Campus: Western, with its residential campus, houses roughly a third of its students in 15 residence halls. The 215-acre campus includes the student-funded Wade King Recreation Center and the 38-acre Sehome Arboretum, operated jointly with the city of Bellingham. A 12,000-square-foot Marine Education Center, located at Western’s Shannon Point Marine Center near Anacortes, opened in 2006. Western also has a 15-acre student/university facility at nearby Lake Whatcom. Woodring College of Education, Huxley College of the Environment and University Extended Education and Summer Programs offer classes and certificate and degree programs in Bremerton, Everett, Mountlake Terrace, Oak Harbor, Port Angeles, Poulsbo and Seattle. Work is underway on an expansion of WWU’s campus to the Bellingham waterfront.
Academic Organization: For the past four decades, the University has taken special pride in the quality of liberal arts programs required of all students. For the 11th consecutive year, "U.S. News & World Report" ranked Western as the top public master’s granting university in the Pacific Northwest and second in the West, a region stretching from the Pacific Ocean to Texas. Western ranks in 17th place among all public and private universities in its class regionally. Academic divisions at Western are:
- College of Business and Economics
- Fairhaven Colleg of Interdisciplinary Studies
- College of Fine and Performing Arts
- College of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Huxley College of the Environment
- College of Sciences and Technology
- Woodring College of Education
- Graduate School
Accreditation: The University is accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges; National Association of Schools of Music; National Recreation and Parks Association; American Speech and Hearing Association; National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education; Computing Sciences Accreditation Board; Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology; American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business; and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs.
Faculty: As of fall 2007, the University employed 737 faculty members, which equates to 614 full-time equivalent faculty members. Of the 505 faculty members employed full time, 89.9 percent have full or terminal degrees. The fall 2007 student-faculty ratio is 18.7-to-1.
Students: Fall 2007 enrollment included 13,352 full- and part-time students, a full-time equivalent total of 12,517. Western has 2,585 new first-year students and 899 new undergraduate transfer students. Eighty-four percent of 2006 freshmen returned for 2007, and 70 percent of students who start at Western graduate. Average GPA for freshmen is roughly 3.55. Approximately 92 percent of students come from Washington state, with most coming from King, Snohomish, Whatcom and Pierce counties. The University has students from 45 other states, led by Alaska, Oregon, California and Idaho, and from 31 other nations, led by Canada, Japan and Taiwan. Students of color comprise 17.6 percent of the total student body.
Athletics: Now in its ninth year as a full member of NCAA Division II, Western has made national appearances in virtually every sport sponsored. The Vikings have won the NCAA Division II National Championship in women’s rowing for the past three years, the first time that’s been accomplished in any division. Western placed second nationally in women’s rowing in 2002 and 2003 and was the national runner-up in volleyball in 2007. The Vikings also reached the national semifinals in men’s basketball in 2001 and in women’s basketball in 2000. A member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, Western won the league’s first four All-Sports Championships from 2001 to 2005 and took second in both the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. The Vikings won the NAIA National Championship in softball in 1998, reached the NAIA Division II title contest in football in 1996 and placed third nationally in volleyball in 1990. In women’s basketball, Western ranks among the top 15 in all-time victories and has made 10 straight national appearances. The Vikings had the fourth-longest winning streak in NCAA II history when they won 57 consecutive league matches in volleyball from 2002 to 2004. Nearly 500 WWU student-athletes compete in 16 varsity sports.
Alumni: More than 83,000 graduates live in Washington state and throughout the world.
History: On Feb. 24, 1893, Gov. John H. McGraw signed legislation creating New Whatcom Normal School. The first class of 88 students entered in 1899. Western is now the third largest institution of higher education in the state. The Normal School became Western Washington College of Education in 1937 and Western Washington State College in 1961. Western achieved university status in 1977.
Tuition: Resident undergraduate tuition and fees are $5,291 for three quarters at Western.
Budget: Western’s 2008 state operating budget is $122,871,038, funded by state appropriations and operating fee revenue through June 30, 2008. Sixty percent is funded through state appropriations; 40 percent by tuition.
The Web site for Western's Office of Instituional Assessment provides additional interesting facts and statistics about Western.
The institutional profile is updated once a year, during fall quarter. For a .pdf version, click here.
If you have comments or suggestions, e-mail us at news@wwu.edu
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