Western Washington University

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Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington, United States. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a private school of teaching for women founded in 1886. The university adopted its present name in 1977.

WWU offers bachelor's and master's degrees and a few doctorates. Template:As of, there were 14,747 students, 13,801 of whom were undergraduate students, and 664 full-time faculty.<ref name="CollegeNav">Template:Cite web</ref> Its athletic teams are known as the Vikings, which compete in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

The main campus is located on 215 acres in Bellingham.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> WWU also operates a marine center in Anacortes<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and academic locations in Everett<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

History

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Old Main

Western was established as the Northwest Normal School, a teachers' school predominantly for women although men also enrolled, by Phoebe Judson in Lynden, Washington, in 1886.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Eventually the school moved to Bellingham (then "New Whatcom"), and through the efforts of William R. Moultray and George Judson (Phoebe's son).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Governor John McGraw signed legislation establishing the New Whatcom Normal School on February 24, 1893. In November 1895, construction began on a permanent school building, now known as Old Main, the current administration building. Designed by prominent Seattle architects Warren Skillings & James Corner, it was completed by early 1897 but could not be opened to students until funds could be secured to install heating, lighting, and to do general grounds maintenance, which were not included in the original contract.<ref name="whatcom">Template:Cite news</ref> The first official class entered in 1899, composed of 88 students.

The institution that is now Western Washington University underwent several name changes. In 1901, the school's name was changed to State Normal School at Whatcom to reflect New Whatcom's name change. In 1904, the name was changed to Washington State Normal School at Bellingham when the townships of Whatcom and Fairhaven joined, and again in 1937, to Western Washington College of Education when it became a four-year college. Twenty-four years later it became Western Washington State College and finally, in 1977, the institution gained university status and changed to its present name.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The 1960s was a period of especially rapid growth for Western, as its enrollment increased from 3,000 students to over 10,000 during the decade. Also during this time, the Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies was founded (1967), with non-traditional education methods that would serve as a model for Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Two years later, the College of the Environment, the nation's first dedicated environmental science college, was founded, continuing Western's trend toward "cluster" colleges. That same year, on a spring afternoon, students gained headlines by blocking Interstate 5 to protest the Vietnam War. Also in 1969, the College of Ethnic Studies was established; however, after being met with significant resistance, it was dismantled in 1975.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Since this period, the College of Arts and Sciences was founded (1973) and divided into the College of Humanities & Social Sciences and the College of Science & Engineering (2003); the College of Fine and Performing Arts was formed from several art departments (1975); and the College of Business and Economics was established (1976).

Today, WWU has a student body that currently consists of over 16,000 students. The university is the third largest in Washington after Washington State University and the University of Washington.

Main campus

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Campus, Looking North to Downtown Bellingham

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Fisher Fountain

WWU's main campus is located in Bellingham, a city of about 95,000 people, overlooking Bellingham Bay and many of the San Juan Islands. The university is Template:Convert north of Seattle, Template:Convert south of Vancouver, British Columbia, and an hour's drive from Template:Convert Mount Baker. The university is located close to Interstate 5.

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Wilson Library

The Bellingham campus is Template:Convert, including the Template:Convert Sehome Hill Arboretum, operated jointly with the City of Bellingham. Campus facilities include an electronic music studio, an air pollution lab, a motor vehicle research lab, a marine research lab, a wind tunnel, and two electron microscopes. Western's Vehicle Research Institute has led Automobile Magazine to describe Western as "very possibly the best school in the country for total car design."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Western also has off-campus facilities at Shannon Point Marine Center in Anacortes, Washington; Lakewood, a Template:Convert student-university facility at nearby Lake Whatcom; and Whatcom County property used for environmental and aquatic analyses.

Public sculpture collection

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Scepter (1966) by Steve Tibbetts

WWU's prized collection of outdoor and indoor public art sculptures is a major presence on its campus. The collection, funded by the Washington State Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and private donations, includes 36 works:<ref>About the WWU Outdoor Sculpture Collection.
The WWU campus map has a list of sculptures.</ref> Founded in 1960,<ref name="Western_Gallery_about">Template:Cite web</ref> the collection includes large-scale works by James FitzGerald, Isamu Noguchi, Robert Morris, Mark di Suvero, Anthony Caro, Nancy Holt, Beverly Pepper, Richard Serra, Donald Judd and Bruce Nauman, among others.

Academics

Academic organization

Western offers multiple bachelor's degrees, as well as the degrees of Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Education, Master in Teaching, Master of Business Administration, Master of Professional Accounting, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Music, Clinical Doctorate in Audiology, and Doctor of Education.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university is composed of the following colleges:

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Chemistry Building

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Parks Hall, Home of the College of Business and Economics

College of Business & Economics
College of Fine & Performing Arts
College of Humanities & Social Sciences
College of Science & Engineering
College of the Environment
Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Woodring College of Education

Accreditations and approvals

The university is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Specific programs or academic units are accredited or approved by specialized organization:

Rankings

In the 2025 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, Western is ranked 18th in Regional Universities West and 9th of the region's public schools. After the Bothell and Tacoma campuses of the University of Washington, Western is ranked third among this category's universities in the Pacific Northwest. The university is also ranked 13th in the region's Best Colleges for Veterans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Washington Monthly ranked Western number 52 nationally in their 2024 college guide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024, the Peace Corps ranked Western the top all-time producer of Peace Corps volunteers among medium colleges and universities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Western is also a Fulbright Program Top Producing Institution,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and is ranked third among master's universities for the number of research doctorate recipients among its baccalaureate graduates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Western was ranked 155th among 328 participating institutions in the Sierra Club's 2021 Cool Schools ranking of sustainable colleges and universities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally, from 2020 through 2022, the university was recognized by the Great Colleges to Work For program, published by ModernThink and The Chronicle of Higher Education.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Western remains a member of the FirstGen Forward Network.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable degree programs

The Philosophical Gourmet Report mentions Western as having one of the nation's best philosophy departments among colleges and universities that offer only a B.A. in the discipline. Western was among only seven public universities so honored.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Center for Canadian American Studies at Western Washington University is one of only two U.S. Department of Education–designated National Resource Centers for the study of Canada in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Athletics

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WWU is an official member of NCAA Division II,<ref name=NCAA_division2>Template:Cite web</ref> having joined in September 1998. In 2011–12, approximately 350 students are participating in 15 varsity sports at Western, six for men and nine for women. In 2010–11, WWU placed seventh among 310 NCAA Division II schools in the Sports Director's Cup national all-sports standings, the second-highest finish in school history. The Vikings were sixth in 2009–10 and tenth in 2008–09. WWU has had eight straight Top 50 finishes and been among the Top 100 in each of its first 13 seasons as an NCAA II member.

In 2010–11, Western won its third straight and seventh overall Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Sports championship, taking league titles in volleyball, men's golf and women's golf, and the regular-season crown in women's basketball. The Vikings, who won the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference championship, placed second in men's and women's cross country, men's and women's outdoor track, men's indoor track and softball.

The Vikings have won an NAIA national championship in softball (1998), two National Collegiate Rowing Championships in women's rowing (1984, 1996),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and NCAA Division II national championships in women's rowing (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2024),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> men's basketball (2012)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and women's soccer (2016).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> WWU athletes have also won individual national championships in track and field.<ref>Facts about Western Athletics http://www.wwuvikings.com/ot/about-viking-athletics.html</ref>

Varsity sports

The Vikings field varsity teams for men and women in cross country, soccer, golf, basketball, and track & field. Women's teams compete in volleyball, softball, and rowing. Between 1903 and 2008 WWU fielded a football team but folded it in hopes of saving money to keep other WWU teams competitive.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Students

For the 2024–2025 academic year, 14,651 students are enrolled, of which 86 percent are in-state Washington residents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Many students at Western Washington University participate in organized student government. The Associated Students of Western Washington University (ASWWU) is "an organization designed and run by Western students, the Associated Students (AS) seeks to ensure a fulfilling college and academic experience for all university students through the many services, facilities and programs it offers."<ref name="as">Template:Cite web</ref> Within ASWWU, there are five main areas of focus: clubs, activities, programs, facilities & services, and governance.

The AS aims to provide "funding, space and services" to students "uniting around common interests."<ref name="as"/> The AS staff assist student development of clubs and provide advising, "continuity, referral and record keeping" throughout the entire process. Currently there are over two hundred student clubs in the following categories: Arts and Music, Cultural, Political, Special Interest, Gaming, Social Issues, Departmental, Limited Membership, Service, Religious, and Recreational.<ref name="as"/>

In the 2021–22 school year, the music department has a new course for music education majors called K-12 Classroom Accompanying Pedagogy (MUS 262.)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A new course in Music and Sustainability (MUS 397E) is available to all Western students.

The History Department offers HIST 390 which is a special topics class with in-depth readings of primary and secondary sources. In the spring of 2023, a HIST 390 on Indigenous History of North America was offered. The class covers the formation of the Iroquois confederacy, Mississippian chiefdoms, the Illinois people, Caddo people, and more.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Students who desire to set up a table in Red Square to promote their club need to sign up for a space through the university. A blue board at the West side of Red Square has general university policy on freedom of speech and also guidelines for using chalk on the bricks.

Media

There are multiple news outlets associated with the university.

Official publications

WWU's Office of University Communications operates several publications, including:

WWU News,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Western Washington University's main news site.
Western Today,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a campus newsletter that's published several times a week.
Window,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a twice-annual publication that's distributed to WWU alumni, donors, faculty and staff.

There is a livestream of Red Square filmed from the top of Bond Hall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Student publications

Student-run publications at WWU include:

The Front (formerly The Western Front)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is Western's official student newspaper covering city-wide and greater county-wide news. It operates independently of the university itself, though articles are written, edited, and published by students of the university.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Front was awarded as the "Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper" by the Society of Professional Journalists' Region 10 in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> The newspaper's first edition as the Western Front was published on October 10, 1967.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Klipsun Magazine is a quarterly student magazine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Each issue of the magazine has a specific theme, and the periodical as a whole is intended to be an example of multimedia journalism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Occam's Razor, as well as Jeopardy, are formatted as academic journals, and aim to publish academic research done by Western undergraduates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Planet is published as part of the university's environmental studies program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The magazine promotes environmental awareness.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Window: The Magazine of Western Washington University (often referred to as Window Magazine),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a magazine published two to three times a year by the university.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It won multiple silver and bronze Council for Advancement and Support of Education Circle of Excellence awards in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Student Publications Office of the university publishes the Front, Klipsun, Occam's Razor, and the Planet, as well as Jeopardy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Associated Students of Western Washington University also operates media services, including Wavelength, a weekly online and printed alternative news source.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The KUGS radio station accepts albums from students to air. KUGS also has a large library of vinyl records that can be listened to in the studio.

Police

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A WWUPD car in downtown Bellingham

The Western Washington University Police Department (abbreviated WWUPD) are a university police force at the university. The police chief of the department is Katryne "Katy" Potts,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> who was sworn into the position in January 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The department also has a staff of "Green Coats" under their public safety branch, who offer "safety escorts on campus, event security staffing and building access services for current students."<ref>Template:Cite Instagram</ref>