Best known outside the Northwest for punching above its weight on the basketball court, Gonzaga is a medium-sized private university with a picturesque residential campus in an urban setting. Offers classic Jesuit education with rigorous core and emphasis on service, though less than half of undergrads are Roman Catholic. Spokane is not as cosmopolitan as Seattle or San Francisco. Less selective than Santa Clara or USD, comparable to USF. Good bet for those who relish school spirit.

Gonzaga University (“Gone-ZAG-uh”) burst into the nation’s frontal lobes in 1999 when its men’s basketball team fought its way to the quarterfinals of the Division I tournament. Consistent success in the tournament since then has softened the Zag’s image as a midsized David doing battle with Goliaths like UNC at Chapel Hill. What has lingered, though, is the image of a solid regional liberal arts university committed to the Jesuit ideal of educating the whole person: mind, body, and spirit.

Founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) as a mission, the school takes its name from St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a 16th-century Italian aristocrat who joined the Society of Jesus and was martyred while serving victims of an epidemic. The campus occupies 152 picturesque acres along the Spokane River, only a 15-minute walk from downtown Spokane. The Centennial Trail, a 37-mile paved bike path, borders the campus and river. Architectural styles range from the Romanesque College Hall to the sleek PACCAR Center for Applied Science. The university’s Crosby Collection contains recordings, photographs, and other memorabilia pertaining to Gonzaga’s most famous alumnus, crooner Bing. The LEED Gold–certified Hemmingson Center boasts ample space for the student body association, student clubs and organizations, and the main dining hall. Gonzaga opened its 58,000-square-foot Woldson Performing Arts Center in 2019.

Consistent with its Jesuit liberal arts tradition, Gonzaga requires undergraduates to complete an extensive core curriculum, beginning with a First-Year Seminar and ending with a Core Integration Seminar. Centered around the question of how students may “educate themselves to become women and men for a more just and humane global community,” the core includes courses in English composition, communication and speech, and critical reasoning, with doses of philosophy and religious studies, literature, scientific inquiry, and mathematics. Writing, social justice, and global studies are emphasized throughout the core. Although Gonzaga is a Jesuit school and sponsors 16 spiritual retreats annually, there are no requirements to attend mass or chapel.

Gonzaga offers more than 50 undergraduate majors through the College of Arts and Sciences and the schools of Business Administration, Education, Engineering and Applied Science, and Nursing and Human Physiology. Students say some of the strongest programs are engineering, nursing, accounting, integrated media studies, special education, and business. Biology majors have the option of adding a research concentration to their degree, while psych students may focus on specialized areas of interest such as child psychology and clinical research. Newly established programs include a major in applied mathematics and minors in digital marketing and critical race and ethnic studies.

While the workload can get challenging, students are supportive and “study groups are abundant and helpful,” says a mechanical engineering major. Students say professors are knowledgeable and ready to help, and most “practically beg their students to get to know them through visiting office hours,” comments a senior. Thirty-seven percent of undergraduate courses have fewer than 20 students. Students praise the school’s academic support resources, including strong support for students with learning disabilities. A criminal justice and philosophy major says the Career and Professional Development staff has “helped me clean up my résumé, research internships, and given me the tips I needed to attend a career fair and not make a total fool of myself.”

Top students may apply for the Honors Program, and many of them show off their research projects during Undergraduate Research Week. Other special offerings include the three-year Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, open to high-achieving first-year students seeking an entrepreneurial leadership minor in addition to their majors, and the Comprehensive Leadership Program, which provides a minor in leadership studies. Gonzaga’s Army ROTC program (Bulldog Battalion) ranks as one of the best anywhere. The centerpiece program for study abroad is Gonzaga-in-Florence, which allows students of any major, including engineering, to study at Gonzaga’s campus in Florence, Italy, without delaying their four-year path to graduation. A junior calls Gonzaga-in-Florence “one of the most transformative and influential experiences of my college career.” Overall, the university offers more than 60 international programs, in which 56 percent of students participate.

“Gonzaga students are excited, passionate, service-driven, and open-minded,” according to one history major. One percent of Zags are from other countries, with the rest almost equally divided between Washingtonians and out-of-staters. African Americans make up just 1 percent of the student body, while Hispanics represent 11 percent, Asian Americans 6 percent, and multiracial students 7 percent. Forty-three percent identify as Catholic. The lack of diversity on campus is a frequent complaint, and a senior says, “If you are a student of color, I highly encourage and advise you to join a cultural club, because there are a lot of white students and a lot of white voices.” Social activism on campus tends to revolve around issues of race, sexual orientation, and religion. The school awards merit scholarships averaging $16,100 and more than 120 athletic scholarships.

Fifty-one percent of undergraduates reside in campus housing. First-years and sophomores are required to live on campus and purchase a meal plan, but space for upperclassman is limited, so most juniors and seniors find their own housing in the surrounding neighborhood. On-campus residence halls offer a variety of living styles, including both co-ed and single-gender corridors and floors, and several living/learning communities. A senior explains that residence halls “range in how old they are and how nice some of the facilities are. Regardless of this, you will find devout fans of each residence hall.” Campus meals are primarily served in the COG dining hall, and a secondary education major says, “The dining facilities are amazing and the meals are occasionally great as well.” Students say Gonzaga is working to improve education around issues of sexual assault, promoting increased awareness.

There are no fraternities or sororities at Gonzaga, but students say that their absence has hardly put a damper on social life, either on or off campus. Students agree that while “there is a noticeable party scene off campus in the houses of upperclassmen,” they don’t feel pressured to drink. Underage students found in possession of drugs or alcohol may be required to take an awareness and safety program. The Hemmingson Center hosts a variety of social activities, including late-night programming on the weekends and the Coffeehouse Concert Series. With roughly 215,000 residents, Spokane is the second-largest city in Washington but has the feel of a much smaller city. “The downtown Spokane area is full of spunk and character,” says a public relations major, and it provides plenty of restaurants, outdoor recreation, and community activities.

The culture of Gonzaga places strong emphasis on issues of social justice and service. The school offers more than 50 service-learning courses, and half of all undergraduates participate in some form of community service. “Being involved in the community is a specific Jesuit trait that we all try to live out,” says one student. During winter, spring, and summer breaks, nearly 200 students travel to sites across the nation to participate in community service projects, and the university produces a large number of Peace Corps volunteers.

GU’s 14 intercollegiate teams, known as the Zags or Bulldogs, compete in the Division I West Coast Conference. In the absence of football (shut down in 1941 and never resurrected), basketball is both king and queen. The men’s team was the national runner-up in 2017 and reached the Sweet 16 in 2018 and the Elite Eight in 2019. Men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and women’s rowing are recent conference champs. Intramurals and club sports, which range from flag football and pickleball to skateboarding and soccer, attract 55 percent of undergraduates. Outdoorsy types can take advantage of five ski areas within a 90-mile radius, and GU Outdoors sponsors adventures like rafting, hiking, and skiing excursions.

School spirit is a big deal at Gonzaga-mainly when it comes to sports and especially when the opponent is St. Mary’s College of California. Since Gonzaga’s mascot is the Bulldog, the student cheering section is naturally known as the Kennel. Students go through an elaborate process for tickets to big home basketball games that involves strategic tweeting and living in a tent city days before the opening tip. “It’s insanity,” confesses one sophomore, “but it’s so much fun.” A junior adds, “Every Zag should experience this at least once.”

At Gonzaga, “spirit” takes on multiple meanings. Basketball may inspire the most vocal outpourings of school spirit, but students say that the religious and humanistic values to which the university has long been committed run deep. “Community is a word tossed around quite frequently at all college campuses,” says a psychology major, “but at GU, community is almost a belief.”

-Fiske Guide