a whybeahusky? feature created by the office of admissions at the university of washington questions? contact us

the university of washington was founded November 4, 1861, making it the oldest public university on the west coast. the oldest building on campus is denny hall (left), built in 1895.     the uw is a public research university, with campuses in seattle, tacoma, and bothell. the seattle campus (right) spans 643 acres, with 80 species of trees and 218 buildings. the uw libraries system is ranked 14th among north american research libraries. among the 22 libraries on campus, suzzallo library (left) has been described as the "soul of the university," and features a monumental 240' long reading room with tudor vaults and 36' high stained glass windows. the suzzallo library renovation project was completed in 2002.     there are 3,300 faculty members assigned to the regular instructional program and an additional 600 faculty positions funded from research grants and contracts at the university of washington. since 1989, five faculty members have won nobel prizes in physics and medicine, a faculty member in the english department won the 1990 national book award for fiction, and there have been nine macarthur fellows. the uw also has 40 members in the national academy of sciences, 43 members in the american academy of arts and sciences, and 37 members in the institute of medicine. the university of washington offers 140 majors and 90 minors for undergraduates. mary gates hall (left) is the home of undergraduate advising, the university honors program, the scholarship office, the center for career services, and features state of the art computing labs, opportunities for undergraduate research, internships and community service.     the university of washington offers various intramural (changing quarterly) and club sports, and features the newly remodeled intramural sports building (ima), the waterfront activities center (wac), and the golf range, all open to uw students, staff and faculty (the golf range is also open to the public). the university's athletic program sponsors 12 ncaa division I women's and 11 ncaa division I men's sports. the university's colors, purple and gold were adopted in 1892 and the offical mascot, the husky, was adopted in 1923. husky stadium (left) is the site for both the football team and the men's and women's track teams, and holds 72,500 fans.     there are 551 student organizations on campus, including 11 honorary, 55 academic, 60 cultural/international, and 44 sports clubs. the husky union building (or hub, right) is the home of both the student activities office, and the associated students of university of washington, among other resources.