With a new law school, a beautiful new chapel, and visits from some of the world’s most distinguished citizens, SU began to take a visible role on the international stage. It also added substantially to its scholarships and endowments, while retaining its commitment to teaching.

The rising prestige of Seattle University could easily be gauged by a glance at its distinguished visitors: Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Corazon Aquino. But they were only symbols of the substantial underlying improvements in the school’s fortune.

Thanks to successful fundraising and a growing reputation for excellence in teaching, there have been big additions in recent years. Among the largest was a law school acquired from the University of Puget Sound in 1993—the fulfillment of a long-cherished dream of Father Sullivan.

Sullivan also led an effort to build the beautiful Chapel of St. Ignatius, which has attracted international praise. With a guiding design concept of “a gathering of lights,” it is now the center of worship and spirituality for the campus.

In 1996, Fr. Sullivan retired, opening the door for Fr. Stephen V. Sundborg. Father Sundborg has placed the university’s focus on educating moral leaders who do the right thing regardless of pressure or public opinion. Not surprisingly, this has led him to be a strong promoter of social justice and an active supporter of programs that urge students and faculty to make a difference in the lives of others. Architecturally, the most visible monument of Sundborg’s tenure has been the Student Center building, which offers students a number of facilities for study, entertainment, and relaxation.

At the same time the university has seen an increased focus on building its academic strength. Through generous donations, it now has a large number of endowments for professors, research, and student scholarships. Seattle University now regularly ranks in the top ten regional universities in the western United States.

For a long time, Father Sullivan wanted to add a law school to Seattle University, but without success. Then, in 1993, events took a dramatic turn, when the University of Puget Sound offered to transfer its School of Law. It later turned out that UPS had not considered any other university, a sign of SU’s new prestige and confidence.

Change is never easy for an institution, so Sullivan immediately sought to calm student and faculty anxiety during his initial visit to the school’s Tacoma campus. His efforts and those of others paid off. By 1994, when graduating students had a choice of which university’s name they wanted on their degree, all chose SU.

In 1999, the school was shifted to a new home on the Seattle University campus. Fittingly, it was named William J. Sullivan Hall.

Father Stephen V. Sundborg, SJ, grew up in the Territory of Alaska and entered the Jesuit order in 1961. He was ordained as a priest in Seattle in 1974 and completed his doctoral studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1982. From there, he taught theology at Seattle University until 1990, and went on to serve as Provincial of the Northwest Jesuits from 1990-1996.

In 1997, Father Sundborg was selected to succeed Father Sullivan as the 21st president of Seattle University. Since then, his key objectives have been to encourage student-centered education, enhance academic excellence, and develop resources to support a growing student population.

During his tenure, Seattle University has built a new law school building, a student center, and several student residences. Throughout his tenure, Father Sundborg has been strongly committed to promoting social justice, a core value of the Jesuit Catholic education. He actively supports programs that encourage students, faculty, and staff to make a difference, whether in the local community or developing countries. In addition, he has bestowed honorary degrees on Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Corazon Aquino.

Father Sundborg’s leadership position within the Church, campus, and the community has prompted him to reflect, in public speeches and writing, on the nature of leadership and need to cultivate a new generation of moral leaders, those people of “strength and integrity who can pivot like a compass toward what is right regardless of public opinion or pressure.”

In 1991, Father Sullivan announced his intention to build a chapel that would not only serve as a center of worship for the university, but also be an architectural gift to the surrounding community. After a competition involving more than 40 firms, a campus committee selected Steven Holl, a New York-based architect, who had been born in nearby Bremerton.

Holl’s design concept would be “A Gathering of Different Lights,” which conceived of the chapel as “seven bottles of light in a stone box.” Light passes through each of the bottles to bathe the walls in pools of colored light. During the day, each part of the chapel glows with colored light from two different sources. Interior lights at night create a similar effect, transforming the chapel into a beacon of multicolored light radiating outward to the campus and city.

The chapel was dedicated on April 6, 1997 and has since won numerous architectural awards. A scale model of it has also become part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Starting in the late ’90s, Seattle University has played host to a number of world leaders and dignitaries. On December 9, 1999, it welcomed former South African president Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel to campus. After addressing a student convocation and receiving an honorary degree, Mandela led a discussion on the challenges facing Africa.

SU would welcome another leader of the South African struggle, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on January 25, 2000 and confer on him an honorary doctorate of humanities. Then, on May 3, 2002, Corazon Aquino, former president of the Philippines, would pay a visit and lead a discussion on social justice, before receiving an honorary degree.

Though there have been many additions to the SU campus in recent years, few have proved more welcome than the 64,000 square foot Student Center. The building houses a wide variety of facilities, including a conference center, café, bistro, cafeteria, and even a 20 foot fireplace. In addition, the building includes free high-speed wireless Internet access for students and visitors alike.

Dedicated on October 2, 2002, the center is the culmination of thoughtful planning and bold vision. Planning for the center had begun more than 20 years earlier by Father Sullivan and was brought to a close by Father Sundborg.

Even with its new facilities and new confidence, Seattle University still has students doing what they do best: having fun. These images come from a variety of contemporary campus events.