AUS Fast Facts

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Looking for some quick bits of information about Antioch University Seattle? You came to the right place!

Accreditation / Nonprofit Status
Antioch University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Antioch University has had continuous accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission since 1927. Antioch University is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) institution. As an accredited institution, Antioch University’s students are fully eligible for a variety of financial aid assistance, including grants, scholarships, and loans.

Honors and Recognition
Antioch University has been honored with the 2009, 2010 and 2011 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll Award (with distinction in 2010). In 2011, the University was named one of the top twenty colleges most committed to community service by USA Today.

Antioch University Mission
Antioch University provides learner-centered education to empower students with the knowledge and skills to lead meaningful lives and to advance social, economic, and environmental justice.

Antioch University Vision Statement
Antioch University aspires to be a leading university, offering learners and communities transformative education in a global context that fosters innovation and inspires social action.

Seattle Campus History

  • The Seattle campus first opened its doors in 1975.
  • AUS was originally located over an easy listening station, KEZX, in the Fremont neighborhood.
  • There were three programs and fifteen students the first year AUS opened its doors.
  • At one point the AUS campus was the largest in the Antioch system with 1,339 students.
  • AUS campus locations have spanned Fremont, Capitol Hill, Eastlake, and for the past 20 years, Belltown.
  • AUS recently moved to our new campus on Third Avenue in Belltown, into a green, sustainable building.

Unique Programs

  • AUS offers an MA in Urban Environmental Education (UEE) designed as a highly inclusive environmental education that teaches the next generation of “educators to work with urban youth and communities to build thriving, healthy and sustainable places to live.”
  • The Institute of War Stress Injuries, Recovery, and Social Justice at Antioch University Seattle is the only known domestic or international academic entity dedicated to the principle of social justice with the overarching goal of ending cyclic failures in meeting the mental health needs of the warrior class.
  • We offer the only Drama Therapy program in the Pacific Northwest and one of only two programs on the West Coast, and five nationwide.
  • AUS is unique nationwide through its commitment to creative arts therapy programs. It offers three creative arts programs: Art Therapy, Drama Therapy, and the Play Therapy.
    • The Play Therapy Certificate Program is the only one of its kind in Washington State.
    • Our Drama Therapy Program is the only West Coast program to offer three graduate degree tracks: CMHC, CFT, and Education.
  • AUS offers eight programs, four which are graduate degrees, and two doctoral programs:
    • BA in Liberal Studies
    • BA in Health Counseling and Psychology
    • MA in Education
    • MA in Teaching
    • MA in Marriage and Family Therapy
    • MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
    • PsyD
    • PhD in Counseling Education and Supervision

Interesting Facts

  • Miss Coco, short for Commitment to Community, in the AUS lobby was created by local Seattle artists, and is one of 170 decorated fiberglass pigs from the 2001 Pigs on Parade–a fundraising event by the Pike Place Market Foundation.
  • Mary Lou-Finley, author and civil rights activist, is a professor emeritus at AUS.
  • AUS received two grants from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation totaling $9.1 million to build thirteen early-college high schools for native youth nationwide
  • Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet became the first Native American woman to ascend to the presidency of an accredited university outside the tribal college system when she became AUS president in 2007.

Antioch University Seattle In the News

Antioch University Seattle is very involved with our Puget Sound community. Here are some highlights of the work we do.