Where We've Been

It’s the Jesuit way to seek opportunities to grow. To ask tough questions and challenge the status quo. Since its inception, this university has relentlessly sought to do better by its students and its community.

Gonzaga founder Father Joseph Cataldo began his mission in the area working with local Native Americans. Once the university formally opened in 1887, it welcomed Spokane’s Catholic emigrants. In 1948, Gonzaga enrolled its first class of women, decades before other Catholic universities.

These milestones not only give us pride in our predecessors, they also give us motivation to set our sights higher in the years to come.