Founded in Seattle in 1861, the University of Washington (UW) is a public research university with campuses in Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell. UW is the largest university in the northwestern United States and is one of the oldest universities on the west coast. As the flagship research university for the state, UW preserves, develops, and disseminates knowledge in a wide variety of subject areas. In fall 2019, the UW enrolled more than 59,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. The UW Continuum College educates more than 50,000 students annually via in-person and online degree and certificate programs and continuing professional education programs. The three UW campuses offer a broad range of graduate and undergraduate degrees, and collectively support more than 636 degree options across 312 programs, more than 1,000 student organizations, and undergraduate research opportunities for more than 9,000 students. In 2018-19, the UW awarded more than 17,800 bachelors, masters, doctoral, and professional degrees.

The primary mission of the University of Washington is the preservation, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge. The University preserves knowledge through its libraries and collections, its courses, and the scholarship of its faculty. It advances new knowledge through many forms of research, inquiry and discussion; and disseminates it through the classroom and the laboratory, scholarly exchanges, creative practice, international education, and public service. As one of the nation's outstanding teaching and research institutions, the University is committed to maintaining an environment for objectivity and imaginative inquiry and for the original scholarship and research that ensure the production of new knowledge in the free exchange of facts, theories, and ideas.