George Fox Evangelical Seminary is a multi-denominational, university-based school that offers a variety of master degree and postgraduate degree programs in theology and ministry, located in Portland, Oregon. George Fox Evangelical Seminary is an accredited member of Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. George Fox Evangelical Seminary demonstrates the meaning of Jesus Christ by offering spiritual formation and education for ministry in the context of a caring, Christian community, in order to prepare men and women of faith for effective service to the church and the world. Founded in 1947 as the Western School of Evangelical Religion, the original campus was on the grounds of the Evangelical Church conference in Jennings Lodge, OR. When the seminary began, it fulfilled the dream of its first president, Paul Petticord, and other regional Christian leaders, who recognized the need for a Wesleyan seminary in the Pacific Northwest. In 1951 the school became Western Evangelical Seminary and in 1993 moved to a new more central and accessible campus near Interstate 5 and highways 99W and 217.