Whitworth University's commitment to academic excellence is reflected in its faculty's wide-ranging scholarship – from laboratory experiments that result in scientific discoveries and published journal articles, to creative analysis that is presented at national conferences to original works of art and music that are shared with an admiring public.

Scholarly activity is viewed at Whitworth as a complementary rather than a competing enterprise to teaching. In fact, many professors engage students fully in the daunting enterprise of discovery and dissemination of new knowledge and in the creation of original contributions to their fields.

Students work alongside faculty on research ranging from assessing the impact of micro-lending in low-income neighborhoods and developing countries to exploring the theological insights of early Christian aesthetics and the role particular enzymes play in memory function for treating Alzheimer's patients. Together they face the risks that underlie any research: the risks to follow paths that may lead initially to dead ends, the risks to explore ideas that challenge the prevailing wisdom in a discipline, and the risks inherent in presenting findings for public scrutiny.