Lives of Service

Values-Based Education

We think college is the time to ask the big questions. What will you live for? What are you called to be and to do? How will you make a genuine contribution to the world? What is your purpose, your passion, your unique talent? At PLU we help you recognize your connection with the world and your responsibility to serve it.

And our Lutheran heritage gives PLU a uniquely broad idea of what it means to be successful. Unlike many other universities, we believe that there is more to life than landing a good job and winning the race to the top of your career. For us, success also means developing both a deep understanding of your possible roles in the world and the tools necessary to benefit the world around you.

In short, a PLU education is a values-based education. You will be asked to wrestle with issues of value throughout your studies so that you develop the skills and sensibilities to be a successful human being, living a life in service to others. Your professors will challenge you to reflect in class on how your community involvement relates to the academic theory you’re studying.

That’s why PLU is different.

Being uncomfortable isn't always a bad thing

I sat in one of my first classes at the University of Westminster in London flummoxed.

It was days since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, and a European student sitting in the back of the lecture hall raised her hand and put forth to our professor: "What happened in New York and Washington, D.C., is horrible, but didn't the United States kind of have it coming?"

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