Main Office
Wild Hope Project1010 122nd St. South Tacoma, WA 98447 | 253-535-7459 |
| wildhope@plu.edu |
Faculty and Staff

Samuel Torvend, Project Director
Associate Professor of European Religious History & Chair of the Religion Department
Ph.D., Historical Theology, St. Louis University, St. Louis, 1990
| (253) 535-8106 | Office Location Administration Building, Suite 220-G |
| torvensa@plu.edu |
Biography:
Samuel Torvend teaches courses in the history of Christianity and historical courses on specific topics. In all of these courses, his early interest in the relationship between Christian insights and practices with a culture's social, economic, and political systems continues to engage students with the power of religion to shape public life. He also teaches an introductory course in the International Honors Program and offers a course on early or medieval Christianity in Rome where students travel to Assisi, Orvieto, and Ostia Antica. His current research focuses on the origins of social welfare in the sixteenth century and the use of the visual arts to promote reform.
Education:
- B.A., History, Pacific Lutheran University, 1973
- MDiv., Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, 1978
- M.A., Theology, Aquinas Institute of Theology, Dubuque, Iowa, 1980
- Ph.D., Historical Theology, St. Louis University, St. Louis, 1990

Laurie Murphy, Interim Project Coordinator
Associate Professor of Computer Science
M.S., Computer Science, Vanderbilt University
| 253-535-8729 | Personal Web site |
| lmurphy@plu.edu | Office Location Morken Center, 255 |
Education:
- M.S., Computer Science, Vanderbilt University
Areas of Emphasis:
- Teaching: Introductory programming, data structures, programming languages, algorithms
- Research: Computer Science Education, in particular active and cooperative learning, pair-programming, classroom assessment, novice debugging, broadening participation in CS

Lynn Hunnicutt, Project Coordinator (on sabbatical 2009-10)
Associate Professor of Economics
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
| 253-535-7644 | Office Location Xavier, 108 |
| hunnicutt@plu.edu |
Education:
- Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
- B.S., Oregon State University
Areas of Emphasis:
- Teaching Areas: Industrial Organization, History of Economic Thought, Statistics, and Microeconomics
- Research Interests: Bargaining and decision making in organizations

Melissa Jones
Senior Administrative Assistant for Academic Advising & The Wild Hope Project
| 253-535-7459 | Office Location Ramstad Hall, 112 |
| jonesmm@plu.edu |