PLU Lectures, Presentations & Workshops

Learning doesn’t end when you graduate! PLU alumni continue their quest for knowledge, engagement, and critical thinking as they explore new ideas, challenge their beliefs, and listen to new perspectives from diverse groups. We are excited to offer lectures, conferences, and workshops that are open to the community. See upcoming opportunities and past lectures below.

Upcoming Events

In-person at PLU

You Belong in Libraries

Jolita Hylland Benson Education Lecture
Keynote Speaker, Mychal Threets, encourages people to rediscover their love of books and libraries while reminding us that we’re never alone in facing life’s challenges.

Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Time: 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Location: Chris Knutzen Hall, Anderson University Center (PLU)

REGISTER HERE

In-person at PLU

Watch virtually

Reading the Bible within the Community of Creation

The Twenty-First Annual David and Marilyn Knutson Lecture
What changes when we read the Bible as part of a larger community that includes the earth and our more-than-human kin? This lecture explores what difference an Indigenous perspective that embraces creational kinship brings to interpreting Christian Scripture. Speakers: Dr. H. Daniel Zacharias (Acadia Divinity College) and Dr. T. Christopher Hoklotubbe (Bexley Seabury Seminary)

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Time: 7 p.m. (Pacific Time)

REGISTER HERE

Past Lectures & Presentations

Banner image for the 2026 Walter C. Schnackenberg Memorial Lecture George Washington and Slavery in American Memory
George Washington and Slavery in American Memory

Walter C. Schnackenberg Lecture
Tuesday, April 28

How should we remember George Washington’s involvement in slavery? What is the proper place of slavery in Washington’s legacy? On the eve of the nation’s semi quincentennial anniversary, these questions continue to roil public discourse. In this lecture, historian John Garrison Marks will share how, in fact, Americans have argued over these questions for nearly 250 years. 

Watch the Recording
Graphic for the Paul O. Ingram Lecture, Dancing with Uncertainty - Buddhist Pathways to Climate Resilience
Dancing with Uncertainty: Buddhist Pathways to Climate Resilience

Paul O. Ingram Endowed Lectureship and PLU’s Earth Day Lecture
Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Buddhist philosophy is increasingly shaping ethical activism, from climate justice to mindful consumerism. Grounded in interdependence, compassion, and mindfulness, Buddhist practice frames climate action as a spiritual path. Keynote speaker Dr. Stephanie Kaza draws on teachings from Dogen, Kukai, and Thich Nhat Hanh to explore nondualism, skillful means, and community resilience—inviting us to transform climate grief and uncertainty into compassionate action.

Watch the Recording
Graphic for the Koller Menzel Memorial Lecture 2026, Who Has the Watch? A Military Ethicist's Journey at the U.S. Naval War College and Beyond, on April 16th
Who Has the Watch? A Military Ethicist's Journey at the US Naval War College and Beyond

Koller Menzel Memorial Lecture
Thursday, April 16, 2026

After leaving PLU in 2018 to take the Stockdale Chair in Professional Military Ethics at the U.S. Naval War College, Dr. Pauline Shanks-Kaurin served through three presidential administrations and major national crises, including COVID-19, January 6, and the murder of George Floyd. This reflection traces her journey to a June 2025 resignation on ethical grounds, exploring lessons in military ethics, just war thinking, care, and Stoicism. For her, ‘Every Day is Ethics Day’ is not a slogan, but a way of living philosophy

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17th Annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education: Latin America and the Holocaust, November 5-7, 2025
Latin America and the Holocaust

The 17th Annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education
November 5-7, 2025
The Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education annually provides educators, students, and community members a way to use the lessons of the Holocaust to empower themselves and others to challenge prejudices, violence, and other forms of dehumanization. Conference sessions highlight interdisciplinary approaches to Holocaust and Genocide Studies, with especially strong attention given to the arts, humanities, social sciences, and professional studies (including that of education). Through the strong and generous support of the Kurt Mayer Endowed Chair in Holocaust Studies and other donors, the first Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education was held at Pacific Lutheran University in 2007. 

Livestream - Nov. 5
Livestream - Nov. 6
Livestream - Nov. 7
The Healing Arts: A Virtuous Science in Christian History - The 20th Annual David and Marilyn Knutson Lecture
The Healing Arts: A Virtuous Science in Christian History

The 20th Annual David and Marilyn Knutson Lecture – featuring Dr. Susan Holman
October 29, 2025
Health is fragile, especially amid social and environmental troubles. What might religious history offer today as positive models and tools to improve medicine, public health, and healthcare? Dr. Holman suggests that community health and human flourishing are possible only when healers are grounded in thoughtful, informed, and creative understandings of religious history as a healing art.

Watch the Livestream
Dag Hammarskjöld in the Swedish wilderness near the Arctic Circle
The Gift of Wilderness: Hammarskjöld on Hiking

Vocational Vistas series
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Professor Don Johnson offers illuminating insights on the calling to hike as embodied in the life of Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish diplomat and General Secretary of the United Nations.

Watch the recording
18th Dale E. Benson Lecture: Einstein's Blackboard
Einstein's Blackboard: Struggles with Communication in the History of Innovation

The 18th Dale E. Benson Lecture in Business and Economic History
Featuring Michael J. Halvorson, Pacific Lutheran University
October 13, 2025 

How do individuals and organizations share breakthrough ideas with the public? Why is this process crucial for the funding and acceptance of new scientific discoveries, public health initiatives, and commercial products? Professor Halvorson will explore how innovation is framed as a public discourse and why famous innovators sometimes struggle to promote pathbreaking discoveries. This lecture will be Dr. Halvorson’s final university address as Benson Family Chair.

Watch Recording
Lutheran Studies Conference banner: Faith and Religion in the Military
Faith and Religion in the Military: Soul Care and Interfaith Relations

15th Annual Lutheran Studies Conference – featuring Lieutenant Colonel Kerstin Hedlund, U.S. Army Chaplain and Lutheran Pastor, who is the lead of a team of interfaith military chaplains
September 24, 2025
The military is a critical site for interfaith and spiritual care, within hospitals and in the field. Learn more about the challenges, questions and insights that come with Faith and Spirituality in the Military and Medical Care and the ways military chaplains serve people from all backgrounds and build bridges across differences in challenging contexts. 

Watch Recording

Workshops

Continuing Education at Pacific Lutheran University offers a variety of professional development courses and programs to meet the needs of business professionals and life-long learners. Discounts for the workshops below are available for PLU alumni, students and current employees. Contact Continuing Education at CE@plu.edu prior to registering for the discount code.

School Nursing workshops at PLU

The Center for Continued Nursing Learning (CCNL) provides excellent continuing education and professional development for nurses and other interested health care professionals. We offer multiple programs that provide the opportunity to gain contact hours and clock hours.