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

Virtual

Migrant Ecologies: Plant Worlds and the Afterlife of Empire

Rachel Carson Lecture
Monday, February 23, 2026 – 7:00pm

Keynote speaker Dr. Banu Subramaniam is an author and the Luella LaMer Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Wellesley College. Trained as an evolutionary biologist and plant scientist, she holds a Ph.D. from Duke University. Her work examines the natural sciences through the lenses of race, gender, colonialism, ethnicity, caste, and xenophobia.

REGISTER HERE
Vocational Vistas: Insights into Diverse Paths and Purposeful Journeys

Virtual

A Therapist’s Calling to Heal Pain and Help Humans Thrive

Vocational Vistas
Thursday, February 26, 2026
4:00 pm (Pacific Time) Virtual

Join Jane Ryan ’98, PLU alumna and therapist, as she discusses the vocation of a psychotherapist, the significance of this work for her clients, and the challenges faced by therapists in this era of political and social turmoil.

REGISTER HERE
Anthropology lecture banner image, "Making It Right: Plants, Tribal Traditions, and the Mountain”

In-person

Making Things Right: Plants, Tribal Traditions, and the Mountain

Anthropology Lecture
Wednesday, March 11, 2026 – 6:30pm
Xavier Hall, Room 201 (Philip Nordquist Lecture Hall)

Greg Burtchard, Faculty Fellow in the College of Liberal Studies and former Archeologist with the National Park Service at Mount Rainier National Park, will be speaking from his book, Plants, Tribal Traditions, and the Mountain, the culmination of 15 years of cooperative research between the Nisqually Tribe and Mount Rainier National Park. This presentation addresses the nature and duration of precontact Indigenous use of Mount Rainier and its resources; and on research results that examine environmental effects of traditional plant gathering practices, clarifying how those practices function to preserve the viability of affected plant communities through time. No registration required.

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Image of Anat Cohen

In-person

Weathermon Jazz Festival

Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Evening Concert with PLU Jazz Ensemble: 7:30pm

Grammy-nominated clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen has been honored as Jazz Journalists Association Clarinetist of the Year since 2007 and has topped DownBeat readers’ and critics’ polls multiple times. In 2009, she received ASCAP’s Wall of Fame Award for composition and musicianship.

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Headshot of Pauline Shanks-Kaurin, speaker for the 2026 Koller Menzel Memorial Lecture at PLU

In-person

Virtual

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 – 7pm
Scandinavian Cultural Center, Anderson University Center

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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Image of Stephanie Kaza

In-person

Virtual

Dancing with Uncertainty: Buddhist Pathways to Climate Resilience

Paul O. Ingram Endowed Lectureship and PLU’s Earth Day Lecture
Wednesday, April 22, 2026 – 7:00pm

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.

REGISTER HERE
Vocational Vistas: Insights into Diverse Paths and Purposeful Journeys

Virtual

If We Aren’t Church Now, We Have No Business Being the Church

Vocational Vistas
Thursday, April 23, 2026 – 4pm (Pacific Time)

In a world that feels fractured and uncertain, when so many rights are being stripped from those on the margins, and Christianity is being co-opted by those seeking power, what does it mean to be called into leadership and to proclaim healing and hope? Join The Rev. Shelley Bryan Wee ’88, PLU alumna and bishop of the Northwest Washington Synod of the ELCA, for a conversation about what it means to be a leader in the church today.

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

In-person

Virtual

George Washington and Slavery in American Memory

Walter C. Schnackenberg Lecture
Tuesday, April 28, 2026 – 6:30pm
Scandinavian Cultural Center, Anderson University Center

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. 

REGISTER HERE
Image of a bulletin board with an attached paper by thumbtack that says "Save the date"
Natalie Mayer Lecture

Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Stay Tuned for More Information!

Vocational Vistas: Insights into Diverse Paths and Purposeful Journeys

Virtual

The Calling of an Immigrant Lawyer in Minneapolis

Vocational Vistas
Thursday, May 14, 2026
4pm (Pacific Time) – Virtual Presentation

The Calling of an Immigrant Lawyer in Minneapolis

Join PLU Graham Ojala Barbour, Esq. ’08, a PLU alumnus (with a double major in Religion and Spanish) as he discusses the challenges of helping immigrants who don’t deserve to have their lives and families ripped away by deportation.

REGISTER HERE
Banner for the Therapist of Color Conference, Remembering Sacred Spaces: Collective Healing Through Resistance and Renewal

In-person

Virtual

Remembering Sacred Spaces: Collective Healing Through Resistance and Renewal

Fourth Annual Therapist of Color Conference
Saturday, May 30, 2026 – 9am – 4:30pm
Regency Room, Anderson University Center (PLU)

The conference is for all therapists and therapists-in-training. The keynote speaker will be Natalie Gutiérrez, a licensed marriage and family therapist and author of “The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color.” and “The Pain We Carry Workbook.” Early Bird Prices until May 1st. Register by May 28th.

REGISTER HERE

Past Lectures & Presentations

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 – 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
4pm (Pacific Time) – Virtual Event
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
Headshot of Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy
Ninis’a:n-na:ng’a’/ The World Came to Be Lying There Again, the World Assumed Its Present Position

Annual Natalie Mayer Lecture in Holocaust & Genocide Studies
April 16, 2025
Presented by Cutcha Risling Baldy, whose research focuses on Indigenous feminisms, Californian Indians, Environmental Justice, Traditional ecological knowledge, and decolonization.

Watch Recording
Headshot of Dr. Thomas Jay Oord
What if God is NOT in Control?

David and Marilyn Knutson Lecture
April 9, 2025 
Dr. Thomas Jay Oord will offer a view of God’s loving activity that answers our biggest questions about life, evil, and scripture.

Watch Recording
Chris Stevens Celebration of Service: Peacebuilding and Motorcycling
Peacebuilding and Motorcycling: Re-Framing Narratives in Documentary Filmmaking

Chris Stevens Celebration of Service
March 3rd, 2025
Keynote lecturer Dr. Jaremey McMullin

Watch Recording
Image of a grave site with glowing candles
Preparing for Death, the Last Calling in Life

Vocational Vistas series
November 4, 2024 

Presentation Resources
Image of Walter C. Schnackenberg Memorial Lecture banner
Makah Voices and the Sea

The Walter C. Schnackenberg Memorial Lecture
April 17, 2024
Speaker: Joshua L Reid

Watch Recording
Wang Center Symposium: The Matter of Loneliness, Building Connections for Collective Well-Being
The Matter of Loneliness: Building Connections for Collective Well-Being

Wang Center Symposium
March 7-8, 2024

More Information
From Revolting to Revolutionary: How Poop Has Transformed Science and Reshaped the World

Rachel Carson Lecture
February 21, 2024
Speaker: Dr. Bryn Nelson

Watch Recording
The 17th Annual Dale E. Benson Lecture - Adam Smith's America, How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism with Glory M. Liu, John Hopkins University
Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism

The Seventeenth Dale E. Benson Lecture
October 19, 2023
Speaker: Glory M. Liu

Watch Recording
Natalie Mayer and Raphael Lemkin Lecture 2024 banner: Undesirables - Forced Mobilities and Internments in Mediterranean
Undesirables: Forced Mobilities and Internments in Mediterranean Bande Dessinée

Annual Natalie Mayer and Raphael Lemkin Lecture
April 2, 2024 
Speaker: Aomar Boum

More Information

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.