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
Faith and Religion in the Military: Soul Care and Interfaith Relations
Attend in-person at PLU, or watch the livestream
The military is a critical site for interfaith and spiritual care, within hospitals and in the field. Join us for a two panel discussions and/or dinner conversation to 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.
Resisting Christian Nationalism
Virtual Event
Join Dr. Seth Dowland, PLU scholar of American religions, as he discusses the dangers of growing Christian nationalism and the ways in which this oppressive force can be resisted.
The Kon-Tiki Museum at 75: the origins and development of one of Norway’s most popular attractions
October 8, 2025 at 7:00-9:00pm
Held in Scandinavian Cultural Center, Anderson University Center
In 1947, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his team crossed the Pacific on the raft Kon-Tiki to demonstrate possible pre-Columbian contact between South America and Polynesia. The expedition became a global sensation, and the raft was later moved to Oslo, where it became the centerpiece of the Kon-Tiki Museum. Now celebrating its 75th year, the Museum remains a popular attraction and research center. This lecture will trace its development from founding to present day.
Einstein's Blackboard: Struggles with Communication in the History of Innovation
October 13, 2025 at 7:00-8:15pm Pacific Time
Join us in-person at PLU, or via livestream
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.
The Gift of Wilderness: Hammarskjöld on Hiking
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.
Doikayt, or Hereness: Jewish Children's Literature for a Just World
October 28, 2025 at 6:30-7:30pm Pacific Time
National Book Award finalist, Newbery honoree, and two-time Stonewall award winning author Kyle Lukoff is best known for his groundbreaking work about transgender youth. In this lecture, however, he will also discuss his personal experience with Jewish representation as a young person, how that affected his career as a trans and Jewish author, and the immediate and long-term importance of diverse Jewish literature for young people.
The Healing Arts: A Virtuous Science in Christian History
October 29, 2025 at 7:00-8:00pm Pacific Time
Attend in-person at PLU, or watch the livestream
Health is fragile, especially in times of social and environmental troubles. What might religious history offer our world today in essential, positive models and tools to improve medicine, public health, and healthcare efforts? Dr. Holman suggests, practices that can sustain community health and embodied human flourishing are possible only when healers are also grounded in thoughtful, informed, constructive, and creative understandings of religious history as a healing art.
The beauty of Namibia serves as the context in which PLU professor of sociology, Dr. Kate Luther, discusses the value and calling to travel. Virtual event.
Latin America and the Holocaust
November 5-7, 2025
Promoting Diversity in a Challenging Time
In a time when universities are targeted for welcoming diversity, Dr. Angie Hambrick, PLU Associate Vice President for Diversity, Justice, and Sustainability, discusses the challenges of maintaining and supporting an open door for students from diverse backgrounds. Virtual Event.
The Changing Spiritual Lives of University Students
June 17, 2025 (Virtual)
University Pastor Jen Rude will offer a fascinating look at the questions and concerns raised by PLU students in their quest for lives marked by meaning and purpose. Video Passcode: kj!4yEFt
Exposing the Untold Story of PLU
May 15, 2025 (Virtual)
Samuel Torvend will consider the economic, political, and social forces that continue to influence the story of PLU, forces that hamper and inspire the university’s mission in the 21st century. Video Passcode: @Eb8ds?T
Native Now and Forever: Celebrating and Integrating Indigenous Literary Voice for Young Readers
April 29, 2025
Cynthia Leitich Smith (Mvskoke citizen) will highlight the history and growth of Native representation both on the page and behind the bylines.
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.
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.
Peacebuilding and Motorcycling: Re-Framing Narratives in Documentary Filmmaking
Chris Stevens Celebration of Service
March 3rd, 2025
Keynote lecturer Dr. Jaremey McMullin
Sephardic Jewish Voices and Experiences in the Holocaust
Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education
November 6-8, 2024
Keynote speaker Devin E. Naar
Preparing for Death, the Last Calling in Life
Vocational Vistas series
November 4, 2024
Makah Voices and the Sea
The Walter C. Schnackenberg Memorial Lecture
April 17, 2024
Speaker: Joshua L Reid
The Matter of Loneliness: Building Connections for Collective Well-Being
Wang Center Symposium
March 7-8, 2024
From Revolting to Revolutionary: How Poop Has Transformed Science and Reshaped the World
Rachel Carson Lecture
February 21, 2024
Speaker: Dr. Bryn Nelson
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
Where the Waters Begin: Indigenous Education, Tribal Sovereignty, and the Legacy of Cecelia Svinth Carpenter
The 14th Annual Lutheran Studies Conference
September 26, 2024
Undesirables: Forced Mobilities and Internments in Mediterranean Bande Dessinée
Annual Natalie Mayer and Raphael Lemkin Lecture
April 2, 2024
Speaker: Aomar Boum
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.