ResoLute Fall 2025 Opening Note
By Eva Frey ’95
Associate Vice President for Student Life & Dean of Students
“Educating for lives of thoughtful inquiry, service, leadership, and care, — for others, for their communities, and for the Earth.”
My guess is you started reading that and you immediately were brought back to a favorite memory of your time at PLU. Lutes know the mission statement, and after this place isn’t your daily home, one wonders how the mission statement is living itself out in today’s campus community.
Rooted for Lutes — in the spirit of care — is the focus of wellbeing. At PLU, wellbeing is an ecology. If you do a search for “wellbeing” you will find Wellbeing Ecology on the Student Life website. It is interdependent, it is the relationship between people, place, and our planet. It is rooted in equity — wellbeing is what YOU need to move forward in today’s complex world. And, today’s PLU is showing up for ALL of our students.
Yanelly Gurrola Anaya ’25, a criminal justice major, found pathways to thrive at PLU (read more about her in this issue). The PLU Social Work Department is celebrating 50 years of educating social workers who are living the PLU mission each day through their influence and impact in their communities. The new Masters of Social Work (MSW) program has found ways to care for our Lutes through graduate fellowships on campus. Wellbeing Services and Resources (WSR) at PLU is an innovative “super department” that integrates clinical and non-clinical resources and services for students. Last academic year, 85% of all first year students at PLU found care in a service of WSR.
I am a proud alumna of the PLU Class of 1995 and this year marks 30 years since I walked across the stage in Olson Auditorium. I can confidently say today’s PLU is living the mission of care in ways that hold the deep traditions of your time at PLU. Students are seen in their wholeness; students find challenge and support in and out of the classroom; and, students are going out into the world bringing their best selves — ready to answer their vocational call. I invite you to stop by Hong Hall and see the new Wellbeing Services and Resources space. You’ll find the PLU you remember, refreshed for today’s student and prepared for the world’s greatest needs.
Sincerely,
Eva Frey ’95
Associate Vice President for Student Life & Dean of Students
