Karen McConnell embraces innovation as PLU’s first chief institutional effectiveness officer
Associate Vice President Karen McConnell , Ph.D., recently stepped into a new role. It’s not only new for her, but also for PLU. She is the school’s first chief institutional effectiveness officer. McConnell explains that in this role she will help ensure that evidence-based decision-making…
Innovating for Access: PLU lives out its mission by blazing new trails
He was working by age 8, picking cherries and apples under the Yakima Valley sun. In the spring he worked as a smudger. He’d sleep overnight in an orchard and when the alarms rang he’d sprint to light the smudge pots that warmed the trees…
My Story, My Words: Ricky Haneda ’22
Recent PLU graduate Ricky Haneda gives a first-person perspective on his experience as an international student making the transition to an American school.
Renzhi Cao innovates in the classroom
If you search for the CV of Assistant Professor of Computer Science Renzhi Cao, Ph.D., you’ll find a list of published research papers longer than Foss Field. He says it’s a great feeling when a new piece of research is published. But what he finds…
Degree Designers: Students match passion with purpose through individualized majors
The 253 PLU Bound scholarship recipient from the Key Peninsula near Tacoma began his first year intending to major in music education. But best-laid plans often go awry. Lindhartsen soon realized that wasn’t the path for him. He knew he wanted to study music, but…
LUTES ANSWER: What does it mean to innovate wherever you are?
What does it mean to innovate wherever you are? “To innovate everywhere means to think ahead and find new ways to answer new and old questions. It’s finding new ways to make even the mundane fun. Wherever I am I look for the next step,…
LUTES ANSWER: How can innovation help meet the challenges of the moment?
How can innovation help meet the challenges of the moment? “Embracing innovation ensures we have a pipeline of ideas focused on improving our future as we manage the current complexities in our lives today. We must be eager to engage students, communities and colleagues in…
A roundtable discussion about innovation, diversity and inclusion
In 2022 — when polarities abound and institutions and individuals alike have been called to reflect, redefine and transform — what does it mean to call the work of equity “innovative”? As a concept, innovation can be used interchangeably with words like ingenuity, progress, newness,…
A Universal Language: Cassio Vianna shares a passion he discovered in Brazil with students at PLU
Cassio Vianna has been a teacher since he was 8 years old. At that time, his mother was learning to play the organ and Vianna decided to go with her to her lessons rather than stay at home with his siblings. “To this day, my…
The Key to Innovation
Michael Halvorson ’85 was a technologist before he was a historian. His PLU undergraduate degree is in computer science and he worked at Microsoft for the first 10 years of his career. He spent the next 15 years writing books about software and emerging technology.…