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.…
PLU becomes the second Washington university to join prestigious international studies organization
The Global Studies program at Pacific Lutheran University recently established a chapter of the Sigma Iota Rho Honor Society for International Studies. PLU is just the second university in Washington to become a member of the prestigious organization. Sigma Iota Rho works to advance the…
Rising Amazon recruiter April Rose Nguyen ’19, ’21 has a plan
April Rose Nguyen ’19, ’21 has a plan. A political science and communication double major who recently earned an MBA at PLU, Nguyen followed the advice of a career adviser into a series of contract jobs in human resources. Not because she has career aspirations…
Jon Grande ’92 embraces innovation, talent and fun at Amazon Games
Jon Grande ’92 was an intern at Microsoft the summer before he enrolled at PLU. His supervisor was a young marketing manager named Melinda French. He remembers advice Melinda — now Melinda French Gates — gave him a few weeks before the fall semester began.…