What will you do with your one wild and precious life?
What will you do with your one wild and precious life? PLU is a little different from most universities. You can see it everyday on campus – in the classroom, in the residence halls, on the athletic fields. PLU students have a uniquely broad idea…
Volunteer
Volunteer “Dropping people off at the hospital and that being the end of my contact with them just wasn’t fulfilling. I wanted to know how they did.” Guy Jensen ’08 saw the chance to train as a volunteer emergency medical technician as an opportunity to…
A ‘Twilight’ experience
‘Twilight’ is only the beginning for Forks High School principal “Twilight,” the bestselling teen vampire book series penned by author Stephanie Meyer and the subject of two major motion pictures, is set in the town of Forks, Wash. As a place that receives more rainfall…
PLU alum learns that being a teacher is a mixture of tough and funny
Alum learns that teaching fifth graders requires mixture of toughness and fun Eric Pfaff had a cold, but he was staying a few more hours in his classroom at Eugene Field Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma to finish up grading some papers, talking with kids.…
PLU alum works to close state’s achievement gap
PLU alum works to close state’s achievement gap Growing up, Erin Jones ’01, had no desire to become a teacher. In fact, she planned to become an international lawyer. But after visiting an economically disadvantaged, inner-city school in Philadelphia, Pa., Jones’ life plans changed dramatically.…

Rising Star
Rising Star By Barbara Clements and Bryanna Plog ’10 Standing backstage, waiting for his cue to step onstage, Louis Hobson ’00 does a reality check. He’s in New York. He’s on Broadway – in a Tony Award winning, and now Pulitzer-winning,musical no less. And he…
Making an art out of giving of oneself
Making an art out of giving of oneself Melinda Cox ’71, has never been shy about volunteering her time to help others. As an art professor at Tacoma Community College and Pierce College, Cox regularly juggles teaching and volunteer work. “I have always volunteered my…
A giving nature
The generous spirit of Norm Forness With some books you don’t have anything like the complete story until you finish the final chapter. So it was with the life of Norm Forness, who passed away last April. After graduating from Pacific Lutheran College in 1958,…
Discomfort can be good
A PLU graduate reflects on his time abroad I sat in one of my first classes at the University of Westminster in London flummoxed. It was days since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, and a European student sitting in the back of the lecture…

Flying high
Tilden flies high as Alaska Airlines’ new CEO By Barbara Clements As a boy, Brad Tilden ’83 would look up from the yard at his home and see airplanes launch into the sky from the nearby Seattle- Tacoma International Airport. Someday, he wanted to fly.…
The finish line
The finish line The call came from Japan as Masahide Nishimura was finishing up his degree in Chinese Studies at Pacific Lutheran University a decade ago. His grandfather, Jisaburo Nishimura, 92, had had a stroke. Masahide felt he needed to come home and support his…
New endowed chair created
New endowed chair created A new endowed chair has been created in the School of Education and Movement Studies – The Jolita Hylland Benson Endowed Chair in Elementary Education honors Jolita Benson. It has been funded by Dale and Jolita Benson through The Benson Family…