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PLU will launch into Earth and Diversity Week with the Schnackenberg Memorial Lecture and the Steen Family Symposium
Earth & Diversity Week is an opportunity to explore the interconnected relationship between diversity, justice, and sustainability and how these values experienced in our contexts today. Earth & Diversity Week is hosted annually during the week of Earth Day and features Earth Day lectures, campus…
![Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen sitting in the large lecture hall in PLU's Xavier Hall. She is smiling, wearing black, and holding a model skull in her hands.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2024/02/brenda-llewellyn-ihssen-banner-725x408.jpg)
PLU professor curates an Oxford Univ. museum collection at the intersection of religion, medicine and disability
In April 2023, PLU religion professor Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen , Ph.D., attended the Natural History Museum Late Night with PLU students at the University of Oxford. At Late Night events, the Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum host tours and various evening activities offered…
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The 8th Annual Diversity and Inclusion Speaker Series: Dr. Richard Lapchick presents “Facing Uncomfortable Truths”
The 8th Annual Diversity and Inclusion Speaker Series presented by PLU’s Department of Kinesiology will feature Dr. Richard Lapchick and his keynote presentation, “Facing Uncomfortable Truths” on February 28th, 2024, from 7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. in the AUC (Chris Knutson Hall). In his keynote presentation,…
![7 PLU students, staff and alumni stand in a row with commencement bay behind them.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2023/08/welcome-gathering-featured-725x408.jpg)
PLU community members help welcome Hōkūle‘a to Tacoma
A group of PLU students, staff and alumni joined the Puyallup Tribe, members of the South Sound’s Hawaiian/Polynesian community, and other locals at a gathering welcoming the Hōkūle‘a to Tacoma yesterday. A 62-foot-long traditional voyaging canoe operated by crew from the Polynesian Voyaging Society in…
![PLU student wearing a black top and jeans smiles into the camera. They are surrounded by flowers and trees.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2023/05/senior_story_23_jasneet_sandu--725x408.png)
Law school-bound Jasneet Sandu ’23 is passionate about global studies, anthropology, computer science and religion
Jasneet Sandhu had planned to minor in global studies. But soon into her PLU experience, she decided to double major in it, along with computer science. She added anthropology and religion as double minors—as part of a strategy to enjoy her college experience at a…
![Lisa Woods '92 stands in front of a window in an office in Tacoma, Wa](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/07/lisa-woods-web-725x408.png)
Centering the City: Lisa Woods ’92 discusses her work as Tacoma’s chief equity officer
Lisa Woods ’92 leads initiatives to help improve systems and services as the City of Tacoma’s chief equity officer. She says her approach to this work starts with listening and continuously thinking about how best to center community voices, experiences and needs. How can centering…
![Angela Pierce-Ngo ’12, a director with Northwest Education Access, photographed in a Pierce Country Library, a typical spot to meet clients along with coffee shops, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in University Place. (Photo/John Froschauer)](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/11/angela-pierce-questioning-barriers-725x408.jpg)
Questioning Barriers: Angela Pierce-Ngo ’12 understands post-secondary success requires questions
While at PLU, Angela Pierce-Ngo ’12 was worried by a troubling pattern. After the first year of college, many peers and friends — especially classmates of color — left school or took an extremely long break. Even as she worked as a diversity advocate and…
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Rooted and Open: Rev. Jen Rude talks about centering community, spiritual diversity, and Campus Ministry
In the summer of 2016, Rev. Jen Rude and her spouse Deb packed their things and drove two thousand miles West on Interstate 90 to a new home and a new call. Six-and-half years later, Rude is no longer PLU’s “new pastor from Chicago.” Now…
![Jen Smith and Angie hambrick smile into the camera while standing outside the Anderson University Center.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/05/jen-angie-banner-725x408.jpg)
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,…
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Wild Hope Center and Campus Ministry partner to offer alternatives to culture of busyness
Campus Ministry and the Wild Hope Center for Vocation have recently joined forces to develop new opportunities for Pacific Lutheran University students and staff. After noticing a disconnect among PLU staff members during the pandemic, these two departments came together in January to host a…
![George Zeno stands smiling on front of of a brightly colored mural on Garfield Street near PLU.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2021/11/zeno-featured-725x408.jpg)
Collective Impact: George Zeno talks Parkland, equity and community partnerships
Nearly a year into his new role as PLU Associate Vice President of Advancement, George Zeno and I took a walk through Parkland and discussed one of my favorite questions, #WhyPLU? Zeno is essentially a community matchmaker for social progress. Mentored at the University of…
![People's Gathering host and founder Melannie Denise Cunningham waves at the attendees from on stage at Karen Hille Phillips Hall.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2021/11/pg-1-725x408.jpg)
People’s Gathering fosters timely conversations about race, perspective and inclusion
PLU Director of Multicultural Outreach and Engagement Melannie Denise Cunningham has an uncanny ability to get folks talking. In 2016, she noticed the community was yearning to discuss one pressing topic in particular. That summer, the news of Philando Castile, a Black man fatally shot…