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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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 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…
Virtual convening of The People’s Gathering to facilitate timely conversations about race
Pacific Lutheran University’s Campus Ministry and Center for Graduate and Continuing Education will co-host the spring virtual convening of The People’s Gathering: A Revolution of Consciousness (TPG) conference on April 22, 2021 centered on the topic Anti-Racism, Advancement Advocacy: What is it AND how do…
Zooming for an Important Endorsement: How PLU is empowering teachers in Eastern Washington
Toppenish school district had long wanted district teachers to obtain an English Language Learners (ELL) endorsement to boost the district’s inclusion model for English-language learners. The endorsement is added to a teacher’s basic certification and allows them to be certified in English language learners and/or…
Professor Samuel Torvend on Martin Luther’s teachings during the plague
The trials, tribulations, and big questions that confounded 16th century Europeans as they faced the bubonic plague are eerily similar to what we are facing right now with COVID-19 and other social issues. German professor and priest, Martin Luther, had a lot of ideas of…
PLU digital campaign explores the meaning of the words “anti-racist,” “anti-Blackness,” “decolonize” and “BIPOC”
“My Language. My Choice. Words Mean Things” is a dynamic digital campaign being launched this month by Pacific Lutheran University. The campaign is focused on better understanding the meaning of the words anti-racist, anti-Blackness, decolonize and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). “These terms and…
Attorney, sexual assault victim advocate Sarah Klein visits PLU
TACOMA, WASH. (Feb. 6, 2020) — Pacific Lutheran University’s Department of Kinesiology welcomes to campus Sarah Klein, an attorney for Dalton and Associates, PA and sexual assault victim advocate. Klein, who was one the first known survivors of former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics team…