Connecting Inquiry and Community In and Beyond the Classroom

One of the things that makes PLU unique is its steadfast commitment to community. Whether abroad or at home, we challenge ourselves and our students to see connections between the work we do in the classroom and the lives we live outside the walls of the academy. This is particularly true of the Division of Humanities, where relationships between inquiry and community are written into our DNA. As a division committed to educating the whole student, we pursue real world questions of ethics, morality, faith, and language in places ranging from archives to community centers to social media platforms. These questions emerge for us at the intersection of our professional lives and our experience as citizens, and they resonate deeply with our students, who identify unique questions related to their own distinct communities of interest.

In this feature story you will be introduced to four PLU faculty members navigating the literal and figurative borders of experience, pursuing critical questions that challenge us to re-think how we understand the diverse global and local contexts that await our students in their lives after graduation.