A Passion for the Classics with Professor Luke Parker
In a world that is so hyper-focused on economic success and finding the “right” career, many students tend to think of their education solely in terms of concrete professional goals. In my conversation with Visiting Assistant Professor Luke Parker in the Classics department, though, I…
Learning and Teaching with Professor Xi Zhu
You may have heard professors say that they still feel like students, learning every day. But Visiting Instructor of Chinese Xi Zhu is a true embodiment of this idea. You may have heard professors say that they still feel like students, learning every day. But…
“Opening Crazy Worlds”: Learning about Language with Professor René Carrasco
Dr. René Carrasco is the new Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies, who began at PLU in Fall of 2019. Originally from Mexico City, René came to the United States when he was 15. After he graduated high school, he went on to community college and…
Changing Lives One Book at a Time with Professor Ned Schaumberg
Ned Schaumberg is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) who teaches postcolonial and global literature, and researches the role of water in literary and environmental contexts. He could also save your life. According to his parents, Schaumberg’s journey to professorship began at…
The Parkland Literacy Center
The Parkland Literacy Center (PLC), created in 2018 by English Writing Professor Scott Rogers and Hispanic Studies Professor Bridget Yaden, is located on the western edge of PLU’s campus. The PLC, as it’s called, offers after-school tutoring in all academic subjects to Keithley Middle School…
Environmental Ethics at Holden Village
Human impact on the natural world is impossible to ignore. From severe flooding in Africa, melting of the arctic poles, and fires across Australia, recent years have seen a drastic increase in anomalistic climate events. In response to these problems, Pacific Lutheran University values “thinking…
Waist-Deep in Mud: Engaging with Tradition through a J-Term Course in Honolulu
On a January morning, sixteen PLU students stepped waist deep into the flooded, muddy field of the loʻi, a traditional taro patch, to take part in a practice that once sustained the Hawaiʻian people. Elle Sina Sørensen, a senior majoring in anthropology and global studies…
Revisiting the Visiting Writer Series: the 15th Anniversary Edition
The 2019-2020 academic year marks the 15th anniversary of the Visiting Writers Series, the English department’s annual program bringing writers from various backgrounds to Pacific Lutheran University. Most visits consist of an afternoon conversation called “The Writer’s Story” and an evening reading followed by question…
Greetings from the Dean 2020
We will probably be talking about the 2019-20 school year for the rest of our lives. Prof. Kevin O’Brien speaking at the PLU Convocation, Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. (Photo/John Froschauer) In March, responding to the regional outbreak and global pandemic of COVID-19, PLU closed most…
Disruption and Continuity: PLU’s Division of Humanities in Spring, 2020
This school year concludes amidst global disruption. The COVID-19 pandemic changed nearly everyone’s life, and far too many of us are mourning losses in our families and friends, dealing with economic hardship, and still dealing with anxieties about what might come next. PLU’s curricular disruption…