Poetry to restore the complexity of the world
Poetry helps explain a complex world Rick Barot wasn’t looking for how to address worldly issues when he began writing poetry. “I think, like a lot of poets, I started in poetry having very self-serving reasons,” the PLU professor said. In college, it was therapeutic…
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.…
Top marks for green
PLU receives top marks for sustainability Pacific Lutheran University has garnered a prestigious ranking this week, as the Sustainable Endowments Institute released its College Sustainability Report Card for 2010. Overall, the university was graded an A-, with As granted to many areas such as climate…

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…

‘We were made to move’
‘We were made to move’ By Chris Albert When Professor Colleen Hacker was lecturing on the psychology of marathon running, a student in the audience began to think: “I can do that.” “Being able to share what you love with someone who also loves it…
Gates Sr. urges students to ‘Show up’
Bill Gates Sr. urges students to ‘Show up’ Bill Gates Sr., the father of Bill Gates of Microsoft fame, told a packed audience in Lagerquist Hall Tuesday night that the number one quality students can cultivate is “to be concerned.“Not necessarily about everything, but be…
Pulling weeds, helping salmon
Students work to restore habitat of struggling salmon stream Last week, Scott Hansen, ecologist and vice president of the Puget Creek board, was just ticking off the list of creatures that call this canopied gulch, sandwiched between suburbia and a main Tacoma arterial their home.…
Offering a historical sense
Historical context Growing up Troy Storfjell held a certain admiration for the scholars he saw in the documentaries he watched. Now the PLU associate professor is one of those scholars. He’ll appear on the History Channel’s “Clash of the Gods” Series. ( Storfjell’s episodes were…
Convocation – A generation of globalists
Convocation – A generation of globalists The incoming and returning students at PLU are part of the first global generation, said President Loren J. Anderson during Convocation on Sept. 8.“Quite simply you are globalists,” Anderson said to more than 1,000 students, faculty, staff and guests…
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…
Probing the secrets of the atom
New Chemistry department instrument will help students and profs probe world of the atom It looks like a rather fat, squat water heater. But to the students and professors gathered around it – or, more accurately, the computer that transmits readouts from it, the machine…