![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…
![Beth Griech-Polelle wearing a pink dress giving a lecture in front of a classroom](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/10/beth-resolute-featured-725x408.jpg)
Asking Historic Questions: Beth Griech-Polelle, PLU Kurt Mayer Chair of Holocaust Studies
I think we have all heard the infamous phrase, “Those who do not know the past are condemned to repeat it.” For most historians, asking questions about our shared past forces all of us to confront uncomfortable truths about the past with the hope that…
![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…
![Mycal Ford ’12 smiles into the camera. He's standing outside the Tacoma convention center and wearing a white turtle-neck sweater.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/11/ford-resolute-banner-725x408.jpg)
International Complexities: Mycal Ford ’12 discusses how he thinks about global policy
Mycal Ford ’12 deep dives into global challenges for a living. A double major in political science and Chinese studies at PLU, Ford is now an international affairs and economics analyst who has worked for both private firms and government agencies, including the U.S. Department…
![Elizabeth Larios photographed in a biology lab as a field by Morken and Rieke with a jacket she had made in Namibia where she has a Fulbright scholarship starting in January 2023, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, at PLU. (PLU Photo/John Froschauer)](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/10/music-medicine-elizabeth-larios-725x408.jpg)
Music and Medicine: Elizabeth Larios ’21 returns to Namibia to research infections and teach marimba
Elizabeth Larios ’21 decided she was going to be a neurosurgeon in the fourth grade. That’s when her class took a field trip to a science museum and Larios saw an exhibit about the human brain. Returning home that day, she told her mom: “I’m…
![Marnie Ritchie poses with arms crossed in front of an artwork resembling a collage in the back ground.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/11/marnie-ritchie-web-725x408.png)
WATCH THIS: Professor Marnie Ritchie discusses surveillance, rhetoric and media
Do you ever worry about history-tracking web browsers, “smart” kitchen appliances, and the even smarter phones we sleep next to? PLU Assistant Professor of Communication Marnie Ritchie thinks about these things. She thinks about them A LOT. Ritchie is an award-winning researcher and writer in…
![Adrian Ronquillo is sitting on a couch with a big smile on his face, wearing a white t-shirt with a red Netflix logo and pointing a remote at us as if we were the television. A box of popcorn can be seen partially covering a Netflix backpack that is placed on the couch next to Adrian in the foreground to the left of the image. A sign on the background wall reads, "Live, Love, and Lutes."](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/11/adrian-ronquillo-web-725x408.png)
Adrian Arrives
During his senior year, computer science major Adrian Ronquillo ’22 filled out 203 job applications. Despite already having a job offer from a tech company he was interning with, he wanted to see what other opportunities were available to him. One of those applications included…
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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…
![Parker Simpson stands to the side of PLU signage on Campus on Park Avenue](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/07/parker-simpson-web-725x408.png)
Nursing major sees value in studying and investing in health services
Parker Simpson ’24 is spending his summer working at an assisted living facility in his hometown of Spokane, Washington. He comes from a family of healthcare professionals and has always wanted to help people. We sat down with him to discuss his experience taking classes…
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Faculty Innovators
Innovation in the classroom: “I do, and I understand” If you search for the CV of Assistant Professor of Computer Science Renzhi Cao, Ph.D. , you’ll find a list of published research papers longer than Foss Field. He says it’s a great feeling when a…
![Tamara headshot, she has a green are on campus behind her, is wearing a red shirt and necklace.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/05/tamara-banner-resolute-725x408.jpg)
Wang Center Executive Director: “Global issues are local issues.”
In 2021, PLU’s Wang Center for Global Education added a few more important words to its title. It is now the Wang Center for Global and Community Engaged Education . The name change is the result of a merger between the Wang Center and the…
![Karen McConnell smiling while standing in an empty PLU classroom.](https://www.plu.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/573/2022/05/karen-banner-resolute-725x408.jpg)
Karen McConnell embraces innovation as PLU’s first chief institutional effectiveness officer
Associate Vice President Karen McConnell , Ph.D., recently stepped into a new role. It’s not only new for her, but also for PLU. She is the school’s first chief institutional effectiveness officer. McConnell explains that in this role she will help ensure that evidence-based decision-making…