Dayton Campbell-Harris ’16: Fighting for voters’ rights
Originally, Dayton Campbell-Harris ’16 planned for a career as a high school history teacher and high school football coach — he played football for PLU when Scott Westering was an inspirational coach. But during his junior year at PLU, a social work class moved Campbell-…
Therapeutic Leadership: David Ward discusses his approach to leading PLU’s College of Health Professions
David Ward is a practicing therapist who says the origins of his vocation go all the way back to his childhood home. “I grew up in a family where I benefited from strong family ties, and I saw the impact of imperfect but strong relationships,”…
Ellie Dieringer explores impact of the Holocaust in South America
Close to 50,000 Jewish refugees fled to Argentina during the rise of Nazism and World War II. In fact, between 1933 and 1945, Argentina received more Jewish refugees per capita than any other nation in the world, except Palestine. But to most – outside of…
Military To Medicine: Air Force, Navy veterans become nurses after second chances at college
Stephanie Millett ’22 was in her early 20s when she walked into a U.S. Navy recruiting office after dropping out of the University of Oregon in 2010. The decision to enlist, she says, was “a bit of a last resort” to get her family and…
Saving the World with a Starship
On day one of PLU Professor of Mathematics Daniel Heath’s Designing a Starship class, students have no idea what they have signed up for — and that’s exactly how Heath wants it. The course is part of PLU’s International Honors Program (IHON), which means it…
Opening Doors to Opportunity: Andrew Whitney ’12, Director of Seed Internships
I had two internships during my time at PLU. One led to a full-time offer and I stayed there for almost seven years. Getting that second internship was about my talent and also about the right place, right time, right skill set, right newsletter subscription.…
Camp Songs: PLU music majors produce free music camp for Parkland students
It’s a warm summer morning and the scent of scrambled eggs drifts from the kitchen at Trinity Lutheran Church into an adjoining room where more than a dozen campers busily make beaded jewelry. Ranging from second to sixth grade, the kids are participants in the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…