Springing Ahead—Resolutely
Change is never easy—and good change is never quick, or isolated. We’ve been contemplating a modernized version of our magazine for months—partly to go along with our new and improved website, and partly to better reflect PLU and the Lutes who love it.
We deeply appreciate your input into the process. We also deeply appreciate the input of one particularly invested party: Jon Olson ‘62, creator of the first PLU magazine ever (and the man behind its first title change).
Olson called me in February after he’d heard we were thinking of renaming Scene. He wanted to give his blessings—which I accepted with great gratitude—and I really wanted to talk to him about his PLU publishing experience.
Olson and I met at the Anderson University Center. He and his wife, Carol Olson ’63, have lived in Tucson since 2008, but Olson was in town for his grandson’s PLU Regents Scholarship interview (must be a Lute gene in the Olson family!).
Right off the bat, Olson carefully handed me a coveted first-edition copy of PLU’s debut magazine, Reflections, from 1967. (Before Olson took over as Alumni Director that year, the “fledgling” department produced only a “fancy 11 x 17 newsletter.”)
Reflections was mailed quarterly to fewer than 4,000 alumni and lasted three years.
Behind the Resolute Desk
Take a peek behind the production of PLU’s flagship magazine through staff posts, photos and videos.Go to blog
His new magazine was a tabloid–”all the rage in newspapers” at the time, Olson said—and its new name was just as hip and relevant: Scene.
“We were sitting around the room,” Olson said, “and someone—I think I was the one—said, ‘Let’s talk about the scene at PLU.’ People loved it!”
But now, even Olson, the man who coined the name that’s lasted more than 40 years, says: “It’s lived its life.”
And I promise you we didn’t.
We wanted a magazine name that PLU, and only PLU, would truly own. We wanted a name that reflects PLU and its strong and growing Lute community. We wanted a name that matters today, on several levels, and is likely to keep mattering.
In the end we chose RESOLUTE wholeheartedly and with great glee: Not only does it contain a ready-made Lute—it also perfectly describes one: admirably purposeful, determined and unwavering.
Just like a magazine, and a readership, with a rich history—and an exciting future.
We’ll be mailing two editions of RESOLUTE each year (look for your next one in November). Until then, please check plu.edu/resolute—often!—for updated news, amazing features and exciting new ways to connect.
