Search

Nonfiction, Poetry | MFA in Creative Writing - Low Residency | Lia Purpura is the author of eight collections of essays, poems, and translations, most recently, Rough Likeness (essays) and It Shouldn’t Have Been Beautiful (poems).  Her honors include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, National Endowment for the Arts and Fulbright Fellowships, three Pushcart prizes, the Associated Writing Programs Award in Nonfiction, and the Beatrice Hawley, and Ohio State University Press awards in poetry.  Recent work appears in Agni, Field, The Georgia Review, Orion, The New Republic, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Best American Essays.  She is Writer in Residence at The University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and teaches at writing programs around the country, including, most recently, the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference.  She lives in Baltimore with her family. Mentor.

Lecturer - Tuba | Music | evansmp@plu.edu | 253-535-7602 | Paul Evans is the Principal Tuba of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra and Lecturer of Tuba at Pacific Lutheran University.  An active performer in the Pacific Northwest, Paul also performs with the Northwest Sinfonietta, Bellevue Philharmonic, Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and with the Lyric Brass at PLU.  He studied tuba performance with Ron Munson in Seattle, Steve Call at Brigham Young University, and Gary Ofenloch at the University of Utah.  Before coming home to the Pacific Northwest, Paul was Principal Tuba of the Boise Philharmonic and played frequently with the Utah Symphony.  He performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician and has been soloist with the Boise Philharmonic, Tacoma Symphony, and Lyric Brass. .

Lecturer - Cello | Music | finkelm@plu.edu | 253-535-7602 | Mara Finkelstein studied cello at the Gnessin College of Music and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow before coming to the U.S.

Associate Professor of English | Department of English | jamesja@plu.edu | 253-535-7217 | Jenny James was born and raised in Michigan, the home of the Great Lakes and the Michigan Wolverines.

Lecturer | Music | camposla@plu.edu | 253-535-7602 | LeeAnne Campos began her music career at the age of seven in Munich, Germany, playing the role of a Siamese boy in a professional production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I. A past regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions and the San Francisco Merola Opera Program Auditions, her repertoire includes many roles.

Assistant to the Dean of the College of Liberal Studies | College of Liberal Studies | williamson@plu.edu | 253-535-7321

Mental Health Counseling Intern | Counseling Services | rachel.steinberg@plu.edu | 253-535-7206 | Rachel is thrilled to join the PLU team as a Mental Health Counseling Intern and spend the ’24-’25 year working with the PLU community.

Lecturer - Euphonium | Music | gilliajm@plu.edu | 253-535-7602 | Jason Gilliam is a native of Tacoma, Washington.  He holds the Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts in Teaching form the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, where he studied with Peter Ellefson, Ron Munson, and Steve Fissel.  Jason currently holds the position of Lecturer of Euphonium at the Pacific Lutheran University, and is also a Kindergarten teacher in the Steilacoom School District. Jason has enjoyed an ever increasing demand as a clinician and euphonium soloist.  Gilliam has been a featured euphonium artist at the 2012 International Tuba Euphonium Conference in Linz, Austria, the Northern Rockies Tuba Euphonium Festival, Monroe High School Wind Ensemble, Emerald Ridge High School Concert Band, the Northwest Regional International Tuba Euphonium Conference, the University of Idaho, University of Oregon, University of Victoria, Pacific Lutheran University, Puget Brass, Brass Band Northwest, the Harvey Phillips Northwest Big Brass Bash, Sun City Concert Band (Sun City, Arizona), Sitka High School Band (Sitka, Alaska), Tacoma Community College Wind Ensemble, Tacoma Community College Orchestra, Bremerton High School Symphonic Band, Grays Harbor Symphony, and the Northshore Concert Band (Evanston, Illinois). Gilliam was the solo euphonium in the Tacoma Concert Band for over 20 years, and was a featured soloist in over 50 performances.  In 2015, Jason was a featured soloist with the band on a tour of Spain.  Jason also was soloist with the band on their 2007 tour of La Croix Valmer, France, and the 2011 tour of Prague, Salzburg, Vienna, and Budapest.

School of Business | craiggr@plu.edu | Gordon Craig is an Audit Manager with the U.S. Army Audit Agency—the Army’s internal audit organization.

Poetry | MFA in Creative Writing - Low Residency | Jenny Johnson is the author of In Full Velvet (Sarabande Books, 2017).  Her poems have appeared in The New York Times, Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics, Waxwing, and elsewhere.  Her honors include a Whiting Award, a Hodder Fellowship, and an NEA Fellowship.  She has also received awards and scholarships from the Blue Mountain Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Yaddo.  She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at West Virginia University, and she is on the faculty of the Rainier Writing Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University’s low-residency MFA program.