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customer needs. The business world is replete with calls for design-centered innovation. But, how do you learn design principles, and how do you use them to pursue new opportunities? At Pacific Lutheran University, I sat down to find out with Jp Avila, Associate Professor of Art & Design and a co-founder of PLU’s Innovation Studies program. Avila received his M.F.A. in Visual Communication from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and he has taught Design at PLU since 2004. He is legendary on

, students from all backgrounds and religious traditions attend PLU. That is what the Lutheran tradition is all about – making sure all faiths and perspectives are respected. It ensures a vibrant, intellectual spirit takes hold on campus, where students and faculty are open to ideas, new philosophies and intellectual diversity. For instance, take Bashair Alazadi ’13. As a commuter student, she didn’t have a residence hall room where she could pray five times a day, as prescribed by Islam. So she went to

trying out a new online resource for making a digital map of different Spanish dialects, thanks to support from PLU’s Digital Humanities Lab (led by professors Adela Ramos and Scott Rogers), which we are continuing during our asynchronous time. PLU: Has teaching Hispanic studies through a distance-learning model been challenging? What are some new tools you’ve developed or embraced? Yaden: I’ve taught HISP 101 and 102 fully online now for several years in the summer, so I guess I was as prepared as I

tries to do as much as possible is to include diverse voices in our coverage. That requires cultivating new sources that are much harder to come by when you can’t meet people or network in traditional ways. None of this is an ideal substitute for real-life, in-person reporting, but we’ll keep doing what we can in order to share important perspectives about what’s likely the biggest story of our lifetime. PLU: What sort of stories are you telling during the pandemic? Plog: As a tiny but mighty radio

hopes to found and lead a nonprofit that helps children of color discover secret talents through new opportunities. Lucas’s daughter dances at Sound Movement Arts Center—and joined the Franklin Pierce Junior Wrestling team. “She tried wrestling, did very well and ended up taking first at the state tournament,” Lucas says.  On top of being a full-time student, Lucas works full-time as a case manager at Comprehensive Life Resources, a community behavioral health clinic in Tacoma, helping those

needed, learned new skills and helped teammates find solutions to complex challenges. Keleigh is a natural collaborator and has created new systems for email building, fundraising reporting and constituent engagement. Keleigh’s work and spirit allow us to communicate effectively with tens of thousands of alumni, families, and friends of the university. One of Keleigh’s teammates told us that Keleigh is “an outstanding thought partner and talking through challenges with Keleigh makes our team feel