The University of Puget Sound welcomes the public to an enchanting evening with Ross Gay, an expert in appreciating life’s small delights, the featured speaker of the Fall 2023 Susan Resneck Pierce Lecture in Public Affairs and the Arts. Everyone is welcome to attend and listen to the acclaimed essayist and poet on Monday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. in the Schneebeck Concert Hall.

University of Puget Sound announced today that it is creating a new academic department to house its environmental programs starting in Fall 2024. The Department of Environmental Studies & Sciences will allow students to explore the evolving issues of environmental studies through an interdisciplinary approach combining natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.

Environmental Studies & Sciences will offer four academic options:

The Sound Transit T-Line Hilltop extension was launched on September 16, with the University of Puget Sound in attendance to mark the occasion. The project, which took years to complete, includes one relocated station, the Old City Hall, and six new stations: St. Joseph, Hilltop District, 6th Avenue, Tacoma General, Stadium District, and South 4th. Puget Sound proudly sponsors the Stadium District platform, and is thrilled about the connectivity, accessibility, and sustainable future that the T-Line brings to Tacoma.

TACOMA, Wash. - The University of Puget Sound has once again been recognized for its academic excellence, earning a place on the list of Best National Liberal Arts Colleges by U.S. News & World Report. The university secured the 89th spot in a highly competitive category among universities nationwide.

Tacoma, Wash. — Tanya Erzen, associate professor of religion, spirituality, and society and director of crime, law, and justice studies and gender and queer studies, has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Public Scholars grant for $60,000. The NEH Public Scholars program supports nonfiction authors in producing well-researched books for a broad public audience.

When Drew Kerkhoff left Ohio, to follow his future wife to New Mexico, he had no plans of ever heading back east. The western landscape and ecology fascinated him, and Kerkhoff—who at the time made a living building custom furniture—spent his downtime exploring his surroundings. It was out in nature that he found a new career path, a path that would eventually lead him to become Puget Sound’s new provost.

The Washington State Supreme Court will visit the University of Puget Sound Sept. 13–14 for an immersive two days with justices attending classes, hosting a panel, and holding two oral arguments. This marks the third visit from the court, following their previous stops in 2013 and 2017.

University of Puget Sound philosophy professors Ariela Tubert and Justin Tiehen have been recognized for their work on the intersection of existentialist philosophy and artificial intelligence. The two have been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Collaborative Research Grant of $147,840 for their project, "Robot Existentialism: Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of Rationality."

It’s a warm summer day alongside Fryingpan Creek as Paige Shinall ’25 climbs into a pair of waders and prepares to step into the water. Moving carefully to avoid being swept away with the current, she places a flow meter into the water at set points across the width of the creek and shouts back measurements to Gwen Lindberg ’25, who is perched on a rock at the water’s edge with a pencil and notebook, recording the stream’s velocity, depth, and width.

At its spring business meeting in May 2023, the University of Puget Sound’s Board of Trustees elected trustee and non-trustee officers for the coming year, including formally electing Beth Picardo ’83, J.D.’86, to serve as chair effective July 1, 2023. The board’s previous chair, Robert Pohlad P’07, was elected as Immediate Past Chair and will continue to serve on the board in this capacity through June 30, 2024. The board also elected five new trustees and recognized four outgoing members who have completed nine years of service on the board.