TACOMA, Wash. – University of Puget Sound mourns the passing of President Emeritus Ronald R. Thomas, who died at the home he shared with his wife, Mary, on Vashon Island, Wash., on Monday, April 17, 2023. He was 74 years old.

Long before she had heard the term “sustainability,” Kaylynn O’Curran ’23 was obsessed with recycling. She wanted to live a lifestyle as close to zero-waste as possible, so she did her research on products to minimize her impact on the planet and try to be a conscious consumer. She felt good about her choices, but when she started studying at University of Puget Sound, she quickly learned that addressing climate change requires more than individuals making sustainable choices—it demands wide-ranging changes on a collective scale.

Professor of History Katherine Smith studies what scholars sometimes refer to as “the long 12th century,” encompassing the social and political events from around 1050 to 1200 CE. As a member of the Puget Sound faculty since 2005, Smith has taught a wide variety of classes in the History Department. Both of her books, War and the Making of Medieval Monastic Culture and The Bible and Crusade Narrative, were inspired by classroom discussions. She is currently working on a new book that examines life in the Middle Ages through everyday objects.

TACOMA, Wash. – Historian and former Tacoma mayor William H. “Bill” Baarsma ’64, P’93 will deliver the Commencement address at University of Puget Sound’s 131st Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 14, 2023. The Logger alumnus will also receive the honorary degree Doctor of History, the highest distinction bestowed by the university.

Traveling to Europe for a study abroad program has always been on Leonardo Hall ’23’s bucket list. An international business major with a minor in economics, Hall dreamed of seeing the world and learning to live, work, and thrive in another country. So, when the staff at the Office of International Programs suggested he apply for the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, he jumped at the chance to stamp his passport.

Puget Sound’s Archives & Special Collections recently acquired 150 pop-up books, donated by retired art librarian Stanley Hess of Bremerton, Wash. Pop-up books, which date to the 13th century, are intricate—their authors are often referred to as “paper engineers”—and highly interactive. The books are popular not just with kids but also art lovers and book collectors.

Matt Loewen ’08 studies the rocks he finds in some of the most remote corners of Alaska to help him understand volcanoes.

Growing up, there weren’t many sports Erin Peterson ’00, DPT’03 didn’t try. “If it was a sport, I played it,” says Peterson, who played varsity softball and basketball at Puget Sound while she studied natural science. It was softball that earned her a spot in the Puget Sound Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013, thanks in part to school records she set, some of which still stand. Softball was always her first love: When she discovered it at the age of 6, she says, it “felt like coming home.”

As a kumu hula, or master teacher of hula, Michael Pili Pang ’84 firmly believes in the concept of huliau: to look back in order to move forward. “Hula is an indigenous art form, but it is not something that is to be kept on a shelf,” he says. “It evolves.”