I’m thrilled to welcome you to this one-of-a-kind issue of Arches, which celebrates some of the countless reasons to love the University of Puget Sound.
We landed on 88 reasons to start with, in honor of the university’s founding in 1888. But we know the true list of reasons is both infinite and individual, and that no list can fully encompass what makes this place so remarkable for all. In fact, one of our goals for this special issue is that it will start passionate conversations among Loggers sharing their own reasons to love, whether with old friends, online, or in the Letters pages of future issues.
But our team was united in one belief — that the No. 1 reason to love the university is because of you: the alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents, community partners, and friends of the university who have brought and continue to bring campus to life, day after day, decade after decade. Our cover is dedicated to all of you, and we hope you see yourself (both physically and metaphorically) reflected in it.
A lot of thought and joy went into creating this issue. We made a deliberate effort to work with people who truly know Puget Sound, and so all of the stories you’ll read have been written by alumni, current staff members, or students. Heartfelt thanks for excellent work go out to Bill Baarsma ’64, P’93, Hon.’23, Zoe Branch ’18, Stacey Wilson Hunt ’96, and Aimee Rawlins ’04; colleagues Veronica Craker, Jonny Eberle, Amelia Hooper, and Olivia Rouse; and our terrific Arches student writers Janae Hill ’26, Minnie Jellinek ’27, and Lindy Rybloom ’26.
This special issue should be arriving at houses a day or two after the official launch of the Greater, We Ascend campaign, the university’s most ambitious, far-reaching and transformative fundraising initiative to date. As someone who could only come to Puget Sound because of scholarships given by generous donors from generations ago, I would be thrilled if this issue could inspire others to give, especially as it will help remove barriers to a high-quality education for future Loggers.
The idea for this special issue came to me during one of my campus visits last year, as I skipped down the stairs of Howarth Hall, my fingers lightly skimming the slender wood railing. That touch immediately took me back more than 30 years, and I felt like a student again. “I loved this building,” I said to myself with a sigh. “And I guess I still do.”
We can’t wait to hear what it is you love about this place, too. Email your stories to arches@pugetsound.edu and share them on social media tagging @pugetsound. And don’t worry — we’ll return to our regular Arches format with our winter issue, which should be arriving in early January. As always, thanks for reading!
— Lisa Kozleski ’94
P.S. Curious about who’s who on the cover (aside from you, of course)? The collage includes about 360 of the thousands of people who have been featured in the pages of Arches over the last 10 years (as well as some campus colleagues whose smiles brighten our days).
