University of Puget Sound Partners with Sound Transit to Unveil T-Line Extension

Signs are displayed on a fence with Sound Transit and the University of Puget Sound logos visible.

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.

Puget Sound Professor Tanya Erzen Awarded Prestigious NEH Public Scholars Grant

A clear bag with the words Freedom Education Project Puget Sound in green on the exterior.

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.

The Call of the West

Provost Drew Kerkhoff

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.

University of Puget Sound Professors Awarded Grant for Pioneering Exploration of Existential Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence

Professors Justin Tiehen and Ariela Tubert.

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."

University of Puget Sound Students Assess Geologic Threats to Mount Rainier National Park

Paige Shinall ’25 and Gwen Lindberg ’25 record stream flow of Fryingpan Creek as a part of their internship at Mount Rainier National Park.

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.

University of Puget Sound Welcomes New Trustees

Board of trustees open session. May 2023.

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.

University of Puget Sound Students Experience Costa Rica’s Geologic Wonders

Arenal, an active volcano in Costa Rica visited by the Puget Sound Georneys trip in 2023.

Once every two years, a small group of Puget Sound students studying geology spend one to two weeks immersed in rigorous experiential learning on trips known as Georneys—pronounced “journeys” with a nod to the geological sciences. On these trips, students get to do hands-on science, learn from experts, and experience some of the most stunning geology on the planet. Since 2007, students have visited Ecuador, Hawai`i, Iceland, New Zealand, and Tanzania.