As an assistant professor of Hispanic studies and director of Puget Sound’s Latina/o Studies Program, Jairo Hoyos Galvis wants to make sure his students get to know the people and communities they’re studying. Learning Spanish is not just learning another language, he says; it’s an opportunity to engage with other cultures—their experiences, struggles, and successes. We sat down with Hoyos Galvis to talk about the difference between Hispanic and Latina/o studies, the importance of learning outside the classroom, and his passion for shepherding students to success beyond Puget Sound.

Tacoma, Wash. – In recognition of her leadership and philanthropy to University of Puget Sound, the college will dedicate the Susie L. Wilson Welcome Center in honor of trustee Susie L. Wilson ’87.  A private dedication ceremony for family and friends will be held on campus.

TACOMA, Wash. – Josh Cunningham of Boise, Idaho, and Gwen Lindberg of Minneapolis, Minn., have been named University of Puget Sound Lillis Scholars. The university's most prestigious and competitive award honoring incoming students for their academic excellence, the Lillis Scholarship covers tuition, fees, and room and board for up to four years.

TACOMA, Wash. – Ainsley Liberty Feeney of Memphis, Tenn., and Kaushal Raghu of Sunnyvale, Calif., are the University of Puget Sound’s two newest Matelich Scholars. The pair were awarded the prestigious scholarship in recognition of their outstanding potential to excel academically, succeed as inspirational leaders, and give back to their communities through sustained personal growth and a lifetime relationship with the university. The award covers tuition, fees, and room and board at the university for up to four years.

Projects covered a range of topics: nonconformist gender presentation in stories of courtly love and other high medieval source material, disability justice and racial equity in high school classrooms, what honeybee brain science can show about Parkinson’s disease, and more.

See a sample of student projects:

Clarissa Troutman ’22 has spent a lot of time on the Puget Sound, hanging out with friends, but last summer she made repeated visits there for a different purpose: to collect seawater for her undergraduate research project. Troutman has been working with Oscar Sosa, assistant professor of biology, to better understand the unaccounted-for biological sources of methane in the ocean.

Devin Anderson ’22 spent the summer feeding dogs for science.

Anderson worked with Erin Colbert-White, associate professor of psychology, on a project to understand how humans influence dogs—and the extent to which humans’ behavior can make a dog override its own judgment.

Addie Tinkham ’22 spent last summer taking a closer look at local beaches. She was one of the students who participated in summer research at Puget Sound in 2020. Working alongside her faculty advisor, Professor Berry Goldstein, Tinkham cataloged slope, length, and sand grain size at 10 Tacoma-area beaches. A volunteer from Citizens for a Healthy Bay worked with Tinkham to collect the data that will be used as a baseline for future scientists to apply to their research. This project was the first of its kind in the Tacoma area.

As a professor of science, technology, and society, Kristin Johnson has interests ranging from conservation biology to the history of science and religion. She’s also a prolific writer whose newest book is set against the backdrop of the heated argument surrounding evolution in the 1920s. Her novel, The Species Maker is now available for pre-order and will be in bookstores on Oct. 26.