It’s been yet another incredible year at the University of Puget Sound. From launching innovative new programs to celebrating the accomplishments of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni, there are so many Logger stories that highlight the power of a liberal arts education to transform lives. Here are 10 stories from 2025 that you may have missed.
Sophie Billadeau ’29, a first-year student from Minnetonka, Minnesota, is quickly building a memorable college experience at the University of Puget Sound. A graduate of a small charter school where she was involved in theater and served as president of the National Honor Society, she’s wasted no time in immersing herself in campus life as a member of the University's Honors Program in Consciousness, Creativity, and Meaning.
When Emily Mitchell ’23 arrived in Kyoto, Japan, for 12 months of intensive language study, she carried more than a suitcase. As the University of Puget Sound’s Miki Memorial Scholar, she represented the university in a program designed to strengthen cultural understanding and friendship between Japan and the United States.
Each fall, the University of Puget Sound welcomes families, alumni, and friends back to campus for a weekend of connection, celebration, and community. Homecoming & Family Weekend offers Loggers across the generations the opportunity to experience campus life together while honoring the traditions and people that make Puget Sound what it is.
Greater, We Ascend is a podcast from the University of Puget Sound about Loggers reaching to the heights. Subscribe today.
Five former University of Puget Sound athletes and coaches will be inducted into the Logger Athletics Hall of Fame during Homecoming & Family Weekend, Oct. 10–12, 2025.
The photography of Doug Landreth ’73 may include all manner of flora and fauna, but he is more than a nature photographer. Whether photographing the blossom on an artichoke plant or a blurred image of a Mexican matador, he employs multiple digitally composited images, laced with textural overlays and backgrounds, to create visual statements that can be bold, foreboding, or sublime.
Landreth’s love of photography started in high school, when he bought a camera with his savings and took it on a two-week trip to Europe with his twin brother, Duncan Landreth ’74.
As a Fulbright scholar at Western Sydney University, Kyra Lee ’24 spends her days developing brain-inspired technologies that could one day reshape healthcare and robotics.
At the university’s International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems, Lee is part of a research team designing neuromorphic systems — computing technologies modeled after the human brain. These bio-inspired tools could improve machine learning, enhance robotic responsiveness, and expand how artificial intelligence supports patient care.
A high school friend working at a Spokane coffee shop in 1982 guided Jennifer Al-Abboud ’86 to the world of gelato. Now, the Logger and her husband, Fareed, use the dessert to make a living while fostering community connections.
“It’s a happy product,” says Al-Abboud. “People come into our shop happy and leave happier. If they don’t come in happy, they leave happy.”
When there’s an adorable kitten or puppy gamboling across your kitchen, you can be forgiven if you’re not thinking about its future demise.
“But unless you’re 80 and adopt a parrot, you’re going to outlive them,” said Mollyrose Dumm ’07, of Urban Animal, which is based in Seattle and is the country’s largest veterinary worker cooperative.