Alumni Awards: A Career in Film

Francisco Menendez ’85, photo by Eric Ita

When Francisco Menéndez ’85 was a young boy, his aunt took him to see his first film in a theater: The Wizard of Oz.

Things started out well enough: He was already accustomed to watching television programs, like Batman and The Avengers, in black and white. But by the time a tornado hit Dorothy’s house and knocked her unconscious, he began to grow anxious. All bets were off when the screen suddenly bloomed into Technicolor.

A Complicated History

Zion National Park by Sy Bean

While growing up near Seattle, Adam Sowards ’95 wasn’t exactly a lover of the outdoors. In fact, when he enrolled in an environmental history course during his junior year at Puget Sound, he was driven more by the insistence of his advisor, Bill Breitenbach, that he diversify his coursework as a history major than by the prospect of actually learning about the subject. And then, in about week three, inspiration struck. “All of a sudden,” Sowards says, “all the history I thought I knew looked different when I looked at it from this different angle.”

After nearly 50 years, University of Puget Sound graduate completes his degree

Ted Parker ’22

Ted Parker ’22 fully intended to finish his bachelor’s degree when he first enrolled at University of Puget Sound in the fall of 1974. But after four years—and three majors—he had a wife, he had a job, and he was ready to begin the next chapter of his life. The only thing he didn’t have was a bachelor’s degree.

“I simply ran out of time,” Parker says. “By 1978, life was moving on.”

University of Puget Sound and PLU announce new graduate admission partnership

Jones Hall

TACOMA, Wash. – Earlier this week, officials from the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that will streamline the process for both universities’ current students and alumni applying to select graduate programs at the partner institution. Most notably, the agreement waives the GRE/GMAT test requirements and application fees for eligible Lutes and Loggers.