Four student awards — the Lillis, Matelich, Neukom, and Posse scholarships — provide full tuition (and in some cases, also room and board) for all four years to talented students who otherwise may not have the opportunity to realize the full breadth of their academic and leadership goals.

What follows in the next pages are first-person accounts of three esteemed alumni and one stand-out senior who say their life and career trajectories have been forever changed by their financial awards.

Puget Sound faculty members are mentors, researchers, and impact-makers, shuttling smoothly between the world of their classrooms and the wider study halls of the globe. They are constantly learning and adapting so they can best serve the students they teach as well as make meaningful contributions to their fields. And despite their institution being a relatively small one — with just 175 full-time faculty members — their work has long fingers
and a very wide reach.

Sophia Haynes ’27 spent three weeks this summer researching one of these species: the striped plateau lizard. Living and working out of the Southwestern Research Station, located about 5,400 feet above sea level, Haynes studied how the cold-blooded lizard thermally regulates in the heat of the Arizona mountains, and more specifically, whether the lizards take refuge in trees when it’s hotter in order to regulate their temperature.

The University of Puget Sound celebrated another year of inspiring philanthropy, with nearly 3,600 donors giving $22.1 million in fiscal year 2025–26. The Puget Sound community came together to support the university and advance its mission of providing a transformative liberal arts education that offers students experiential learning opportunities, expands access to education, and inspires a lifelong love of learning.

Mallory Fitzpatrick

Visiting Assistant Professor, Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Mallory Fitzpatrick’s work examines a spooky crossroads: supernatural horror and ancient literature. She was drawn to Greek myths as a child, later studying them in their original languages. “It blew the door wide open to ancient literature, history, and storytelling,” she says. 

Here at the University of Puget Sound, students take their fresh insights and ideas far beyond the classroom, turning passion projects into reality through the Office of Experiential Learning’s Summer Research program. Working closely with a faculty advisor, they spend the summer exploring questions in their field and developing their own research projects. Along the way, they get the time and resources to deepen their expertise, whether that’s studio art, chemistry, or whatever they’re most passionate about.

This summer, Dr. John Johnson joined the University of Puget Sound as interim vice president for institutional equity and diversity. A native of Philadelphia, Johnson earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Penn State, a master’s degree in educational psychology from Ball State University, and his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. This year marks his 30th year in higher education.

When most people look out at the ocean, they see a vast, nearly empty expanse of water. Associate Professor of Biology Oscar Sosa sees something more dynamic and mysterious. To him, the ocean is “a soup of microbes and organic molecules doing all kinds of things together and independently.” This year, Sosa and five former University of Puget Sound students co-authored a paper in Nature Microbiology alongside collaborators at the University of Washington and Whitman College outlining a newly discovered metabolic pathway used by marine organisms.

Archie Kerr ’27 is a rising senior and the incoming president of the Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound (ASUPS). Originally from Bend, Oregon, Kerr previously served as vice president and as director of clubs and student interests. Kerr’s dynamic interest in law, politics, theory, and education informs his nuanced approach to the challenges of ASUPS leadership. Minnie Jellinek ’27 sat down with Kerr to talk about Puget Sound’s decision-making processes, renovations, student perception, and everything in between.