Ronald R. Thomas is home. For 13 years, from the summers of 2003 through 2016, that beloved home was here, as president of University of Puget Sound. His irrepressible enthusiasm for all things Puget Sound so animates the campus today that it’s impossible to speak of it in the past tense. He loved it all: every student, every possibility, every building, every blade of grass. The campus looks the way it does because he was a master of master planning.

TACOMA, Wash. — University of Puget Sound will remove the name of a former professor and proponent of eugenics from the college’s museum of natural history. On May 12, Puget Sound’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted to approve President Isiaah Crawford’s recommendation to remove the name “Slater” from the Slater Museum of Natural History following a request from a student and subsequent review by a committee.

TACOMA, Wash. — Following an extensive and highly competitive national search, University of Puget Sound has named Drew Kerkhoff as the institution’s new provost effective July 10, 2023.  Kerkhoff comes to Puget Sound from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he currently serves as associate provost.

Every year, University of Puget Sound students are selected to receive highly competitive grants, awards, scholarships, and fellowships which enable them to continue their educations and dive deeper into their fields of expertise. This year is no different, with nine Loggers being named semi-finalists for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, including four finalists for the award and one alternate.

TACOMA, Wash. – University of Puget Sound mourns the passing of President Emeritus Ronald R. Thomas, who died at the home he shared with his wife, Mary, on Vashon Island, Wash., on Monday, April 17, 2023. He was 74 years old.

Long before she had heard the term “sustainability,” Kaylynn O’Curran ’23 was obsessed with recycling. She wanted to live a lifestyle as close to zero-waste as possible, so she did her research on products to minimize her impact on the planet and try to be a conscious consumer. She felt good about her choices, but when she started studying at University of Puget Sound, she quickly learned that addressing climate change requires more than individuals making sustainable choices—it demands wide-ranging changes on a collective scale.

TACOMA, Wash. – Historian and former Tacoma mayor William H. “Bill” Baarsma ’64, P’93 will deliver the Commencement address at University of Puget Sound’s 131st Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 14, 2023. The Logger alumnus will also receive the honorary degree Doctor of History, the highest distinction bestowed by the university.

Traveling to Europe for a study abroad program has always been on Leonardo Hall ’23’s bucket list. An international business major with a minor in economics, Hall dreamed of seeing the world and learning to live, work, and thrive in another country. So, when the staff at the Office of International Programs suggested he apply for the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, he jumped at the chance to stamp his passport.

Puget Sound’s Archives & Special Collections recently acquired 150 pop-up books, donated by retired art librarian Stanley Hess of Bremerton, Wash. Pop-up books, which date to the 13th century, are intricate—their authors are often referred to as “paper engineers”—and highly interactive. The books are popular not just with kids but also art lovers and book collectors.