TACOMA, WASH. — The University of Puget Sound has officially launched its comprehensive fundraising campaign, Greater, We Ascend, marking a significant milestone in its nearly 140-year history. The announcement was made during a dynamic evening event during Homecoming & Family Weekend, with a goal of raising $150 million.
When Puget Sound’s early leaders proposed building a college to “rival the finest institutions in the East” in the late-19th century, they could not have envisioned how this scrappy port town with grand aspirations would grow, evolve, and continually reinvent itself while staying true to its roots. Sound familiar?
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.
The University of Puget Sound will host a year-long series of entrepreneurship events during the 2026–27 academic year. The programming is designed to appeal to students across disciplines, not just business majors, and includes both for-profit and nonprofit ventures.
Sophie Goble ’27, a double major in communication studies and sociology and anthropology (SOAN), spent her summer examining the growing digital phenomenon of “tradwives.” Her research analyzes how U.S.-based “momfluencers” and traditional wives use social media to communicate political and ideological beliefs, often without stating them directly.
The University of Puget Sound announced an $8.5 million gift from the Trimble family and The Trimble Foundation to support faculty and academic programming in Asian and China Studies. By deepening its historic ties to the Pacific Rim and investing in faculty excellence, the university is positioning itself as a national leader in Asian Studies and global engagement. This gift represents the largest single commitment in the university’s history focused on Asian Studies.
The University of Puget Sound is honored to announce that Mathew S. Nosanchuk, Lerner Family Associate Dean for Public Interest and Public Service Law at George Washington University, will deliver the upcoming Swope Endowed Lecture.
Nosanchuk will deliver the lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2026, in Schneebeck Concert Hall. The Swope Endowed Lecture supports speakers, artists, and lecturers visiting Puget Sound to deepen engagement with issues related to faith, ethics, values, and religion in society.
In 2003, Susan Pierce stepped down from the Puget Sound presidency to care for her husband, Ken, who had had two strokes. “After Ken died [in 2006], I realized that I was happily seeing my daughter and the kids every day, and I was too young to stop working,” she says. “So I thought, I’ll stay in Boca and do a little consulting and a little writing.”
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.
Established in 1944, the University of Puget Sound’s School of Occupational Therapy is one of the oldest OT programs in the region and is continually ranked as one of the top programs in the Pacific Northwest. One distinctive feature of the program is its on-site teaching clinic. The clinic includes a simulated apartment, activity spaces, and a 4,000-square-foot outdoor mobility park.