Loggers are a creative sort, always looking for new ways to express themselves. From knitting and crocheting to quilting and spinning wool, these alumni, faculty, and staff are taking traditional crafting to new heights, whether it’s making their own clothes or turning a hobby into an unexpected career. We caught up with a few Loggers harnessing their passion for crafting to address waste and unchecked consumerism, improve their mental health, teach the next generation, and make handmade sweaters cool again.

Two of the three faculty members in the theatre arts department at Puget Sound are Loggers through-and-though, having been students who majored in theatre arts who then left to earn graduate degrees, work in the industry, and return to Tacoma to teach new generations on a wonderfully familiar stage.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

What does it mean to be a grandmother today? For many, it’s no longer just weekend visits or holiday baking. As Jennifer Utrata, professor of sociology at Puget Sound explains, grandmothers across the country, often assisted by involved grandfathers, are stepping into daily, essential caregiving roles like never before. Her in-progress book manuscript, Keeping the Kids Afloat: Intensive Grandmothering and Family Inequality, uncovers how this quiet shift is transforming family life, and placing new, often invisible demands on an older demographic.

With a career spent examining how economic and cultural forces shape gender relations and family life, first in Russia and more recently in the United States, Professor of Sociology Jennifer Utrata brings clarity and compassion to the hidden dynamics inside the modern home. Her in-progress book manuscript, Keeping the Kids Afloat: Intensive Grandmothering and Family Inequality, shines a light on what happens when grandma becomes a regular caregiver for her grandkids, exposing a quiet shift in family life with far-reaching implications. We sat down with Dr.

This year, we welcome 14 new faculty members to our learning community on Sept. 2. Our newest professors have interests that run the gamut from sports physics to organizational communication. We caught up with some of them to learn about their research, what drew them to Puget Sound, and their off-campus interests.

Students in Dr. Alexandria Drake’s Connections 490 course aren’t just learning about the history of pandemics, they’re stepping into the shoes of the people who faced them. From the Plague of Athens to the opioid epidemic, students in Bring Out Your Dead: How Past Outbreaks Informed Modern Public Health & Medicine at the University of Puget Sound are learning about the evolution of public health as a discipline and how it impacts our lives every day.

Several Logger faculty and alumni will be featured at the upcoming Art Party Festival in Darrington, Washington. The outdoor festival includes 24 hours of art installations, dance, music, workshops, theatre, readings, and interactive experiences. The festival is co-produced by Professor and Chair of Theatre Arts Jess K Smith ’05 and includes work by Assistant Professor of Art & Art History Dr. Mare Hirsch, and Jordan Moeller ’15. Participants are invited to take in the many forms of art, camp on site, join in a festival-wide meal, and dance the night away.

The University of Puget Sound earned national distinctions for the 2025–26 academic year, securing recognition as a College of Distinction, a Business College of Distinction, and a College of Distinction for Career Development. These honors highlight the university’s commitment to student-centered education, professional preparation, and post-graduate success.

Greater, We Ascend is a podcast from the University of Puget Sound about Loggers reaching to the heights. Subscribe today.