Lost your copy of The Iliad? Need to check out contemporary queer fiction? Want to cry happy tears as you thumb through a best-selling romance? 

Then you’ve come to the right place: Grit City Books.

A trio of Puget Sound alumni launched the independent bookstore online in 2023, followed by a brick-and-mortar store opening in May 2024 on Tacoma’s trendy Sixth Avenue.

For many people, the first years after college are awkward. It can be difficult to find footing in what seems like an ever-more-competitive and saturated landscape of not only job finding, but purpose finding.

This does not seem to be a concern for Alessandra Vidal Meza ’22. 

When Burbank, Calif., native Frank Reed ’05, MAT’08 topped out at 5'8" in high school, he begrudgingly accepted that he probably wouldn’t be headed to the NBA. But when then-Puget Sound basketball coach Joe Callero asked if he’d be interested in joining the team, Reed liked the sound of continuing to play while getting a top-tier education. With a grant from the Gates Millennium Scholars Program covering his undergraduate tuition, Reed committed to Puget Sound and the basketball team with sights set on a career in marine biology.

Elizabeth Shatswell ’24 wasn’t sure what to expect when she walked onto the campus of the University of Puget Sound after 23 years in prison. She had started her higher education in the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor through FEPPS—the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound. Arrested at age 17 and serving a 55-year sentence, she was released early in July 2023.

Professor of History Katherine Smith studies what scholars sometimes refer to as “the long 12th century,” encompassing the social and political events from around 1050 to 1200 CE. As a member of the faculty since 2005, Smith has taught a range of classes in the History department. Both of her books, War and the Making of Medieval Monastic Culture and The Bible and Crusade Narrative, were inspired by classroom discussions. She’s now working on a book that examines life in the Middle Ages through everyday objects.

With the 2024 presidential election hitting the home stretch, we asked Robin Jacobson, professor of politics and government, about trends in polling, the challenges of battling disinformation, and just how polarized we really are.

President Isiaah Crawford welcomed the incoming Arches editor, Lisa Kozleski ’94, to his office for a visit in August to share his insights on what she should be sure to check out during her time in Tacoma and reflect on the ties that connect alumni across the decades.

New Arches editor Lisa Kozleski ’94 started getting paid to write when she was 16, writing for her hometown paper in Woodland Park, Colo. Thanks to a well-timed conversation with admissions counselor W. Houston Dougharty ’83, she chose to study at Puget Sound where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with honors. Kozleski went on to work at newspapers of all sizes, including the South Pierce County Dispatch and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Professional Achievement Award/Lifetime