News

The Pacific Rim/Asia Study Travel Program, known to most as PacRim, is a special study abroad program exclusive to Puget Sound. Quite possibly the only one of its kind, this program takes students across different parts of Asia once every three years. This year, a group of 25 students, along with some faculty members, are traveling through places such as South Korea, Mongolia, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and India. Though the program itself involves a year of traveling, it is actually a two-year commitment. Elizabeth Benard, the professor who leads...

Faculty, staff and other members of the campus community are searching for solutions in the wake of the collapse of the Northwest Independent Colleges (NIC) tuition exchange program. The exchange constitutes a significant portion of the employee benefits package, and its cancellation presents a serious obstacle for hundreds of students and their parents. Dependents of faculty and staff at the five participating schools (Puget Sound, Whitman, Willamette, Reed and Lewis & Clark) were able to get a tuition-free education at any of these colleges.  President Thomas announced in June that...

Saturday, Oct. 29, the University announced the public phase of a $125 million capital campaign, the most ambitious in Puget Sound’s 123-year history.  Additionally, President Ronald Thomas announced on the same day that Dr. Gwendolyn H. Lillis P’05 and Dr. Charles M. Lillis P’05 of Castle Rock, Colorado gave an $8 million gift to the campaign, placing the Lillis family among the lead donors and bringing the total amount raised so far to $74 million. This number includes three anonymously donated gifts of $5 million or more each. The $125...

On Wednesday, Oct. 27, from 4 to 7 p.m. Puget Sound held its biannual career fair in Marshall Hall.  At this semester’s Career Fair, 18 organizations were represented, with 12 Puget Sound alumni attending to represent their respective employers. Each semester, Career and Employment Services (CES) invites a wide range of organizations to participate—and as always alumni are encouraged to come to network with current students. This Career Fair had opportunities for students interested in marketing, graphic design and art, IT, writing, economics, environmental issues, working abroad, teaching, management, consulting,...

Facilities and Residence Life staff are currently in the planning phase of constructing a new residence hall on campus. In early October, the University awarded the architectural contract to Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the same firm that designed Weyerhaeuser Hall. The proposed building will house 100 to 125 students and will be geared towards accommodating upperclassmen. The projected site for the residence hall sits in the South quad parking lot area, between Regester and the new health sciences center. Many aspects of the project are still provisional while Facilities waits for...

The University of Puget Sound is ranked eighth in top Peace Corps volunteer-producing schools among small universities. Many students have expressed interest in the program, and a representative visited the campus last month to give out more information. To shed further light on this demanding and rewarding post-graduate option, The Trail talked with two current volunteers. Shane Hanlon and Joshua Lamstein, both 23, are currently situated in Panama to teach English in schools. While teaching English is only one possible job available  in Peace Corps, both Hanlon and Lamstein agreed...

The Board of Trustees convened for meetings on Oct. 28 and 29 to analyze the University’s progress as it reaches the halfway point of the Board’s 10-year plan.  The Business Meeting of the Board of Trustees on Friday covered a range of topics, including the past year’s record-breaking contributions to the annual fund as well as the approval of $1.5 million towards design and construction plans for a new residence hall.  While the year-to-year funds of the University grow, the most pressing issue of the meeting was the kickoff of...

For the Apple enthusiasts on campus still mourning the death of Steve Jobs, it turns out you had a closer connection to the tech scion than you may have known. Mainstream news outlets from the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times have run stories in past weeks about Jobs’ relationship to his estranged biological father, Abulfattah “John” Jandali, a Syrian political scientist-turned-casino manager with whom he never reconciled. Articles focused on the tumultuous circumstances of the adoption and how Jandali sought to reconnect with Jobs after Jandali learned...

The Underground Christian Fellowship (UCF) is taking steps to be reinstated as an official campus organization after being placed on suspension last spring by the University’s Integrity Code Board (ICB). Before the suspension, the group was known as the University of Puget Sound Christian Fellowship (UPSCF) and functioned as a chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, a national campus ministry organization. Associate Dean of Students Donn Marshall issued formal sanctions against UPSCF after the Integrity Code Board revealed that the club had violated University policies. He stressed that no constitution may...

On Saturday, Oct. 1, a crowd of about 200 gathered in Westlake Plaza for Occupy Seattle, one of the latest in a series of protests forming in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Occupy Wall Street, which began in the summer of 2011, is a demonstration inspired in part by the Arab Spring and fueled by dissatisfaction with the economy.  Currently active in every state and in several other countries, these demonstrations are leaderless and loosely organized.  Participants range in age from teens to seniors, and they are all...

The university plans to build a new campus aquatic center within the next three to five years. The new pool will be located on the west side of the Fieldhouse, replacing the parking lot between it and the baseball field. Building a new aquatic center would allow the school to tear down Wallace Pool, which is far below the National Collegiate Athletic Association‘s (NCAA) national standards. Wallace Pool was constructed over 50 years ago, which is the root of the problem. “To bring the pool to today’s standards, it would...

Coal is a hot topic on campus once again thanks to Jacob Gellman, ’13, and Students for a Sustainable Campus (SSC). After interning with the Sierra Club this summer, Gellman is spearheading a campus effort to prevent coal exports from passing through the Pacific Northwest. The campaign had over 300 signatures on a petition as of Oct. 6 and ASUPS is considering passing a resolution in support of the students’ efforts. Student environmental advocacy groups throughout the Pacific Northwestare working together on the issue. “Our goal would be to all...