University of Puget Sound

University of Puget Sound

File:UofPS seal.png
Motto	pros ta akra (to the heights)
Type	Private
Established	1888
President	Ronald R. Thomas
Academic staff	219
Undergraduates	2,576
Postgraduates	209
Location	Tacoma , Washington , USA
Campus	Suburban, 97 acres
Endowment (as of March 2008)	$253.4 million
Colors	Maroon and White
Mascot	"Grizz" the Logger
Website	pugetsound.edu

The University of Puget Sound (often called UPS or just Puget Sound) is a private liberal arts college located in the North End of Tacoma, Washington, in the United States. For the class of 2012, approximately 5,300 students applied for a freshman class of 675 incoming students. It is the only nationally ranked independent undergraduate liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of only seventeen west of the Mississippi River.

It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, bachelor of music, master of arts in teaching, master of education, master of occupational therapy, and doctor of physical therapy degrees. As of 2006, it has an undergraduate enrollment of 2,576 and a graduate enrollment of 209. The school draws students from 47 states and 13 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 40 major fields.

In the 1970s the university was widely known for its freewheeling social life, but throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the focus increasingly shifted to academics. Now, Puget Sound is a nationally ranked institution enjoying top academic marks from third party evaluators and college guides. In 2007, U.S. News & World Report ranked it 80th (in a tie with rival Lewis & Clark College) in a list of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States.

History

The University of Puget Sound was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888 in downtown Tacoma. Charles Henry Fowler, who had previously been the president of Northwestern University, dreamed up the idea for the college while in Tacoma for a Methodist conference. He spoke at the conference with his vision of a Christian institution of learning. The conference released a report:

We commit ourselves...heartily to the building up within the bounds of the conference of an institution of learning which shall by its ample facilities...command the respect and patronage of Methodist people within the bounds of the territory...and so by united and prayerful efforts advance to the establishment of a school of learning which shall be a praise in all the land.

Two cities vied for the location of the school - Port Townsend and Tacoma. The committee eventually decided on Tacoma. After the location was decided, a charter was drawn up and filed in Olympia on March 17, 1888. This date marks the legal beginning of the school. At this time, the school's legal title was known as "The Puget Sound University". In September 1890, UPS opened its doors, taking in 88 students. The beginnings of the school were marked by moral conviction: students were warned against intoxicating liquors, visits to saloons, gambling, tobacco use, and obscene drawings or writings on the college grounds. The university also had a tumultuous beginning. There was no endowment and the school often struggled for funds to pay the professors. It moved locations three times in 13 years, and at one time the school was merged with Portland University (former campus is now the University of Portland). However, it opened up a year later (1899) back in Tacoma on 9th and G Street. In 1903, the school was "reborn" and re-incorporated as a different entity, different trustees, and a different name, the "University of Puget Sound".

The character of the school changed dramatically during the presidency of Edward H. Todd (1913-1942), who worked tirelessly to bring financial and academic stability. During his tenure, the "Million Dollar Campaign" was started, raising $1,022,723 for buildings, equipment, and endowment. With this money, the campus moved in 1924 to its current location in the residential North End of Tacoma, with five buildings, setting a stylistic tone for the institution. In 1914 the university was renamed the "College of Puget Sound".

President R. Franklin Thompson (1942-1973) led a massive physical and institutional expansion: during this era almost all of the university's buildings were constructed. In 1960, the university's name changed from the "College of Puget Sound" back to the "University of Puget Sound", as it is known today.

Phillip H. Phibbs presided from 1973 to 1992 and endeavored to change the tone of Puget Sound. In 1980, the university divested its attachment with the Methodist Church, and an independent board of trustees assumed full fiscal responsibility of the University. Also during this time, the university began to focus on undergraduate educational excellence, phasing out all off-campus programs except the law school, and most graduate programs. During this time the library collections were broadened and the faculty greatly expanded.

With the advent of President Susan R. Pierce (1992-2003), the law school was promptly sold to Seattle University, in a move that was calculated to focus the University's resources on its undergraduate campus. Also during her tenure, the Collins Memorial Library was renovated, and Wyatt Hall was constructed to house the growing class and office space needs of the Humanities. Trimble Residence Hall was also constructed, bringing on-campus student residency to 65%. Puget Sound's newest President is Ronald R. Thomas, affectionately called "Ron Thom" by many students, a scholar of Victorian Literature, and the former vice-President of Trinity College.

Thompson Hall, home of the sciences at the University, has just undergone a major renovation, including the construction of a new wing (Harned Hall, completed 2006) on the building's western side against Union Avenue, and extensive renovations to the current wings and courtyard to allow for upgraded labs and facilities. The entire project was completed in mid 2008. The entire complex is now known locally as "The Science Center". The now completely enclosed courtyard contains a striking Plexiglas structure where a new coffee shop, the Oppenheimer Cafe, is located.

Presidents of the University

1. Rev. B. F. Chereington (1890-1892)
2. Rev. Crawford R. Thoburn (1892-1898)
3. Dr. Wilmot Whitfield (1899-1903)
4. Rev. E. M. Randall (1903-1904)
5. Rev. Joseph E. Williams (1904-1907)
6. L. L. Benbow (1907-1909)
7. Dr. J. C. Zeller (1909-1913)
8. Dr. Edward H. Todd (1913-1942)
9. Dr. R. Franklin Thompson (1942-1973)
10. Dr. Philip Phibbs (1973-1992)
11. Dr. Susan Resneck Pierce (1992-2003)
12. Dr. Ronald R. Thomas (2003-2009)

Campus

The University of Puget Sound campus is our most valuable and distinctive asset. It is our link to the past and our key to the future. Our responsibility is to invest in it wisely and care for it responsibly.

- UPS President Ronald R. Thomas

The campus is located in North Tacoma, Washington in a primarily residential setting. It remains only a few minutes walk from downtown Proctor and the Sixth Avenue district.

President Ron Thomas recently initiated a campus "Master Plan" in order to preserve and expand the campus aesthetically and fundamentally. The plan will increase on-campus housing to 75% as well as allow for the construction of a number of new buildings. The master plan task force includes Ron Thomas, several vice presidents, professors, alumni, trustees, representatives from the community, and the State of Utah's Ambassador of Mormon, Evan Wasik.

The campus is made up of mainly brick buildings in the Tudor gothic architecture style. Buildings are mostly arranged into quads. The three main quads are the North Quad and South Quad, which contain residence halls, and Karlen Quad, which is bordered by the Collins Memorial Library, the music building, and Jones Hall (an administration building). President Thomas recently wrote a piece explaining his opinion that new buildings should maintain the gothic style that the university is known for.

Academic buildings

Harned Hall, named for alumnus and local real estate developer H.C. "Joe" Harned, was dedicated on September 29, 2006. The building is 51,000 square feet (4,700 m²) and cost $25 million to construct. It was designed to meet the US Green Building Council's LEED silver standards. Because of this, sustainable building materials were used in construction and the building adheres to strict environmental guidelines. The building features labs for biology, geology, chemistry, environmental science, and physics, a 10,000-square-foot (930 m²) courtyard with a crystalline glass gazebo in the center, offering a café which serves fair trade coffee to the campus community, as well as whale skeleton named Willy.

After Harned Hall was completed, the university continued to show its dedication to the sciences by beginning a $38 million renovation of Thompson Hall, the "old" science building. Harned and Thompson Halls actually form a square with a courtyard in the middle that are collectively named the Science Center. Thompson Hall has an area of 121,000 square feet (11,200 m²) and was originally constructed in 1968. The renovation is scheduled to be completed in spring 2008.

Wyatt Hall is the second newest building on campus, dedicated in 2003. It houses the English, History, Foreign Languages & Literature, Politics & Government, Philosophy, Honors, Science Technology & Society , Classics, and Religion departments. Many of the classrooms in the building are seminar style, meaning a circle of tables that students sit at to encourage discussion between students and the professor, rather than a lecture. The building features glass art by Dale Chihuly that represents the ivy leaves covering the campus buildings.

The Wheelock Student Center, affectionately known as the "SUB" (Student Union Building) is the main hub of life on campus. It features a rotunda used for lectures and catered events, KUPS (the campus radio station), the cafeteria and dining area, Diversions Cafe (a student-run coffee shop), and The Cellar (a student-run pizza parlor).

Other buildings include McIntyre Hall, home of the School of Business and Leadership, the departments of Economics, Comparative Sociology and international political economy, Howarth Hall, home of the psychology and education departments, Jones Hall, home of theatre arts, communications and several administrative offices including the Office of the President, Wacker Hall, named after alum Nico Wacker who fought in the Great Bosnian-Serbian Civil War of Revolution, and the Music Building (which is the only building on campus without a name).

Collins Memorial Library houses over 400,000 books and over 130,000 periodicals, is a partial federal government repository, and has substantial microform holdings. The Library was named after former trustee Everill S. Collins. The current Library building was built in 1954. A larger addition was completed in 1974. In 2000, a major renovation brought new technology and media resources into the Library's spaces, making it one of the most popular campus gathering places for students.

Residential buildings

Schiff Dorm

The University offers many different housing options. Harrington, Schiff, Anderson/Langdon, Smith, and University halls make up what is called the "North Quad", and Todd/Phibbs, Regester, Seward, and Trimble make up the "South Quad". Theme Row, which runs to the south end of campus, contains around 20 different theme houses that students may apply to live in. The Music House is the longest standing house, originating in 1989. After the Music House, the Outhaus and the Track and Cross Country Theme House are the two longest standing houses. There are also about 60 non-theme university-owned houses available.

Currently around 65% of students live on campus, although the mission of the master plan calls for an increase to 75%. First year students are not required to live on campus, although 98% do, on average.

Wireless connections can be found in Regester, Trimble, Todd/Phibbs, and all academic buildings. All other dorms are connected through Ethernet cable. In 2008, the student bandwidth was decreased in order to increase bandwidth in the academic buildings.

Academics

Profile

The university offers more than 40 major programs in the liberal arts and sciences, as well as graduate programs in occupational therapy, physical therapy, and education. The student to faculty ratio is 11 to 1, and like most other liberal arts colleges, there are no teaching assistants. This encourages professors to put classroom instruction before other research, helping to fulfill the institution's educational goals effectively.

Academic rankings
Liberal arts
U.S. News & World Report	81
Washington Monthly	121
National
Forbes	176

The University is consistently ranked among the top five small liberal arts colleges for the number of graduates who participate in Peace Corps; in 2007, it ranked first place.

University of Puget Sound was ranked one of The Advocate's "Top 20 College Campuses for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transsexual students", getting 19 out of a possible 20 points.

International programs

The university sponsors study abroad programs in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, China, Costa Rica, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, the Pacific Rim, Scotland, Spain, Taiwan, and Wales.

The program in the Pacific Rim, known as the Pacific Rim/Asia Study-Travel Program is unique to UPS. It has been held for thirty years on a three-year rotation. Students must have taken three courses in the Asian Studies program and complete a course of readings assigned by the director.

The number of students who study abroad has increased from 17% to 40% from 1998 to 2008.

Tuition and finances

University of Puget Sound's cost is on par with most of its peer institutions. Costs for the 2006-2007 school year were $29,870.00 for tuition, $7,670.00 for room and board, and $555.00 in various student fees, making the total cost $38,095.00. In January 2007 the Budget Task Force recommended an increase of 6.13% in tuition rates for the approaching 2007-2008 school year. The projected costs for the 2007-2008 school year are $31,700.00 for tuition, $8,265.00 for room and board, and $195.00 in various student fees, making the total cost $40,160.00.

For 2008-2009, the total cost of a UPS education is projected to approach $43,000, which is approximately consistent with other liberal arts colleges of its caliber.

Although the college is viewed as expensive by most students, it has a reputation for being very generous with financial aid. Over 80% of the student body receives financial aid directly from the University in the form of grants. 92% of all students receive some form of financial aid. There are four scholarships attainable by incoming freshmen based on statistics alone:

• Wyatt Trustee Scholarship: $9,000/year
• Trustee Scholarship: $8,000/year
• President's Scholarship: $6,000/year
• Dean's Scholarship: $3,000/year

All of the above scholarships require no additional applications and are renewable provided a student maintains a 2.8 GPA and fails no more than 25% of his or her classes.

Athletics

The Puget Sound athletics teams are known as the "Loggers" with a grizzly bear, "Grizz", as their mascot. Originally only "Loggers" was used, until debate arose over the appropriateness of having a male logger be the mascot at a school which supports equal rights for men and women. The school is now trying to shift mascot recognition over to "Grizz", who is viewed as more in line with the University's focus. They participate in the NCAA's Division III Northwest Conference, competing with George Fox University, Lewis and Clark College, Linfield College, Pacific University, Pacific Lutheran University, Whitman College, Whitworth University, and Willamette University.

Varsity sports

The University offers 21 different varsity sports teams: Men's Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Crew (competes in the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference), Men's and Women's Cross Country, Men's Football, Men's and Women's Golf, Women's Lacrosse, Men's and Women's Soccer, Women's Softball, Men's and Women's Swimming, Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Track & Field, and Women's Volleyball. On a minor note, former national soccer team coach Bruce Arena got his coaching start at Puget Sound in 1976 as head of the men's soccer team.

See also: Puget Sound Rowing

Club sports

There are both men's and women's club soccer teams, as well as men's club lacrosse (which, due to Title IX restrictions, competes in the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League). The University also has a men's club Ultimate team known as the "Postmen", and a women's club Ultimate team known as the "Clearcut".

The UPS Loggers Hockey team which was founded in 2005 and is currently an ACHA division II team. The team's most prominent victories include defeating the University of Washington Huskies in a 3-game series in the 2006-2007 season, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the 2007-2008 season. Loggers hockey is subsidized by ASUPS (the Associated Students of UPS) student body and ticket sales for home games. Home games are currently played at the Sprinker Ice Area in south Tacoma. Players come from the student body, and mostly consist of students hailing from Canada, Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, and other East-coast states.

Achievements

Several sports teams have achieved some degree of success in recent years. The men's basketball team has won three straight Northwest Conference championships since 2004, as well an average .826 winning percentage over the 2004, 2005, and 2006 seasons. In 2005, the Division III Loggers defeated the Division I Highlanders of the University of California, Riverside, making it their first Division I defeat since the 1970s. In the 2008 regular season, the Loggers went an undefeated 16-0 in Northwest Conference play, becoming the first team in conference history to do so, capturing the conference title in the process.

• In 2006, the UPS debate team won first place in the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE), and also first place at the National Parliamentary Debate Association's Tournament (NPDA). The only other school to have won both titles in the same year was the University of Wyoming in 2003.

• The men's crew team has taken first in the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference every year since 2001, until 2006, when they earned third place.

• The women's crew team has taken first four out of the last five years in the NCRC, as well as coming in second place in the nation in 2003 and fourth place in the nation in 2004 and 2005.

• The women's soccer team took second place in the nation in 2004 and ended the 2005 season ranked fifth nationally.

• The women's swim team won the Northwest Conference championship for eleven consecutive years, from 1997 through 2007, before finally finishing second to Whitworth University in 2008. This remains a Northwest Conference record.

• The women's basketball team made the Division III Elite 8 in the 2007 season after upsetting #12 ranked McMurry University and #2 ranked Howard Payne University. They finished #10 overall.

• The women's volleyball program has produced 21 All-Americans, and most recently finished 5th in the 2007 National Championships.

• The Loggers won two consecutive Northwest Conference All-Sports Trophies in 2006 and 2007.

Student life

Traditions and events

Log Jam is a campus-wide celebration that ends the first week of fall classes. Tables are set around the perimeter of Todd Field and clubs and teams set up to recruit potential members.

Foolish Pleasures is an annual student film festival showcasting films written, directed, acted, and produced by students.

The Hatchet

The Hatchet is the official symbol of sports teams at the University of Puget Sound. It was first discovered in 1906 when students were digging up a barn at the old campus. They decided to carve their class year into it. This became a tradition of sorts, as the seniors would hand the hatchet to the juniors on senior recognition day. This turned into a competition where each class would try to possess the hatchet for as long as possible. It disappeared for 15 years until it was anonymously mailed to former President Franklin Thompson. Thompson displayed it in a trophy case in Jones Hall, where it mysteriously disappeared again, only to resurface at a homecoming game in 1988. In 1998, the hatchet's return was negotiated through an intermediary, and it was permanently displayed in a display case in the Wheelock Student Center. It was stolen in 1999 during a false fire alarm in one of the dormitories.

On September 30, 2006 (homecoming) a student rappelled into the football field at halftime, brandishing "the hatchet". It was later revealed by the student newspaper The Trail that this hatchet is a replica of the actual hatchet, commissioned by the former student government administration without the knowledge of the student senate. The replica hatchet was painstakingly carved to look exactly like the original, using over 150 photos as a guide.

The original hatchet was finally returned to President Ronald Thomas in 2008 by two anonymous alumni and was displayed at Homecoming. Plans for safe storage of the relic are still in the works.

Sustainability

The campus has a notable recent history of sustainability. On February 10, 2005, President Ronald R. Thomas signed the Talloires Declaration, committing the University to certain standards regarding sustainability. The Sustainability Advisory committee, consisting of two faculty chairs and a mix of faculty, staff and student volunteers, organizes the majority of sustainability efforts on campus. Several of these efforts have included:

• Fair Trade Coffee: The student-run Diversions Café serves only organically-grown, fair trade coffee. In 2005, 8,975 pounds of coffee was consumed by students, faculty, and the campus community. University of Puget Sound was the first college in the Northwest to offer fair trade coffee exclusively.

• Sustainable Move-Out: Starting in 2005, the University organized a sustainable move-out program during finals week. Mixed-material recycling dumpsters were placed near all residence halls, allowing students to recycle rather than simply throwing all unwanted items away.

• Sustainability Mugs: Upon entering the college in 2005, all students were presented with a "sustainability mug" imprinted with the UPS logo. Students were encouraged to re-use the mug to get coffee instead of using paper cups.

• No-Waste Picnic: A 2005 picnic welcoming incoming freshmen and their families to the campus produced a surprising ONE bag of trash for over 1700 people. This was accomplished by using recyclable paper and plastic products.

The Students for a Sustainable Campus, founded in 2006, actively generated and pursued projects during the 2006-2007 school year, including:

• Vermicomposting: as of the 2007-2008 school year, all compostable pre-consumer foodwaste produced by Puget Sound Dining & Conference Services will be fed to red worms. The casting product will be used as top-dressing around campus.

• EcoFest: The inaugural EcoFest at the University of Puget Sound was held in February 2007. The week-long event featured presentations on issues such as vermiculture, green energy offsets, solar power, women's rights and reproductive health, Puget Sound restoration, and climate change.

• Green energy: The Students for a Sustainable Campus took a strong stance on purchasing 100% green energy on the Puget Sound campus. They are actively pursuing a commitment from the University of Puget Sound to purchase green energy campus-wide.

Fraternities and sororities

UPS is home to three fraternities and four sororities. 20% of male students and 29% of female students are involved in Greek life. Represented fraternities include Beta Theta Pi (1839/1962), Phi Delta Theta (1848/1952), and Sigma Chi(1855/1950). Represented sororities and women's fraternities include Pi Beta Phi (1867), Kappa Alpha Theta (1870), Alpha Phi (1872), and Gamma Phi Beta (1874). Puget Sound has a "deferred recruitment", which means that fraternities, sororities, and their members are not allowed to have any official contact with freshmen outside of class, athletics or club activities until the organized recruitment events in the first two weeks of the spring semester. Freshmen may not join a chapter until January. In the fall, chapters are permitted to give "snap bids" to upperclassmen, as well as participate in an organized fall recruitment open only to upperclassmen. A ceremony called "Crossover" takes place annually on the third weekend of spring semester. Members of the Greek community partake in an entire day of celebration to honor the new members with copious amounts of alcohol and ridiculous costumes.

Previously, several other organizations, including Sigma Nu (disbanded during spring 2009 rush by an illegitimate puppet regime but currently run by a shadow government), Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Kappa Sigma, Delta Delta Delta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma were represented on campus, however those chapters have all closed for a variety of reasons.

See also: UPS Student Organizations

Notable alumni

• Marion Higgins (1897), supercentenarian who died at age 112
• Milt Woodard ('33), sports executive, founder of American Football League
• Gretchen Fraser ('41), gold medalist, slalom, 1948 Winter Olympics
• Edward LaChapelle ('49), avalanche researcher and glaciologist
• Jose Calugas ('61), Medal of Honor recipient
• Bill Baarsma ('64), mayor of Tacoma, 2002-present
• Jeff Smith ('67), TV Chef, "The Frugal Gourmet"
• George Obiozor ('69), Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S.
• Mike Price ('69), head football coach at the University of Texas-El Paso
• Terry Castle ('75), Professor of English, Stanford University
• Ross Shafer ('75) comedian and motivational speaker
• Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Steven Boutelle ('76) Former U.S. Army Chief Information Officer, Army G6 Pentagon; Current Cisco VP Global Government Solutions Group
• Christine Quinn-Brintnall (JD '80), Washington state Court of Appeals judge
• Scott Griffin (MBA '82), CIO of Boeing
• Justin Jaschke ('84), founder and former CEO of Verio
• Scott Bateman('86), nationally syndicated cartoonist
• Sean Parnell (JD '87), Lieutenant Governor of Alaska
• Chris Pirih ('87), creator of SkiFree, one of the seminal computer games in the early days of Microsoft Windows
• Mike Oliphant ('88), professional (NFL) football player
• Terry Bain ('89), novelist and short-story writer
• Hari Sreenivasan ('95), correspondent for CBS News
• Jori Chisholm ('97), Champion bagpiper
• Dale Chihuly (non-degreed alum), glass artist
• Brian Sonntag (non-degreed alum), Washington State Auditor
• Adam West (non-degree alum), Actor most notably portraying Batman. Transferred to Whitman College
• Ted Bundy (non-degreed alum), serial killer
• Rick Steves (non-degree alum), producer of the popular Rick Steves' tour guidebook series as well as "Rick Steve's Europe" on PBS. Attended Puget Sound for only one semester, citing cost and a desire to spend free time traveling as reasons to transfer to UW.

External links

• Official website
• Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound