The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1888. The institution offers a variety of undergraduate degrees as well as five graduate programs in counseling, education, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and public health.
Puget Sound's athletic programs compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III Northwest Conference. The University of Puget Sound is also the only independent national undergraduate liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest with a School of Music and School of Business and Leadership.
History The University of Puget Sound was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888 in downtown Tacoma. The idea for a college in Tacoma originated with Charles Henry Fowler, who had previously been the president of Northwestern University. Fowler was in Tacoma for a Methodist conference when he spoke of his vision of a Christian institution of learning in the area. The conference released a report:
Two cities vied for the location of the school: Port Townsend and Tacoma. The committee eventually decided on Tacoma. 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 The Puget Sound University.Klahowya 1913 - University of Puget Sound Yearbook - Volume 1 In September 1890, Puget Sound 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 institution also had a financially 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). It opened up a year later (1899) back in Tacoma on the 9th and G Street.Walter Davis, "University of Puget Sound," in Told By the Pioneers, Works Progress Administration, 3 vols. 1937-38; scanned copy archived at the Flickr page of the University of Puget Sound Department of Politics and Government 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 19241924 Tamanawas to its current location in the residential North End of Tacoma, with five buildings, setting a stylistic tone for the institution. In 1914, the institution 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 institution's buildings were constructed. In 1960, the institution's name changed from the College of Puget Sound back to the University of Puget Sound, as it is known today.
Phillip M. Phibbs presided from 1973 to 1992 and endeavored to change the tone of Puget Sound. In 1980, the institution divested its attachment with the Methodist Church, and an independent board of trustees assumed full fiscal responsibility of the institution. Also during this time, the institution began to focus on undergraduate education, 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 Resneck Pierce (1992–2003), the law school was promptly sold to Seattle University, in a move that was calculated to focus the institution's resources on its undergraduate campus. During her tenure, the institution completed almost $100 million of new construction and renovation. Collins Memorial Library and four academic buildings were renovated, and Wyatt Hall was constructed to house the growing class and office space needs of the Humanities Department. Trimble Residence Hall was constructed, bringing on-campus student residency to 65%. SAT scores rose from 1067 to 1253 and the endowment more than tripled.
Puget Sound's president from 2003 to early 2016 was Ronald R. Thomas—affectionately called "Ron Thom" by many students—a scholar of Victorian literature, and the former vice-president of Trinity College.
In February 2016, the institution announced the selection of Isiaah Crawford to be its next president, upon Thomas's retirement. President Crawford assumed office on July 1, 2016.
Thompson Hall, home of the sciences at the institution, underwent 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 at Puget Sound." The now completely enclosed courtyard contains a striking Plexiglas structure where a coffee shop, Oppenheimer Cafe, is located.
In fall 2013, Puget Sound opened Thomas Hall, a residence hall for upper-division students featuring 11 "houses" organized around five academic-residential programs: the Humanities Program, environmental outdoor leadership, international experiential learning, entrepreneurship, and the Honors Program. The hall is home for 135 students, and includes a seminar room, four studies, and an event/meeting space for approximately 150 people, accommodating special events, guest lectures, performances and more.
In April 2024, students joined other campuses in protesting and establishing encampments against the Gaza war and alleged genocide in Palestine. They called for divestment by the university from companies supporting the war. A talk given by US Representative Derek Kilmer was disrupted leading to 2 students being charged, 1 hospitalisation and a lockdown of the university. The protestors alleged that the investigation leading to charges was racist.
Presidents
Campus
The campus is located in North Tacoma, Washington in a primarily residential setting a few minutes' walk from the Proctor and the Sixth Avenue district.
The campus is made up of mainly brick buildings in the Tudor-Gothic architectural 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 contains Jones Hall, Collins Memorial Library and the Music Building. The library was designed by Tacoma architect Silas E. Nelsen in 1954. It was later renovated.
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 and cost $25 million to construct. It was designed and built to meet the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver Standard. The building features labs for biology, geology, chemistry, environmental science, and physics, a courtyard with a crystalline glass gazebo in the center, a Foucault pendulum designed by Alan Thorndike, as well as Gray whale skeleton named Willy.
After Harned Hall was completed, the institution began a $38 million renovation of Thompson Hall, the "old" science building. Harned and Thompson Halls form a square with a courtyard in the middle, and are collectively named the Science Center. Thompson Hall has an area of and was originally constructed in 1968. The renovation was completed in spring 2008.Office of University Relations. The Science Center at Puget Sound
Wyatt Hall is the second newest academic building on campus, dedicated in 2003. It houses the English, History, Foreign Languages & Literature, Politics & Government, Philosophy, Honors, Science Technology & Society,Department of 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.
Other buildings include McIntyre Hall, home of the School of Business and Leadership, the Departments of Economics, Sociology and Anthropology, and International Political Economy; Howarth Hall, home of the School of Education, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Career and Employment Services, and more; Jones Hall, home of theatre arts, communication studies, and several administrative offices, including the Office of the President; and the Music Building (which is the only building on campus without a name). Kittredge Hall, the original student union building, now houses the art department and Kittredge Gallery. The Gallery is now affiliated with Tacoma Art Museum.
Collins Memorial Library houses over 400,000 books and over 130,000 periodicals, is a partial federal government repository, and has substantial microform holdings.Collins Library Fact Sheet 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.
Construction for the William T. and Gail T. Weyerhaeuser Center for Health Sciences began in spring 2010. At , the center provides the resources and flexibility needed to support new areas of study in the fields of health and behavioral sciences. Specially designed to encourage cross-disciplinary interaction, the center houses Puget Sound's undergraduate departments in exercise science and psychology, graduate programs in occupational and physical therapy, and interdisciplinary program in neuroscience. Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson/Seattle, Weyerhaeuser Hall conforms to the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards.
Academics The institution offers more than fifty traditional and nontraditional areas of study in the liberal arts and sciences, as well as graduate programs in occupational therapy, physical therapy, and education. It recently launched a master of public health program.Dedication of new science building, Harned Hall, set for September 2006 The student to faculty ratio is 12 to 1.
Rankings and reputation
In 2012, Puget Sound was named one of forty schools nationwide in the college guide Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges.
The institution has ranked among the top five small liberal arts colleges for the number of graduates who participate in Peace Corps; in 2007, it ranked first.Peace Corps Top Schools for 2007
Puget Sound professors have been named Washington State Professor of the Year seven times by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.
Admissions For the Class of 2022 (enrolling fall 2018), University of Puget Sound received 5,730 applications, admitted 3,060 (58.3%), and enrolled 653 students. For the freshmen who enrolled, the middle 50% range of SAT scores was 1230-1450, the ACT composite range was 27–32, and the average high school grade point average was 3.70.
International programs The institution sponsors study abroad programs in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Pacific Rim, Scotland, Spain, Taiwan, and Wales.University of Puget Sound, List of Study Abroad Programs