What We Do Podcast

Jess K. Smith '05, assistant professor of theatre arts and McKenna Johnson '18 talk about their experience living and working together on campus this past summer as part of the ARTBARN theater residency.

Regular listeners will recognize the voice of Chuck Luce, What We Do host and editor of "Arches" magazine. A few days before his retirement in May, Chuck sat down with Cathy Tollefson ’83, P’17, associate editor and guest host, to share some of his favorite behind-the-scenes stories from nearly 20 years at the helm of "Arches."

Should we keep someone on life support to gestate her fetus? What is brain death, anyway? This week we're joined by Professor Suzanne Holland and two of the students in her Practicum in Clinical Bioethics, who spent the semester navigating these and other real-life ethical questions both in the classroom and at Tacoma General Hospital.

Guest host Presley Reed ’18 chats with Puget Sound tour guides Clara Brown '17 and Bobby Stewart '18 on Facebook Live, answering admitted students' questions about life as a Logger, ranging from food and frats to studying and the social scene on campus. #pugetsoundbound

In the mid-1990s, Congress eliminated all federal funding for college in prison. The prison system is filled with people who have never had access to higher education opportunities, the vast majority of whom come from under-resourced communities and communities of color. Freedom Education Project Puget Sound aims to change that. Program co-founder Professor Tanya Erzen and volunteer Carsen Nies ’17 talk about the benefits of providing educational opportunities to incarcerated women, for both the inmates and Puget Sound students.

This week we have a special guest host, Simone Moore '20. Simone is an Adelphian singer, and this week she sat down with Rob Hutchinson, Professor of Music Theory and Composition, to talk about "Take Time," a piece he composed to commemorate the inauguration of President Isiaah Crawford.

Baseball is back! To mark the start of the 2017 Major League Baseball season, we interviewed Professor Emeritus of English Robert Garratt on his new book "Home Team: The Turbulent History of the San Francisco Giants." A six-year-long labor, Home Team is more than a history of the franchise. It tells stories of relationships between team and town, and especially between players and management. In researching the book Rob interviewed the likes of Felipe Alou, Dusty Baker, Willie Mays, and many other baseball luminaries.

On March 24, 2017, Isiaah Crawford was officially inaugurated as Puget Sound's 14th president during a daylong celebration for students, alumni, faculty and staff members, parents, community members, and distinguished guests from across the country. Be there as President Crawford delivers his inaugural address, and listen in as he shares his vision for the college's future.

Recently The Posse Foundation led a weekend retreat for about 80 members of the campus community. Designed to create a safe space for dialogue through interactive and challenging workshops, the retreat brought together a cross section of the campus community to talk about an important national and campus issue: why do we have an us vs. them mentality right now? Posse Scholar Simone Moore '20 and senior Sam Carp '17 sat down with us to talk about their experience attending the retreat.

Associate Professor of Biology Mark Martin, aka The Microbe Whisperer, joins us this week to talk about the oldest form of life on Earth. He also shares some of the creative ways his students are approaching scientific topics using art. Check out his blog for more: http://microbesrule.blogspot.com

Why do we do what we do? Psychological contracts are the mutual expectations between employer and employee (you pay me and I’ll give you time and productive work, or you create a welcoming environment and I’ll be loyal). Professors Sarah Moore and Alan Krause join us this week to talk about their research into psychological contracts among blue collar employees, and what happens when an organization breaches such a contract.

This Friday and Saturday Puget Sound will host the opening rounds of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. Coach Loree Payne and senior Alexis Noren join us to talk about their winning season and life on and off the court.

How do science and economics inform and direct climate change policy? Professors Steven Neshyba and Lea Fortmann join us to talk about a new project in which students are evaluating polar data to see firsthand evidence of climate change and ask deeper questions about its effects.

In recent years China has become the most significant economic player in Latin America. Professor of Anthropology Monica DeHart joins us this week to explore China's role in economic, political, and cultural development in the region.

This week we're joined by Associate Professor and Director of the Environmental Policy and Decision Making program, Rachel DeMotts, who explores the complexities of living with elephants in sub-Saharan Africa.

This week Professor Dan Burgard explains how sewage water can be used to determine whether marijuana use increases when it's legalized.

Welcome to season two of What We Do. We're kicking off this semester with a conversation with Professor of International Political Economy, Pierre Ly, to explore the rise of the Chinese wine industry.

Professor of Music History Geoffrey Block joins us to talk about his new book, Experiencing Beethoven, a Listener's Companion. You don't need a musical vocabulary to enjoy this guided tour of a musical genius.

This week, we sit down with Andrew Gardner, professor of anthropology, to discuss the labor brokerage system that brings millions of migrant workers from rural villages to the Persian Gulf States. His research explores the conditions faced by these workers and the cultural and economic systems that result from their migration.

Professor Alison Tracy Hale and Humanities Librarian Katy Curtis join us this week to talk about their new class that explores early American literature through the lens of the popular musical, and help us make sense of some of the deep political schisms that continue to define our politics.

Professor Nancy Bristow and alumnus and OAR Northwest founder Jordan Hanssen '04 talk about Puget Sound's new experiential program, Adventure: Mississippi River.

Assistant Professor of Biology and Jennie M. Caruthers Chair of Neuroscience Siddharth Ramakrishnan talks about makerspaces and the effectiveness of learning through doing, exploring, sharing, and mentoring.

Hear President Crawford talk about how he was recruited out of the classroom into college administration, what it was like for a Midwestern urbanite to come to the Pacific Northwest, and the challenges of being a college president these days.

Michael Artime and Mike Purdy '76, M.B.A.'79 discuss the unprecedented 2016 presidential election and whether it represents a permanent shift in how party politics will work in this country going forward. Videos from their popular lecture series on the 2016 campaign can be found at www.pugetsound.edu/2016election.