Check out PLU from where you are. Get a feel of what PLU has to offer and what campus is like.
Welcome to PLU
Named one of America’s top colleges, Pacific Lutheran University educates its 2,900 students for lives of thoughtful service, leadership, inquiry and care. We offer more than 40 majors and 50 minors, and students are personally mentored by their professors. Students also have multiple opportunities to take part in research, internships, lab work, field studies, creative projects, and more. As a national leader in global education, we were the first American university to have study away classes on all seven continents, and over half of all students study away. 90% of our recent graduates were employed or accepted into graduate school within six months after graduating.
Mortvedt Library
Our library is comprised of three floors, each of which is accompanied by a varying sound level, providing study spaces for any kind of studier, loud and silent alike. Our library is home to over half a million books, but in the event that you need a resource we don’t have, you can also utilize our online interlibrary loan system that allows you to request titles to be sent to our campus from elsewhere. The library is also home to new and improved study rooms and our Center for Student Success (CSS). CSS encompasses our Academic Advising, Academic Assistance and Writing Center resources on campus. Offering both walk-in hours and appointments, Academic Assistance and the Writing Center are fantastic resources that offer student tutoring and revisions in any academic discipline. Academic Advising is responsible for ensuring our students are on track to graduate, are fulfilling their necessary major/general education requirements, and can offer guidance in declaring a major or minor. You can also find the Help Desk and Information and Technology Services in the library. They provide support for university-owned technology, the residential network, and basic campus phone services.
Hauge Administrative Building
The Hauge Administration Building, or “Admin” for short, is home to a variety of different spaces and services on campus. With the second floor being mainly comprised of classroom spaces, every single student will have at least one class during their time here at PLU, with humanities based majors having nearly all of their classes in the building. On your way to class you can grab a coffee or snack to-go from the Lute Cafe, one of three cafes on campus. The lower level of the building is where our School of Education is headquartered, in addition to the university Welcome Center, where you might check-in for an on-campus tour. Admin is also home to our Office of Student Financial Services (SFS) which is where students can go with questions about scholarships, payment plans, billing statements, loans, and any other general financial aid questions. Because 99% of all PLU students receive some form of financial aid, this is a great resource on campus to keep in mind!
Xavier Hall
Xavier Hall used to be PLU’s library before we constructed Mortvedt Library in the 1970s, but it is now home many of our social science classes, which includes majors such as social work, criminal justice, political science, sociology, and psychology. Norquist Lecture Hall, sometimes thought of as PLU’s “Harry Potter Hall,” is one of three large lecture halls on campus, and while it is not the largest lecture hall on campus, it serves as a great demonstration of what class sizes at PLU can look like. PLU has a student to faculty ratio is 13:1 and the average class size is 20, so classes like those held in Norquist actually account for the minority of classes at PLU!
Red Square
While Red Square isn’t the geographic center of campus, it’s sometimes referred to as the center of campus because it’s a space most students walk through every single day. Red Square is the forefront of upper campus and is home to several events throughout each school year, including our New Student Orientation (NSO) Block Party, our Winter Tree Lighting Ceremony, and our student favorite Dog Days! Block Party is the final event of NSO weekend that celebrates the completion of NSO with a DJ, involvement booths, inflatable obstacle courses and snacks. The Winter Tree Lighting Ceremony is a wonderful tradition we have on campus that marks the start of the holiday season with the lighting of all of the trees surrounding Red Square. Dog Days are days we have on campus around midterms and finals when members of the local community bring their certified emotional support animals to campus for our students to spend time with to relieve some of the stress of exams.
Karen Hille Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
The Karen Hille Phillips Center (KHP) is home to Eastvold Auditorium, one of two primary performing arts centers on campus, in addition to being home to our University Chapel on the upper level and our Studio Theater. PLU's Theater and Dance Department program trains students in all aspects of theatre and dance: from musical theatre, acting, technical theatre and design, to foundational dance styles, stage management, choreography, producing, directing, and playwriting. Eastvold Auditorium is where our theatre performances take place, showcasing up to 10 shows a year. Our Studio Theater, or Black Box Theater, showcases several entirely student-produced, student-directed shows every year and is also one of five LEED (Leader in Environmental and Energy Design) certified buildings on campus. It has the highest LEED rating a building can achieve, making it an extremely sustainable building representative of PLU’s commitment to sustainability.
Upper Campus Residential Halls
Our Upper Campus Residential Division is home to six residence halls: Harstad Hall, Hinderlie Hall, Hong International Hall, Stuen Hall, Ordal Hall and Kreidler Hall. With the exception of South Hall, all of these halls are examples of traditional residence halls and are home to our residential Learning Communities (LCs). Learning Communities are themed, opt-in programs that place students alongside other students who share common interests as them. Harstad is home to the LC of Gender Equity and Women Empowerment, Hinderlie is home to the LC of Creative Expression as well as our makerspace, Kreidler is home to the language LCs of French, Spanish, and Norwegian in addition to being home to our International Honors wing, Ordal is home to the LCs of First in the Family, Students of Color, Environmental and Social Justice, and our Lavender Community for LGBTQ+ identifying students. Stuen Hall is the only residence hall on Upper Campus that is considered a non-traditional residence hall. Stuen is a hall comprised entirely of single rooms for students who have junior credit standing and above or who are 20 years of age or older.
Ingram Hall
Ingram Hall is home to the headquarters for our School of Arts and Communication (SOAC), which is one of our nationally-accredited schools here at PLU. Ingram is also home to the smallest of three large lecture halls on campus and is home to a student gallery on campus and all of our art studios on campus, including our ceramics studio and our MediaLab. MediaLab is an application-based extracurricular at PLU that provides students with competitive networking opportunities, in addition to experience with graphic design, marketing campaigns, journalism and print media, and documentary-making. Ingram is also home to PLU's Elliot Press, a small private press that provides a hands-on workshop for students in the Publishing & Printing Arts program.
Mary Baker Russell Music Center
The Mary Baker Russell Music Center (MBR) features spaces for performing, teaching, and rehearsing; a music library; an outdoor amphitheater; and the acoustically impressive Lagerquist Concert Hall, home to the Gottfried and Mary Fuchs Organ, the largest collegiate organ west of the Mississippi. With over 600 students participating in the music program, PLU has over twelve music ensembles (vocal and instrumental) and they perform over 100 shows a year in Lagerquist. One of the most popular shows that takes place in the hall is our winter concert series in which all of the ensembles do joint shows to mark the beginning of the holiday season.
Wang Center
The Wang Center for Global and Community Engaged Education, or “Wang Center” for short, is the best place on campus to get resources for studying away while at PLU. Comprised of both professional staff members and students who have studied away (our Global Ambassadors), the Wang Center offers a multitude of ways for students to receive information and next steps for all things study away. PLU operates on a 4-1-4 basis, with a four month-long fall semester, a month long January term, or J-Term, and a four month-long spring semester. Because all of these terms are accompanied by a variety of study away options for students, receiving a global education during college is extremely accessible at PLU for students of all majors and on-campus commitments. So accessible, in fact, that nearly 50% of all PLU students will study away during their time here, compared to the national average of just 10%. Some of our Gateway programs include our IHON-Oxford International Honors Program, Cultural Immersion for Education and the Natural & Social Sciences in Namibia, and Development, Culture, Environment and Social Change in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Morken Center
Morken Center for Learning and Technology is where many of our business, engineering 3-2, mathematics, computer science classes occur. Morken is another LEED certified building on campus and the abundance of natural light in the space makes it a student favorite study spot on campus. It is also home to PLU’s state-of-the-art computer labs and Kelley Cafe, one of three cafes on campus. Our Business department has over 150 partnerships with Tacoma-Seattle businesses and companies, making it easy for our business students to have constant access to hands-on experience off campus. Our Engineering 3-2 program allows students to earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering in three years at PLU and then places students at one of our partner institutions--Columbia University in New York, or Washington University in St. Louis--for another two years where they can earn a second bachelor’s degree in engineering.
Rieke Science Center
The Rieke Science Center is the home of our natural sciences on campus. This includes majors such as biology, chemistry, geosciences, and physics. Rieke houses all of our on-campus laboratory spaces and our largest lecture hall, Leraas Lecture Hall. There are a variety of laboratory spaces inside Rieke ranging from smaller, more intimate lab spaces on the lower level, to our large open-concept lab space on the upper level of Rieke. Rieke also houses our giant slug, Enrieke, who used to be on display at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma.
Foss Field
A multi-faceted space on campus, Foss Field is used for a multitude of events and activities throughout the year. It is home to our Fall Involvement Fair, the Homecoming Carnival, some Intramural Sports, PLU’s Interfaith Games, and it is also a student favorite sunbathing spot in the spring when the sun comes out and the temperature goes up!
Names Fitness Center
Names Fitness Center is the main workout facility for students on campus. The second level is our cardio center and the lower level is our weight training center. Also attached to the lower level is a small gymnasium sometimes using for physical education classes or for GroupX Activities. GroupX Activities are activities and fitness classes students can sign up to take each week throughout the school year ranging from yoga classes to zumba classes to high intensity interval training. Our athletic trainer, Chris Rice, works with student athletes, by creating personalized training sessions for each team based on the demands of their sport.
Olson Gymnasium & Auditorium
Olson is home to PLU's Athletic facilities and offices, as well as our Kinesiology major. Olson Gymnasium is PLU’s main gymnasium on campus and is where our basketball and volleyball teams play and practice. Olson also has an indoor field house, team rooms, locker rooms, our golf studio, kinesiology labs, as well as classrooms. Home sporting events are entirely free for students with their Lute cards, so Lute Legion, our student fan section, is always full of lively, supportive Lutes.
Practice Fields/Pool
Our outdoor sporting facilities are comprised of a turf field, practice football field, track, baseball and softball diamonds, a soccer field, and a full golf course that has been converted into a frisbee golf course. While our swimming pool is, of course, where our swim team practices, it is also open to all students daily during select times. Our swimming pool is also where one of the most interesting intramural sports, innertube water polo, takes place every winter.
Columbia Center
Another multi-faceted space on campus, the Columbia Center is used for a handful of different things. On the upper level of the Columbia Center is PLU’s Dance Studio, used by students minoring in Dance, in addition to students who are on PLU’s Step Team, Lute Nation. The lower level of the Columbia Center houses PLU’s new Outdoor Recreation space. Outdoor Rec is a fantastic way to get active and have fun off campus. Every weekend throughout the school year Outdoor Rec facilitates recreation trips off-campus where students can engage in a variety of activities ranging from hiking to camping to snowshoeing. Trips are usually very low cost for students, averaging around $20 per weekend activity.
Memorial Gym
Back when PLU was Pacific Lutheran College, Memorial Gymnasium was PLU’s “big gym.” We have expanded quite a bit since becoming a university officially in the 1960s, so Memorial is now home to the headquarters for PLU’s Army ROTC program. Because Joint Base Lewis-McChord is located so close to our campus, many of our students are able to form partnerships with the base and our ROTC students also have access to a variety of resources offered by the base. PLU’s ROTC program has won the prestigious MacArthur Award three times since the program’s conception in 2001, demonstrating the rigor of the program and the dedication of our cadets.
Lower Campus Residential Halls
The Lower Campus Residential Division is comprised of three residence halls: Tingelstad Hall (T-Stad), Pflueger Hall, and South Hall. South Hall is the second of two non-traditional residence halls on campus. Unlike Stuen Hall, however, South Hall offers students several different floor plans so they can choose to live alone or with a group of friends once they reach their upper-divisional course hours. Pflueger is the only traditional residence hall on campus that doesn’t have a themed Learning Community (LC), but this means that students can create relationships a little more organically by exploring their common interests. T-Stad, at a whopping nine stories, is not only the largest traditional residence hall on campus, it is also the tallest building in Parkland! T-Stad is home to the LCs of STEM and Wellness as well as our second Lavendar Community. On clear days, students can watch the sunrise over Mt. Rainer on the east side of the building and watch the sunset on the west side of the building.
Anderson University Center (downstairs)
Acting as a primary hub for various offices on campus, the lower level of the Anderson University Center, or “UC” for short, houses the Cave our center for commuter students, our Associated Students of PLU (ASPLU) office, the Diversity Center (D-Center), Residential/Student Life offices, the Student Activities Board office, our on-campus radio studio, the Center for Faith and Spirituality, our Food Pantry, the Scandinavian Cultural Center, and the Lute Locker - our bookstore.
Anderson University Center (upstairs)
The upper level of the UC is where the Commons is located, which is the only large dining hall on campus. The Commons is comprised of five different food stations so there are always a variety of food options for students to choose from. As well as a large area for students to eat, study, and hang out with friends. Also on the upper level of the UC is Old Main Market (OMM), the largest of the three cafes on campus. OMM is a great place to grab late night snacks or grocery items for your dorm room. There is also a Multi-Faith Meditation and Prayer Space located on the upper level of the UC, welcoming of all PLU community members. The third floor of the UC is where PLU’s Counseling Center is located. PLU’s Counseling Center is available to all students via walk-in hours and by appointment.
Ramstad Hall
Ramstad Hall used to be PLU’s science hall, but it is now home to many of our nursing classes and simulators on the second and third floor as well as many psychology classes and labs on the first floor.
Harstad Hall
When PLU was founded in the 1890s by Scandinavian immigrants, Harstad Hall was the entirety of campus. It was renamed in 1960 after our university founder, Bjug Harstad. It housed faculty offices, student dorm rooms, classrooms, a dining hall, and a chapel. Our campus has grown quite significantly since the 1890s, so Harstad Hall now functions as our only all women-identifying residence hall on campus with the RLC of Gender Equity and Women Empowerment. Harstad also houses our Campus Safety office on the lowest level of the building.
Garfield Street
While Garfield Street is technically located off-campus, it’s a popular place for students to hang out because it is home to several local eateries. There is almost any cuisine one could crave on Garfield, from pizza to sushi burritos and ramen. There are also two student favorite cafes off of Garfield street: 208 and Q’s Coffee. 208 provides students with yummy snacks and coffee in a relaxed, modern setting and Q’s follows a more traditional coffee shop setup, even putting on live music every Sunday.