University of Puget Sound

The University of Puget Sound is a liberal arts college based in the town of Tacoma, Washington state. The university was founded in 1888 as a Methodist institution, although is no longer affiliated to any religion.

Academic study at Puget Sound combines traditional and interdisciplinary study in the areas of arts, humanities, natural and social sciences, totalling 1200 classes in 50 areas of study. The School of Music is rated at conservatory grade, and graduates regularly go on to study at some of the most distinguished music courses in the US. Studying abroad is also a popular option at Puget Sound, with over 40 per cent of students taking the opportunity to take semesters or years overseas at forty available locations ranging from Argentina to Vietnam.

Puget Sound is also home to a wide range of media publications, and a student run radio station at KUPS 90.1FM, known as The Sound. Wetlands is a magazine dedicated to ideas of sexual expression and gender identity, and first published in 1968 is Black Ice, a magazine for students of colour.

Athletics teams at Puget Sound are known as the Loggers, and compete in the NCAA Division III. Baker Stadium is a multi-sports facility at Puget Sound, hosting home football, soccer, track and field, cross country, and lacrosse matches, and can seat up to 4,500 spectators.

Esteemed alumni of Puget Sound include governor of Alaska Sean Parnell, creator of computer game SkiFree Chris Pirih, actress Darby Stanchfield, and star of the Batman TV series, Adam West. The university motto translates from Greek as ‘to the heights’.

A hatchet discovered in 1908 during excavation work at Puget Sound has become a symbol of the university. This discovery led to over a century of competition between classes, colloquially referred to as "hatchet-running". Each class that stole the hatchet would elaborately carve their graduation year into the handle or the blade, until the next class managed to steal it.