Pacific Lutheran University - Campus

Campus

The Pacific Lutheran University campus is located six miles south of Tacoma, Washington, in suburban Parkland, on a 156-acre woodland campus. Two military bases are located near PLU. McCord Air Force base is across Interstate-5 in nearby Lakewood and Fort Lewis is seven miles south of Parkland. The campus is unofficially divided into two sections, upper campus and lower campus.

Upper campus is home to many of the academic and administration buildings including the Phillip Hauge Administration Building, Mortvedt Library, Ramstad Hall and Xavier Hall. The Mortvedt library offers over 260,000 volumes of books as well as over 23,000 full-text journals. The oldest book in the PLU collection is a psalter by Johann Bugenhagen published in 1524. Built in 1937, Xavier Hall served as the library until the Mortvedt library was built in 1967. Since then the Division of Social Sciences has been housed in Xavier. In 2000 Xavier underwent a $5 million renovation project that saw the addition of the Philip Nordquist Lecture Hall. The University Center is also located on upper campus. This building houses the all-campus cafeteria, called the University Commons, and the Old Main Market. In addition it houses the offices of Campus Ministry, Student Involvement and Leadership, Residential Life, the Diversity Center, the Scandinavian Center, Student Media, Resident Hall Association, the Associated Students of PLU (ASPLU), Dining Services, Conferences and Events, and the Chris Knutzen Lecture Hall.

Along with the academic and administration buildings upper campus also houses PLU's art programs. The Mary Baker Russell Music Center was built in 1997 and is the home of PLU's Department of Music. The acoustically impressive and well-known Lagerquist Concert Hall houses the Gottfried and Mary Fuchs Organ (the largest University-based organ on the West Coast) as well as state-of-the-art practice and performance facilities. Ingram Hall is home to a communication computer lab, a digital photography/graphic design lab, and studio art classrooms for painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography and printmaking. Ingram boasts two galleries: the University Gallery (which houses major shows and exhibitions) and the Wekell Gallery (which generally houses student and class work). Eastvold Auditorium, formal called Eastvold Chapel, seats 1100 and is the home of PLU Theatre. Eastvold hosts all main stage productions as well as a range of smaller productions throughout the year. In October 2011, PLU Theatre premiered a new addition to its arts department, the Karen H. Phillips Black Box Theater. Named after the former Regent, this space is a symbol of the completion of phase one in Eastvold Auditorium's renovations. Eastvold is set to reopen with a new performing arts center in the fall of 2013.

Lower campus is home to many of the university's athletic facilities. These include Olson Auditorium, Memorial Gymnasium, Names Fitness Center, and the university swimming pool. Also located on lower campus are the Rieke Science Center, Morken Center for Learning and Technology, Martin J. Neeb Building, and the Keck Observatory.

Additional buildings off campus are also used for University purposes, including offices, the Wang Center for International Studies, East Campus, the Women's Center, the Faculty House and Trinity Lutheran Church.