THE UNIVERSITY OF PEOPLE AND IDEAS FOR SPRING 200S He was born in a log cabin. He fought alongside Sherman in the American Civil War. As a pioneer preacher in the Washington Territory he sometimes walked 40 miles to deliver a sermon. He dreamed of a Puget Sound university that would be "a praise in all the land." Sketches of n Itinerant's areer i Ihe forgotten memoir of the Rev. D.G. LeSourd i 1:11 run r.nrHnn fnnkp '67 • sinner len Todd '83 • adventurer Grea Frazier '76 contents arches people 20 An Itinerant's Career Spring 2005 The determined will and good grace of university founding father the Rev. on the cover D.G. LeSourd The Rev. David G. LeSourd, about 1924. Courtesy UPS archives. Leading with Style J. Jill CEO Gordon Cooke '67 built a company by encouraging creative risk Class Notes With 20 questions for motorcycle adventurer Greg Frazier M.B.A. '76, and classmate profiles on musician Jen Todd '83 and garden designer Linda Plato '90 ' 4 v w* . *.v.: • 36 "My motto js: I hate adventure that has anything to do with sharks or snakes/' — Greg Frazier M.B.A. - 'M* in the Atacama Desert, January 2005 i I ideas news and notes 12 Cana and the 'Fifth Gospel' 4 Zeitgeist The Relay for Life comes back to where it began; a new Web site ■i Did a UPS-sponsored excavation I rediscover the place where early for UPS; science building gets a name; ! women's soccer comes achingly close to f \ Christians believed Jesus turned water into wine? winning it all; other campus news 14 Biblio 30 Alumni Association A whooping New alumni and faculty books on an good time at Hoop it Up!; new National unremembered shaper of world events, Alumni Board members; other events, ? radical ideas for running a business, past and future bogus ideas on globalization, and good ideas for fixing bad writing ' •; * ■//' - A ; m zeitqokt . - & sfcV -*-1 . '\ V $ it k\ * * /,i -•*7 k F \ % v\\ '• \ ii & \ Vn;v^ ft tytg®g&MBsagg * ■_.v--■. y-: P . ■ ar S © H m r 2* *2 3 £•!**? £l ,V' KB I community involvement - Bringing it back to the track M The American Cancer Society's Relampr Life, f/?e largest fund-raising event in the woifflh returns to W' A •j the place where it all began 4 It started with a single step raise money ftSM&ncer research. on the UPS track 20 years Twenty-four hlffl and 324 ago this spring. Dr. Gordon laps of the traqjjfi ;er, Klatt had Klatt, a Tacoma surgeon, had completed then J raiser. His A gathered financial pledges earnings for thffl nerican Can- LIFE FORCE Campus supporting a personal mara­ cer Society thatfi : 527,000. RFL organizer Sarah Brabeck '05. thon he had designed to But the mow Sportant m archos Snriiin O/i/iC i Senior moments by Stacey Wilson '96 RADIOHEAD It's hard not to be jealous of Dave Conger '05. The guy already has a serious job lined outcome of the round-the- netted more than $1.5 bil­ up after graduation (at Microsoft, thank you very clock marathon was insight. lion for cancer research and much), and he's leaving behind a totally groovy legacy As friends and well-wishers education. as KUPS-FM 90.1 programming director and nation­ arrived to support the doc­ Thanks to the efforts of ally recognized college Dj. Dave's romance with radio tor by running laps with UPS senior Sarah Brabeck, began as a kid in Beaverton, Ore., where, when he him, Klatt realized he had in April the event will come wasn't practicing classical piano, he filled his time (and conceptualized the event back to the track where it his parent's basement) tinkering with radio equip­ all wrong. Surviving cancer, started. Last spring Brabeck ment. "While other kids were prank-calling," he says, "my friends and I fighting the disease, rais­ participated in RFL with were making pop-music radio shows." Dave slowly morphed from radio ing money for research, her sister's team at Gonzaga rookie to tech geek. "Some kids dream of being on the air," he says. "I was and stomping out cancer University. She was inspired never like that. I like being behind the scenes." At UPS the practical-mind­ was beyond the scope of by the event. "It was a beau­ ed Conger settled on a double major in computer science and business— an individual. Cancer, the tiful demonstration of how the perfect preparation for what would become an illustrious four-year second leading cause of to unite a campus and the stint as both KUPS DJ and programming director. He has managed 120 DJs death in this country, was a community to honor cancer and nearly 24-hour-a-day broadcasts, while working to redesign—and re­ problem so big that beating survivors and share a spirit define—Tacoma's radiowaves. "We've really worked to make KUPS a local it required community com­ of hope." station, not just a 'college' station. We only have an 11-mile programming mitment. Brabeck returned from area, but on good days," he says, "you can hear us in Seattle." His efforts In 1986 Klatt redesigned Gonzaga determined to have not gone unnoticed: In January he was selected by Collegiate Broad­ his personal marathon. He establish a Relay at Puget casters as one of the country's best DJs—an honor that was given a hefty moved the event off the Sound. When she contacted write-up in the Tacoma News Tribune. Ever modest, Dave says the award UPS campus to Tacoma's the Tacoma branch of the is cool, but more than anything he's relieved that his parents are pleased. Stadium Bowl and encour­ American Cancer Society, "They said, 'Well, I guess the money was worth it after all.'" aged teams throughout the she learned of UPS' role in area to gather pledges and the history of the event. "It spend a day walking for the was destined to come back. UPS, UNFILTERED For Russell Knight '05, cause. Roughly 220 people, ... It's important to have picking a college was a long and confusing representing 19 teams, par­ this event at UPS because process. "I applied to 15 schools!" says Rus­ ticipated in what Klatt and our school really supports sell. "I had no idea what I was doing. I wish I'd ( company were now calling community involvement had a better perspective on things back then." the Relay For Life (RFL). To­ and prides itself on creat­ Luckily, Russell's instincts were good and UPS gether, they raised $34,000. ing a community-conscious turned out to be a perfect fit for the California In following years RFL culture." native who chose pre-law with a politics and spread. An additional com­ Brabeck projects that government major. But what about the next generation of prospective munity in Washington state in this year of "bringing it students? Never fear, young ones. College Prowler, the publisher of guides fi hosted a 'Relay' in 1987, back to the track" about 20 to 200 American colleges and universities, tracked Russell down through several Midwestern commu­ teams will participate in the his posts as Trail opinions editor and campus tour guide and offered him nities sponsored Relays in university's Relay. She also the gig of writing the UPS version of its students-speak-out resource. "We 1988, and the Relay spread anticipates the tradition of covered more areas than U.S. News and World Report ever could," says \ to the East Coast in 1989. hosting RFL will carry on Russell. "They use too many neutral quotes, probably gathered by people Twenty years after it all and flourish at UPS. "I have who've never even visited campus." With feedback from hundreds of the greatest confidence in [• began at UPS, the event has student interviews, Russell assigned a letter grade in 20 categories ("UPS avalanched to become the the spirit of our campus and didn't go below a C," he says) and ended up with an unfiltered assessment world's largest fund raiser our proactive individuals... of the Puget Sound experience. "We got criticisms from all directions," someone will proudly step for a nonprofit organization. he says. 'UPS is too small. UPS is too big. There's not enough freedom on up to carry this on year after In 2004 more than 4,200 campus, there's too much.' I think I managed to represent the school in a communities (including year." fair light." After three months of research and writing, Russell submitted 1 communities in 13 different — Andy and Allison Dappen his draft to College Prowler in fall 2003 before leaving to spend a semester countries) hosted Relays of abroad in Dublin. Upon returning to campus last fall, all 134 pages of UPS their own. Last year 500,000 The Relay at Baker Stadium Off the Record were printed, bound, and for sale in the bookstore for $15. cancer survivors and 3 mil­ goes from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. on Aside from a few typos (which weren't his fault!), he says it's a pretty good lion Americans participated April 2. Registration begins at in local Relays, raising more 8 a.m. For more information, read and a surprisingly useful resource for current students. In a way, he than $303 million. Since call the American Cancer Soci- says, writing the book has also helped him select law schools. "I've only its inception, the event has ety at 253-272-5767.