Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
A podcast from the University of Puget Sound about Loggers reaching to the heights.
Chloe Ekloff (00:00):
It is a community. I think there is a really strong sense of being known that can occur at University of Puget Sound. Your professors know you. They don't just know your name. They get to know you as a human, which I think is really, really special and doesn't necessarily happen at schools that are larger or I don't think it happens everywhere. So I think that sense of being known is really helpful as a student knowing that there's someone who maybe knows if I'm absent and cares about maybe where I am or can just check in, and you build those relationships with the professor. So I think that that's something that's really specific to University of Puget Sound that I would lead with.
Narrator (00:49):
This is Greater, We Ascend, a podcast from the University of Puget Sound about Loggers reaching to the heights.
Chloe Ekloff (01:08):
My name is Chloe Ekloff. I graduated 2013 with my bachelor's in music education, and then graduated 2015 with my Master of Arts in Teaching degree.
Joel Ekloff (01:20):
Hi, my name is Joel Ekloff. I graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 2016 from the physics department, and this coming year in 2025, I'll be joining the Department of Environmental Studies & Sciences as a professor. When I was an undergraduate at Puget Sound, I felt like I had my hands in many pots. I did athletics at Puget Sound, including the ultimate frisbee team. I was a part of quite a few different social groups and physics club and just had so many wonderful people that I got to spend my time with in many different areas of campus.
Chloe Ekloff (02:00):
I was involved in a lot of different groups as well. I was a part of the Lighthouse interfaith group on campus for all four years that I was there, and then served as kind of a mentor for that group even for a couple years after that. I also was a resident assistant for three years. So I was on campus building community and putting on events and supporting younger students that were on campus as well. And I was a music student. I was very involved in the music department or music building there. I sang in choir. I was in the Dorian Choir and then the Adelphian Choir and just was involved in a lot of different things.
Joel Ekloff (02:39):
So during my time at Puget Sound, I received a scholarship called the Matelich Scholarship. The Matelich Scholarship is a scholarship that's given for academics and leadership. So the majority of people who end up getting the scholarship show lots of potential both in the classroom and ways that they can serve their community and give back both short term and long term. And that really allowed me to attend the University of Puget Sound. I both had financial support through that program, and I also got to be a part of an exceptional cohort of students that grew. As I continued, I was one of the two original Matelich scholarships and the new conception of the program and got to be a part of building that community as we brought on two more scholars year after year. And now that it's been well over a decade, there are many of us and we're still continuing to build that relationship. And I'm exceptionally close with many, many people from that growing cohort.
Chloe Ekloff (03:44):
Joel and I met at the University of Puget Sound very early in the fall of 2012 when I was leading music for the Lighthouse interfaith group on campus. And it was a literal saw-him-from-across-the-room moment. We became friends first and it took a little bit to get there, but we definitely started dating that year and have been together for 12 years ever since.
Joel Ekloff (04:09):
Experiential learning that I got to experience at Puget Sound really set me on the path that I've taken since graduation. My first research experience, I got to go to southern Africa with Professor Rachel DeMotts and do some cultural botany research in Botswana and Namibia. Then that next year as well as the following year, I did research on splash cup plants, which are plants that utilize the kinetic energy in raindrops to disperse their seeds in the same way that a dandelion might use wind. And I really got to jump into the research experience through those experiential learning opportunities. And that's really what decided my choice to go on to graduate school, eventually get a Ph.D. and kind of continue this career in academia.
Chloe Ekloff (04:59):
And for me, experiential learning was getting me in the classroom in practicums as early as I think my sophomore year. So by the time that I graduated even undergrad, I think I'd had three different practicum experiences, maybe even four, getting me into the classroom at elementary, middle, and high school levels so that I really felt like I knew what I was getting into as an educator. And it just affirmed that I wanted to continue to teach and move forward in attaining that teaching certificate and degree. Those experiences were really formative for me as a teacher, and it really affirmed my decision to continue my education at Puget Sound in the Master of Arts in Teaching program as well. So I took a gap year where I worked for a nonprofit between undergrad and grad school, and then went back to school at University of Puget Sound.
(05:47):
And that year the experiential learning was so profound. It was just almost the entirety of what I was doing, and we were reflecting on it and constantly getting me into different classrooms. And that turned into student teaching as well. And by the time I was done with my education at Puget Sound, I felt so confident of what the job entailed and confident in my ability and my training to do that job as well. It's going to be a long list of faculty that have definitely aided us in our journeys, but two specifically that come to mind right off the bat for me are Dr. Steven Zopfi. He mentored me as he was my director in the Adelphian and Concert Choir. He took me under his wing as his graduate assistant conductor when I was in grad school as well. So I was receiving tons of mentorship as a choir student, but also as a then future choir teacher. And then Fred Hamel in the MAT program is just transformative in his ability to help navigate somebody's journey in reflection. He was so, so kind and patient and thoughtful in his feedback and just really walks with you in your journey as you are reflecting in the process of becoming a teacher. Both of those people really, I've continued relationships with them and friendships with them in adulthood and as a colleague, and I'm just really grateful for both of them.
Joel Ekloff (07:14):
One faculty member who really impacted and continues to impact me personally and professionally: my research advisor, Professor Rachel Pepper, really was my introduction. My teacher, I was her student right when she started at the University of Puget Sound. We built her lab together. I really found a love of science and research getting to work with Professor Rachel Pepper. And since that time, a few times a year, we'll meet up at a local park in Tacoma, go for a nice long walk and just talk about the next steps in this wild convoluted process that is research and science and academia, and really kind of troubleshoot and strategize for the next steps. And now it's just such a wild full circle that in a bit we'll be colleagues. And I've gotten to shift those conversations to potentially co-teaching a class on environmental food mechanics. And yeah, it's an incredible, incredible journey.
(08:20):
The new Department of Environmental Studies & Sciences at Puget Sound is really unique in that it contains three majors within the department, Environmental Policy & Decision Making, Earth & Environmental Sciences, and Environmental Arts & Humanities. And I think what makes this program so wonderful and unique is that there's so much collaboration and interdisciplinary work across those humanities and hard sciences that really allow us to emulate best practices in the real world of environmental studies and trying to fight things like climate change when really big new research expeditions are happening, you'll have researchers, you'll have artists, you'll have photographers, and you'll have storytellers and all of these expertise together allow you to both discover new knowledge but also establish a narrative that you can communicate in a way that people will listen to and want to listen to. And the fact that we have all of that expertise both in our students and our faculty, allow us to model and establish experiential learning opportunities where undergraduates get to have an individual who might be really excited about cloud physics along with a painter and a photographer to then create this beautiful portfolio and communicate that in a way that otherwise isn't really possible until you're getting one of those $5 million research grants.
(10:04):
And I feel that we are able to supply those opportunities for students so early in their undergraduate career is just exceptionally difficult, if not impossible to do at many other institutions where folks in earth sciences probably don't know anyone in the art department, probably don't know anyone in who is studying literature. But because of the size of the institution, because of this collaborative department, we're able to pursue these exceptional opportunities together.
(10:37):
It feels amazing to be going back to the University of Puget Sound. The institution has just given me so much and I've benefited so massively from the Matelich Scholarship and that beautiful gift that I can never fully give back to and all of the experiential learning that I got to experience in the Environmental Studies & Sciences department and with Dr. Pepper and Dr. DeMotts. I'm excited to be on the other side and try and give the best experiences I can to my own students in the coming future. Really work to get students outside, show them the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. I'm a permafrost scientist and I do a lot of work where water is in solid form, ice glaciers frozen soil, and I'm really excited to bring that expertise to the university. And I have big plans to bring students to Alaska and help them contribute to this type of research and also show through hands-on experiences climate change, what's happening, how bad it is, and what we can do about it.
Chloe Ekloff (11:50):
It feels like a dream come true that Joel is going to be returning to University of Puget Sound as a faculty member. This is the epitome of what we've dreamed of. I know that as an educator and as Joel's spouse, I've gotten to see how truly on fire for teaching Joel is, as he has gotten to do that a little bit along his journey at UW as he's been preparing for this position and seeing him be able to return to Puget Sound as a faculty member, as a professor in the city of Tacoma that we love so much is just an absolute dream.
Narrator (12:28):
Greater We Ascend is a production of the University of Puget Sound. This episode was produced by John Moe. Our theme music is by Skylar Hedblom, Puget Sound Class of 2025. Learn more at pugetsound.edu/greater.