Pacific Union College » Campus Services » Housing » Residence Halls » Winning Hall

The largest of the women’s residence halls, Winning Hall is one of the main information points of the campus. The front desk is open 24 hours a day, providing information and assistance to people on and off campus. Winning lobby is a popular gathering place for male and female students alike, who can enjoy the fireplace and downstairs kitchen far into the evening. The hall is four stories tall with 120 rooms housing an average of 220 to 230 women each year. Bathrooms are shared between two rooms. In addition to the kitchen and lobby on the ground floor, fourth floor Winning has its own kitchen and lobby. There is a study and prayer room on every floor, and laundry facilities are provided for the residents.

Winning Hall is also the center of guest housing for PUC, reserving 14 of its rooms for visitor use. Connected to Winning’s lobby, Dauphinee Chapel is used frequently for college assemblies and performances.

If you are interested in living in Winning Hall or want more information about residence hall life at PUC, contact Winning Hall at (707) 965-6313 or Dean Kristi Horn at (707) 965-6285.

Meet Dean Wood

Sometimes it seems like people don’t last long in their careers anymore. One notable exception is Janice Wood. PUC’s Associate Dean of Students and Dean of Women has been a fixture in the women’s residences on campus for 35 years. “Every step of the way when you make a change in your life, you pray about it and you ask the Lord to lead you,” she says, “and where other options have become available, I never felt led to do anything else.”

Wood’s favorite aspect of the job is the fact that as a dean, no two days are ever the same. “This is a very unusual type job in which you get to use a variety of skills,” she says. “You get to be a mentor to students, you get to be an advisor or counselor, you have an opportunity to provide a support in their lives as they’re going through their college years, and it’s a very rewarding experience. You are constantly having new and interesting people and things that you’re working with, and it’s never dull.”

After graduating from PUC with a degree in history and elementary and secondary teaching credentials, Wood taught at Rio Lindo Academy before returning to her alma mater and beginning a lifelong career in student resident services. Over the years, she gradually worked her way from an assistant residence hall dean to second in charge of the residence life of all students on campus. Compared to her earlier positions, her daily tasks now involve more administrative duties, so Wood makes a concerted effort to stay grounded in the heart of her profession. “I always have decided that I wanted to maintain a deaning relationship,” she says. “To me that’s the most fun part of the job, being able to work with the students.”

Meet Dean Horn

For Winning Hall’s Kristi Horn, being a dean for a residence of 200-plus young women seems like destiny.  Upon starting her first gig as a dormitory dean at Fletcher Academy in North Carolina, she says, “I just knew, within about two weeks, that this was what I was meant to do forever and ever and ever.” 

The Carolina native holds a B.S. in psychology from Southern Adventist University and an M.S. in marriage and family therapy from Loma Linda University—training that she has put to good use as a dean, and in her previous position on the staff of a residential treatment facility for abused and neglected children in southern California. 

Horn is now starting her seventh year at PUC, and sees her role at Winning Hall as a mentor and life coach, rather than just a residential supervisor. She is known to encourage a sense of family among the ladies of Winning, and many of the residents have come to see her as a welcoming and dependable confidant. “As a teacher you get the academic side of a student, but we get the whole person,” she says.

In her brief moments of free time, she enjoys a good walk or a long drive.  She also likes to spend her evenings reading, mostly Christian novels and Christian living. Her job affords her little time for social activities. “I have such a weird schedule that for me hanging out with friends is almost like a hobby,” she says.  But for Dean Horn, the chance to make the difference in the life of a young woman who needs her makes it all worthwhile.