Over thirty years ago, PUC’s Education Days was founded as a convenient way of connecting graduating education majors with potential employers in both the Adventist and the public school systems. PUC’s third party administrator and field services coordinator, Debra Murphy, explained, “The goal of the dinner is to introduce our teaching candidates to future employers in a fairly intimate setting. We hope to foster conversations that ultimately lead to our students securing jobs after graduation.” To ensure a wide variety of employers are present, superintendents and principals from all across the Pacific Union Conference are invited to the event. In all, five states are represented at the Education Days dinner including California, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. A job fair also took place the following day, allowing students who could not attend the dinner to speak to potential employers in a less formal setting as well. In addition to a variety of representatives from the Adventist education system, public school officials also seek out potential employees from PUC. Murphy noted, “School districts we have directed teaching contracts with include Napa, St. Helena, Calistoga, Santa Rosa, Pope Valley, Konocti, Lake County, Fairfield, and Vallejo, as well as principals from the local...

Thursday, Feb. 7, marked the PUC men’s and women’s basketball team senior night, a time when senior student athletes are recognized for their contributions to the college’s athletics program. Basketball is not the only sport to hold senior night celebrations, however; throughout the year, the men’s and women’s cross country, men’s soccer, and women’s volleyball teams all host their own ceremonies to show their appreciation for their respective student athletes. “Senior Night was really nice,” says junior volleyball player Katie Williams. “We have four seniors this year, so all of us underclassmen made them posters and little gift bags for the night. Our coach also made sure to include a short story about each senior team member as a way of recognizing what she has done to make our team what it is. The way everyone was included and honored was a really special way of showing how much we’ll miss them after graduation.”Other teams feature different versions of celebrations. Cross country runner and senior Nephtali Marin noted, “Instead of having a traditional senior night like other teams, the men’s cross country team usually holds a banquet instead.” Organizing gifts and sharing a meal as a team are just a...

The faculty of the department of visual arts at Pacific Union College invites the community to the opening reception of their 2019 faculty art show in the Rasmussen Art Gallery on the PUC campus in Angwin. The reception begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16, and is free and open to the public. The art will be available for viewing through March 17. Faculty with art in this year’s show are: Amy Cronk (mixed media); Cheryl Daley (ceramics); Jayme de la Torre (sculptural assemblage); Brian Kyle (photography); Milbert Mariano (design); Bob Pappas (ceramics); Cliff Rusch (photography); Tom Turner (watercolors).“We are a department filled with diverse faculty, specializing in different disciplines, who make the student experience at PUC one of a kind,” says Rajeev Sigamoney, department chair and associate professor of film and television production. “Coming to the faculty show allows students to get to know our faculty better, as well as exposing both them and the community to what we’re all about here in the department of visual arts.”This 2019 event is the 25th annual faculty art show, highlighting the diverse talent and experience of those who shape the experiences of the next generation of artists.“Faculty in visual arts...

A previously undocumented letter penned by Ellen G. White, co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has been discovered in the archives at Pacific Union College. Last week, several scholars reviewed the letter and confirmed the incomplete document was indeed in Ellen White’s handwriting. “Judging from the scholarly stir that followed, I would say that is a significant historical find,” says Katharine Van Arsdale, PUC’s official archivist and the document’s discoverer.Four years ago, Van Arsdale found what appeared to be a letter from Ellen G. White in a small metal cabinet designed to store maps. She noted the letter, dated May 9, 1882--one month after PUC began officially holding classes--was incomplete and lacked a signature, although someone had written in pencil the author was Mrs. White.“I regularly took that letter with me into classes as one of several artifacts illustrating the history of PUC and the stores of its archives,” Van Arsdale says. “I would show it to the students as something ‘probably’ written by Ellen White.”Last week, Van Arsdale presented to a class of freshmen for James Wibberding, associate professor of applied theology and biblical studies. During the class, she asked Wibberding if he happened to know, from the course...

In late January 2019, several PUC classes assisted local agencies with a government-required Point In Time (PIT) count of the homeless in Clearlake, California. Students in Human Behavior in the Social Environment developed their basic client assessment skills; those in Program Evaluation conducted research on an existing community program; and students in Statistical Methods studied how statistics can provide insight into local communities and play a role in securing and directing resources. The Principles of Counseling class was invited to take part for hands-on experience.“Research shows when we take classroom skills and bring them into real world experiences, our students, college, and community all benefit,” says Christy Mantz, instructor of social work and service-learning coordinator. “Students are able to see a need first-hand, utilize critical thinking skills to solve community or agency problems, and then act using theories they’ve learned in the classroom to address the community issues.”According to Mantz, in 2018, Lake County reported 615 homeless persons to Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the federal entity which requires the PIT count. Of those 615, 591 were unsheltered due to a lack of emergency or temporary shelter in Lake County.As the students surveyed people experiencing homelessness, Mantz says they heard...