Over 30 Pacific Union College psychology students and faculty attended the 93rd Western Psychological Association (WPA) convention in Reno, Nev., April 25-28, to present undergraduate research projects. This year, a PUC group was awarded the top honor in the Psi Chi poster session, which included an accompanying cash prize.The topics covered humor in political advertisements; learning and memory; racial and ethnic perspectives in politics; and social psychology, among others. All of PUC's projects were accepted into the prestigious Psi Chi poster session this year, an honor reserved for selected projects from students who are members of the international honor society in psychology.Participation with professional conferences gives students an opportunity to present their research before a wider, professional audience. They also provide students with a chance to attend lectures by prominent psychologists, learn about recent research in the field, network with professionals from throughout the region, and prepare themselves for careers in psychology."Going to WPA gives us the experience of presenting our research, gaining more opportunities for the future, and keeping up to date with developments in the field," said Holly Batchelder, a senior psychology major whose group's research on humorous political advertisements in the 2008 election won the Psi Chi...

Social business strategist Michael Brito will present a social media seminar on Friday, May 17, from 1-1:50 p.m. in Pacific Union College’s Scales Chapel. Admission is free. The seminar will address how social media has changed the business landscape and offer guidance and suggestions to harness the power of social relationships. A discussion of Brito’s first book, Smart Business, Social Business: A Playbook for Social Media in Your Organization, will be included as a step by step playbook to humanize business operations to effectively engage with the social consumer. A book signing reception will follow. As senior vice president of Social Business Strategy at Edelman Digital, Brito currently helps technology companies drive internal and external strategic initiatives that better address the social customer. Brito has worked for major companies in Silicon Valley, including Sony Electronics, Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo! and Intel, working in various marketing, social media and community management roles. Brito’s visit to the Napa Valley is the result of an invitation by PUC’s social media students who are using Smart Business, Social Business as their main textbook. “This is our inaugural social media class at PUC and we are thrilled to host one of the prominent leaders in the industry,”...

Pacific Union College received a generous donation of cutting-edge laboratory equipment from B&K Precision to allow students in its physics department to acquire data more effectively and enhance learning.The donation consisted of a Model 2542B 100MHz Digital Oscilloscope, three Model 2540B 60MHz Digital Oscilloscopes, two Model 4005DDS Function Generators, two Model 1803D Frequency Counters, and six Model 2712 Tool Kit DMMs. The instruments have a combined value of over $5,000.Faculty and students alike are excited about the possibilities the new equipment creates for the department's laboratory experiences. Students can know utilize modern, state-of-the-art equipment instead of the reliable, but analog instruments used previously.According to Vola Andrianarijaona, professor of physics, the oscilloscope is "one of the most versatile electrical measuring tool[s] available in the lab." He lists analyzing AC currents, LCR circuits and sound waves as possible activities for students. Bruce Ivey, professor of computer science and physics, also envisions uses for the new oscilloscopes in teaching computer architecture.B&K Precision specializes in creating test and measurement instruments widely used in professional and industry settings, as well as educational laboratories. PUC has used equipment from B&K Precision for decades with "overwhelming success and reliability," according to James Robertson, associate professor of physics.PUC's...

PUC celebrated Green Week 2013 through various on-campus activities. Events included a fashion show featuring upcycled clothing, a “design your own” Green Week t-shirt, and a demonstration on gardening, where participants built their own mini tabletop gardens. On Wednesday evening, a screening was held for the 2011 documentary The Island President, which tells the story of the president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, and his fight to save the low-lying country from the rising sea. On Thursday morning, the director and associate producer of the film joined the PUC family for the Colloquy Speaker Series. Jon Shenk, award-winning documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and founder of Actual Films in San Francisco, and Craig Hickerson, ’10, a PUC alumnus working as the associate producer at Actual Films, discussed the documentary. “We’re thrilled to have a speaker here to talk to us about how you can be thinking about being green on an international scale,” said Lisa Paulson, PUC vice president for student services and dean of students. Shenk remembered discussing the vision for the film before work began on it—“to make a documentary that can facilitate a new kind of conversation about the environment and the problems we face.” Prior to 2008, the...

Karl Haffner, senior pastor at the Kettering Adventist Church in Ohio and author of a dozen devotional books, presented the 2013 Heubach Lecture on April 13. Commemorating the recently deceased Seventh-day Adventist pastor Morris Venden, Haffner titled his lecture, Keeping Venden’s Voice Alive: Sanctification by Faith Alone. Venden, the celebrated Adventist pastor and Voice of Prophecy member, was a very influential figure in Haffner’s life and ministry. “Venden pastored the PUC church for many years; he was a strong advocate of both justification and sanctification by faith alone,” commented Leo Ranzolin, department of religion chair and Heubach Lectureship Committee chair. In his lecture, Haffner outlined the three aspects to our salvation, drawing from a sermon given by Venden at PUC in 1976: “Salvation from our past sins—we call it justification. Salvation from our present sins—we call this sanctification. Salvation from a world of sin when Jesus comes—we call this glorification.” Haffner went on to examine each of these aspects, positing that we have no trouble accepting justification and glorification. “But somehow,” he said, “we have gotten the idea that in santification, the middle aspect of salvation, that it is faith plus effort, faith plus works.” “The Bible is not against...