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It is an exciting time for Floyd Hayes, professor of biology, as he takes a leading role in a new project to protect nesting grebes, some of northern California’s most elegant fresh water birds. “I'm really excited about the project because I'll be able to spend a lot of time out on Clear Lake getting intimately familiar with these elegant birds,” says Hayes. “[They] have some of the most spectacular courtship displays in the avian world.” Hayes will be responsible for managing $50,800 from a grant from the National Wildlife Federation to monitor and conduct conservation efforts toward breeding grebes at Clear Lake—California’s largest freshwater lake, about two hours’ drive from PUC. He and his collaborators will conduct weekly surveys during the nesting season to locate grebes and measure their reproductive success. A few selected PUC students who are aspiring field biologists will have the unique opportunity to assist Hayes in his research. The team will also post buoys and barriers to break up waves in the vicinity of colonies and reach out to local stakeholders through presentations and distribution of printed materials, which will inform locals of the hazardous impact of boat wakes and recreational fishing on grebes’ floating...

For PUC English professor John McDowell, the long days of summer began in the cool of 4:15 am, local Jordan time. From June 23-July 28, he participated in the Madaba Plains Project at Tall al ‘Umayri, an archaeological dig sponsored jointly by several Seventh-day Adventist colleges and universities. Thanks to a 2010 Herber Grant, McDowell was able to serve as this season’s lead photographer, post online weekly updates, and write articles of creative and human interest. Why might an English professor receive a grant to work as an archaeologist? “I know archaeology is a long way from English,” McDowell says, “but there are artificial divisions. Archaeology is trying to write a story about a past. It’s connected to not only the biblical past, but also our own past. You try to get the story right, as much as possible… it’s fragmentary, you have to put it together.” In the field, sewing the narrative together requires an early start to the day’s labors, due to the scorching dry heat of Jordan. Dig participants sift strata in five-meter-by-five-meter squares—five centimeters at a time. However, before beginning the next level, a top plan must be drawn and numerous measurements taken. After all, once...

This fall quarter, incoming freshmen will enroll at Pacific Union College with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and new schedules. Yet they will still share at least one thing—all will have received and read sustainability activist Annie Leonard’s book, The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health—and a Vision for Change. This jumpstart for college is part of PUC Reads, a new program designed to engage the campus in shared discussion of critical issues. Every spring quarter, PUC Reads will invite PUC faculty, staff, and students—including incoming freshmen—to read a chosen book (this year, The Story of Stuff) over the summer (incoming freshmen will be mailed a copy in advance). Throughout the following school year, the book will be featured as part of the ENGL 101 and COMM 105 curricula, as well as integrated where appropriate into other classes, especially freshmen-level courses. All are encouraged to participate in discussion groups and find ways to connect with others, in order to develop a “learning community.” The year’s emphasis will culminate in a spring colloquy meeting featuring the author or another speaker connected with the book of the year. “It’s a lot...

The Huffington Post this week joined the parade of Internet commentators that have recognized Pacific Union College for excellence in website design. In a brief article on the problems with most higher education websites, Huffington Post writer Randall Munroe singles out puc.edu as one of 25 school sites getting it right. The list of 25 outstanding school websites is from an earlier article posted on EduDemic.com, a website devoted to digital media in higher education, and is the latest such ranking for puc.edu. Earlier commendations come from vandelaydesign.com, an online web design resource; educheckup.com, a video blog about educational websites that devoted an entire episode to puc.edu and gave it an A rating; and eduStyle.net, a site for campus web designers. Launched in its current form in July 2008, PUC's website was produced and is maintained entirely in-house as a cooperative effort by the college's public relations staff. ...

Academically outstanding 7th-9th-graders got their first taste of college life July 25-30 at PUC’s PacificQuest, an annual program designed to expose middle school students to college-level coursework and encourage them to aspire to higher education. Students participated in two courses, a core class and an elective. This year’s core class was Telling Tales, which abandoned written documents to explore history through oral tales, photographs and artistic images, and everyday objects. Students also chose between Pushing Boundaries, an art course that explored non-traditional techniques using graphite, ink brush, charcoal and pastel, and Chemistry, in which students learned a fun way to understand the periodic table and engaged in lab experiments. Both electives challenged students. The goal of Pushing Boundaries was to inspire visual creativity. This was accomplished through unusual activities, such as drawing standing up with ink brushes attached to the end of long sticks and paper on the floor, copying an image that begins blurry and becomes progressively clearer, and drawing expressive lines. Deangela Samonte a ninth-grader from San Francisco Adventist School, recalls drawing expressive lines with her feet. “It’s not as easy as it looks,” she says. Instructor Thomas Morphis, a fine art professor at PUC, comments, “[The students]...