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At the center of academic success at Pacific Union College is the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC). The TLC provides students with comprehensive academic support, helping students develop competencies that directly enhance their success in the classroom. Jennifer Wareham Best, TLC director, envisions what is necessary for student success. "My role is multifaceted and has an arm in student persistence, academic support programs, and academic problem-solving," she says. Wareham Best heads a TLC team that offers services such as academic mentoring and advising, group and individual tutoring sessions, and workshops and services catering to frustrated learners and students with learning disabilities. It is Wareham Best’s job not only to devise programs to support her vision to help students succeed, but also to hire people who love students and have a passion for their success to run these programs. “The things I like best about my job,” she says, “are strategic planning for student success and seeing the light come on in students’ eyes when these strategies work for them.” Valerie Yingling, TLC tutoring coordinator, is responsible for hiring and training student tutors who facilitate group study sessions for a wide variety of classes and also work one-on-one with students who...

In a ceremony held at the David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Debra Winkle, the director of Med Tech/LVN to RN programs for Pacific Union College, was made an Honorary Commander of the 60th Medical Group’s Inpatient Operations Squadron at David Grant USAF Medical Center. Winkle coordinates the nursing program for PUC that allows Licensed Vocational Nurses to complete a degree and become Registered Nurses, and she runs a branch of this program for medical technicians at Travis. It's the only on-base nursing program in the Air Force, and it's given many Med Techs a chance to complete a degree — despite full-time jobs, families, and deployments — which has the potential to move their careers forward, both in and out of the military. So on April 15, when Colonel Lynne Taylor, 60th Inpatient Operations Squadron commander, presented Winkle with the squadron flag and Commander's pin, 60 IPTS personnel gave Winkle a standing ovation. The goal of the Honorary Commander program is to nurture a link between civilian supporters and senior leadership at Travis AFB. According to the program guide, Honorary Commanders can be nominated from a variety of community affiliations to "assure an exchange of...

The usual fair weather and crowds of well-wishers signaled the 2010 commencement weekend, starting on Friday evening, June 11. Graduates, 290 in all, were honored and recognized in various ways throughout the weekend and received 305 degrees on Sunday, June 13. The weekend began with the Friday evening Consecration Service in the church sanctuary, featuring music, a class video, class remembrance, and speaker Bradley Gienger, a religion major of the Class of 2010 who's headed next to Andrews University for his Master of Divinity degree. Gienger also recognized religion professor Jimmy Ha, who passed away from cancer last month, and students Boaz Pak and Chong Shin, who died in 2008 in a car accident and would have been graduating with this class. On Sabbath, a professor and four senior class officers offered "Reflections" for Sabbath School and speaker Jose Rojas presented the sermon at the Baccalaureate Service. Rojas is the Director of the Office of Volunteer Ministries for the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. He's also a musician, author, and preacher and has assisted two United States presidents with domestic policy initiatives for humanitarian leadership. His topic for the sermon was "You are the Salt of the Earth." The...

"Taking Haiti Home," young filmmaker Tim Wolfer's first major production, tells a story from on the ground in a post-earthquake Haitian orphanage called La Maison des Enfants de Dieu. Wolfer was in the middle of the school year as a film and television student at Pacific Union College when the earthquake hit Haiti. Wolfer posted a note on Facebook asking who would sponsor him to go to Haiti… and packed his bags. Now, people often ask him why that was his response. "I honestly don't know," he says. Wolfer had the background for such an adventure, though: He's filmed internationally for humanitarian projects, starting about two years ago when Maranatha Volunteers International, a non-profit that coordinates construction of urgently needed buildings, invited him to do film work in Mozambique. He's also done film work for the Seventh-day Adventist World Church as well as small non-profits, taking him to four countries in Africa, a couple in South America, and Bangladesh. So eight hours later when an anonymous donor funded Wolfer and a friend's flight, it wasn't entirely outside his realm of experience. "All those other experiences helped me build up to this one," Wolfer says. Four days later they were on...

For photographers at all levels, Pacific Union College's summer classes at the Albion Field Station provide a rare opportunity for plein-air photography, complete with family-friendly lodging and dining at the field station. The classes run July 11-23 and are taught by Marlow Burgess and Gilbert Muth, offering one- or two-week sessions with three different "tracks" for different areas or levels of skill. The course can be taken for college credit. Participants in the classes are lodged in the cabins at the field station, and meals are provided at the station cafeteria. To learn more about the sessions and amenities, visit www.puc.edu/albion. To make reservations, call 707-937-5440....