Archives

On February 15, an estimated 2,000 spectators, braving a downpour of rain, lined Howell Mountain Road to catch a glimpse of World Champion Lance Armstrong and the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. This year, the race passed directly in front of Pacific Union College, drawing hordes of students, faculty, and staff to the street with signs, cameras, and umbrellas. Some PUC alumni made a special trip to Angwin for the occasion. Kit Kohler, class of 2003, and Jakki Raines-Kohler, class of 2005, got into the spirit of the tour by traveling from their Palo Alto home to Angwin by train, ferry, and bus; the last leg was a grueling and wet bike ride up Howell Mountain Road. Several alumni traveled from as far away as Colorado to watch the event with their alma mater. To read more about the Amgen in the Napa Valley, read the Napa Valley Register story. See a gallery of Amgen's ride through Angwin. The Amgen Tour of California, a professional cycling race, began in Davis on February 14 and concludes in Escondido on Sunday, February 22. Sixteen of the world's best professional teams race over a statewide course of more than 750 miles. Stage One...

Pacific Union College's weekly colloquy program has long been a time for students and faculty to congregate and enjoy fellowship, dynamic speaking, and music. This quarter, however, some changes have been made to the format. These changes, including cutting the praise singing, are part of the administration's plan to make colloquy a more distinctive experience. "By having colloquy in the church, the assumption is that the service is always religious, but we are trying to deal with a broad range of programs," says President Richard Osborn. "We felt that by having a more quickly paced program, greater interest would develop with a focus on broad campus and community issues. I'd like to see colloquy be a time when our entire college community gets together to hear news about campus, to gain new perspectives on social, political, and spiritual issues, share the joys and sadness in our community, which we saw at the memorial service for the Newton 4, and comes together to support each other." A new feature entitled "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" has replaced the musical segment. During this time, our academic dean Nancy Lecourt dialogues with various students and faculty concerning rather astonishing bits of departmental...

From in front of the Capitol to a big-screen TV in the Campus Center, people from PUC watched with interest as the United States welcomed its 44th president. Of course, most of the students, faculty and staff had to watch the events from afar. Some spent the morning at the Cameo Cinema in St. Helena, which broadcast the event live, free to the community. Others watched on the big screen in the cafeteria or in the Campus Center. But several individuals from campus traveled across the country for the event. Aubyn Fulton, professor of psychology, was in D.C. in person with his family. Student Chelse Chavez was there as well by last-minute luck, with former student Adrianne McNaughton; and student Desiree Quijano was present as well. Fulton and his wife and three children arrived in D.C. Sunday afternoon and caught (from a bit of a distance) the second half of the concert and speakers at the Lincoln Memorial. "The highlight for me was Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singing 'This Land is Your Land' which literally took my breath way." On Monday, they participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day service projects. Tuesday morning the family got up at...

In the fall of 2008, Pacific Union College brought back the language course in beginning Mandarin Chinese, now taught by native Mandarin speaker Jun Liu, who is originally from Beijing. The class is now in its second quarter, and the group studying the language enjoyed a special celebration in honor of Chinese New Year's Eve, the most widely-celebrated of the traditional Chinese holidays. Liu hosted the class and some friends, including biology professor Brian Wong and modern languages department chair Sylvia Rasi-Gregorruti, at her home on Sunday, January 25. After some delicious home-cooked Chinese food and sweets, the students learned how to play mah jong, a game that originated in China and is played with tiles.This celebration was one aspect of the class's goal to explore elements of Chinese culture, in addition to learning practical usage of everyday Mandarin. The third section of this year's Mandarin course will be offered in the spring quarter....

For the small theatre company at Pacific Union College, January brought a memorable week inspired by the expertise and creativity of three theatre professionals - an artistic theatre director from Serbia, the dean of the CalArts school of theater, and a co-artistic director of Theatre of Yugen. On January 4, Dijana Milosevic, artistic director of Dah Theatre Research Centre of Belgrade, Serbia, did a cast workshop on campus. She worked with the group in PUC's Dramatic Arts Society (DAS) that is preparing to perform "Clay Feet/Wire Wings: The Space Between" in February. Two days later, DAS enjoyed a lecture and demonstration with Erik Ehn and Jubilith Moore. Ehn is a playwright and dean of the School of Theatre at the California Institute of the Arts and has a long list of playwriting and drama leadership roles, including working with Theatre of Yugen and helping found the Regional Alternative Theatre Movement. Jubilith Moore is co-artistic director of Theatre of Yugen, an experimental theatre company in San Francisco, The tie between these, as seen in a January 9 open process session at PUC, was the Theatre of Yugen's week-long residency at PUC. During their week on the PUC campus, Theatre of Yugen...