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OCTOBER 10, 2008, 8 p.m. -- Earlier this evening, there was a large vegetation fire on the west side of Howell Mountain Road, reportedly near the hairpin turn. Since the wind is blowing south, Pacific Union College was never under evacuation orders. Initially, PUC's gymnasium was designated as an evacuation site for residents, but this request was later canceled. A voluntary evacuation, however, was called only for residents south of the hairpin turn, with instructions to gather at the St. Helena High School gymnasium. While Howell Mountain Road was closed south of White Cottage, Old Mountain Road was open in both directions as of 6:40 p.m. The PUC campus was temporarily without power, but by 6:48 p.m. power was restored. PUC will continue to work closely with law enforcement officials to receive regular updates on the fire and ensure the safety of our campus. In case of a fire, PUC has an emergency evacuation plan that was reviewed and updated this past summer. For questions regarding tonight's fire or for information on road access, please contact the PUC Department of Public Safety at (707) 965-6551....

On Sunday evening, October 5, more than 300 guests attended an exclusive piano concert in honor of Mrs. Margrit Mondavi and the memory of her late husband, Robert. Piano Fantasia, sponsored by Pacific Union College and held at Paulin Hall, paid tribute to the Mondavi's visionary leadership and passion for music arts in the Napa Valley."Margrit, this is a woman who has touched my heart—she is so dear to me, and the chance to honor her is the most exciting thing on earth," said master of ceremony Asher Raboy during his welcome. Raboy is director of music for the Napa Valley Symphony and faculty in the PUC music department. "If there are arts happening, not only did she put her time and money into it, but she put her beautiful spirit, her joy, her love and made the whole thing a glorious experience."The intimate concert welcomed award-winning pianists Rebecca Bogart, Elben Capule, Alex Chien, Daniel Glover, Hugo Kitano, Mack McCray, William Wellborn. The concert celebrated a range of experience and age; three of the performers are young students in elementary and junior high school and college."The amount of talent on the stage—and to think it's basically in our community. It's...

This year the Social Work Forum, an organization of the social work program at Pacific Union College, is renewing its efforts to encourage students to vote — and help them get registered and to the polls. Some are predicting increased voting of "youth voters," and the Forum wants to make that a reality at least on our campus. In the all-school colloquy program on October 2, president Richard Osborn spoke about voting, the history both of Constitutional amendments affecting voting rights and the Adventist position on voting, and some guidelines he strives to use in his voting decisions. Osborn then introduced social work professor Monte Butler and student Alisa Jacobo, who detailed the Forum's movement to encourage voting. When talking about the program's mission, Butler said, "For many of us in the social work program, you can hardly read Christ's message to us without saying we're called to make this world a better place." In voting, he added, "We need to have influence on who gets elected." As they have in past years, the Forum this year set up a voter registration booth at the beginning of the new school year. "We had lots of people come by and say,...

Each new school year brings a myriad of new students, but also some new professional faces. This year, several new people have joined the faculty and the enrollment team at PUC. Ismail Akman, M.S.W., and Sylvana George, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., have both joined the social work program as assistant professors. Akman teaches part-time and works as a medical social worker at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa. George also teaches part-time and works for two parole units with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, providing individual and group therapy to parolees. Clay Burnett, B.S., is a new enrollment counselor. He comes to PUC from Arkansas, where he worked at Ozark Adventist Academy. Cambria Wheeler, B.A., who was a drama program intern for PUC’s English department last year, is also a new enrollment counselor. Visual arts welcomes Alexander Carpenter, M.A., Melissa Pratt, M.F.A., and Rodney Vance, M.F.A. Carpenter, an instructor, will teach art history. He is also a new media consultant and the editor of the Spectrum magazine online blog. Pratt is an assistant professor with filmmaking experience and teaches in the film and television program. Vance, associate professor, heads up the film and television program. He has been...

Bill Atkinson was a member of the original Macintosh team at Apple Computer, designing much of the initial Macintosh user interface and writing some of their original software. Now Atkinson is pursuing his life-long passion of exploring and photographing nature, and he presents his “Within the Stone” photography exhibit at the Rasmussen Art Gallery in Angwin on October 4. “Within the Stone,” also the title of Atkinson’s recent photography book, highlights the photographer’s passion for nature in a unique, close-up way. The exhibit features photos that reveal astonishing color, form, and hidden landscapes in the surfaces of art-quality polished stones. “By photographing cut and polished rocks he has created an extensive collection of evocative images that look more like abstract paintings than photographs,” writes Robert Hutchinson. As a successful photographer and fine art printmaker, Atkinson also teaches workshops and has presented to over three hundred photographers. His work has shown in exhibits in California, Colorado, Oregon and New York, and he has been featured in various publications. Atkinson will be present at the exhibit opening for an artist’s talk. The opening takes place at Rasmussen Art Gallery on the Pacific Union College campus on Saturday, October 4, 7-9 p.m. The...