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Most of the Pacific Union College students who go on to medical and dental school attend Loma Linda University. In the spring of 2008, 19 of the 168 students graduating from the LLU School of Medicine were from PUC - more than from any other single school (Andrews and Walla Walla came in second at 16 each). Also, 19 of the 92 DDS graduates from the LLU School of Dentistry were PUC alumni. Alum Jennifer Clark was the 6,000th LLU dentistry graduate. No doctors march from PUC, since the school's focus is undergraduate degrees. But for a long time PUC has taken pride in giving pre-medical and pre-dental students a strong preparatory education. The statistics indicate this is turning out well. PUC graduates have high rates of acceptance to pre-professional programs, and our medical school acceptance rates are in the top ten percent in the nation. PUC senior biology students have also averaged in the 93rd percentile over the past 10 years on the national Major Field Test....

Christmas vacation found several Pacific Union College staff members headed to Egypt with a group of PUC Preparatory School students. The group's goal was to bring some sparkle and service to the Adventist churches in Egypt - where the conference is small and faces a challenging existence. The group spent time at various churches, leading out in the preaching, music, and Vacation Bible School style programs for the kids. The students were a part of it all - even the preaching - supported by sponsors, including youth pastor Jon Thornton, vice president for advancement Pam Sadler, marketing and enrollment counselor Scott Callender and his wife Jenn, and Prep teacher Heather Denton. Sponsors were impressed with the work the students put in. "They have a spirit of service that all ... can be very proud of," Thornton said. "The students were great," Callender recalled. "I was especially proud of them [when they preached] because had to work with a translator, and they did really well." The churches in Egypt are tiny and few. To go to church on Sabbath, the members basically have to take a work day off; Egypt's "holy day" that everybody has off is Friday. "They really have...

"I'm at an age when many professional musicians are jaded," Asher Raboy reflects. "The talent, enthusiasm, caring, intellect, youth and energy of the [PUC] students have taken me away from the jaded and kept my own approach to music fresh and fun." That's why Raboy, long-time director of the Napa Valley Symphony and part-time director and music teacher at Pacific Union College since 2006, is now working with PUC's music department as a full-time resident artist. In fact, he says, being at PUC has "restored a lot of my faith and taken the cynicism away - it's taken about 10 years off my life." Raboy's impressive music career includes serving as the music director of the Napa Valley Symphony since 1990; traveling as a guest conductor and conducting ballets, symphonies, and youth orchestras; and composing, lecturing, writing, and teaching. Raboy continues to compose and direct; he just had a piece played in Binghamton, New York, with another scheduled for eight February performances by the Toronto Symphony. At PUC, he has created a community of music and learning and students are anxious to be a part of it. "Asher Raboy is the most amazing teacher I have ever had," said senior...

Bringing together the work of three minimalists, Traces & Margins opens a world of encaustics, mixed media, and paint from Emily Clawson, Eleanor Wood, and Rebecca Archey. Their work will show at Rasmussen Art Gallery in Angwin from January 10 through February 15, with the opening reception on Saturday, January 10, 7-9 p.m. Admission is free of charge. Emily Clawson, a member of International Encaustic Artists, uses imagery from the natural world in her encaustics. She is a former Pacific Union College student and a graduate of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco; she is represented by Tercera Gallery in Palo Alto and received first place in non-representational painting at the 2008 ArtSpan Benefit Show in San Francisco. Eleanor Wood works in mixed media and shows her work at Don Soker Contemporary Art in San Francisco and across Europe and the United States. Rebecca Archey, another California artist and a PUC graduate, will be showing some of her vibrantly colorful minimalist paintings. The Rasmussen Art Gallery regular hours are 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The gallery is located on the campus of Pacific Union College at One Angwin Avenue in Angwin. For more information, call 707-965-6303....

United States Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black is speaking at Pacific Union College on March 7, 2009 for the Heubach Lectureship series. The lecture is in the PUC Church sanctuary and starts at 5 p.m. A book signing will follow. Admission is free of charge. Black was elected the 62nd Chaplain to the Senate in June 2003. He is the first African-American, the first Seventh-day Adventist, and the first from a military background to hold this position, and he has also gained a reputation as one of the nation's foremost speakers. Prior to his appointment, Black had a long career in the U.S. Navy, starting as Navy Chaplain for the Fleet Religious Support Activity in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1976. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and ended his 27-year career in the military as Chief of Navy Chaplains. Black's 2006 autobiography, From the Hood to the Hill: A Story of Overcoming, follows Black's beginnings in the Baltimore ghetto to the halls of Congress. Black has also received awards such as the NAACP Renowned Service Award and the Benjamin Elijah Mays Distinguished Leadership Award, in addition to the personal decorations, unit awards, and service medals he earned as a...