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The mission of Pacific Union College has always been to offer a quality, Christ centered education. The mission statement is to the point: "Our mission is to offer an excellent and distinctive Christian education designed to prepare our students for productive lives of useful service and uncompromising integrity." In short, PUC's goal is to graduate students who are like Christ. Of course, such a goal is idealistic. Still, it reflects the faith of our college's founders and the dream we share for all of our schools. A brief stroll on PUC's campus--stopping to chat with various students--makes it clear that the mission is alive and well today. When the board of trustees met on February 28, it was encouraged to see how the college's commitment to that mission remains central. The board was also presented with some harsh realities. It is increasingly apparent that PUC lacks the financial strength to overcome an encroaching dilemma: the desperate need for entry-level housing for faculty and staff. The Pacific Union certainly chose one of the most beautiful locations in the world when it purchased Edwin Angwin's health resort in 1909 for PUC's campus. Two days later, Ellen White surveyed the newly purchased property...

The National Weather Service presented a 50-Year-Length-of-Service Award to the physics department at Pacific Union College on Thursday, March 1. Four representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce flew into Angwin from their headquarters in Monterey for the informal ceremony. The institutional award was given to Bill Mundy, professor of physics at PUC and official weather observer for the National Weather Service Cooperative Observing Program, formally established by the Organic Act of 1890 with the purpose of taking meteorological observations to establish and record the climate conditions of the U.S. The award commemorates the voluntary service which PUC has provided the community, state, and nation since 1950. Dr. Mundy has been tracking Angwin weather for the program for 25 years. At 5 p.m. every day, Dr. Mundy and a hired student check the low and high temperature of the day with an electronic instrument provided by the National Weather Service. On rainy days, they climb to the roof of Chan Shun Hall, the chemistry and physics building on campus, where they keep a special bucket to measure rainfall. At the end of each month, the recorded information is sent to the headquarters in...

Just because the weather heats up doesn’t mean your brain cools down. That’s why Pacific Union College is offering a summer feast of quality courses, workshops, and seminars—and all at half price. And while tuition and housing are half price throughout the summer, PUC’s nationally recognized quality remains the same. This opportunity is ideal for everyone, including • First-time college students looking to get a head start. • Experienced students looking to take general education courses. • Teachers needing in-service training. • Adults looking for new challenges and creative adventures. Classes are offered in condensed and convenient one- to six-week sessions, and a wide variety of courses are offered....

During his last ceremony as acting president of Pacific Union College, Dr. Malcolm Maxwell conferred degrees on 338 graduates at commencement exercises on Sunday, June 17. In addition to handing out diplomas, Maxwell relinquished leadership of the college to commencement speaker and incoming president, Dr. Richard Osborn. Maxwell presented Osborn with the keys to the presidential office and commended Osborn for “his natural friendliness, his openness, his sensitivity to others and their needs, his intellectual rigor, and his honesty.” Osborn comes to PUC with vast experience as a teacher, administrator, writer, researcher, and historian. In passing the keys to his successor, Maxwell ends his eighteen-year term as president, the longest of any previous PUC president. He does not intend to disappear from college life, however, and will return to the classroom following a sabbatical for graduate study. Though Osborn accepted the keys during Sunday’s ceremony, he will officially begin his term as PUC’s 20th president on July 1, 2001....

Pacific Union College hosted the annual meeting of the Association of Seventh day Adventist Librarians (ASDAL), June 19-24, 2001. More than fifty librarians from SDA colleges and universitites in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, the Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States attended this special twentieth anniversary conference on the Angwin campus. Seven of ASDAL’s charter members attended the meetings, including Joel Lutes, Public Services Librarian of Nelson Memorial Library. Also present was Adu Worku, chair of library services at PUC and president elect of ASDAL. The theme of the conference, “Bridging the Past and the Future” provided an opportunity for the librarians to reflect on the history of the association. A desire to combine past experience with present goals to create a more dynamic future fueled the six-day event. The first meeting of ASDAL was held at PUC in 1980 when a group of Seventh-day Adventist librarians gathered to dialogue, plan, and initiate a professional organization. Twenty years later, attendees left the anniversary conference inspired to continue their work fulfilling the mission of Adventist higher eduacation....