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“People say the Nobel Prize is the stamp of achievement in the science world,” said Sydney Brenner. “But I don’t think it’s the prize that really counts; it’s what we do in our scientific lives.” Brenner, presenting a lively sense of humor in his gruff British accent, gave a lecture on How to Win a Nobel Prize at Pacific Union College on Monday night, January 30. He was the 8th scientist to present for the Breakthroughs in Science lecture series, coordinated by the biology department. Brenner, age 75, won the Nobel Prize in 2002 for his work on genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death, and he has a long history of highly influential research, including pioneer work in genetics and molecular biology and discoveries that have been significant for medical research. In a lecture that included scientific references but was also peppered with humorous anecdotes and illustrations to keep the broad range of attendees engaged, Brenner talked about the discovery and exploration of DNA, the issue of contemporary people’s “misplaced sense that we can achieve everything by high technology when we actually just need to think practically,” and the importance of realizing that “you are much more...

There’s a campaign underway in the Campus Ministries Center—a connection campaign. Though the chaplain’s office and Campus Ministries Center has a central location between the church and the Campus Center, the office doesn’t have a lot of visibility; and this year the various ministries leaders working there began to feel a little lonely. New campus chaplain Roy Ice, assistant chaplains Dustin Comm and Christy Ward, and the world missions and campus ministries leaders have been working energetically to connect personally with students and to be actively involved in campus life. But they feel that their ministry will be more effective if their office is a welcoming, happening place. “Before this year,” explains Comm, “a lot of students didn’t even know where the Campus Ministries Center was. Now we want it to be a place where the students feel like they can come and hang out.” So over Thanksgiving break, Ice and Comm went to work on some interior renovations. They took down old partitions, opening up the center office area, and painted one long wall a deep olive green. The addition of some simple leather furniture, black-and-white student photography of “hidden crosses,” and slick message boards have given the office...

A college is always tickled to welcome back its own alumni as faculty and staff members. So PUC is delighted to see Class of 1998 alumna Julie Z. Lee stepping into the position of public relations director. Lee also worked in the public relations office as a student writer and then as media relations coordinator following graduation, so she’s no stranger to the department. The wife of PUC visual arts professor Milbert Mariano, Lee most recently worked as director of communications for Maranatha Volunteers International in Sacramento. Meanwhile, after three and a half years as the public relations director, Michelle Rai (also a PUC alumna) has entered the teaching world as a full-time faculty member, joining Rosemary Collins and James Chase in the PUC communication department....

The music calendar at PUC is sprinkled generously with events from jazz band concerts to senior recitals; but this year a special concert series has joined the line-up. It’s the Rieger Organ Concert Series, featuring ten guest concert organists of impressive caliber who come from as close as Southern California and as far as Germany. These top-notch musicians will perform on the PUC Church Rieger organ, one of the largest mechanical organs in the western states. The organ was crafted by Rieger Orgelbau in Austria, then shipped to California and reassembled in the Angwin church in 1981. Since then, many famous organists have plied its 85 ranks and 58 stops, filling the building with grand expanses of sound....

As a follow-up to the emphasis last year’s student body placed on active involvement in college affairs and open discussion between students and administrators, several PUC students have established a new PUC PodCast radio program this year. The official purpose of the PUC Radio is that “by discussing the latest happenings and hot issues on-campus, we will become a forum for on-going dialogue between PUC students that up until this time has been non-existent.” The episodes are devoted to “PUC news and headlines from a distinctively unique angle, with topics and guests that are important to PUC.” Guests to the show have included Campus Security director Matt Garcia, college president Richard Osborn, and women’s volleyball coach Rhonda Ramos. And the thousands of listeners and active student feedback indicate that this new program is effectively fulfilling its purpose!...