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Live piano music floats over the audience’s heads. The spotlight floods the stage, and a redheaded maid in chic black and white appears to exclaim, “Here it is the middle of August and the coldest day of the year. It’s simply freezing; the dogs are sticking to the sidewalks; can anybody explain that?” Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth” is PUC’s latest stage production; and though it is showing on a small, somewhat unremarkable stage, its array of comic wit and incisively thought-provoking questions transcends the venue to move and delight audiences. “The Skin of Our Teeth” sports some of the same cast and directing team that produced last spring’s “Fiddler on the Roof” at Lincoln Theater. Students Cammie Wheeler, Tim Wolcott, and Rachel Reeves capably take on the leading roles, while other students and faculty play characters that range from a mammoth to a bingo parlor manager. The production is under the expert direction of San Francisco-based director and PUC Resident Artist Mei Ann Teo and dancer and choreographer Casey Delaney. While this production of Wilder’s play keeps viewers laughing and engaged, it also delivers a bundle of powerful and timely messages about humanity and hope; it sends...

Sunday evening, December 3, brought an influx of cookies, guests, and music to the women’s residence halls at the annual Christmas open house. Swags and baubles were rampant throughout the dorms, as girls opened their spiffed-up abodes for friends and strangers to survey. The women’s dorm open house is traditionally one of the most festive occasions of the season on the PUC campus, with resplendent parlors and foyers and many girls banding together to decorate their halls. Hot drinks and decadent treats are provided by each dorm, and all visitors are welcome to mingle and ramble through the halls. The gentlemen of the campus are particularly appreciative of the opportunity to observe the ladies’ excellent decorating techniques, and to enjoy their company in such a cheery holiday setting....

PUC President Richard Osborn has been elected to serve as the vice chair of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU), a Sacramento-based association that represents non-profit, independent higher education in the state. Osborn’s vice chair position will eventually progress to the role of chair of the association, which represents 77 institutions with the state and federal government. Members of the AICCU range in size from Stanford and USC to smaller institutions like PUC. Osborn has experienced the positive networking opportunities that a willingness to be involved can bring to the Adventist educational system, and believes in cultivating these opportunities. "From the time I first began teaching elementary school,” explains Osborn, “I have felt an obligation to give back to my profession and to learn from others by being active in professional organizations. This helps break down barriers we create and helps others understand our church better.”...

At a luncheon on Friday, November 11, Pacific Union College nursing student Jennie Oldenkamp received a $2,000 award as the first recipient of the Hilary Blount RN Scholarship. Hilary Blount Gregory was a registered nurse who lived in the Napa Valley, worked at St. Helena Hospital, and graduated from PUC in 2000. Blount Gregory passed away in a car crash on Silverado Trail on July 4. The scholarship was established by United Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Gary Blount (Hilary’s father) is a physician. Colleagues and administration of the hospital established the scholarship at PUC in recognition of the loss suffered by the family. “I thought it was a wonderful selection,” said Milli Stelling, mother of Blount Gregory. “Hilary was such a dedicated and outstanding nurse, and I think Jennie has so many of her qualities. All of us [Hilary’s father Gary and his wife Lee, and Stelling’s husband, Rob] were very impressed with Jennie.” In an emotional ceremony, Oldenkamp, a cancer survivor, told the assembled family and United Hospital representative Mike Inserra that though the money was really important, even more important to her is the fact that someone believes in her—a single mother of two daughters, aged...

There are some new faculty members inhabiting campus offices these days. We’re delighted to welcome them to the campus and to PUC life. Margo Haskins, professor of early childhood education, has a Ph.D. in education with a major emphasis in child development. She has also lived in four different countries and is writing a book about cross-cultural early childhood education. Bruce Rasmussen, who has a doctorate in music and has taught music since 1981, is our new director of choral and vocal studies. His wife Rosalie, who has a master’s in music, is the director of Paulin Center for the Creative Arts and a professor of music education. Jeni Guth, who graduated from PUC in 2003, now teaches in the nursing department. She completed a pediatric nurse residency at LLU's Children's Hospital and has begun work on her master's in nursing degree. Jimmy Ha and Ross Winkle are both new to the religion department, with Ha (who is also a PUC alumnus) focusing on ethics, philosophy and theology while Winkle teaches Old and New Testament classes. Both Ha and Winkle are doctoral candidates at Andrews University. Stephen Eyer, another PUC alumnus, comes from San Francisco to join the visual arts...