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Jarrod McNaughton received his bachelor’s degree in public relations from Pacific Union College and his Master of Business Administration from the University of La Verne (California). He will present the Commencement address for the Class of 2018 on Sunday, June 17. The service will stream live at puc.edu.When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?I wanted to be a pastor, believe it or not!Instead of theology, you got a bachelor’s degree in public relations, but continued on to get a Master of Business Administration. How do you think the two have worked together in your career? The masters in business was a perfect connector for my undergrad degree and really helped to round me out, bringing the best of both worlds together.What were some of your first impressions of PUC as a student? I honestly didn’t want to attend PUC at first because of a perception I had that turned out to be completely wrong. Attending PUC was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and I wouldn’t change it for the world. From being one of the most beautiful college campuses in the U.S. to its incredible focus on students, PUC...

Pacific Union College, Napa Valley’s only four-year college, will host its annual commencement exercises Friday, June 15, through Sunday, June 17.The college will proudly award 369 associate, bachelor, and master’s degrees to 343 graduates, 49 of whom are from Napa County. The largest departmental groups are the nursing and health sciences (181 graduates from the Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs), business administration (37), biology (23), communication (21), and visual arts (21).In addition, three graduating students are Maxwell Scholars: JJ Reynolds, marketing communication major; John Jung, biology major and pre-med student; and Dominique Townsend, English literature major. Maxwell Scholars are recognized as incoming freshmen for their outstanding academic achievement, and are awarded a renewable scholarship based on their unweighted cumulative GPA and test scores.“We are excited to honor and celebrate our graduates and the future that lies ahead,” says Robert Cushman Jr., PUC president. “I look forward to meeting graduates, families, and friends here on beautiful Howell Mountain, where nature and revelation unite in education.”In the class of 2018, 15 students will graduate summa cum laude; 29 magna cum laude; 58 cum laude; 10 with honors. After California, which is home to 290 graduating seniors, Hawai’i...

“This was a hard year,” said 2017-18 student association president Megan Weems to a packed Dauphinee Chapel. “It was already a transition year with new administration, and then a few weeks into the school year, the valley caught on fire.”Weems was addressing the Pacific Union College student body at the final Colloquy event of the year, focused on the year’s theme, “Family.”“Change takes a while,” she continued. “PUC has a lot of things to improve on, as we all know, but things are going up from here. We’ve laid the foundation and we’re making headway toward something better.”Weems thanked her 2017-18 student association team for loving the campus and demonstrating how a family should behave.“I saw it in their hearts, in the way they interacted with people,” she said. “They just love. And that’s what PUC needed. I was incredibly blessed, and I hope and pray that in something someone did or said at some point this year made you feel a little bit of that heart.”“The SA is you guys, too,” Weems added. “It’s not just the eight or nine people elected; you’re all part of the Student Association. Thank you for this year.”Kenzie Hardy, incoming SA president, addressed...

The Honors Program at Pacific Union College provides classes which depart from a traditional lecture format, encouraging students to develop their analytical thinking, aesthetic appreciation, and their spiritual lives.“Our program is its own complete general education,” explains Dr. Georgina Hill, professor of English and director of the PUC Honors Program. “Though it is a truncated GE, it is also more challenging. Students are expected to think deeply about ideas, theories, and issues, to analyze primary texts and multiple perspectives.”As Hill points out, post-graduate admissions committees recognize that "Honors" on an application is a mark of the applicant’s willingness to focus on learning, to step beyond the comfort zone, to accept a challenge, and to excel."In Honors, I was forced to think critically, defend my positions, and modify them when I was wrong," says Jefferson Richards, science and pre-med Honors student. "Honors played a huge part in building my confidence in my own intelligence and drove me to succeed in all my classes. It forces us to think critically, develop better reading and writing skills, exposes us to new and challenging ideas, and allows us to grow as human beings.”Charles De Guzman, first-year medical student at Loma Linda University, reports "Because...

On Thursday, May 17, Tammy McGuire, professor of communication, and Asher Raboy, resident artist teaching in the department of music headed to the platform of the PUC Church, taking the steps two at a time.“We’re here to acknowledge faculty who have been working on research,” McGuire announced to listeners in the pews. “Some in areas we don’t understand.”There was a ripple of laughter throughout the audience as Raboy returned, “Mostly in areas we don’t understand.”It was just one portion of the annual Awards Colloquy, honoring faculty and students who have accomplished great things academically during the school year.“I told them to not be boring,” admitted Nancy Lecourt, vice president for academic administration. “I think they followed my instructions.”It was obvious McGuire and Raboy were having fun ribbing their colleagues while also recognizing their accomplishments.“You’ve heard of the birds and the bees, but if you take out the bees, you’ll have what Floyd Hayes, professor of biology, has been studying,” McGuire quipped. “There’s also a dolphin in there somewhere.”Both McGuire and Raboy came across their own names in the list, McGuire for her mixed-methods research of online dating; Raboy for his composition of “The Beatitudes,” a cantata which made its world...