Pacific Union College welcomes Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Ph.D., as the featured speaker for the 2016 Frank A. and Florine A. Longo Lecture Series. McEntyre will speak at 7:30 p.m., in Scales Chapel at Pacific Union College, on Thursday, February 18. Marilyn McEntyre, Ph.D., is a writer and professor of medical humanities at UC Davis and the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program in California. Her writing has appeared in The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Books and Culture, Sojourners, Presbyterians Today, Comment, Conversations, Academic Medicine, and a range of academic journals. She has authored over a dozen books, with her most recent, A Faithful Farewell, published in spring 2015. A scholar and retreat leader, McEntyre is a frequent lecturer on issues of medicine and literature. She hopes to foster life-giving conversations about the things that matter most. Her lecture, “Peace, Love, and a Few Good Verbs,” will explore strategies for the stewardship of words, a stewardship that keeps words honed and sharp for precise thinking. According to McEntyre, “Word choices are moral choices. The words we choose have consequences in our lives and others’.” Her lecture will reflect on how good stewardship of words—precise, lively, accountable verbs in particular—can help us foster...

American cellist Cicely Parnas performs for Pacific Union College’s Fine Art Series on Sunday, January 24. Parnas is recognized for bringing “velvety sound, articulate passagework and keen imagination” to her performances (The New York Times). She has studied with cellists Peter Wiley and Ronald Feldman, and earned an Artist Diploma from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Ms. Parnas performs on a 1712 Giovanni Grancino cello. Parnas, the granddaughter of renowned cellist Leslie Parnas, began playing at age four. Seven years later, she made her concert debut with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra. In 2012, she was the first prize winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. Ms. Parnas has appeared at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Vanguard Concerts, the Jewish Community Alliance, and the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. She has performed with the Long Bay Symphony, the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, and the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, where she gave the world premiere of Jim McGrath’s Concertino for Cello. In 2012, Parnas made her Carnegie Hall concerto debut, performing the Saint-Saëns Concerto with the New York String Orchestra under the baton of Jaime Laredo. She has soloed in...

Pacific Union College is excited to announce theintroduction of an exciting new bachelor’s degree program focused on music composition.The inaugural class will enroll this fall and has already been accredited bythe National Association of Schools of Music. PUC will be the first Adventistcollege or university in North America to offer a program to specifically servestudents interested in this burgeoning field.Building on the firm foundation of a well-establishedundergraduate music program, the new major expands PUC’s music portfolio andcomplements the college’s existing degree in music education and performance.Students can expect to gain a solidfoundation in techniques and current trends associated with the creation of newmusic. Additionally, PUC students will have the unique opportunity to collaboratewith and compose for PUC student filmmakers in the College’s film andtelevision program.“USA Todaydescribed music composition as one of the top 10 fastest growing jobs in theUnited States this decade,” shares Asher Raboy, resident artist of music andassistant department chair. “We created the new major in response toa growing interest in composing among current students and recent graduates.” According to Raboy, current students haveshown a strong desire to compose, to use composition in their capstone courses,and to make composition the focus of their college careers.PUC’s Bachelor of Music...

Providing for a college experience is one of the largest single investments a family will make. Pacific Union College’s resolve to make a Seventh-day Adventist liberal arts education accessible and affordable to all admitted students is stronger than ever. Last year, PUC awarded students over $40 million in aid. We’re excited to announce a new scholarship program for first-time freshmen entering Fall 2016. The PUC Legacy Scholarship recognizes families who have made a PUC education part of their family tradition. Legacy students will receive a $1,500 renewable scholarship if their biological parent or legal guardian attended PUC (see puc.edu/scholarships for criteria). Also beginning in Fall 2016, PUC will offer improved scholarship opportunities to high achieving students. The Maxwell Scholarship, PUC’s highest recognition, will award five first time students renewable full tuition awards (worth approximately $112,000 over four years). PUC’s most prestigious and selective scholarship is based on a combination of academic success, leadership experience, and a commitment to Christian service. Details can be found at puc.edu/maxwellscholar. In addition, PUC’s Academic Achievement and Mostert Christian Leaders scholarship amounts have been increased. All eligible incoming students must have their application materials submitted to the college by March 2 in order to be...

Pacific Union College welcomed back former NASA astronaut Jose Hernández as guest speaker for the November 5th Colloquy Speakers Series. Students from PUC, PUC Preparatory School, and PUC Elementary were inspired by Hernández’s personal journey from the strawberry fields of California’s Central Valley all the way to his 5.7-million-mile voyage with the International Space Station in 2009. Hernández encouraged students to persevere in their lifelong pursuit of ambitious goals. “It’s ok to dream big. It is ok to set very high standards, very high goals for yourselves,” he said to a packed PUC Church. The son of migrant farm workers who traveled with the growing seasons from Michoacán, Mexico to the farmlands of California, Hernández grew up picking fruits and vegetables alongside his brothers and sisters. He didn’t learn to speak English until he was 12. His parents, despite having only a third-grade education themselves, did their best to keep the children in school as much as possible as they moved with the crops. At the age of nine, Hernández discovered his dream of becoming an astronaut when he watched the final Apollo lunar mission on TV. “I would go outside and see the moon in its full glory. Then,...