Life at PUC

Unfurl the red, white, and blue; enjoy apple pie and popcorn; and come experience the good ol’ USA in all its diversity. America is the theme for this year’s annual Fall Festival at Pacific Union College. The event will be held on Sunday, November 11, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Pacific Auditorium. Representing the wealth of cultures that make up America, student clubs—including the Korean Student Association, the Hawaiian Club, the Asian Students’ Association, the Chinese Club, and multiple others—will sponsor booths at the Fall Festival. A variety of academic departments as well as the local academy and elementary school, will be represented at the festival as well. Proceeds from the sale of foods and from entertainment will go to support the participating clubs and academic departments. Featuring a wealth of different foods, cultural dances, and a short play by the dramatic arts society, the Fall Festival embodies the spirit of optimism and diversity that make America unique....

PUC is thrilled to welcome national best-selling author Anne Lamott as the speaker for the Longo Lecture Series held this year in the PUC Church sanctuary on February 21, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. Lamott is the acclaimed author of such bestsellers as Bird by Bird, Operating Instructions, and Traveling Mercies. In the latter, she divulges the horrors and miracles of her atheistic, drug-ridden struggle to find God. Lamott’s straightforward style is a captivating blend of wit and spiritual philosophy with an added punch of brutal honesty. Her ministry is refreshingly hard-hitting. As described in People magazine, “Lamott fills her text with remarkable detail and a refreshing sense of humanity that has you guffawing on one page and bawling on the next.” Lamott’s visit to PUC is due to the generosity of Dr. Lawrence Longo, who, in 1992, established an endowment at PUC with the idea of creating a lectureship on topics relating to religion, society, and learning. Dr. Longo is the head of the Perinatal Biology Center, professor of Physiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pediatrics at Loma Linda University, School of Medicine. He is one of the world’s most respected specialists in developmental physiology. Dr. Longo began the lecture series...

Four Corners USA, a stunning travelogue of the American Southwest, will be presented at Pacific Union College in Paulin Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 1. Documentary filmmaker James Tompkins explores this unique region of the United States—the only place in the country where four states meet at a single point. The scenic back country of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, offers an amazing combination of impressive mountains, raging rivers, remote canyons, and historic cultures. From the history of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains to the labyrinths of Lake Powell and national parks of Utah, the viewer will be amazed at the wealth of diversity in this beautiful part of our country....

Ring in the Christmas season with Pacific Union College’s music department on Friday, December 7 and Saturday, December 8. Brass, choirs, handbells, and strings will delight the whole family with dynamic arrangements of traditional Christmas favorites. Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata for choir, brass, and organ will be the featured 20th-century work. The Friday evening and Saturday afternoon programs represent a cross campus collaboration of more than 100 singers and instrumentalists. Kenneth Narducci directs the PUC Brass Quintet, and the PUC Chamber Orchestra performs under the baton of LeRoy Peterson. The college’s choral ensembles, (Pro Musica, Kantorei, and Bel Canto) are conducted by Gennevieve Brown Kibble. Del Case directs the English Handbell Choir. Performing individually and as a whole, the instrumental groups and three choral ensembles will enchant audiences with a variety of Christmas classics and lesser known works. The musicians will also join the audience in singing favorite Christmas carols....

Recent Congressional approval secures $250,000 for Pacific Union College. The money will be used for maintainaince and improvements on the Napa Valley Community Resource Center. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) requested the funds as part of the Veterans Administration-Housing and Urban Development Fiscal Year 2002 Appropriations Bill, which is currently in Congress. A final vote in the House and Senate must be secured before the bill goes to the President for his signature. The Resource Center in Napa serves as a base for Pacific Union College’s Center for Continuing and Professional Education which offers teaching credentials and Bachelors’ degrees in Early Childhood Education, and Business Management. Part of the grant money will also go toward additional technology at the Resource Center. “This is great news for Napa Valley and Pacific Union College,” stated Boxer. “The improvement of this facility will mean a better education for our children , a broader economic base for the community, and increased access to developing technology.” Michelle Mesnard, Pacific Union College director of public relations, emphasizes that “the success of the Napa Valley Community Resource Center has been a collaborative effort. Pacific Union College has worked with Napa Valley College, the Napa Valley Economic Development...

Doors open to Pacific Union College’s virtual classroom on January 7, 2002. Through PUC CyberCourses, the college’s newly created online program, students can earn credit for a variety of general education classes from the convenience of a personal computer. Biological foundations and jogging are among the first classes offered as CyberCourses. Seven classes from five of the school’s academic departments—biology business, chemistry, math, and exercise science, health, and nutrition—are premiering as PUC CyberCourses. The courses include biological foundations, natural products, introductory algebra, statistics, PC operating systems, PC spreadsheets, and jogging. All of the classes meet either general education or elective requirements and many can be applied towards a specific Bachelor’s degree. The PUC CyberCourses program is a balanced blend of online instruction and interaction with professors and fellow students in the virtual classroom. The format of PUC CyberCourses facilitates discussion while allowing students to work at their own pace. "Throughout PUC's history, we have attempted to provide well-tested new approaches to learning,” says PUC President Richard Osborn. “Our new CyberCourse program now enables individuals to take classes from their homes from Christian teachers; which opens many new possibilities for traditional and non-traditional college students." Students are required to take at...

Widely acknowledged as the "principal lay critic of Darwinism," Dr. Phillip Johnson will speak for Pacific Union College's biannual Longo Lecture Series on Thursday, February 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Dauphinee Chapel. His lecture is entitled "The New Evolution Controversy and Where it is Going." Dr. Johnson is the Jefferson E. Peyser Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught for the University's School of Law since 1968. A graduate of Harvard Law School (1961) and the University of Chicago (1965), Dr. Johnson served from 1966-67 as Law Clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court. Many of his books have been national best-sellers, including Darwin on Trial (1993), Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law & Education (1995), Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds (1997), and Objections Sustained: Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law & Culture (1998). Furthermore, he has appeared on many television programs as a defender of creation science, including the PBS telecast In the Beginning: The Creationist Controversy and William Buckley's Firing Line. The Longo Lecture Series is made possible by a generous grant from Dr. Lawrence. D. Longo. Previous lecturers have included Chaim Potok, Martin...

Working with Maranatha Volunteers International, PUC students constructed seven churches over their Christmas break in the remote region around Falakata, India, north of Calcutta. Based in school dormitories complete with mosquito nets and malaria pills, eight students travelled up to an hour and a half to their daily work sites in farmland areas, fording rivers in buses, and ferrying across waterways each day. Four students Osbaldo Gutierrez, Rayme Inae, Jessica Shine, and Noreen Yoshida are officers of PUC's Student Association and were joined on the trip by Tim Hill, Edmund Koh, Jorgan Pitts, and Heather Thomas. Thomas joined the medical team, treating local residents, while Inae assisted Maranatha with videography. The rest helped in Maranatha's construction crews, using their six days in the area to finish seven churches....

Although some parents would argue that everyday's a kid's day, students at Pacific Union College have decided otherwise. Remembering the childhood complaint of "Why isn't there a special day for kids?" the college students put together a special holiday honoring people under the age of five. On December 2, Pacific Union College celebrated the second official Kids' Day on campus. Approximately one hundred pre-school children from local preschool programs gathered on the floor of the PUC gymnasium, each tyke paired with his/her very own college-age big brother or sister for the day. Divided into groups bearing names, such as the "lions" and "wolves," the coupled students, young and old, visited different stations scattered throughout the gymnasium. Between face painting, relay races, a petting zoo, and bouncing in a gigantic inflated castle, impromptu piggy-back rides and games of duck-duck-goose abound. "When planning the activities, we try to keep in mind the different ways we can stimulate the kids, whether it be physical, artistic, or educational," says Iram Leon, who is part of the organization commitee. "But the main goal is to have fun. If the kids have a good time, that's a great accomplishment." Kids' Day was organized by PUC's Lighthouse...

Eric Anderson, professor of history, has published his third book, titled Dangerous Donations: Northern Philanthropy and Southern Black Education, 1902 1930. Co-written by Alfred A. Moss, associate professor of history at the University of Maryland in College Park, the book explores the influence of northern philanthropy on southern black education. Believing they were bettering blacks' opportunities to become active members of southern society, these philanthropic foundations exercised profound influence over both the schools they funded and black education as a whole, ultimately helping shape U.S. race relations, with sometimes surprising implications for public and cultural values. This fascinating book will prove to be a major contribution to the history field, appealing to students and scholars of African American studies and Southern history, as well as to individuals interested in the history of American education and philanthropy. This is Anderson's second collaboration with Moss. Their first project involved coediting The Facts of Reconstruction: Essays in Honor of John Hope Franklin. Dangerous Donations is now available at local bookstores or directly from the University of Missouri Press. ...