Life at PUC

Caps, gowns, and the school banners decorated the annual Senior Recognition Colloquy on Thursday, February 9. Academic Dean Ileana Douglas presented the 345-member Class of 2006, mentioning class statistics such as numbers of student missionaries, youngest to graduate, and candidates for high academic honors. “There is no future in any job—the future lies in the man or woman who holds the job,” she reminded the class. “The torch has been passed to you.” The guest speaker for this year’s Senior Recognition was chaplain Sam Leonor of La Sierra University. With humorous anecdotes and an energetic charisma, Leonor talked about the achievements and successes that we celebrate at such events as graduation. “The danger is that we begin to see our identity in these things,” he said. “We see value as based on our level of achievements, and the things that are important to God get moved down the list.” Leonor encouraged students to do their best and finish their college experience with a flair, but also to dedicate their lives to building the kingdom of God here, now. “May God give us the courage to give our lives to building the kingdom of God and proclaiming the One to come,”...

“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!...

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...