Life at PUC

Middle school students visited Pacific Union College to experience a preview of higher education at PacificQuest 2012, July 22 through 27. The annual program gives academically outstanding seventh- through ninth-graders a chance to earn college credit in an intensive five-day program. This year’s PacificQuest featured an introductory course in mathematics taught by Richard Rockwell, a professor emeritus of mathematics at PUC. Students selected an additional class, either in computer science or communication. “I’ve loved math all my life,” says Emma Duge, a rising freshman at Justin-Siena High School in Napa. “PacificQuest is cool this year in the way that the math course is really complex and complicated... Dr. Rockwell is such a great teacher that he makes it all easier to understand.” “I never thought I'd be doing modular arithmetic before high school,” she adds. “It's by far the highlighted week of my summer, as it was last year too.” This year, PacificQuest hosted 18 students representing eight different schools from across the Western United States and as far away as Colorado. This is the 16th year since PUC began hosting PacificQuest to give academically-minded middle school students a chance to get a head start on college. Students who want...

Most students would jump at the chance to travel to Australia and New Zealand and call it academic credit. PUC students had just that opportunity when the department of history offered its biannual summer study tour June 25 to July 7. The group spent four days in New Zealand and seven touring Australia, and logged over two days of travel on eight separate flights. “It’s sort of like one long field trip—you can go to museums and historical sites—but at the same time we had readings to do and we would connect them to what we saw and we would write journal articles about them,” says Max Morphis, a sophomore history major. “We had readings that covered all kinds of topics... It was definitely a class but it was more than just a class.” “The various museums we went to are not something that you’re going to find here [in the United States],” notes Paul McGraw, chair of the department of history. “History is something that takes a different perspective when you actually experience the stuff rather than just reading about it.” The trip provides credit for “HIST 450 - History Study Tour,” a graduation requirement for history students at...

The Pacific Union College Board of Trustees has approved a freeze in the cost of tuition, room, and board for the 2012-2013 academic year — holding prices at the 2011-2012 rate. It is the first time since 1984 that the college has not posted an increase in cost of attendance. “While students at private and public colleges across the country are facing significant increases in tuition and fees, Pacific Union College is continuing its commitment to making higher education affordable for our families through initiatives like the tuition freeze,” said Dave Lawrence, PUC vice president for financial administration. “This freeze is just one of many ways we seek to make attending PUC a reality for students.” The announcement contrasts with across-the-board tuition increases in the private nonprofit sector of colleges nationwide. According to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), tuition increased an average of 4.5 percent for the 2011-2012 academic year at its member institutions. The freeze marks a renewal of PUC’s efforts to make tuition more affordable, most recently with the Four-Year Guarantee Scholarship, which began last academic year. Under that program, nearly all students at the college are assured of a set amount of tuition...

Pioneers men’s basketball coach Kirt Brower is pleased to announce the signing of two new players to the team’s 2012-2013 roster. Ben Vincent is a 6’ 5” wing transferring from California State University, Monterey Bay, where he spent last season as a non-starting freshman. He previously played for Modesto Christian School, consistently one of California’s top-performing private school athletic programs. Vincent is pursuing a degree in biology, pre-med, and plans to become a cardiologist. He says the decision to come to PUC was influenced by a lot of prayer, and that the opportunity on the basketball team helped make the choice easier. “The team as a whole has a good attitude and love for the game, which to me is very important,” he says. “I've talked personally with a few of the guys on the team, and after last year’s season they are really looking forward to working hard and improving to ensure that this year’s team is a legitimate contender in the Cal-Pac. I personally am ready for the challenge, and I am going to work hard this summer to improve my game even more so that I can be a key asset to the program.” Trevor Noguiera is...

A new program, started last year by the Student Association and the academic dean, is helping students prepare and present original academic research at scholarly conventions across the country. The undergraduate research fund was created this past school year using an allocation from the Student Association president’s budget, with additional funding provided through a student senate bill introduced by Holly Batchelder, a junior psychology major. “The undergraduate research fund encourages students to produce undergraduate research which will, most importantly, prepare students for graduate studies and future research while showcasing PUC’s academic success,” Batchelder explains. “It’s much more exciting to do research if you know you might be able to present it publicly when you’re done,” says Nancy Lecourt, vice president for academic administration and academic dean. “It makes you feel like you’re actually in the world of academic research. Its active learning; it’s a high impact learning practice.” The program has already issued twenty-five grants since its creation, including nine for the department of physics, 14 for the department of psychology, and two for the department of social work. Student recipients have presented research at the conventions of the Western Psychological Association, the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors,...

Hundreds of dads received a very special Father’s Day gift in Angwin Sunday, April 17—the gift of watching their children successfully complete their undergraduate educations. Pacific Union College graduated its 124th class on June 17 in the Angwin campus’s beautiful Commencement Grove. “It’s the best Father’s Day present I could ever have,” said Geoff Brummett of Redlands, Calif., whose son, also Geoff, graduated as a senior class officer with a double major in graphic design and photography. The class of 2012 comprised 286 graduates representing fourteen states and eight countries. Over 75 academic distinctions and honors were presented, with 14 summa cum laude graduates, nine magna cum laude, 43 cum laude and 10 graduates from the honors program. The class most notably included 119 graduates from the department of nursing, 40 from department of business and 22 in the visual arts. PUC board member and Adventist Health regional CEO Terry Newmyer presented the commencement address on Sunday morning. A veteran healthcare administrator, Newmyer’s leadership has been instrumental in a dramatic fiscal turnaround at St. Helena Hospital over the last several years. He is also the proud father of Michael, a cum laude business major and member of the graduating class....

PUC senior Mindy Nelson is eager to take on a new challenge she faces this fall after she graduates. This outstanding student will take the knowledge she’s gained in her biology studies and her in-field experience to the prestigious veterinary program at the University of California Davis. When asked if PUC has prepared her for this step, her response is immediate. “Absolutely,” Mindy says. “I think that my science background here will make the transition to vet school much easier.” The classes she’s taken have, although focused on human medicine, prepared her as they “cross the border into animals as well.” The Major Field Test for biology, a comprehensive exam required of all graduating biology majors and consisting of 150 multiple choice questions, tests both laboratory and field knowledge, diagrams, and experimental skills. While PUC ranked in the 99th percentile, Mindy’s individual score was in the 99.9th percentile of students nationwide. Her extensive experience in veterinary clinics also gave her the edge she needed to make it into the competitive program. “At UC Davis, their average accepted student has about three thousand hours of shadowing a vet,” Mindy says. With 2,600 hours when she applied, Mindy’s advantage came from the...

Critically acclaimed author Maxine Hong Kingston spoke at Pacific Union College, May 31, on the “Woman Warrior's Journey to Peace” in the latest and final installment for the year of the Colloquy Speaker Series. Kingston spoke about how she became involved in anti-war activism during the Vietnam War and protested against military action before the 2003 U.S. Occupation of Iraq. Speaking on how she and her husband aided AWOL soldiers in Hawaii during the Vietnam War, Kingston noted the important role one’s conscience plays in life. “I truly believe that what protects us from harm are our values, and our conscience, and being able to know what that conscience is saying.” Kingston said that peaceful values can be traced back through the history. “These values of non-violence, we can trace them to Martin Luther King, Jr., and before him, to Ghandi, and before Ghandi, to the American Transcendentalists,” she said. Thoreau opposed the First American Intervention (Mexican-American War) and even refused to pay taxes in protest, Kingston noted, but he could not get away from the signs of war. “Even in the quiet of Walden Pond, he could hear the music coming from his neighbors, and it was Marshall Music...

When PUC social work major Erica McCray went in to the PG&E office in Napa, Calif., on May 30, she thought she was interviewing for a chance at the company’s Bright Minds Scholarship. She was in for a surprise—PG&E had already selected her from a pool of 8,000 as one of ten statewide recipients of the $30,000 scholarship, renewable for four years of education. “When I walked in, there were balloons, cake, and a giant check with my name on it!” says McCray, emotion still ringing in her voice a day after the surprise award ceremony. “I just started praising the Lord…It blows my mind, and I still can’t stop smiling.” To McCray, the moment seems to be a turning point after many difficult years. When her husband abruptly left her six years ago, he took everything but their three children. McCray suddenly found herself without a partner, a significant income, or even access to what had been their joint bank account. Despite the sudden, unexpected hardships, McCray never stopped trusting God to sustain her through the most difficult times. “I had just been walking on faith,” she says. “I thought that the lessons I had to learn were how...

Elizabeth Talbot, former associate speaker for the Voice of Prophecy radio broadcast, spoke at PUC May 18 and 19 about God’s abounding love and the Holy Spirit’s calling for each person. At Friday night Vespers, Talbot focused on the story of the Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus at the well, found in John chapter 4. “She had never met anybody who loved her more than her failures,” Talbot said of the Samaritan woman. Talbot outlined five obstacles the Samaritan woman had to overcome before Jesus could reach her. First came the obstacle of prejudice. Talbot said that this woman had an inferiority complex that prevented her from understanding how Jesus’ love transcended society’s prejudice. “God never spoke the prejudice language and never will,” Talbot declared. Second was superiority, seen in verse 12. The woman asked Jesus if He compared Himself to her ancestor Jacob as a way of giving herself false superiority. “Religious superiority is the worst kind,” Talbot said. “It’s when you bully other people with your religious heritage.” Third was her use of superficial truth, rather than the whole truth. In John 4:17, the woman told Jesus she had no husband, saying nothing of the five husbands she...