Life at PUC

The second annual 24-hour theater festival was a big hit on Sunday evening, with people lining the walls of Alice Holst Theater and even watching from the lobby. Produced by the Pacific Union College Dramatic Arts Society, the festival was titled "Shuffle" and showcased four short plays created entirely in 24 hours. Four playwrights were given titles (from songs) at 9 p.m. on Saturday evening, November 14. They wrote through the night and handed off their plays to directors the next morning. The directors and their teams of actors spent the day rehearsing. At 8 p.m. Sunday evening, the theater was packed with an expectant audience. PUC film & television program director Rodney Vance wrote "The Final Slowdance"; current PUC student Peter Katz contributed "All the Things That I've Done"; San Francisco playwright Enrique Urueta wrote "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making"; and former PUC student Tim Wolcott wrote "Don't Blame it on Elvis." Five directors, 20 actors, and a crew of six brought the four brand-new plays to life. "Shuffle" producer, PUC student, and drama program intern Timothy Widmer explained that "last year DAS produced the first 24-hour festival and it was so much fun we decided to do...

If you grew up watching Ultraman and Ampanman, you might be Japanese. If you think Ichiro Suzuki is Superman, you might be Japanese. If you can identify a literary work on a wall and immediately converse about its significance to history, culture and society, you might be Japanese. “The Japanese view reading and writing as a patriotic, nationalistic act,” says Dr. Maria Rankin-Brown, professor of English at Pacific Union College. “It’s like they’re saying, ‘We’re being Japanese by reading.’” Rankin-Brown, whose mother is Japanese, returned to the island nation for the third consecutive year this summer to continue her research on Japanese literature and literary behavior, with special focus on manga — a literary form unique to Japan. Rankin-Brown chose to research Asian literature to supplement her Great Books course’s Global Perspectives subtitle, which concentrates on non-western works. Through her work, she hopes not only to publish a book, but also to find a method to motivate her American students to take the same pride and enjoyment in reading that she witnessed in the Japanese culture. Japan is ranked among the most literate countries in the world, boasting a national literacy rate of 99 percent. This high percentage inspired Rankin-Brown...

David R. Williams, a Harvard professor and an internationally recognized authority on social influences on health, will speak at Pacific Union College on November 14. His topic will be "Religion and Health: Findings, Challenges and Unanswered Questions." Williams is a professor of sociology and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and is the Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health. He is the author of more than 150 scholarly papers in scientific journals and edited collections, and his research has appeared in leading journals in sociology, psychology, medicine, public health and epidemiology. He is one of the most cited researchers in the social sciences. Williams' lecture is the first in the Presidential Inaugural Lecture Series, which will bring major speakers to PUC during the inaugural year of Dr. Heather Knight's presidency. Williams will speak on Saturday, November 14, at 4 p.m. at the Scales Chapel on the Pacific Union College campus. Admission is free. For more information, call 707-965-6303....

For two weeks, Mei Ann Teo lived in an old stone mansion in Umbria, the Green Heart of Italy. On a huge stage overlooking the Umbrian countryside, she learned things that "pretty much completely exploded everything I thought I knew about theatre." With the help of a Herber Grant, Mei Ann Teo, PUC's drama program director, attended the La Mama International Directors Symposium. La Mama, the nation's oldest and most established avante garde theatre, bought land and an old mansion and farm area in Umbria 10 years ago, making it into "the most beautiful place for an international theatre community to come together and learn from each other," says Mei Ann. She studied under four teachers, two each week. One who teaches hip-hop theatre at NYU, one who's famous for her work in documentary theatre, a very famous Japanese director, and Mei Ann's favorite, Romeo Castellucci - who, in addition to exploding what she thought she knew, " reinvigorated my belief and faith in the multitude of ways that it as an art form can reach and transform a human being who is sitting in the community of the audience." Castellucci started one lecture by saying, "Theatre is the domain...

Pacific Union College opened a new school year in September with increased enrollment and high student enthusiasm. Official headcount for fall quarter is 1,511-an 11.1 percent increase from last year. Retention numbers are also up from 71 percent to 79 percent. "We're off to a great start with increased enrollment numbers this fall, and there is such a positive spirit and a spirit of hope on the campus," said Dr. Heather Knight, PUC president. "Everyone is excited about creating a really exciting and dynamic learning community characterized by the intentional integration of faith and learning. Truly, PUC is becoming a real destination campus." While the numbers are encouraging, what's also inspiring to is the energy exuded by this year's student body. At a packed weekend retreat for freshmen, leaders observed students not only getting acquainted but starting a trend of connection, conversation, and involvement that carried over when the new students returned to campus. "There was just a buzz of conversation a new comfort level amongst their peers. People who came not knowing anyone … now have a sense of belonging," reported Lisa Bissell Paulson, vice president for student services, after the opening weekend. "The vibe that the new freshman...

The American Red Cross honored three Pacific Union College students this week for their heroic actions in an aquatic rescue this summer at Leoni Meadows, a Seventh-day Adventist campground in Northern California. Matt Freedman and brothers Robert and Nolan Negrete, who worked as counselors at the Adventist campground this summer, saved another counselor from drowning at the nearby Cosumnes River. The three, along with other counselors who were involved, were given awards at a ceremony in Sacramento, California, on October 13. The incident occurred the first week of the summer, when several of the counselors had the afternoon off and decided to go for a swim at the local river. Finding what appeared to be a good natural rock slide, they soon discovered that a strong current at the base was sucking the water down under a nearby rock. One counselor tried to avoid the current but was pulled under, and despite being a trained lifeguard, was unable to fight his way back to the surface. "We were just kind of awestruck at first," says Matt. "The rest of us were crying out to God and praying." Robert and several others tried unsuccessfully to reach down to the drowning counselor...

The second annual Piano Fantasia concert, hosted at Pacific Union College on October 11, honored noted philanthropist and Napa Valley arts patron Margrit Mondavi. It brought to the stage world-renowned pianists Daniel Glover and Thomas Hansen, internationally-recognized music prodigy Nathan Chan, dancer Jeraldine Mendoza from City Ballet School-San Francisco (who has been invited to finish her studies at the Bolshoi academy in Moscow), and violinist and PUC music professor Rachelle Berthelsen-Davis. "I'm delighted to be back," said Glover, who also played at last year's inaugural event. "It's been a fantastic experience." Several pieces brought the audience to their feet, including the 15-year-old Chan's performance of a "classical crossover" piece by contemporary composer Mark Summer, "Julie-O," a cello solo that includes the use of the instrument as percussion as well as being played with and without the bow. The event is a tribute to the music arts in the Napa Valley and the people who make it so rich. As PUC president Heather Knight said at the beginning of the program, this is an area celebrated for its arts culture, and as a Christian liberal arts college, PUC's role is "to add intellectual capital, spiritual capital, but certainly also cultural capital."...

A refreshing change of pace swept over campus this week as PUC welcomed the arrival of Fall Revival. This year, Fall Revival brought international flavor, featuring young British pastor Bobby Bovell. Bovell leads a contemporary church in Copenhagen, whose members meet at a local café on Sabbath afternoons. He spoke to PUC students about the freedom God gives them to choose to follow Him. "You are free because you are not forced to see Him," he said. "He respects us so much, He'll never force us." Bovell went from re-enacting scenes from his childhood to acting out awkward social encounters, incorporating some British humor, to illustrate the beauty of God's love. Breaking down the core of the revival, Bovell passionately explained, "Jesus comes into our reality to make sense of what doesn't make sense. He comes to say, 'Listen, I've got a plan for you.'" The annual event offers the student body an opportunity for spiritual awakening in the midst of busy schedules at the beginning of the school year. The meetings ran from Wednesday through Saturday, with the class schedule on Friday being shortened to dedicate to an extra gathering in the morning....

On occasion there is a banner hung in the Pacific Union College Church that reads "Where Nature and Revelation Unite." That sentiment was experienced in depth at the 2009 Religion Department Retreat to PUC's Albion Field Station. Each year the faculty and students of the religion department stuff their collective necessities into the old college bus and make the drive to the beautiful Albion campus. This year's retreat was an example of what can happen when breathtaking scenery and a spirit of worship and fellowship combine into one wonderful weekend. Upon arriving at the Field Station, jaws hit the ground over the extensive renovation that has been done on the campus. The cabins are completely redone, finished with fine tile and all the necessary facilities. The lab building has been converted into a very attractive meeting center. What outshines it all is the beautiful flora and fauna that seems to be almost bursting to proclaim the wonders of a marvelous creator. Friday evening, the participants had a great time getting to know the new members of the small department over dinner and a relaxing evening talking around a bonfire. For Sabbath School the next day, the group joined in the...

In the second all-school colloquy of the year, new Pacific Union College president Heather Knight spoke on the topic of "Integrating Faith and Learning: A Higher Education Imperative." The theme of integrating faith and learning is one that will carry through the year for the weekly colloquies, and Knight addressed the shift, beginning in 2005, that has been pushing higher education to look at this area once again. "2005 was indeed a watershed year in terms of a renewed interest in religion and spirituality in higher education," she told the gathered campus, citing many books, projects and studies addressing students' quest for meaning and purpose, religious literacy, ground rules for civic discourse on matters of religion, and how higher education should respond. After many years of modernization, secularization, emphasis on scientific inquiry and technical approaches, followed by a postmodern trend to "dismantle the values that sustain religious belief," Knight explains that higher education is finally "coming around to affirming its historic roots." But, she asked, what does this mean for PUC? "I believe that this new interest and call to action in regard to the integration of faith and learning provides us with multiple opportunities to showcase what we have...