Life at PUC

Last year the Campus Center was washed-out and cold, like a neglected waiting room in a mediocre dentist’s office. This year, on a grey Tuesday evening, the overhead lights glow off the warm colors of the walls and little lamps throw swatches of light on the tabletops. Gossamer strands of Debussy’s piano music waft over miscellaneous people cushioned deep in a cluster of couches or assembled in a rough semi-circle of black chairs. The music whispers against a rank of artworks, which file in silent energy over the walls. It’s February 11. The just-hung collection of student artworks infusing the room with quiet fascination is called Gallery C. And the hushed band of artists and appreciators gathered near one end of the Campus Center is here to honor the gallery’s opening with a relaxed reading of student poetry. On the edge of the gathering, Campus Center director Chris Hagen gives off calm rays of amiable approval. It was his idea of filling the Campus Center’s warm, empty walls with student art that started all this. The Society Of Fine Arts (SOFA) officers, who picked up his idea, spread it around campus, added the poetry reading, and put up the artwork,...

Every program needs a mission, a central motivating focus. For more than six months, the leaders and students of Pacific Union College’s aviation program have been seeking their mission. Why should PUC have an aviation program, and why should students enroll in it? The answer, an almost ironic one, has come with strength and conviction, supported by many miracles: the mission of PUC’s aviation program is mission. This past summer, as the aviation department was seeking to clearly define its focus, the students and faculty found that they missed the vespers programs that occur weekly during the regular school year. So they established a Friday night aviation “summer vespers”, a process in which pilot and student Jason Miller was instrumental. This vespers, consisting of food, socializing, and Bible studies, continued throughout the summer, and after each meeting a group gathered to pray for miracles. These prayers were answered as aviation department chairman Nathan Tasker started making contacts and discoveries which would lead him to the conviction that “God is asking us to really get back into mission aviation.” Tasker has come to realize that the mission field has a gaping opening that must be filled, a pressing need for transportation...

t’s difficult for those who did not attend Pacific Union College between 1938 and 1985 to understand the colossal esteem PUC alumni have for Dr. Walter C. Utt. Hundreds of PUC graduates can hardly remember their “PUC days” without a fond memory of Dr. Utt. He was, it would seem, more than a just a history professor. He was a legend. In 1985, a few days before his 64th birthday, Walter Utt died. His untimely death was sad for a number of reasons. First, many incoming students lost the opportunity to enjoy his quick wit and riveting “conversational lectures” in the classroom. Second, as best-selling author and PUC alumnus Joe Wheeler said, “A little bit of myself died” the day Dr. Utt died. Most of Utt’s students would probably agree with that. And third, Dr. Utt’s primary research was never fully completed. He had set out to write the first authoritative biography of Claude Brousson, 1647-1698, a revolutionary preacher and Huguenot lawyer when it was a terrifying time to be either. Louis XIV’s absolutist state made it illegal to preach Protestantism in France, yet Brousson did. As a result, he was martyred. Dr. Utt’s extensive research went well beyond one...

The Rasmussen Art Gallery at Pacific Union College will be exhibiting their annual Student Art Show from April 17 through May 15. The best word for this show is “diversity.” Every year the show is new and unique, as young artists show the art they love and are exploring. With well over a hundred pieces exhibited, there is a vast variety of media, styles and subject matter. Categories of media include ceramics, drawing, graphics design, mixed media, opaque media painting, watercolor painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and stained glass. PUC has a tradition of inviting some individuals involved in the arts of Napa Valley to be jurors of the student show. This year the jurors will be Adrian Gregorutti, a photographer from Rutherford and an alumnus of PUC, and Malia Hendricks, a painter from St. Helena who works in mixed media....

“Have you been in the library?” a fellow student asks me, near the end of the first week of spring quarter. “No...” I say, my voice trailing into a question mark. “They’ve already started making changes,” she says. “You should go see it.” I’m perplexed. These “proposed developments” are supposed to be vague dreams that come into being “when we raise the money” or “when we finalize the plans” – which means “when your great-grandchildren are attending college.” I’m also curious. I have long loved books and the worlds contained in them. My growing-up library was a bright place filled with wonder and delight. But here, at PUC, I quickly gave up the search for wonder and delight in our own library. The drab walls and stark lighting seemed to sap the life from the books. Last quarter, I noticed that the heavy earth-orange of the staircase walls had been covered with layers of white. I was grateful, but the change did relatively little for the overall mood of the place. If the library were just a building full of books, then it would make sense to wait and, when we raise the necessary funds, build a completely new library....

Pacific Union College's Rasmussen Art Gallery will be displaying the degree projects of PUC senior art majors from May 22 to June 15. The show will exhibit the projects of 19 senior students. A sense of variety is always a predominant quality of this annual show as art students display the paths of expression they have chosen to explore. Categories include fine art, graphic design, and photography. Fine art major Jacquelyn Hewitt created a work consisting of 24 paintings and 33 pages of fiction, working simultaneously on the two aspects. Hewitt feels that the effort the project required was worth while because, she says, "People do so many destructive things and make the world ugly; I'm trying to do the opposite, to add more beauty." Emily Bryner, a graphic design student, created a CD cover, press kit, and advertising material for a men's quartet based in Southern California. Says Bryner, "I love music, and have always been fascinated by the way album art draws potential listeners into the music."...

Two of the most generous citizens of the Napa Valley--Louis, better known as "Bob," and Evalyn Trinchero--received honorary Doctorates in Philanthropy from Pacific Union College on Thursday, May 15, during the college's annual Awards Chapel. The couple received a standing ovation as Bob tearfully accepted the honor, saying it was one of the best moments of his life. Pacific Union College President Richard Osborn thanked the Trincheros for their contributions to the community, and specifically for a special donation to the college last year--a child care center in St. Helena valued at $2.1 million. After witnessing the lack of good child care for their own employees and for the broader Valley, the Trincheros teamed up with Pacific Union College, who was already successfully operating Discoveryland Preschool in Angwin, and gave life to the St. Helena Discoveryland Preschool, located on 995 Adams Street. During the awards ceremony, President Osborn addressed why a Seventh-day Adventist Christian college known for teaching abstinence would honor one of the most successful vintner families in the country. "We believe in thanking those who have put their personal and corporate fortunes to work in making communities a better place for citizens to live," said Osborn. "Bob and...

Midday is always a high-traffic time in the PUC cafeteria. But for three hours on Friday, March 7, there was an increased hubbub as PUC students, faculty, and PUC Prep students circulated through the building, visiting the 38 booths of the “Celebrate Health” fair. For nearly 10 years, the PUC Nursing Department has provided annual health fairs for high schools in the Napa Valley. This year, the nursing department set out on a new venture and, working with the PUC health services office, organized and implemented a health fair on their own campus. Distribution of health-care information was the basic goal of the fair. “We wanted to show the resources for health care that we have within the structure of the campus itself, as well as those we can access by networking with other services,” said Sandy Sargent, director of health services. More specifically, the BSN program and health services hoped to emphasize the importance of choices. “Our goal,” said nursing professor Carol Williams, “was to better serve the health care needs of the PUC student body while highlighting healthy choices, emphasizing that the decisions they make every day while they are young will have a major impact on future...

Angwin received an unexpected visit from NFL Pro-Bowlers Warren Moon and Tony Gonzalez on May 30. These football greats came to help guide the clients of the New Horizons group homes for children that are located here in Angwin. Besides sharing inspirational testimonies, Moon and Gonzalez provided a football clinic for the boys. Students of PUC and the community of Angwin were able to watch but not participate. A memorabilia tent displayed a great collection of autographs for sale, with the profits benefiting the homes. To see great athletes take time out of their schedules to help the kids, demonstrates the importance of community service and the gratifying benefits to all involved....

A chemist who plays the violin, is kind to cats, ties messages of God’s love onto balloons, fixes cars, and preaches practical sermons. That is only a partial picture of the professor selected as PUC’s 2002-2003 Educator of the Year: Richard E. Clark. Richard received a B.A. in chemistry (cum laude) from Union College and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Kansas State University. He joined the PUC chemistry department in 2000, following eight years of teaching at the Adventist University of the Philippines. Not only did he and his family enjoy living in the Philippines and riding the infamous jitneys, but Richard also distinguished himself at AUP by receiving the “Reward for Excellence,” for outstanding teaching performance, exemplifying the Master Teacher, and upholding the ideals of the school and the church. The Educator of the Year is selected jointly by the students and the Faculty Development, Research, and Honors Committee. The selection is based on excellence in teaching, spiritual leadership, scholarly credibility, relationships with students, and support of the college. Along with the honor comes a beautiful plaque and a $1,500 gift from the college. “Working with students, watching them grasp a little of the make-up of God’s creation,...