2004

Renowned brain researcher Dr. Robert Sapolsky will present "Stress Management and Health" on Thursday, April 29, at 8 p.m. in Pacific Union College's Dauphinee Chapel. Admission to the seminar is free and open to the public. Sapolsky, known for his engaging and lively speaking and writing styles, is a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya. Sapolsky's lecture will focus on stress and the causes of stress-related diseases. He says that while the body's physical responses can cope with short-term physical threats, they are not suitable responses for the psychological stress faced in today's world. Sapolsky calls our reactions to today's stress "generally short-sighted, inefficient, and penny-wise and dollar-foolish." Sapolsky has authored several books, including: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons, and The Trouble with Testosterone....

When Pacific Union College participated in Matchmaker’s national campus and community bone marrow drive last week, responses far exceeded student coordinator Stefanie Holimon’s hopes. “I was excited but nervous before,” she explains. “I wasn’t sure of the response we’d get.” But after PUC registered 145 students, faculty and staff as potential bone marrow donors (compared to the 13 Microsoft registered and 55 from UC Berkeley in the same drive), Stefanie was completely thrilled. “I’m really proud of the school,” she says. Stefanie’s involvement with projects such as these really started 17 years ago in Japan, when her aunt was diagnosed with lukemia. In response, Stefanie’s mother and aunt started a much-needed registry of bone marrow donors in Japan. Stefanie has personally been involved in numerous bone marrow drives. “This one has been the most successful of all of them” she says. Matchmaker, a function of the Mavin Foundation, is a national program dedicated to mixed race bone marrow donor recruitment and education and is under the umbrella of the National Marrow Donor Program....

In the yearly auditions of the National Guild of Piano Teachers, 116 Napa County piano pupils earned memberships in the National Fraternity of Student Musicians. Two students received additional honors: Sasha Fulton was a Five-Year National Winner, and Michelle Holy earned the College Sophomore Diploma. Auditions were held May 14 to 18 in Napa at the Napa Valley Baptist Church and in Angwin at Pacific Union College. Students participating were from the classes of Ruth Andrieux, Lois Case, Judith Cochran, Angela D’Angelo, Anita Ford, Winsome Gane, Donna Kuntz, Janel Tasker, Phyllis Webster, and Lynn Wheeler. From coast to coast (and now also in Taiwan), nearly 120,000 enthusiastic piano pupils participate in this annual piano-playing event held in 843 music centers throughout the country. Each of the student winners receives a year’s membership in the National Fraternity of Student Musicians and Piano Hobbyists of the World, a gold or bronze embossed pin, and a certificate according to the number of pieces performed. Begun at Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas, in 1929, national headquarters are still maintained in Texas, where Rules and Regulations are available on request free of charge by addressing Piano Guild, Box 1807, Austin, Texas 78767-1807. The names of local...

Five grand. That's exactly what St. Helena Hospital employee Dwight Boyd won when he sunk a 50-foot putt during Pacific Union College1s Malcolm Maxwell Golf Classic on May 17. It was the first time someone has won the putting contest prize. PUC1s annual fundraiser, held at the Napa Valley Country Club, raised nearly $40,000 towards student aid through the Malcolm Maxwell Scholarship Fund In addition to playing 18 holes of golf, participants had an opportunity to win prizes sponsored by various Napa Valley businesses. Former PUC president Malcolm Maxwell was on hand to distribute awards to students during the dinner ceremony. In addition, prizes were awarded in the winning categories: low net-women: Diane Dillon low net-men: Gary Ortman low gross-women: Julie Ching low gross-men: Lenny Ballew 1st place team: Jay Lewis, Nelson Thomas, Pat Patterson, and Gary Nelson 2nd place team: Bob, Brian, Phyllis and Julie Ching...

Flying tortillas. Gigantic beach balls. If it hadn’t been for the 364 students clothed in graduation regalia, one might have thought Pacific Union College’s Commencement Grove was the site of a very large family cook-out. “ My friends and I bought 1,500 corn tortillas,” exclaimed Landon Bennett, international communication/Spanish graduate. “And we used them all.” Tucked away in the college’s forested land, PUC’s commencement on Sunday, June 13, closed another chapter of late-night study sessions, weekend hikes to Inspiration Point, and emergency lunch-runs to Giugni’s. “ I’ll miss this place—there’s nothing that comes close to this experience,” said Kristi Chiang, biochemistry graduate who will be attending Loma Linda University’s School of Dentistry this fall. Commencement speaker Jose Rojas, director of volunteer and young adult ministries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, presented a challenging address. Rojas encouraged the Class of 2004 to build relationships with those around them and their God instead of worrying about grades as a measure of success. Richard Osborn, PUC president, then presented a total of 380 degrees, including associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Nearly 80 teaching credentials were awarded for elementary, secondary and early childhood education teachers. Notably, over 30 adult learners from PUC’s Center for...

Educational gurus David and Roger Johnson, co-directors of the Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota, brought their dynamic workshop to the Napa Valley on June 28-30. The Johnson brothers, well-known for their international research, have dedicated their life’s work to educating teachers about the importance of cooperative learning. The workshop, coordinated by Sandy Balli of Pacific Union College’s education department, drew participants from both public and private schools from as close as Angwin and as far as Wyoming. Dr. David Johnson, professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota and the author of over 350 research articles and book chapters and over 40 books, has been the editor of the American Educational Research Journal. His brother, Dr. Roger Johnson, is a professor of science education at the University of Minnesota and has co-authored numerous research articles and books with David Johnson. Roger is also a member of the Search for Excellence Team of the National Science Teacher’s Association. The Johnson brothers are advancing ideas that are hundreds of years old, but which have been overlooked in recent decades. They are trying to achieve a form of the cooperative learning that took place naturally in the old one-room...

Gathering from as far as Florida and as close as PUC itself, a group of 106 teachers, educators and “ learners” from all over the Christian education community convened at PUC for the annual Adventist Virtual Learning Network convention. Nationally acclaimed authors Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt spoke at the convention, presenting ways to build a stronger learning environment. One idea they proposed was to use the term “learner” in lieu of “student” or “ teacher” in order to build a more interactive and cooperative learning atmosphere. “They really helped us look to the future,” said Bob Paulson, PUC professor and 2004 AVLN coordinator. “We see opportunity for growth, no matter what avenue we work in.” AVLN was founded on the belief that teachers and schools do not grow on their own; instead, through collaborative efforts, they can become better educators and stronger institutions. This year, AVLN made specific recommendations to the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and to Adventist college presidents regarding the future of web-based classes and the need for universal acceptance of credits across Adventist colleges. The attendees hope that next year the conference will be completely online....

A group of artists congregated this year at PUC’s Albion Field Station on the Pacific coast, as happens every summer. Staying in wood cabins bordered with calla lilies and patrolled by local quail, the artists went out each morning to paint in the sea air under the direction of long-time art teachers Dr. John Hewitt and Elwood Ross. This summer Albion also adds another art class under the auspices of Elwood Ross, giving students a five-day opportunity to learn art principles using digital photography....

The graduation hubbub had barely receded when PUC’s Pro Musica (touring choir) and the PUC String Quartet embarked on a two-week music tour to Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Traveling with an Adventist Finnish tour guide and PUC Professors of Music LeRoy Peterson and Gennevieve Kibble, the group of musicians spent a night on a ferry boat, sang in the Rock Cathedral in Finland, and experienced some culinary culture. Anna Lopez, senior psychology/French major, had never eaten borscht until it was served to the group at a Russian church. “It was really good,” Lopez says with some surprise. “You can’t go by looks alone!” The group also performed at numerous Adventist schools and churches and at a camp meeting in Sweden. “By the end, our voices were pretty tired,” said Vanessa Jett, senior speech pathology major. “But the people appreciated and enjoyed all our concerts.” In fact, local musicians even presented the PUC group and its members with original musical compositions. From Bath to Canterbury, PUC Honors Program students experienced “Beauty” during a four-week seminar class at Newbold College in England. Students both read about and witnessed art presented to them by PUC Professors Nancy Lecourt and Milbert Mariano, of...

With a photography career spanning six decades, Pirkle Jones has captured, in thousands of black-and-white images, the people, place, politics and promise of California. The Rasmussen Art Gallery at Pacific Union College welcomes a Pirkle Jones exhibition opening on Saturday, October 2, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. This exhibit features 25 images that suggest the sweep and scope of Jones’ immense body of work. Examples from the documentary essay “Death of a Valley,” in which Pirkle Jones worked with Dorothea Lange to document the final year of Berryessa Valley, will be included in the Rasmussen exhibit. The artist will also be present to sign copies of his book, California Photographs, which will be available at the gallery. Jones embraces an array of genres—commercial, documentary and fine art photography. He has worked collaboratively with his wife—writer, photographer and poet Ruth-Marion Baruch—on several projects, as well as working collaboratively with Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams. These two photographers, along with Minor White and Edward Weston, influenced Pirkle’s artistic formation; he developed, however, his own idiosyncratic visual sensibility as a photographer. After taking up residence in the Bay Area as a student in the first photography class at the California School of Fine...