2006

Two Pacific Union College students are featured in recent editions of Creative Convocation, a magazine showcasing student art and design. Mike Murtaugh’s illustrated portrait of Michael Moore was featured in the Winter 2005 issue, and Bradley Kenyon’s illustrated self-portrait was featured as first honorable mention for cover design in the Spring 2006 issue. The artwork was completed for Illustration I, a class required for graphic design majors. Milbert Mariano, who teaches the class, encouraged students to submit their projects to Creative Convocation, which accepts submissions from students in undergraduate or graduate programs throughout the United States and Canada. Murtaugh, a senior graphic design and photography major, chose a piece that exemplifies his social consciousness. He says he selected Moore as the subject of his piece because he is an interesting figure in the political world and is famous for his filmmaking. “About this time his new film had come out criticizing the war in Iraq and the Bush presidency,” Murtaugh explains. This specific subject “forced the viewer to think about the situation in Iraq and the consequence of war even if they agree or disagree with Moore’s point of view.” Last school year Creative Convocation held a competition to create...

The School of Art isn’t the only summertime learning that happens at the Albion Field Station every year. The station also offers other classes each summer; this year, the North Coast Natural History and Digital Art Photography classes ran from July 10 to 14 in a spate of phenomenal weather. Dan Wyrick, teacher, co-editor of the Life Science textbook series, and director of "Nature By Design" creation-based science programs, has been teaching natural history and outdoor education classes at the field station for about ten years. Teachers doing continuing education work and interested in science camp programs are the most frequent attendees of these classes; however, people from Catalina Island and other programs have participated as well. The digital art class is in its fourth year and, according to field station manager Dave Weibe, “has been extremely well received.” Students have enquired about adding areas such as basic video editing and digital image presentation as well, and Weibe hopes the program will be able to expand to cover these areas. “We’re targeting a senior audience who still want to learn,” Weibe says, “as well as the continuing education group.” The class is geared towards the pre-professional level and is all...

Set against the backdrop of towering cathedrals and pristine palatial gardens, seven Pacific Union College students completed a two-week trip to Paris, France as part of the Honor program’s Summer Term Abroad. “Beauty,” a required course for Honors students, explores ideas about art and aesthetics as developed within Western culture. The course started at the PUC campus in late June with an intensive week of classroom lectures and discussions based on readings from writers such as Edmund Burke and Virginia Woolf. The class then traveled to Paris for two weeks of learning “on location.” The itinerary included visits to the Louvre, one of the world’s largest and most expansive art museums, and Giverny, the residence and garden of impressionist artist, Claude Monet. “The course is not only a study of art history, but an examination of how we define beauty and aesthetics and how our definitions shape our perceptions of the world,” says Milbert Mariano, chair of the visual arts department. He teaches the course with Nancy Lecourt, who is transitioning from the English department to her new role as Academic Dean this summer. While their stay in France was relatively brief, the students immersed themselves in Parisian culture by...

Every summer there’s an influx of brushes and easels at Pacific Union College’s Albion Field Station on the Mendocino Coast. The comfortable lodge and rustic cabins welcome aspiring artists for the Summer School of Art, a workshop providing all levels of painters with two weeks of outdoor watercolor, oil and acrylic painting workshops. John Hewitt, a well-established artist who has taught workshops throughout the country and shown his work in many juried national shows, has been coming to Albion since the ‘50s. He first visited when his father took continuing education classes at the Field Station, then later as a student of Vernon Nye at the Summer School of Art. Since 1995, Hewitt has taught the summer art classes, and he keeps coming back because of the place, the people and—of course—the art. He believes that one reason people come to the Summer School of Art is because of a trend toward creative pastimes: “People now are more interested in experiencing things than in watching things,” he explains. “They come to Albion to experience the coast, the painting, the creative process.” As one of the west’s premier art towns and resort areas—not to mention some of the most beautiful coastline...

The PUC music department welcomes Asher Raboy, longtime director of the Napa Valley Symphony, as the Symphonic Wind Ensemble director for the 2006-2007 school year. Raboy will also teach orchestration and counterpoint classes at PUC, serving as an interim teacher following the departure of music professor Ken Narducci. Raboy’s impressive conducting career includes serving as the music director of the Napa Valley Symphony since 1990, traveling as a guest conductor, conducting the Diablo Ballet, and serving as assistant conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, and the Binghamton Symphony. He has also worked with several youth orchestras over the years. In addition to his conducting experience, Raboy has also composed a wide range of works (including several pieces for bands, wind symphonies and wind ensembles), lectured for the New York Philharmonic, and worked as a staff writer for the Putnam Funds of Boston. Meanwhile, Raboy is a fan of teaching. “Education is a big deal to me,” he says. “I have always loved to teach and enjoy the give-and-take with students so much.” Raboy has taught students from a variety of backgrounds and from ages four all the way up through college level. “I find the enthusiasm...

Summertime finds many campus people gone on vacations, classes abroad, workshops, and other adventures; but there were several faculty, staff, and students still around to join the children of the community for the annual vacation Bible school program at the Pacific Union College Church.Robert Ordoñez, a PUC professor of computer science, was a VBS taskforce worker in college but hadn’t been involved in a VBS program for over a decade. So when he was asked to help with this summer’s “Fiesta” program, he jumped at the chance. “It's been really great to see how enthusiastic the kids are about VBS,” he says. “And it's not just the younger ones—it's awesome to see the older kids, all the way up to high school and even college, getting involved!”Ordoñez was a leader for the general all-group sessions at the beginning and end of each day. These sessions, like the stations the children rotated through in between, provided simple, powerful messages about Jesus through music, skits, daily challenges, and all kinds of active, interactive adventures.One day when Ordoñez was acting as shuttle service to and from VBS for one of the children, he discovered what a distinct and positive change VBS was in...

The warm, sunny days of June 16-18 reverberated with the festivities, dreams and exhilaration that always characterize graduation weekend. On Sunday, the 405 graduates of the Class of 2006 marched in PUC’s Commencement Grove, concluding their undergraduate experience. The weekend was packed with family, receptions and ceremonies, and an inspiring array of speakers. The addresses were provided by Fred Kinsey, assistant to the president for communication at the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and former chair of the communication department at PUC; Jose Rojas, director of volunteer ministries and of the Office of Young Adult Ministries for the North American Division; Lieutenant Colonel Consuella B. Pocket, chief nurse from Travis Air Force Base; and Jonathan Gallagher, United Nations liaison director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Gallagher, who represents the Adventist Church at UN assemblies and interfaces with ambassadors, diplomats and staff of the UN, spoke for Commencement on Sunday. “I want you to wake up in the morning curious,” he told the graduates. Gallagher stressed the importance of asking questions and observing and analyzing everything for oneself. “The God who invented curiosity will make us curious to find him,” he said, referring the class to Jeremiah 29:13...

When the 2006 Arizona Teacher of the Year, Lucy Popson met President George W. Bush at the White House in March, she greeted him with the same enthusiasm and excitement that she shows to her third graders each day at Walter Douglas Elementary in Tucson, Arizona. Not one to miss an opportunity, Popson informed the president in a characteristically bubbly tone that her mom was his biggest fan, prompting President Bush to present Popson with a presidential pin for her mother. Popson, part of a 51 member contingent of teachers representing the 50 states and Washington D.C., was being honored at the nation’s capital for her excellence in education. Popson’s journey to the White House began twelve years ago when she graduated from Pacific Union College with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies and a master’s degree in education. She remembers her days in class and says, “They were tough! As a student I was expected to meet high academic standards. I believe that everybody who has ever graduated from PUC deserves a medal!” The third grade classroom at Walter Douglas Elementary has been Popson’s home for the past eleven years. Her energy-packed style of teaching has endeared her to...

A spontaneous moment of generosity in colloquy turned into a home for Maria Luna and her two sons. Just in time for the rainy season, 20 families moved into new, water-tight homes in Empalme de Boaco, Nicaragua on May 30. One of these new homes was constructed with funds donated by PUC students, faculty and staff. The extended PUC family got involved in the small village in Nicaragua this past February when Jake Schiedeman, a 1990 graduate of PUC who now owns the St. Helena Cyclery, returned to his alma mater to speak. He told students about his experience volunteering in Nicaragua where he has led a project to build a baseball field, public park, water tower, and now a housing development. He also shared how important service has become in his life and showed a moving video about the Nicaragua project and the people who have become so important to his life. After presenting his story, the program’s conclusion took an unexpected turn. As college president Richard Osborn thanked Scheideman for being the type of service-minded alumnus PUC is proud of, PUC Church senior pastor Tim Mitchell took the mic and invited the students to get involved. “I want...

Dustin Comm has always enjoyed representing PUC on the basketball court, but he especially enjoyed the opportunity to represent his country in a recent international college basketball tournament. Comm, a senior theology and film and television major, just returned from the Netherlands and Belgium where he and nine other athletes represented the United States in an international competition organized by USA Athletics International (USAAI), an organization that plans international competitions in 14 countries to provide sports opportunities and cultural experiences for college athletes. Besides the fun of traveling to Europe, Comm and his teammates came home victors. The U.S. team won first place in a four-day competition where they played against 30 other teams representing several European countries. To Comm, being able to win in an international setting when he was wearing his country’s colors was especially satisfying. “It was a really big honor to be invited,” Comm said. “Having ‘USA’ on my jersey really made me proud.” The nine members and coach of the U.S. team had very little time to practice and get to know each other’s strengths before hitting the courts in Amsterdam. In addition to learning about new teammates, they also had to learn to play...