2006

Judith Pizarro is still a student, but her name has been showing up in national news. Now studying for her Ph.D. in health psychology at UC Irvine, this 1997 PUC graduate did a master’s project on Civil War veterans that is now catching the eye of the media. When Pizarro first heard about the grant from the University of Chicago for Civil War data, she thought, “This is funny—what could you do with that?” But the more she looked into it, the more she realized what a solid, accessible data source the university’s information provided. For 15 years, the National Institute of Health has funded the University of Chicago in amassing Civil War data, and the painstaking medical assessment interviews that the government did on the Civil War veterans are an invaluable resource. So with two colleagues, Pizarro set out to explore the effects of traumatic war experiences on nervous and physical disease and mortality among the veterans. Their discoveries, which indicate that post-war health was influenced by the level of military trauma experienced and the age of the soldiers, seem also to reflect the more recent experiences of Vietnam soldiers. “We don’t have access to these kinds of records...

Today’s college students may not have experienced torture, child slavery, or imprisonment for religious beliefs. But it’s happening today; and the need to help in whatever way they can has driven PUC students to establish and lead an active chapter of Amnesty International (AI) on the campus. With service and ministry options that range from World Missions to singing for shut-ins, PUC students are consistently involved in making life just a little better for people in need. But three and half years ago, students approached faculty members with the wish to address more political issues of human rights in the U.S. and internationally. The result was that PUC linked up with Amnesty International, a widely respected human rights organization started in the early ‘60s by a British lawyer and now boasting 1.8 million members worldwide. Amnesty International continues to emphasize its original focus of “forgotten prisoners”—people imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs—while expanding to tackle other human rights issues and violations of every shape and size. Members of PUC chapter of AI are working to spread information about injustice and social issues, as well as taking direct measures—mostly through writing letters—to make a difference. Student leaders run monthly meetings...

Jake Scheideman, owner of St. Helena Cyclery and an active member of the St. Helena Rotary Club, is eight years into a project that has come to include many Napa Valley residents and now, in a spontaneous contribution of almost $8,000, the students of Pacific Union College as well. During a February 16 presentation to an all-school colloquy at his alma mater, Pacific Union College, Scheideman told his story of how a bicycle store owner in the Napa Valley came to be building houses in Nicaragua. After graduating with a business degree in 1990, Scheideman took a bike trip through Central America. He fell ill in the small village of Empalme de Boaca in Nicaragua and was nursed back to health by a local family. Promising to return someday, Scheideman went home to start his career. But it wasn’t until Hurricane Mitch ravaged Honduras and Nicaragua eight years later that Scheideman found himself compelled to look up his old friends in Nicaragua. He went back to visit and soon was immersed in helping the village of Empalme de Boaca. He started with a plan for a simple baseball field, but the baseball field became a full baseball stadium—“a field of...

On December 18, the San Joaquin Country Club in Fresno, California, was bustling with friends celebrating the 90th birthday of artist and Pacific Union College professor emeritus of art Vernon Nye. His former students brought paintings, at his request; their artworks, along with several of Nye’s, leaned against the walls and the many windows in informal gallery style. Meanwhile, there was a perpetual line of friends, family members, and former students waiting to get a moment’s conversation with the hero of the event. When the convivial milling around was interrupted for a segment of speeches, PUC President Richard Osborn stood to make a special presentation to Nye. Osborn read a letter on behalf of PUC Vice President for Student Services Lisa Bissell Paulson, in which she said, “You are an absolute wonder of a man. Gifted and talented beyond compare, your life has been a gift to us all. Your beautiful and astonishing pieces have graced our homes, our calendars, our mantels...and most importantly, our lives.” Osborn then presented Mr. Nye with a special tribute, announcing that the classroom in the Rasmussen Art Gallery has been dedicated as the “Vernon Nye Lecture Hall.” The honor is certainly well placed. There...

Caps, gowns, and the school banners decorated the annual Senior Recognition Colloquy on Thursday, February 9. Academic Dean Ileana Douglas presented the 345-member Class of 2006, mentioning class statistics such as numbers of student missionaries, youngest to graduate, and candidates for high academic honors. “There is no future in any job—the future lies in the man or woman who holds the job,” she reminded the class. “The torch has been passed to you.” The guest speaker for this year’s Senior Recognition was chaplain Sam Leonor of La Sierra University. With humorous anecdotes and an energetic charisma, Leonor talked about the achievements and successes that we celebrate at such events as graduation. “The danger is that we begin to see our identity in these things,” he said. “We see value as based on our level of achievements, and the things that are important to God get moved down the list.” Leonor encouraged students to do their best and finish their college experience with a flair, but also to dedicate their lives to building the kingdom of God here, now. “May God give us the courage to give our lives to building the kingdom of God and proclaiming the One to come,”...

“People say the Nobel Prize is the stamp of achievement in the science world,” said Sydney Brenner. “But I don’t think it’s the prize that really counts; it’s what we do in our scientific lives.” Brenner, presenting a lively sense of humor in his gruff British accent, gave a lecture on How to Win a Nobel Prize at Pacific Union College on Monday night, January 30. He was the 8th scientist to present for the Breakthroughs in Science lecture series, coordinated by the biology department. Brenner, age 75, won the Nobel Prize in 2002 for his work on genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death, and he has a long history of highly influential research, including pioneer work in genetics and molecular biology and discoveries that have been significant for medical research. In a lecture that included scientific references but was also peppered with humorous anecdotes and illustrations to keep the broad range of attendees engaged, Brenner talked about the discovery and exploration of DNA, the issue of contemporary people’s “misplaced sense that we can achieve everything by high technology when we actually just need to think practically,” and the importance of realizing that “you are much more...

There’s a campaign underway in the Campus Ministries Center—a connection campaign. Though the chaplain’s office and Campus Ministries Center has a central location between the church and the Campus Center, the office doesn’t have a lot of visibility; and this year the various ministries leaders working there began to feel a little lonely. New campus chaplain Roy Ice, assistant chaplains Dustin Comm and Christy Ward, and the world missions and campus ministries leaders have been working energetically to connect personally with students and to be actively involved in campus life. But they feel that their ministry will be more effective if their office is a welcoming, happening place. “Before this year,” explains Comm, “a lot of students didn’t even know where the Campus Ministries Center was. Now we want it to be a place where the students feel like they can come and hang out.” So over Thanksgiving break, Ice and Comm went to work on some interior renovations. They took down old partitions, opening up the center office area, and painted one long wall a deep olive green. The addition of some simple leather furniture, black-and-white student photography of “hidden crosses,” and slick message boards have given the office...

A college is always tickled to welcome back its own alumni as faculty and staff members. So PUC is delighted to see Class of 1998 alumna Julie Z. Lee stepping into the position of public relations director. Lee also worked in the public relations office as a student writer and then as media relations coordinator following graduation, so she’s no stranger to the department. The wife of PUC visual arts professor Milbert Mariano, Lee most recently worked as director of communications for Maranatha Volunteers International in Sacramento. Meanwhile, after three and a half years as the public relations director, Michelle Rai (also a PUC alumna) has entered the teaching world as a full-time faculty member, joining Rosemary Collins and James Chase in the PUC communication department....

The music calendar at PUC is sprinkled generously with events from jazz band concerts to senior recitals; but this year a special concert series has joined the line-up. It’s the Rieger Organ Concert Series, featuring ten guest concert organists of impressive caliber who come from as close as Southern California and as far as Germany. These top-notch musicians will perform on the PUC Church Rieger organ, one of the largest mechanical organs in the western states. The organ was crafted by Rieger Orgelbau in Austria, then shipped to California and reassembled in the Angwin church in 1981. Since then, many famous organists have plied its 85 ranks and 58 stops, filling the building with grand expanses of sound....

As a follow-up to the emphasis last year’s student body placed on active involvement in college affairs and open discussion between students and administrators, several PUC students have established a new PUC PodCast radio program this year. The official purpose of the PUC Radio is that “by discussing the latest happenings and hot issues on-campus, we will become a forum for on-going dialogue between PUC students that up until this time has been non-existent.” The episodes are devoted to “PUC news and headlines from a distinctively unique angle, with topics and guests that are important to PUC.” Guests to the show have included Campus Security director Matt Garcia, college president Richard Osborn, and women’s volleyball coach Rhonda Ramos. And the thousands of listeners and active student feedback indicate that this new program is effectively fulfilling its purpose!...