2010

The accolade for Pacific Union College’s outstanding academic program continues as Washington Monthly magazine gave the college high marks for scholarship. In its 2010 College Guide, PUC was ranked in the top ten in the Research Category for Baccalaureate Colleges. According to the publication’s website, the research category considers the dollars spent in research expenditures and the number of bachelor’s degree recipients who go on to receive doctorates, relative to school size. Comprehensive rankings for colleges and universities in the College Guide assess the institution’s success in the following areas: social mobility, which looks at socioeconomic diversity and low-income student graduation rates; research, which examines academic standards; and service, which focuses on a campus’s culture of service. The Washington Monthly, established in 1969, is a publication based in Washington, D.C.; this is their fifth annual College Guide. Earlier this year, U.S. News and World Report ranked PUC in the overall top ten for Baccalaureate Colleges, western region, in their Best Colleges issue--arguably the most well-known college ranking guide in the United States. ...

More than 150 Pacific Union College students gathered in the campus mall on Thursday evening, October 21, for the highly anticipated ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand re-opening of the Campus Center. The opening revealed upgrades funded by the Student Association, PUC administration and Bon Appétit Management Company, the college’s food service provider. College President Heather J. Knight introduced the “wonderful renovation” and declared the center open for use. The opening attracted an elbow-to-elbow crowd for much of the night. Students enjoyed free snacks and live music performed by the PUC jazz band as they excitedly greeted each other and marveled at the differences made by the renovation. One of these changes included the debut of an on-campus convenience store, known as the “C-Store.” Senior Chelsea Hanson commented, “I like how the C-Store has healthy snack options. There are a lot of people on campus with gluten intolerances and other health issues; now they have some great options.” The night also unveiled the Pacific Café, which will serve a variety of beverages. Last year, a similar service operated from a rolling cart in a small corner of the center. The Pacific Café is now located prominently in the center of the building...

Internationally acclaimed pianist John Covelli will perform a free concert at Pacific Union College on Saturday, October 30, at 7 p.m. in the Paulin Hall Auditorium as a featured musician in the college’s Fine Arts Series. The program includes selections from Copland, Lizst, Beethoven, Paul Ben-Haim, Debussy, Griffes and Gottschalk. Donations are gladly accepted. Covelli is an international prize-winning pianist, having won two of Europe’s most presigious piano competitions—the Queen Elizabeth of Brussels and the Busoni International Piano Competition. A Chicago-born prodigy, his career has spanned the realms of orchestral involvement, solo piano performance, and conducting in a variety of ensembles. He is a popular guest conductor, master teacher and chamber player. Covelli is the founding conductor of the Belleayre Festival Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Binghamton Philharmonic. He is music director of both A Company for Chamber Orchestra and A Company for Chamber Opera, and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Concert Productions. Additionally, he is conductor and music director of the International Repertory Orchestra and the curator of classical music at the Goodwill Theatre, Inc., in Greater Binghamton. For more information on Covelli, visit www.johncovelli.com. PUC's Fine Arts Series invites the Napa Valley community to share in culturally rich...

Pacific Union College’s Rasmussen Art Gallery will open its new color photography “Lens and Land” exhibit on Saturday, October 30, from 7-9 p.m. The gallery will feature work of local artists Jerry Dodrill and Tania Amochaev. Refreshments will be served and admission is free. Jerry Dodrill is an international award-winning landscape and adventure photographer whose work has been exhibited in galleries such as the Ansel Adams, Mountain Light, Mumm Napa Valley and Banff Center for Mountain Culture. The Rasmussen Art Gallery will showcase portions of his landscape photography—nature close-ups and vistas. For more information about Jerry Dodrill, visit jerrydodrill.com. Photos from Tania Amochaev’s “Namibia” collection will also be presented. These photos, taken in 2005, capture the interior of homes overrun by sand dunes in an abandoned diamond mining town in Namibia, South Africa. For more information about Tania Amochaev, visit taniaamochaev.com.The exhibit will continue through November 18. Rasmussen Art Gallery is located on the Pacific Union College campus. The gallery hosts six shows each year and features work from invited artists as well as from faculty and students. The gallery is open regularly 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. ...

On October 4, 2010, the Pacific Union College Board of Trustees voted to end the college’s consulting contract with Triad Communities and instead pursue opportunities for PUC’s property outside of an Ecovillage project. “This decision comes after more than a year of careful study and consideration,” says Dr. Heather Knight, president of PUC, who spent much of her first year on the job assessing the development project. “After speaking with various community leaders and given the current economic landscape, I feel this is not the best plan for PUC right now.” PUC is still committed to selling land that is not currently in use by the college and that is considered non-essential to PUC’s core mission. This is in accordance with a 2002 board resolution to liquidate non-essential assets to ensure that the College has resources to meet its current financial obligations, as well as to achieve its long-term financial objectives for its future growth and development. These goals include growing the college’s endowment, providing more scholarships for students, increasing faculty and staff compensation, and enhancing the campus infrastructure and facilities. Selected property surrounding and east of the airport will be sold, as is, through a broker, with appropriate restrictions...

Aside from a drizzly Sunday morning, most of the weekend stayed gorgeous and sunny, providing a perfect backdrop for the 2010 Pacific Union College Parents Weekend, October 15-17. More than 100 families from all over the United States arrived on campus, eager to see how their students were faring after four weeks of school and also to get a glimpse of college life. “Parents Weekend is a great opportunity for parents to come and see what life is like on campus and see what we do, how we live, and see our friends,” says student Rayna Duran, a business major. Her mother, Jan Duran, agrees. “You get to bond with your children in their environment. So they are actually hosting you as opposed to you doing all the hosting for them at your home. They love being able to give to us in a way that we always give to them.” The event started on Friday night with the Presidential Dinner in the newly renovated Dining Commons on Friday night. Families were treated to a special dinner with the administration and the president; later in the evening, President Heather Knight gave a speech on “The Adventist Advantage,” her philosophy on...

Pianist Joy Muth Fackenthall will perform a concert at Pacific Union College as a part of the college’s Fine Arts Series on Saturday, October 23, at 7 p.m. in Paulin Hall Auditorium. The program will include selections from Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Saint-Saëns. Fackenthall will be accompanied by Dr. Rachelle Berthelsen Davis, violin, and Joel Dickerson, piano. Joy earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Pacific Lutheran University, and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. She teaches piano lessons through PUC's Music Department. PUC's Fine Arts Series invites the Napa Valley community to share in culturally rich musical experiences featuring outstanding soloists and chamber ensembles—some of the best and brightest of the musical world with repertoire that enrich, entice, excite and entertain. Admission to the concert is free, however, donations are accepted. Suggested donations of $10 per person can be made at the door. For more information, call the PUC Music Department at 707-965-6201....

As part of its Fine Arts Series, PUC’s music department will host two piano concerts this month at Paulin Hall Auditorium: Joy Muth Fackenthall and John Covelli. Pianist Joy Muth Fackenthall will perform on Saturday, October 23, at 7 p.m. The program will include selections from Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Saint-Saëns. Fackenthall will be accompanied by Dr. Rachelle Berthelsen Davis, violin, and Joel Dickerson, piano. Fackenthall earned a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Washington State University and a master’s in music performance from Western Washington University. She teaches piano lessons both privately and through the college’s Paulin Center for the Creative Arts. Internationally acclaimed pianist John Covelli will perform on Saturday, October 30, at 7 p.m. The program includes selections from Copland, Lizst, Beethoven, Paul Ben-Haim, Debussy, Griffes and Gottschalk. Covelli is an international prize-winning pianist, having won two of Europe’s most prestigious piano competitions—the Queen Elizabeth of Brussels and the Busoni International Piano Competition. A Chicago-born prodigy, his career has spanned the realms of orchestral involvement, solo piano performance, and conducting in a variety of ensembles. He is a popular guest conductor, master teacher and chamber player. Covelli is also the founding conductor of the Belleayre Festival Orchestra...

The Pacific Union College religion department kicked off the school year with its annual spiritual retreat on the weekend of October 1-3. This was a weekend of fun, fellowship, and communion with God in the picturesque location of PUC’s Albion Field Station on the Mendocino coast. “This trip is often the highlight of the year for our theology majors,” says Leo Ranzolin, religion department chair. The weekend’s bonding started on Friday afternoon with a two-and-a-half hour drive from PUC. The road to Albion twists and turns in sinuous curves hugging spectacular cliffs. Upon their arrival at Albion, the students and their guests were treated to a healthy meal at the Albion cafeteria. Freshman religion major Abraham Navarro, noted, “[The food] kept getting better and better.” To kick off the Sabbath, religion and theology students provided a vespers in the recently renovated laboratory building. Theology sophomore Samantha Angeles delivered a moving message on the importance of wisdom. Fellow theology major Jason Whitley, commented, “I loved her sermon. It was a great reminder of what is important for those of us going into ministry.” The Sabbath morning church service was no disappointment, either. With the winding Albion River visible through the windows,...

It was an unusual scene at the Rasmussen Art Gallery on Saturday night, October 2, as groups of people huddled around the main show room, shoving and rolling expensive pieces of art. The creator, Michael McGinnis, stood casually by as people of all ages took turns handling his work. The show, “Superplexus: Sculptural Labyrinths,” is meant to be tactile as it features a series of three-dimensional spherical mazes navigated by a ball bearing. The largest sculpture, the Superplexus Vortex, is nearly 4 feet tall and is priced at $30,000, and the smallest is 8 inches in diameter and available for purchase where toys are sold. Also accompanying the Superplexus are prototypes and drawings, showing the creative journey from idea to completion. McGinnis estimates having spent more than 500 hours on the Vortex. McGinnis, who teaches sculpture and three-dimensional design at Santa Rosa Junior College in California, began designing complex and intricate mazes as a child. He designed and built his first three-dimensional puzzle—a rough ancestor of his acclaimed Superplexus—as a high school junior in Petaluma in 1979. It took over 20 years of numerous revisions to turn that early maze into a marketable form and eventually a stunning work of...