2014

In November, Lauren Armstrong, Arianna Duran, and Benjamin Speegle received recognition from the National Communication Association (NCA) at the 99th National Communication Convention in Washington, D.C. This group of PUC communication students had spent two quarters researching various factors influencing interracial mate selection, primarily those within the family; they compiled their research and submitted it to the NCA in March of 2013. At the convention, their paper, one of four papers selected from eighty submissions to the Lambda Pi Eta division, received the Stephen A. Smith Award for Top Group-Authored Undergraduate Research Paper. This is the second year that PUC’s communication students have taken the award for top group-authored paper. Armstrong, Duran, and Speegle, all now graduates of PUC, conducted their study for a class in Communication Research taught by Tammy McGuire, professor of communication. They aimed to determine how being raised in an interracial household can affect an individual’s relationship decisions. Their findings, compiled in a paper entitled “Familial Influence Over Interracial Mate Selection,” concluded that modern society produces an increasing number of interracial relationships because these connections are more commonly accepted today than they have been in the past. Crucial factors included household makeup, communication strategies, age, and...

Bryan Soderblom, a sophomore aviation and religion major, experienced a life-changing journey during his year as a student missionary in Guyana, a small nation on the northern coast of South America. Although as a freshman he initially planned to go to Brazil as a pilot, personally he felt the call for a homeschool teacher in Guyana was stronger. “The more and more I thought about it during long hikes in the back 40, it felt like if I went to Brazil I’d be serving my own purposes,” said Bryan. He liked the opportunity in Guyana because it seemed more of a service mission than a way to advance his own career as a pilot. Bryan was set up teaching two American children as soon as he arrived in Guyana. Shortly he began giving guitar lessons to local kids, and then was bumped up to teaching high school math to about a hundred students at the secondary school. He said the job was rewarding as well as demanding; he was able to help the high school kids push through the basics of math up to a solid high school level. “By the end, I’m glad to say we got to factorization...

In remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Pacific Union College will host Dr. Eboo Patel for the College’s Colloquy Speaker Series on January 9 in the PUC Church Sanctuary. Patel is the founder and Executive Director of the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), which works toward the growth of the interfaith youth movement. He has spoken at the TED Conference, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the Nobel Peace Prize Forum. Dr. Patel is also a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and contributes regularly to the Washington Post, NPR, and CNN. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University. For this special Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembrance Colloquy program, Dr. Patel’s subject will be Ghandi’s influence on Dr. King. Patel will present at 10 a.m. in the PUC Church Sanctuary....