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This summer, the Pacific Union College Church welcomed its new lead pastor, Mark Witas, and pastor for family ministries, Wendy Witas, to the ministry team. Mark Witas will be officially installed as the new lead pastor Sept. 28, 2013. He delivered his first sermon at the PUC Church on June 22, 2013. A 27-year Church employee, Witas was most recently the lead pastor at the North Cascade Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mount Vernon, Wash. He has also served as a youth pastor, academy men’s dean, Bible teacher and chaplain for college and high school students. Witas has been a guest speaker for universities, academies, camp meetings, and special events worldwide. The author of “Born Chosen” and “Life Out Loud,” Witas’ new book, a youth devotional published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association, will be available in 2014. Witas holds a master of divinity degree from Andrews University, and completed his undergraduate degree in history and biblical studies at Seattle Pacific University. “God created me to teach and preach about His good character,” Witas says. “It's my joy to stand and deliver the good news about God each time we gather to worship in the PUC Church.” Wendy Witas is...

Perched above the Danube River on a Hungarian bridge barely a week after spring quarter finals had concluded, 20 PUC history students were back in class. Their 10-day tour of Eastern Europe, coordinated by the PUC history department, spanned Budapest, Hungary; Slovakia; Krakow, Poland; and Prague, Czech Republic. "This trip brought to life things that I had learned through my coursework,” says Hollie Macomber, history club president and president of the class of 2013. Led by history faculty Dr. Hilary Dickerson and Professor Ileana Douglas, and joined by biology professor Aimee Wyrick, this year’s tour focused on World War II in Europe and the Cold War era. The tour is a graduation requirement for history majors, and past tours include Australia and New Zealand (2012), Japan (2010), and England and the U.S.’s East Coast (2008); the course includes a research paper, five book reviews, and a journal of the sites visited. “The tour pursues the learning experience in historical locations and is an enrichment element to our academic curriculum,” says Douglas. During the 2013 spring quarter, students took two upper-division courses in Eastern European history, covering the causes and results of World War II, to prepare for their education abroad....

Thirteen new student-athletes will join the PUC student body this September, adding new strength and skill to the Pioneers women’s basketball team. “Each of these players brings a significant part of the game of basketball that our program needs,” states head coach George Glover. “I am excited to have the opportunity to coach incoming players that excel in the classroom as well as uphold the character and values of our women’s basketball program.” The incoming players are Victoria Aguilera, De’Ja Conger, Kristian Edwards, Shy’Anne Higa, Verleah Jones, Makana Kaaikala-Caban, Rachel Kaneakua, Alexa Martin, Kyra Navarette, London Robinson, Haley Ryals, Brittany Stegall, and Amber Washington. The new players make up the Lady Pioneers’ largest recruiting class in the history of the program. Four of the student-athletes are joining PUC as college freshmen. Shy-Anne Higa, a graduate of Modesto Christian High School, will major in bio-chemistry with the goal of becoming a physician. London Robinson was a four-year varsity starter for the Oakland Tech High School Bulldogs, and chose PUC because she likes “the campus location and what PUC has to offer.” De’Ja “DC” Conger of Sacramento, Calif., comes to PUC with athletic recognitions that mirror her academic success. “De’Ja is a...

On May 16, 2013, the Pacific Union College Board of Trustees confirmed Walter E. Collins as the college’s new vice president for advancement and alumni relations. Collins officially began his appointment on July 1, 2013. Most recently, Collins was the executive director of the California Symphony Orchestra, which he led for three seasons and where he was responsible for all orchestra operations. Under his direction, the symphony completed a strategic plan, doubled its number of donors, and increased ticket sales revenue while reducing operating costs. Furthermore, under Collins’ leadership, the orchestra received a National Endowment for the Arts award, as well as a Getty Foundation/League of American Orchestra’s Community Arts Awards grant for developing Sound Minds, a novel music and literacy education program that works to effect transformational change in the lives of disadvantaged children. In the course of his professional career, he has also established close relationships with the Irvine, Hearst, Haas and Ford Foundations. Prior to his work at the California Symphony Orchestra, Collins served as president and CEO of United Way of the Wine Country in Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt and Del Norte counties for four years, leading a three million dollar organization that was distinguished as...

As Pacific Union College’s largest class in seven years prepared to graduate, many dads in the audience celebrated Father’s Day with a unique card: a commencement program listing their child as a 2013 graduate. On Sunday, June 16, 2013, PUC graduated its 125th class in the woodland peace—before the cheers and glad shouts—of the college’s Commencement Grove. “I guess it may be a cliché, but I would have to say, what better gift could a father receive than to see his daughter graduating from college on Father's Day!” said Melville Uechi, father of Colleen Uechi, who left the platform with a bachelor of arts degrees in Spanish and intercultural communication, with an emphasis in Spanish. The cum laude Student Association leader was the 2012-2013 Campus Chronicle editor and also one of the first Maxwell Scholars to graduate from PUC. The 360 members of PUC’s class of 2013 hailed from 19 different states and seven different countries. One hundred and nine students received academic distinctions and honors, with nine summa cum laude graduates, 24 magna cum laude graduates, and 63 cum laude graduates. Nine students from PUC’s Honors Program and four Maxwell Scholars were also among the throng. The greatest number...