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In recognition of excellence in "supporting mind, body and spirit" and being a trendsetter in employee wellness, PUC was named one of the "Healthiest Companies in the North Bay" this year. The Healthiest Company awards, announced by the North Bay Business Journal at its annual Health Care Conference in November and in the November 12 issue of its publication, recognize "outstanding efforts of organizations and businesses across the North Bay in the critical movement toward wellness." The award nominations are gathered through the summer and companies are surveyed about their health practices. The Business Journal then selects companies to honor at their Health Care Conference. PUC was cited as earning its award for a thorough and accessible wellness program that includes onsite health screenings, health risk assessments with progress reports, and health education opportunities. Such wellness programs as the "Inertia Initiative" and "Lunch and Learn Series," the Wellness Studio and Health Services Clinic, and classes ranging from the Archibald Fitness Boot Camp to martial arts and Zumba were also mentioned. PUC employees are listed as having 27 percent fewer health risks than the national average. "We work in a faith community that acknowledges our Creator's wisdom in weaving each person...

With the warmth of a family member, Charles White, a pastor and great-grandson of Ellen G. White, drew students closer to their Adventist inheritance at Pacific Union College’s annual Adventist Heritage Colloquy. White is the senior pastor of Camelback Seventh-day Adventist Church in Phoenix, Ariz., and a PUC alum. In “Faith of Our Fathers,” the opening hymn, the audience sang the praises of a Christian inheritance, and the Heritage Singers performed a toe-tapping rendition of “Satisfied.” Afterward, PUC President Dr. Heather Knight introduced White and the accomplishments of his great-grandmother, Adventism’s co-founder and the world’s most translated female author. “Our priority should and always must be on people,” White said, as he shared family stories to create a “sense of connectedness.” “Did you ever meet your great-grandmother?” Charles White is often asked. With a laugh, he said he called upon the reasoning skills of “math majors and nonmajors” to do the calculations: Ellen White passed away in 1915. However, through his stories students had the chance to become better acquainted with members of the White family, such as “Sleeping Willy,” Ellen White’s somnambulance-prone son. “I thought it was very interesting to hear about E.G. White from a family member. Even...

Several times each year, select students from PUC’s math and science departments visit the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tenn. for research and hands-on application of what they’ve learned in the classroom. Between Nov. 15 and 30, a group of six PUC students took a two-week long trip to ORNL. The National Science Foundation, a government organization that promotes the study of science, presented this opportunity and PUC physics professor Vola Andrianarijaona chose each student that attended. April Vassantachart, Kieffer Bacani, Sarah Heczko, Josue Tobar, Richard Strom, and Robert Chi attended this particular trip, reprenting areas of study from biophysics to pre-med to computer engineering. The students were given the chance to participate in different phases of particle research, with assistance from both Andrianarijaona and ORNL scientist Charlie Havener. “The purpose of our trip was to set-up our apparatus, calibrate it, and start making measurements,” said Bacani. This gave students the opportunity to not only learn how these things are done, but to put them into practice. “The trip gave me real lab experience, and put my education to the test,” said Chi. ORNL, founded in the 1940s, has been facilitating scientific discoveries and groundbreaking research for...

Two of the top four awards, including the top group award, in the Lambda Pi Eta division of the National Communication Association convention were awarded to Pacific Union College students this year at the NCA annual event. Three of the students and PUC Communication Professor Tammy McGuire traveled to present their research at the convention.The NCA convention is the single largest annual gathering of communication teachers, researchers, students and other professionals in the nation. Over 5,000 attendees from every state and around the world were present at the convention, held Nov. 15-18 in Orlando, Fla. PUC’s papers were submitted to the division limited to members of the National Communication Association’s official honor society, Lambda Pi Eta.A paper by five PUC students, “Conflict Resolution Patterns in Intercultural Couples,” won the Stephen A. Smith award for the top group paper in the Lambda Pi Eta division following its presentation by PUC Senior Shanna Crumley. The other members of her team, Abraham Baldenegro, Jennifer Cotto, Sean Grainger and Divya Joseph, had already graduated and were unable to attend. The other paper at the convention, was presented by 2012 graduates, Janna Vassantachart and Jordan Thornburg, was titled “Birth Order and Communication Styles in Romantic...

This year Pacific Union College launched a partnership with Brazil Adventist University (UNASP). Discussion began last spring, when UNASP president José Martini suggested the partnership to PUC president Heather Knight, initially with the main objective of UNASP students learning English. “Having more international students on our campuses helps to foster global understanding,” commented Knight. “Being part of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist global church, we want to help other institutions as well, by partnering with them.” With the residence halls open in the summer, PUC offers UNASP students the opportunity to study here at PUC for a five-week program. Students will also take field trips to places like the Bay Area, including San Francisco. “This idea is that they come for a short term, [and gain] language and culture experience, where they have an opportunity to be exposed to American culture and to have some formal language instruction at the same time,” said Assistant Academic Dean Ed Moore. But the partnership is an opportunity for both schools—UNASP will send students to study at PUC while PUC students will have the chance to learn Portuguese and study in Brazil. Knight noted Brazil’s emerging economy, and the especially great opportunities it presents for...