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Ginger Ketting has a ritual. It involves purchasing a bag of M&Ms to eat on the plane, every time she flies. Although it is a habit that only travelling companions may have been aware of, it was made public at a recent chapel honoring Ginger Ketting. On May 20, Ginger Ketting was named Educator of the Year, an award introduced at PUC in 1984 as a means of recognizing excellence in teaching. Selected by a collaborative effort between students and faculty, the award represents quality in teaching and respect among peers. As is tradition, students, colleagues, and family members gave their own special tributes at the ceremony, but there was one accolade that will most likely be remembered for years to come. Sandra Balli, associate professor of education, brought a basket of peanut M&Ms to share with the audience, claiming to have found them in Ketting's office. In honor of the Ginger Ketting tradition, yellow bags of M&Ms began whizzing through the air, one even catching Warren Ashworth, professor of religion, on the head. Candy covered chocolates aside, the ceremony also included a slide show of Ketting's earlier teaching experiences, narrated by her parents, who flew in from Kennewick, Washington...

Violence to women is real, and it takes place close to home. Last year alone in Napa, California, the Emergency Women's Service received more than 1,800 crisis calls. Most calls came from battered or sexually abused women. Aware of this horrific trend, Peggy David, director of Pacific Union College's Campus Security, launched a bold project called "Project Sweet Dreams." And while it may not stop the violence, Project Sweet Dreams will ensure that abused women and their children have a safe place to stay for the night. Peggy sent 42 packets to area hotels and motels across the county, asking each to donate a room twice a year for the Napa Emergency Women's Service. This way, women can find refuge even when the women's shelters are full; and according to Lylan Frank, director of the Napa Emergency Women's Service, the shelters are nearly always full. The victims are usually in imminent danger, and shelters are often the only barrier between life and death. For this reason, all victims must agree not to disclose the name of the hotel nor to contact their attacker. Also, there can be no weapons nor drugs taken into the room. These stipulations, says Peggy, are...

It's hard to imagine what would improve the natural beauty of Albion; yet in its 52nd year, the Pacific Union College field station had evidence of aging that even the lush Redwood trees couldn't compensate for. With camping spaces becoming crowded by shrubbery and building roofs falling apart, Albion was in need of a renovation. In response to a call for help from the President's Office, nearly thirty members of PUC faculty and staff, along with their families, ventured out to Mendocino from July 2-11, for the Albion Beautification Project. Volunteering their services and vacation hours, the PUC-ites spent the days painting, weeding, cleaning, and reroofing the field study center grounds. The work day began shortly after an eight-o'clock breakfast and finished up about five or six. Afterwards, the volunteers were free to spend the evening kayaking, canoeing, or taking trips to the coast. While the only compensation for the intense physical labor was free room and board, all found the trip to be worth their while. "It was great to mingle with people from other departments that you would not see otherwise," said Terry Trivett, professor of biology, who helped with the reroofing. "It was a perfect atmosphere to...

U.S. News & World Report's annual "Best Colleges" issue hits the newsstands on Monday, August 23, and Pacific Union College in Angwin, Calif., continues to score high. For the sixth straight year, the national magazine ranked PUC as the top ten regional liberal arts college in all California and in the top ten among regional liberal arts colleges in the fourteen Western states. Along with the overall rankings, PUC fared well in specific areas, as well. Significantly, U.S. News ranked PUC in its top five for "Best Values" among liberal arts colleges in the Western United States-a ranking based on a ratio of quality to price. The magazine also ranked PUC among the top ten most "ethnically diverse" campuses within the Western United States. For this year's rankings, U.S. News employed their most thorough approach. Overall rankings were based on academic quality, faculty-to-student ratio, faculty resources, graduation rates, financial aid, student diversity, alumni giving, and pre-professional programs. PUC scored well in all categories, especially academic quality, faculty-to-student ratio, and student diversity. Also, PUC's students have a high-acceptance rate into graduate schools, ranked in the top ten among all American colleges and universities for acceptance into medical school according to The...

Fiona Bullock, assistant professor of social work, is proud to display the most mismatched set of backpacks ever collected. There are twenty-five of them, each of vastly different shape, size, and color. Pastels, earth tones, and vibrant, basic colors lie jumbled together like a box of crayons kicked onto the floor. Duffel bags, gym bags, and back-packs are equally thrown into the heap. The casual observer would never associate these bags with one another and that is the whole idea. These bags were not collected to be a fashion statement, but a covert operation. They will be given out in secret and were chosen so that-when seen trundling around a school next year, slung over shoulders and jammed into lockers-no one will ever know where they came from. Neither will they know about the school supplies and health items that once filled these bags. The motley collection is only part of "The Backpack Project," the final project of six seniors graduating from Pacific Union College this June with degrees in social work. The students have worked all year with Angwin Adventist Community Services to raise funds and supplies, and in August will give the fully stocked packs to 25 students...