Search - Larry Pena

Lisa Breckenridge interviews celebrities for a living, on television, in the largest media market in the United States. She is entertainment and lifestyle anchor for Fox Los Angeles's 11 Morning News, the Fox 11 News at 10 a.m., and the Fox 11 News at Noon and occasional stand-in for the anchors of these shows as well as the hugely popular Los Angeles morning show Good Day LA. It's a pretty heady job for someone who claims she was the boring kid at Pacific Union College. "I was the kid who never wanted to get into trouble!" she says, laughing. "I was the one who was always in bed by 8 o'clock." Her only shenanigan, she says, was during her 1986 campaign for Student Association Social Vice President, when she dropped her skirt onstage as part of a skit about not resorting to sensational gimmicks to win the election. She's come a long way since then. There have been no recorded "wardrobe malfunctions" at any of her jobs on live television. She has also stepped into a life that could be described as a little less boring. "Whether I am on the red carpet getting a kiss from George Clooney or...

It's obvious that something very important is going on in Fisher Hall, home of Pacific Union College's art department. Here and there throughout the large open classroom, little groups of people are huddled around laptops and elaborate mechanical setups, gesturing and poking, arguing and collaborating in hushed but hurried voices. Each little cluster is a buzzing frenzy of tension and activity. And then moments later, they step back and unleash their creations: robots designed to rescue the planet. Robots built out of Lego blocks. It's a summer workshop called Lego Robotics, and this is the first time the four-day course has been offered at PUC. The class teaches current and future middle school educators how to participate-and get their students involved in-a national organization called FIRST Lego League. The league holds regional and national competitions where student teams design, build, and program innovative robots based on Lego Mindstorms NXT Intelligent Brick robotics platform. The robots are then tested on a standard course to complete a timed set of functions. Rick Nelson, a teacher at Chico Oaks Adventist School in Chico, California, is presenting the workshop. He and students from his school have been involved in FIRST Lego League (FIRST stands...

Eighteen faculty received recognition in April for outstanding scholarship at the annual faculty awards program. Recipients were honored for notable work in their academic fields in the 2008-2009 year, including a wide range of works from presentations on biological diversity, architecture in art, and science and sexual orientation to "VoIP Quality and Security Issues for Consumers and Small Businesses." Three faculty members were awarded Herber Awards for their work. This award and accompanying grant was established in 2006 to facilitate teachers in their quest to achieve and sustain innovative, quality instruction. Vola Andrianarijaona, assistant professor of computer science, mathematics, and physics, received a Herber Grant to travel to Oakridge National Laboratory to do research and to attend the International Conference on Photonic, Electronic, and Atomic Collisions. Heather Reid, assistant professor of English, received a grant to spend two weeks at the Huntington Library to research and write an article about the only surviving Middle English translation of the "Story of Asneth." And resident artist Mei Ann Teo will use her grant to attend the La Mama International Symposium for Directors in Umbria, Italy....