Academics

As a Seventh-day Adventist learningcommunity offering an excellent Christ centered education, Pacific UnionCollege is proud to prepare its students for productive lives of useful humanservice and uncompromising personal integrity. Ranked as a National LiberalArts College by U.S. News & WorldReport, a PUC education emphasizes academic excellence, authentic spiritualexperience, and service to local and worldwide communities. At PUC, studentsare taught lasting lessons that they employ as professionals and as Christ’sservants.A Pacific Union College degree is also an investment withlasting value. In September 2013, PUC was ranked in the top 13 percent ofcolleges nationally for return on investment by PayScale, a provider ofcompensation data. The ROI (return on investment) ranking demonstrates thatstudents who graduate from PUC enjoy a greater earnings increase than studentswithout a four-year degree. Estimates of lifetime earnings of college degreeholders range from $700,000 to $1 million more than those who have only a highschool diploma. When the college’s financial aid offerings are taken intoaccount, the PayScale ranking shows that PUC graduates could expect an annualreturn of 7.9% on their higher education investment. PUC has a long traditionof sending students to medical and dental school, as well as prestigiousgraduate programs, which further increases earning potential. PUC students arewell positioned for...

Pacific Union College students have many opportunities when making weekend plans: Vespers services on Friday, hikes on campus trails, trips to the ocean, and Student Association gatherings on Saturday night. For many students, service to others through Clearlake Homeless Ministry is an essential part of each weekend. After Sabbath church services and lunch, students hop in to vans and make their way to Clearlake, a small town 40 miles from PUC with a large homeless population. This outreach began in the fall of 2012 with a senior theology major, Gresford Thomas, who saw a need in the Clearlake community. “Lives have been changed,” says the ministry’s sponsor, Gilbert Abella, a PUC librarian. Each Friday afternoon, volunteers pack nonperishable food into bags to hand out behind a parking lot and at a park by Redbud Lake. The bags are filled with a variety of supplies, including donations from the school cafeteria and from Gott’s, a local restaurant. Sometimes the group includes specific items that homeless individuals request. The ministry also makes calls for seasonal items, including coats and tarps in winter. The team is led by Cristian and Shelina Villegas, who faithfully visit Clearlake each week and make sure the needs...

Pacific Union College’s department of English hosted a poetry reading on the evening of November 17 featuring adjunct English professor Judith Rose and her friend, Israeli poet and translator Betsy Rosenberg. The poets are accomplished writers as well as longtime friends, and in their presentation spoke about their shared childhood experiences and current creative collaboration to a full auditorium in McKibben Hall. After an introduction to the poets by Cynthia Westerbeck, chair of the department of English, Rose and Rosenberg alternated reading. Both have recently published books of poetry: Rose published Walking the Minefield in 2012 with Finishing Line Press, and Rosenberg’s A Future More Vivid with Sheep Meadow press this month. “It’s so wonderful to be able to look back on such a long time … and to share the perspectives of over a half century of friendship,” Rosenberg said of her friendship with Rose. As they read, they explored similar themes in their poetry, including descriptions of the Midwest (where they first met), animals, the passing of siblings, and the tensions of war and peace. To read more about Rose and Rosenberg’s longtime friendship and poetry, read the profile in the St. Helena Star....

The Pacific Union College Pioneers women’s volleyball team ended their season at the National Athletic Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) California Pacific Conference Volleyball Tournament in Riverside, Calif. The Lady Pioneers lost to Menlo College on October 13; Menlo went on to beat UC Merced for the Cal Pac Championship on October 15. At the Championship Awards Banquet, Pioneer players were honored with postseason honors. PUC women’s volleyball ended their season 15-12 overall and 5-6 in Cal Pac play. They entered the Championships as the three seed before falling to Menlo College in the first round. “We are a young team, and a young team with a lot of talent,” shared head coach Brittany Brown. “I am looking forward to building off the success of this program going into next year.” At the Cal Pac Championship Awards Banquet, Lady Pioneer Viridiana Gallardo, a senior, was recognized the Cal Pac Libero of the Year and named to the All Conference First Team. Gallardo led the Cal Pac in digs per set at 6.02 and tallied a total of 602 digs in the season. She was seventh in the NAIA in digs per set. In addition to Gallardo’s award, Amanda Loeffler was named Cal...

Josue Hernandez would have never imagined being the religious vice president of PUC’s Student Association his freshman year of college at UC Davis. After he transferred to PUC his junior year, Hernandez changed his major from mechanical engineering to theology. “I knew the ministry would be more fulfilling,” Hernandez says. Hernandez describes his role in SA as “a fun experience with no stress and a good team.” Coordinating vespers and ministering to different groups on campus, Hernandez integrates his main goal for students in every event he plans. “I want to see individuals mature spiritually, have an open mind, and be able to look at life and faith from new perspectives,” Hernandez explains. His vision for the campus as a whole is to see a diverse spiritual community come together. Hernandez recently returned from a trip to Silver Spring, Md. for the North American Division Year-End Meetings, where he represented Pacific Union College and the youth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. For the first time, 15 of voting delegates were young adults from Adventist colleges and universities. Hernandez and his peers shared their voice and voted on issues that ranged from mission projects to women’s ordination. Hernandez saw the experience...

“In our most stretching times … we find that there is a greater plan,” shared Sarah Hill at the November 6 installment of PUC’s Colloquy Speaker Series. Hill, a youth leader and missionary on the island of Kauai, is best known for her relationship with surfer and shark-attack survivor Bethany Hamilton. During her presentation, “Lost Limbs but Not Lost Hope,” Hill used her experience comforting a girl whose life completely changed when she tragically lost an arm in a shark accident to inspire the PUC community to put their hope in Christ, even in crisis. In Soul Surfer, the film portrayal of Bethany Hamilton’s accident and recovery, Hill was played by singer and actress Carrie Underwood. Hill spoke of her role in Bethany Hamilton’s life, and the difficulty she had trying to find the right words to say as she drove to the emergency room following the accident. “Lord, what do I say in this time? How do I comfort her family when I’m not okay with this?” Hill questioned. It was that moment that she realized God had a plan for Bethany, and He was going to use her. Hill, who was the Hamilton’s youth leader, spent countless hours...

Squirmy kindergartners and healthy first graders aren’t typical patients for nursing students used to interacting with sick or injured people in hospital settings. However, on a series of schooldays in October, bachelor of nursing students taking a Community Health course visited a series of private elementary schools to screen the hearing and vision of each student. The Community Health course is part of PUC’s bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) curriculum, and the service-learning opportunity at the local schools gave students a chance to be hands-on and apply what they learned in the college classroom to the elementary classroom. The BSN students conducted screenings at Pacific Union College Elementary in Angwin on October 14, Napa Christian Campus of Education in Napa on October 15, and Foothills Adventist Elementary School in St. Helena on October 21. “Learning it in the classroom is far different from actually doing it with a kindergartener,” shares Susan Allen, D.N.P. Allen, professor for the Community Health class and a former school nurse, saw the screening as a great opportunity for both college and elementary students. Unlike public schools, private schools like these don’t have free screenings in certain grades. Catching hearing and vision problems early can...

Pacific Union College’s full residence halls and busy academic buildings are the result of a remarkable increase in retention. Following the October 12 census date, when the college analyses fall enrollment data, PUC is reporting the highest on-campus enrollment since 1995. This fall quarter, 1,634 students are enrolled at PUC’s Angwin campus. Adding off-campus programs such as the RN-BSN program in Napa brings the college’s total enrollment to 1,674 students. "We are blessed that so many students and their families have chosen Pacific Union College,” states Jennifer Tyner, vice president for enrollment management and marketing. “PUC's outstanding academics and Seventh-day Adventist faith community make it an excellent investment, and I am excited to see what we will accomplish this year as we fulfill the college's unique educational mission." The college is especially proud of the high number of students who chose to return to PUC to continue their undergraduate education. "The return of such a high percentage of last year's freshmen, sophomores, and juniors is a great indicator that PUC is continuing to provide the excellent, Christ-centered education we promise,” comments Nancy Lecourt, Vice President for academic administration and academic dean. “The high impact learning practices and incredible faculty mentoring...

Over the last five years, two departments in particular saw incredible growth in their student headcount. Since the fall quarter of 2009, the number of students declaring a major in religion or theology grew by more than a third, while the education department saw a significant increase in the number of students seeking teaching credentials and bachelor’s degrees in early childhood education. While many of the students in these departments choose more than one major, it is very encouraging to the religion and education faculty, as well as the administration at large, to see so many students committing themselves to these majors. “Providing pastors and teachers to the Adventist church has always been central to the mission of PUC,” said Nancy Lecourt, academic dean. “This scholarship has made it possible for more students to follow God’s call into these vital areas.” The Adventist Mission Scholarship, previously offered to students of religion, became available to the department of education three years ago. This scholarship granted incoming freshmen $1000 per quarter if they declared education as their field of study. Eventually, this scholarship expanded to include students switching to an education major after arriving on campus, drawing even more interest to the...

Pacific Union College’s guest for the October 23 installment of the Colloquy Speakers Series was Elissa Kido, Ph.D. Each fall, the special Adventist Heritage Colloquy celebrates PUC’s Adventist identity and history, and Kido’s presentation on how the Adventist educational system produces developed, prepared individuals who are destined for success was especially relevant for the students and faculty gathered in the PUC Church Sanctuary. Following a special music by PUC’s String Quartet, academic dean Nancy Lecourt took the podium to introduce the Kido, a professor of education at La Sierra University and director of the Center for Research on Adventist Education and the CognitiveGenesis research project. Kido’s presentation, “How to Predict Success,” focused on the effects of Adventist education and how every student at PUC has the potential to be a success. In her presentation, Kido referenced Martin Doblmeier’s film The Blueprint, a documentary exploring how the Adventist school system became a model for educational reform. (PUC had screened The Blueprint the night of Wednesday, October 22.) In the CognitiveGenesis study directed by Kido, tests administered to over 800 Adventist schools between 2006 and 2009 showed students in Adventist schools consistently outperforming the national average in all grades and in all...