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Pacific Union College

Coordinates: 38°34′09″N 122°26′29″W / 38.5693°N 122.4413°W / 38.5693; -122.4413
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Pacific Union College
Pacific Union College's Healdsburg Bell
The Healdsburg Bell at Pacific Union College
Former names
Healdsburg Academy
Healdsburg College
TypePrivate Liberal Arts College
Established1882
AffiliationAdventist [1]
PresidentHeather Knight, Ph.D.
Students1,527[2]
Location
Angwin
,
CA
,
United States

38°34′09″N 122°26′29″W / 38.5693°N 122.4413°W / 38.5693; -122.4413
CampusRural
MascotPioneers
Websitehttp://puc.edu
File:Pacific Union College logo.jpg

Pacific Union College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Angwin, California, United States.

Established in 1882 in Healdsburg, California as Healdsburg College, Pacific Union College (PUC) is the twelfth oldest institution of higher education in California. PUC adopted its current name in 1906. Pacific Union College moved to its current campus on Howell Mountain, overlooking California's Napa Valley in 1909. Pacific Union College's main 150 acre (0.61 km2) campus sits on the college's property of 1,900 acres (7.7 km2).

Pacific Union College has an almost exclusively undergraduate student body. As of 2010, the school had an enrollment of 1,527 students in the fall of 2010. It is the only liberal arts college affiliated with the Adventist Church. Students can choose courses from over 70 concentrations of study offered by 20 departments.

History

The original campus of Pacific Union College in Healdsburg, California

Pacific Union College was founded as Healdsburg Academy in 1882 in Healdsburg, California in northern Sonoma County.[3] It was renamed Healdsburg College in 1899.[3] Sidney Brownsberger was its first President.[4] PUC was California's twelfth college and second founded by the Adventist Church.[5] In 1906 the name was changed to Pacific Union College. In 1909 it moved to its current location in Angwin, on Howell Mountain in neighboring Napa County, where the school had purchased the 1,636-acre Angwin Resort for $60,000.[6] One reason for relocating to Angwin Resort was its beautiful rural setting,[7] which continues to be a defining characteristic.[8]

In 1933, Pacific Union College became the first higher educational institution affiliated with the Adventist Church to achieve regional accreditation when it was awarded accreditation by the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools.[9] The year before, PUC had become the first school to receive denominational accreditation.[9] Pacific Union College also was the first Adventist school to form international affiliations; it affiliated with what is now Avondale College in Australia in 1954.[9]

Presidents

Main article: List of Presidents of Pacific Union College

Pacific Union College has had a total of twenty-one presidents. The first eight of these served while the school was still in Healdsburg. Sidney Brownsberger, serving four years from 1882 to 1886, was the first president. In 1983, Malcolm Maxwell became the first alumnus to lead PUC, serving for a record 18 years. The current President is Heather Knight who took office in 2009, continuing a distinguished, lifelong career in education.

Academics

Pacific Union College offers bachelor degrees, associate degrees and pre-professional programs. It has been recognized for its strong undergraduate program. Students number approximately 1,500[10], and the school maintains a student/teacher ratio of 13:1.[10][11] PUC's most popular departments are Business, Nursing, Biology, and Psychology & Social Work. It has a very strong pre-med program, and is one of the largest sources of students for Loma Linda University School of Medicine. According to the Angwin Community Council, the college "has been the training ground for an inordinately large number of outstanding physicians, dentists, nurses, teachers and theologians...among its well over 50,000 alumni..."[8]

Pacific Union College operates on a quarter-based academic calendar.[10]

Some departments at Pacific Union College require students to submit a senior thesis project to complete their degrees.[12]

In 2006 the faculty, administration and Board of Trustees underscored PUC's commitment to undergraduate education by making a formal decision to remain a college and not change its name to university, as other small private colleges had done. This near-unanimous decision was based on the institution's commitment to quality liberal arts undergraduate teaching.[13]

Departments

Rankings

The U.S. News and World Report ranked Pacific Union College as one of their "Top Tier Schools" in the Western Baccalaureate Colleges category for 17 consecutive years until 2010.[3][14] In 2011, for the first time ever, Pacific Union College was ranked as a National Liberal Arts College alongside the likes of Williams and Amherst. It is the only college affiliated with the Adventist church to be ranked in that category.

Accreditation

Pacific Union College is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the regional accreditation body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for its region.[15][16] The college was first accredited by WASC in the 1930s.[8] In August 2011, following a six-year review process, WASC "awarded Pacific Union College uninterrupted [re-]accreditation through 2018."[16]

In addition to institution-wide accreditation by WASC, many of PUC's programs and departments are accredited by their programmatic accreditation bodies. These include (but are not limited to) the Music Department and the Paulin Center for the Creative Arts which are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, the Department of Business Administration and Economics which has been accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education since 2002, when it became the only Adventist college to receive such accreditation; the Education Department is accredited by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the Nursing Department is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the National League for Nursing and the State of California's Board of Nursing.[17][18][19][20][21]

Campus and facilities

Entrance sign on the campus of Pacific Union College

Pacific Union College's main campus is on about 150 acres (0.61 km2) of the college's 1,900 acres (7.7 km2) property.[22] The school has over 30 miles of trails on the remaining property.[22] PUC's campus is located is 70 miles (110 km) north of San Francisco, 60 miles (85 km) from the Pacific Ocean, and 180 miles (290 km) southwest of the skiing resorts in Truckee and Lake Tahoe. It is located in the hills above the Napa Valley.[3]

A number of upgrades have recently been made to the campus plant. During the summer of 2011, PUC refurbished both the interior and exterior of the Nelson Memorial Library at a cost of over a million dollars.[23] The previous winter, Pacific Union College renovated the Dining Commons, a major center of student life, in a "rustic yet contemporary aesthetic," Napa Valley style.[24] The onsite restaurant at PUC serves exclusively vegetarian and vegan menu items in a socially responsible manner.[25]

Pacific Union College also operates a number of non-traditional learning programs on off-site locations including the Yuba Community College in Clearlake, California, Travis Air Force Base and in the City of Napa.[26]

Albion Field Station

Main article: Albion Field Station

The Albion Field Station, in Mendocino County on the Pacific coast and the Albion River is owned and operated by Pacific Union College. The Station is designed for educational purposes, its tide pools, estuaries and diverse fauna offering ideal learning opportunities.[27]

Angwin-Parrett Field

Main article: Angwin-Parrett Field

Pacific Union College owns and operates Angwin-Parrett Field, a public use airport located on its campus.[28] The airport was the landing spot during George W. Bush's presidential visit to the Napa Valley in 2006.[29] The airport also supports PUC's bachelor of science degree in aviation and offers ground schools and flight instruction to the community.[30]

Pacific Union College Church

Astronaut Jose Hernandez speaks at Pacific Union College
Main article: Pacific Union College Church

Pacific Union College Church is the campus church, built in 1968.[31] It has 1,800 members in addition to PUC students. The church houses Pacific Union College's notable pipe organ built by Rieger Orgelbau of Austria and installed in 1981.[32][33] The church complex also has classrooms for theology classes and houses PUC's Office of Service, Justice, and Missions.

Paulin Hall

Paulin Hall is the home of Pacific Union College's music department as well as the Paulin Center for the Creative Arts, which offers enrichment classes to the community taught by the music and art faculties.[34][35] Paulin Hall regularly hosts approximately 10 concert a year featuring student performers as well as guest performers from around the world.[34]

The Rasmussen Art Gallery, located in the heart of the Pacific Union College campus mall, offers students and community a stimulating and enriching cultural dimension in the visual arts. The gallery’s exhibitions provide exposure to contemporary work as well as to historically significant art. The gallery hosts six shows each school year and features work from invited artists as well as from faculty and students. Previous exhibitions have included artists such as Vernon Nye, Pirkle Jones, John Maxon, Nathan Greene, Arminee Chahbazian, Earl Thollander, and hosts of others. The gallery is run by the visual arts department. The gallery is open regularly 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday during exhibitions.[36] Gallery admission is free to the public.

Student life

There are more than 50 clubs, Honor's Associations and Student Ministries active on campus (e.g. Biology Club, Asian Student Association, Pre-Med Club, Korean Adventist Student Association, Dramatic Arts Society, Musical Arts Symposium, Homeless Ministry, Psi Chi). There are several student publications including the newspaper, Campus Chronicle, the Funnybook (book of faces), and a literary periodical, Quicksilver. As a residential college, the vast majority of students live in one of seven on-campus residence halls, or in on-campus apartments.

Cycling is a popular activity at Pacific Union College. The school maintains an extensive network of trails and hosts two annual bicycle races. The 2009 Tour of California, an international road race wholly contained within California, raced through PUC.[37]

REVO PUC

In 2008, Pacific Union College students founded the first campus branch of REVO,[a] an international philanthropy movement.[38] It is Pacific Union College's student-run philanthropical organization and selects a cause each year to support with fundraising and awareness events.[38] During its inaugural year (2008-2009 school year), REVO raised over $10,000 for a shelter and vocational center for trafficked and abused children in Lima, Peru, during the 2009-2010 school year it raised money for the Napa Valley Food Bank.[39] In 2011, REVO announced that it had raised over $10,000 for its project for the school-year ending that year, a self-sustaining community kitchen in Argentina's Salta province through ADRA.[40]

Fine Arts

Dramatic Arts Society

The Dramatic Arts Society is a campus club that was formed in 1990 by students Kimberly Howard and Joel Kindrick. The club's constitution states that it must be student run, with a faculty adviser overseeing activities, and that its mission is to give students opportunities in the performing arts field. Hundreds of students are now alumni of this club with many going on to professions in the entertainment field.[citation needed] Among the many DAS productions over the years have been: Twelfth Night, Hamlet, The Crucible, The Misanthrope, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Fiddler on the Roof and original works like This Adventist Life and Red Books: Our Search for Ellen White.[41][42][7]

I Cantori

Pacific Union College has a mixed-voice chamber ensemble called I Cantori ("The Singers") that focuses on religiously themed music and high quality performance.[43] In addition to I Cantori, PUC also has a Gospel Choir and a large Chorale. All are housed in Paulin Hall.

Athletics

Pioneers Athletics

Pacific Union College competes in the California Pacific Conference as the “Pioneers" in women’s volleyball, men’s soccer, men and women’s cross country, and men and women’s basketball. CPC is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. PUC has been awarded the “California Pacific Conference Team Sportsmanship Award” five times since 2003, most recently for the 2010-11 school year.[44] In fall 2011, the coaches for varsity women's volleyball and men's soccer described it as "rebuilding" time.[45] This award signifies the school that displays outstanding sportsmanship and exemplifies the true spirit of the “Champions of Character” program set forth by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).[46][47]

Intramurals

PUC maintains an active intramural athletic program under the name RecRadio.org.[1][48]

Alumni

Main article: List of Pacific Union College alumni

Pacific Union College has produced a large number of distinguished alumni for a school of its size. It has been noted for being the "training ground for an inordinately large number of outstanding physicians, dentists, nurses, teachers and theologians" who make up part of its over 50,000 alumni.[8] PUC's notable alumni include members of the United States Congress and California State Assembly; a Harlem Renaissance poet, a professional smooth jazz saxophonist, and others in the arts; multiple presidents of the World Seventh-day Adventist Church, judges, the founder of the Loma Linda University Medical Center, Glendale Adventist Medical Center and Glendale Adventist Hospital; presidents of many institutions of higher education including the University of Houston System, La Sierra University and others; among the alumni also numerous scientists, professors, television personalities and even a surgeon in the Japanese Imperial Army.

Notes

  1. ^ REVO is an organization that helps individuals and groups raise funds and awareness for their cause. REVO is not an acronym; it is short for REVO-lution. REVO website Accessed 2011-09-10.

Further reading

  • Utt, Walter (1996). A Mountain, A Pickax, A College: Walter Utt's History of Pacific Union College (Third ed.). Boise, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association. ISBN 0965078906.

References

  1. ^ Seventh-day Adventist Online Yearbook, Pacific Union Conference. Accessed 2011-09-05.
  2. ^ Lee, Julie Z. (29 October 2010). "Enrollment Up at PUC". PUC News & Events. WebCite. Retrieved 17 September 2011. {{cite news}}: Check |archiveurl= value (help)
  3. ^ a b c d "About PUC". Pacific Union College. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
  4. ^ "Sidney Brownsberger". PUC Presidents. Pacific Union College: Nelson Memorial Library. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
  5. ^ Utt, W. (1996) A Mountain, A Pickax, A College, p. 3.
  6. ^ PUC website 1909 to 1930 photo gallery page. Accessed 2011-09-08.
  7. ^ a b Welaratna, Deepthi. Red Books, KQED Arts theatre review, Mar 18, 2007. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  8. ^ a b c d Angwin Community Council website "Angwin: Then and Now" page. Accessed 2011-09-10.
  9. ^ a b c Greenleaf, Floyd (Summer 2005). "Timeline for Adventist Education" (PDF). Journal of Adventist Education. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  10. ^ a b c US News America's Best Colleges 2011 Accessed 2011-09-02.
  11. ^ Napa Chamber of Commerce Business Directory Accessed 2011-09-02.
  12. ^ Nakamura, Eirene-Gin (3 June 2011). "A Letter Home". PUC Student Blogs. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  13. ^ PUC Institutional (Re-accreditation) Proposal May 2007, p.1. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
  14. ^ PUC "Campus Tour" nationalappcenter.com. Accessed 2011-09-02.
  15. ^ WASC-Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges & Universities Statement of Accreditation Status for PUC. Accessed 2011-09-02.
  16. ^ a b "PUC re-accredited through 2018". St. Helena Star. 2011-08-31. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
  17. ^ "Pacific Union College". Accredited Institutional Members Directory. National Association of Schools of Music. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  18. ^ Bauer-Heald, Amy (2002). "Accreditation for Pacific Union College Business Department". PUC News & Events. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  19. ^ "Pacific Union College" (pdf). IACBE Membership Status. International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  20. ^ "Pacific Union College". Approved Programs. California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  21. ^ Search for Pacific Union College in National League for Nursing's Accrediting Commission directory here
  22. ^ a b PUC website about PUC, FAQ page. Accessed 2011-09-02.
  23. ^ "About the Project". Nelson Memorial Library 2011 Summer Renovation. Pacific Union College. WebCite. Archived from the original on 15 September 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  24. ^ Pena, Larry (January 2011). "PUC Completes Renovations: Dining Commons First Change in Push Toward Excellence". Pacific Union Recorder. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  25. ^ "Dining Commons: Home". PUC website. Pacific Union College. WebCite. Archived from the original on 15 September 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  26. ^ Stevens, Loralee (10 October 2011). "Pacfic Union College offers nursing classes in Napa". North Bay Business Journal. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  27. ^ PUC.edu website Albion page. Accessed 2011-09-02.
  28. ^ FAA Airport Form 5010 for 2O3 PDF. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective 29 July 2010.
  29. ^ "College asking $27 million: Angwin Airport may go to County". Angwin Reporter. WaybackMachine. 8 August 2006. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  30. ^ Lee, Julie (2006). "President's Visit to California Includes PUC". PUC News & Events. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  31. ^ "About Us". pucchurch.org. Pacific Union College Church. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
  32. ^ "The Rieger Organ". pucchurch.org. Pacific Union College Church. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  33. ^ Smith, Melinda (1996). "15th Anniversary of Pacific Union College's Rieger Organ". PUC News and Events. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
  34. ^ a b "PUC Life: The Arts". PUC website. Pacific Union College. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  35. ^ "About PCCA". Paulin Center website. Paulin Center for the Creative Arts. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  36. ^ PUC.edu website The Arts page. Accessed 2011-09-02.
  37. ^ James, Marty (16 February 2009). "Fans storm to enjoy Tour". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  38. ^ a b Pena, Larry (11 May 2011). "REVO Raises $9,500 For Community Kitchen". PUC News & Events. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  39. ^ Cronk, Lainey (9 April 2009). "Revo PUC to Go Local". PUC News & Events. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  40. ^ Pena, Larry (7 June 2011). "REVO Breaks $10,000 Goal". PUC News & Events. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  41. ^ Dramatic Arts Society website Past seasons page. Accessed 2011-09-02.
  42. ^ Template:Wayback
  43. ^ PUC.edu website Music dept., student opportunities page. Accessed 2011-09-02.
  44. ^ "Cal Pac Team Sportsmanship Award Awarded to Pacific Union College" calpacathletics.com, August 22, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  45. ^ Wilcox, Andy (3 September 2011). "Ex-local stars hope to coach PUC winners on pitch, court". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  46. ^ "Pioneers Athletics Receives Cal Pac Sportsmanship Award" pioneersathletics.com, August 23, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  47. ^ Lawley, Erin (3 October 2006). "Pacific Union honored". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  48. ^ PUC.edu website PUC life, Sports & Athletics page. Accessed 2011-09-02.
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