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Thanks to two recent grants, Pacific Union College’s Department of Visual Arts will begin this spring to construct a new and innovative media center. The Tonge Media Center in Fisher Hall will house an advanced audio and video studio with state-of-the-art technology and equipment. The center will provide high-quality video and audio production access to the entire campus community.

To inspire the next generation of Seventh-day Adventist teachers, Southern Adventist University piloted the nation’s first Aspiring Teachers Clubs (ATC) for students at Georgia-Cumberland Academy and Collegedale Academy in 2022. Since then, it has continued to grow into a valuable resource for high school students throughout the Southern Union who are interested in pursuing a career in education.

In his 2023 sabbatical report, James Foster, assistant professor of computer science at Walla Walla University, published a detailed description of a new aquarium tank controller, describing the design, construction, and customization of the device. Foster helped write the software for this device, along with mathematics faculty John Foster, and several senior computer science majors. Additional contributions to the device’s physical build were made by other WWU professors from the biology and engineering departments.

For Marlene Ferreras, assistant professor of practical theology at La Sierra University, the goal of her research trip to Yucatán, Mexico in November 2016 was straightforward – to collect data utilizing scientific research methods to shed light on the struggles of female Mayan workers at multinational maquila manufacturing plants. But through a three-month immersion into the daily life of a welcoming village family and numerous conversations with the community’s mexicana assembly line seamstresses, the scope of her analysis deepened to ultimately offer a re-shaping of the paradigm of how pastoral care can support marginalized peoples who are suffering. Her research journey morphed into a book.