Campus Headlines: Walla Walla Nursing School Fully Accredited (And More!)

Spectrum Website
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Walla Walla University School of Nursing Receives Full Accreditation. Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) has granted maximum accreditation to the Walla Walla University (WWU) School of Nursing. This means that the Portland campus will be accredited through June 2021. Lucille Krull, professor of nursing and dean of the School of Nursing said that nursing accreditation is a “very rigorous process.” The CCNE said the WWU School of Nursing met all standards for accreditation with no concerns. From WWU’s “Nursing accreditation.”

Pacific Union College Changes Department of Religion to Department of Theology. In an effort to more clearly reflect the studies offered at Pacific Union College (PUC), has changed the name of the Department of Religion to the Department of Theology. Dr. Ross Winkle, chair of the department, said, “We’re excited about the change in our name since it more accurately conveys the type of majors we have and the confessional stance of our department.” The word religion conveys a more neutral approach to the study of religions and religious practices around the world while the word theology is more specifically about Christianity and educating those pursuing ministry. From PUC’s “New Name for Department of Religion.”

Union College Computer Science Class Sparks High School Senior’s Career Path Interest. Demy Sigowa, a senior at College View Academy in Lincoln, Nebraska, is pursing a careering in computer science. He has always liked working with computers, but his passion was further sparked after taking a college-level course in computer science at Union. “I loved the class,” Sigowa said. “It was challenging at times, but all worthwhile knowledge. My favorite part was the Raspberry Pi section.” This Raspberry Pi is a small, inexpensive computer that students learn how to program during the course. Other hands-on aspects of the class include learning how to decrypt and encrypt messages and how to disassemble and reassemble a computer and hard drive. From Union’s “A taste of Raspberry Pi.”

La Sierra University’s Pierce Street Jazz To Feature John Payne, Blues Guitarist. On August 10 at 7 p.m., La Sierra University’s popular Pierce Street Jazz concert series will headline blues guitarist, John Payne. For nearly 30 years, Payne has been in Santa Barbara where he plays his music and teaches aspiring musicians. Admission is free and the concert can be found at the Troesh Conference Center, Zapara School of Business. From La Sierra’s “Piece Street Jazz to host blues guitarist John Payne.”

Oakwood University Sponsors Voter Registration Drive. Oakwood University urges the community to vote this November in the highly anticipated election with a voter registration drive. Members of the student chapter of the NAACP will gather at Blake Center on August 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to get first-time voters registered. Chapter sponsor and assistant professor of public policy, Preston Foster, quoted Franklin D. Roosevelt, saying, "Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." From Oakwood’s “Student NAACP Chapter to Sponsor Voter Registration Drive.”

Hallie Anderson is a student intern for Spectrum and a senior communications student studying journalism and public relations at Walla Walla University.

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at http://spectrummagazine.org/node/7585
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Pacific Union College Department of Religion will now become “more specifically about Christianity and educating those pursuing ministry.”

Is this a tact admission that PUC does not believe that all college students should have at least one elective course on religion? Only ministry students need the “confessional stance” offered by the School of Theology? Shoudn’t they also, or more particularly, have a broad, objective course of all world religions? Or, is knowing the Adventist “stance” the main emphasis they should receive.

Will courses in world religions be taught by another department?

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Elaine–
This is “CODE” Word for We will ONLY teach SDA Religion courses.
NOT world religions which have some similar belief systems to the Red Letters of Jesus.

I was reading a book about Jesus this week by Marcus Borg – Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time.
He was mentioning the 6th Century B.C. as being important to other world religions. I got to thinking
"Was THAT the time of the dispersions of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and if so, were they as slaves
sent to Greece, to India, I know they ended up in areas above Turkey."
Maybe they brought “God” to those areas and influenced their Masters.

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Elaine,

According to the course list for the school year 2016-17 found on PUC’s website, a class on World Religion will still be taught. The class will be taught under the newly named Department of Theology.

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Steve,

As I shared with Elaine, according to the course list for the school year 2016-17 found on PUC’s website, a class on World Religion will still be taught. The class will be taught under the newly named Department of Theology.

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https://services.puc.edu/courselist/ScreenList.aspx?course=2016-17%20Academic%20Year%20-%20Screen%20Format If you look here, they promote a wide variety of perspectives. Most classes revolve around Adventist-thinking because, well, it’s an Adventist institution. But the closed-minded approach that people are interpreting from the department’s name change is inaccurate

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Thanks Hallie,

I checked the class listing for further info.

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good for oakwood…the more hillary voters, the better…

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Nice profiling, Jeremy.

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  1. Good for Walla Walla, whose department enjoys good leadership who balances the college mission with external assessment reasonably and strategically; 2. On PUC: Does anyone know if this was in response to a WASC observation? This article refers to the more accurate “confessional stance” of the program, which then probably does not include the relationship between religion and culture in our own denominational history and development, nor the interactions of other religions on its development (I’m just guessing, here). One course in comparative religion in the context of “confessional” religious studies is an inadequate preparation for graduate studies; 3. Good for Oakwood. Just plain, good for them—this is the works behind their faith and an overt testimonial to the nature of democracy and our requirement to implement justice.
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