Pacific Union College

Sidney Brownsberger , PUC's first president Early years (1882–1908) Pacific Union College was founded as Healdsburg Academy in Healdsburg , California , in northern Sonoma County , in 1882. [ 5 ] [ 8 ] The creation of schools in the state was urged by Ellen G. White and other church leaders in an effort to accommodate the Adventist Church's growing membership on the West Coast and to train young Adventists for its work. The academy officially opened on April 11 of that year. It was the twelfth institution of higher education founded in California, and is the second founded by the Adventist Church, the first west of the Mississippi River . Sidney Brownsberger served as its first President. Under his term, the academy focused on both conventional study of standard subjects as well as practical skills, such as dressmaking , blacksmithing , carpentry , and cooking , in line with White's desire for the college. [ 5 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] The lengthy tenure of William C. Grainger saw the heyday of the Academy's early years, but with the turn of the century, poor financial management led to increasing debt that eventually forced the academy to close in July 1908. [ 5 ] [ 11 ]

Pacific Union College is the only four-year college located in Napa County, California . [ 22 ] It offers around 60 undergraduate majors in various fields, along with other types of programs. Health science , business , and education are the leading fields in which students seek out degrees, and their degree programs are accredited by their respective accreditation bodies . [ 6 ] Curriculum Pacific Union College offers 44 bachelor's degree programs, 10 associate degree programs, and three master's degree programs, in addition to minors, credential programs, pre-professional tracks, and an honors program. [ 23 ] These are all organized throughout 25 academic departments. [ 7 ] The school operates on a quarter-based academic calendar. [ 24 ] Though the range of its offerings is quite broad, PUC's most prominent programs are those in the health sciences , which are sought out by a considerable number of those who attend. In the 2020–2021 school year, two-thirds of all undergraduate degrees awarded were in the medical field, and 96% of the associate's degrees awarded were for nursing. [ 6 ] PUC maintains an especially close connection to Loma Linda University School of Medicine , another Adventist institution, and most of the college's pre-professional programs are meant specifically for admission into Loma Linda. [ 7 ] The college has sent a steady stream of students to the university for several decades; visiting from Loma Linda in 1925, John H. Kellogg noted that PUC was "the college that sends the largest number of medical students from any one place." [ 25 ] Degrees in business and education follow behind as the second two most sought after. [ 6 ] Similar to its emphasis on manual labor and physical health in its Healdsburg days, PUC necessitates that students takes fitness classes as part of its general education requirements.

[ 7 ] Offerings in the past have included fencing , trikke , pickleball , swimming , water aerobics , polo , canoeing , skiing , snowboarding , soccer , dance , and yoga , though some of these have since been discontinued. [ 26 ] Similar to other Adventist schools, PUC offers study-abroad programs through Adventist Colleges Abroad ( ACA ), primarily in Europe and Latin America. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] Most of these programs were designed for those seeking degrees from the college's World Languages Department, though non-language majors often study abroad through the ACA as well. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] PUC also organizes mission trips independently of ACA. [ 31 ] [ 32 ] [ 33 ]

At the start of the 2023–2024, the U.S. News & World Report ranked Pacific Union College the 13th best regional college in the Western United States , the 12th top performer in social mobility (a position in shares with the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising ), and the second Best Value School. [ 24 ] In the same year, the New York Times ranked PUC the 8th most economically diverse college in the U.S. Niche gives the college an overall B− score, and ranks it the 24th most diverse college in California, with its diversity graded A+. It also ranks PUC as the 14th best nursing college in California. [ 34 ] In 2024, Washington Monthly ranked Pacific Union College 35th among 223 colleges that award almost exclusively bachelor's degrees in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service. [ 35 ]