Newsweek Declares Pacific Union College Most Beautiful College Campus in America
by AT News Team
Last weekend, Newsweek and its online edition, the Daily Beast, published a list of the most beautiful college campuses in America and named Pacific Union College (PUC), a Seventh-day Adventist school, at the top of the list. The list was created from information about the actual physical attractiveness of the campus, the friendliness of the students and the local climate.
Located on the top of Howell Mountain, looking down on the picturesque Napa Valley, in northern California, the PUC campus is well known among lifelong Adventists for its rural setting and natural beauty. Ellen White spent the last years of her life from the turn of the 20th century to her death in 1915 living nearby and her home, Elmshaven, is preserved as a historical site.
The listing "is recognition of our collective goal to make the campus sparkle—and our landscape and facilities management teams in particular,” said the college president, Dr. Heather J. Knight. “This inspires all of us in every area of our campus community to keep working even harder to make PUC a state-of-the-art learning environment characterized by a God-given gorgeous and pristine setting.”
The campus has long had many faculty and students interested in environmental issues, outdoor activities and wilderness areas. Some of the first books published by Adventists on nature study, camping and hiking were written by faculty members at PUC. “This is not surprising,” one alum told Adventist Today. “It has long been part of the character of this institution.”
