We may think of college professors as having reached the pinnacle of education—but even professors are continually learning and adding to their academic achievements. At PUC this past year, several instructors added to their lineup of qualifications by acquiring doctoral degrees.

Rachelle Davis came to PUC in 2003 to teach violin at the Paulin Center for the Creative Arts; this year she is also directing the PUC Chamber Orchestra. Davis received her doctor of musical arts this past year from the University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation, Walter Piston’s Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra: Form, Style, and Violinistic Issues, examined the violin concerto written in 1939 by the American composer and theorist Walter Piston.

“Perhaps the most interesting part of my work was researching what qualities make American compositions of the ‘30s and ‘40s sound so ‘American’ and discovering how these ‘American’ characteristics are found in Piston’s work,” said Davis.

Paul McGraw of the history department earned his doctorate in American religious history from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

McGraw’s work in his dissertation, Born in Zion?: The Margins of Fundamentalism and the Definition of Seventh-day Adventists, investigated the evolving Seventh-day Adventist Church and the struggle it faced defining itself against mainstream and fundamentalist churches. His dissertation also sought to delineate Seventh-day Adventists against established definitions for cults.

McGraw is dedicated to being a qualified professor. “I was a pastor for 12 years,” he said. “But I wanted to teach. It feels great to be done.”

The religion department’s Myron Widmer received his doctor of ministry degree in June from Fuller Theological Seminary. In his dissertation, A New Adventist Direction: The Growing Need for Preserving and Anchoring Distinctive Beliefs, Widmer discussed the process of handing down distinctive Adventist beliefs through each generation. He looked at historical ways faith was passed on and also at the need to continue many of these traditions in the Adventist Church today.

Despite distractions, such as full-time teaching and building a house, Widmer finally finished his seven-year-long work. Though glad to be finished, Widmer said he “will miss the research and the extremely qualified teachers with whom I worked.”

"We are so proud of our faculty members and their commitment to Christian education," said Ileana Douglas, academic dean and vice president for academic administration. "We feel very blessed to have them here at PUC."