A mixture of sacred and secular music in a variety of styles will be offered at the next concert by the San Joaquin Chorale.

“Past and Present” is the title of the performance, which begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 20, in First Congregational Church, Fresno. Admission is $6 for general audiences and $3 for seniors and students. Call 453-2267 for more information.

The choirs of Fresno Pacific University, Butler Mennonite Brethren Church and North Fresno Mennonite Brethren Church will combine for a concert Sunday, April 21.

This is the first time these groups have performed together. The featured works will be “Missa Festiva” by John Leavitt and “Gospel Mass” by Robert Ray. Marc Ferguson, music director at North Fresno MB Church, will conduct the first composition, and Roy Klassen, FPU music faculty, the second.

About 110 of the supporters who donate scholarships and the students who receive them got the chance to know one another at the Fresno Pacific University Scholarship Dinner April 4. The annual event, which took place in Ashley Auditorium, included entertainment by university music students.

A new budget, a new major and a new way to serve the community were approved by the Fresno Pacific University Board of Trustees during its last meeting.

The university joined Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International and Butler Mennonite Brethren Church to form the Southeast Fresno Community Development Corporation. The goal of the non-profit group is to reach out to the area surrounding the campus. Its first project was the expansion of Small World Preschool at Butler Church to include more local children.

A record 454 graduates, their families and friends will hear from educational and community leader Walter Buster during the 57th commencement at Fresno Pacific University.

Hispanic students raised awareness of academic achievement and funds for scholarships at the first Noche de Gala Scholarship Award Dinner at Fresno Pacific University.

The event was 5-7 p.m. Saturday, April 27, on the lawn in front of Bartsch Hall. Amigos Unidos, a campus organization, is sponsoring the dinner, and alumni, faculty, staff and friends are invited.

The goal of the event was twofold: to honor top Hispanic graduating students for academics and service, and to launch the Adelante Scholarship for Latino students.

Efforts to better cultivate the varied population of its region begin to bear fruit at Fresno Pacific University.

FPU is virtually tied for first with one other institution among Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) in the number of Hispanic undergraduate students, according to the latest annual enrollment report furnished to the U.S. Department of Education. The same report ranks FPU first among California CCCU institutions and in the top 10 among members of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU).

Matthew Blackwood has been selected as the new director of alumni and church relations at Fresno Pacific University.

The 1998 graduate begins work April 1 in the advancement division. As a student, Blackwood majored in biblical and religious studies and was involved in the gospel choir.

Duane Ruth-Heffelbower may have been on leave from the Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies at Fresno Pacific University—but he was still making peace.

Ruth-Heffelbower returns to campus after more than two years on leave in Indonesia. From August of 1999 to December of 2001 he helped set up and operate a peace center at Duta Wacana Christian University and volunteered with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), an international relief and development organization. His wife, Clare Ann, served as MCC Indonesia country director.

A baker’s dozen of Fresno Pacific University teacher education students have been awarded $20,000 scholarships in a state program to draw new educators to the schools that need them most.