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Author Sharon Draper Presents Commencement Address at Education Graduation 2009
Education students in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology will celebrate their 2009 graduation on Saturday, June 20, at Alumni Park on the Malibu campus. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m., followed by a reception also to be held at Alumni Park.
New York Times bestselling author and Pepperdine University alumna Sharon Draper will present the commencement address at the ceremony. Jennifer Trubenbach, president and executive director of Operation of Hope, will receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
For more information about the GSEP education commencement ceremony and reception, contact Adele Cadres at (310) 568-5617, or visit the GSEP Education Web site.
About Sharon M. Draper
Sharon Mills Draper
As an alumna of Pepperdine University, Sharon Mills Draper is a professional educator as well as an accomplished writer. She has been honored as the National Teacher of the Year, is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Literary Award, and is a New York Times bestselling author.
Draper burst into national recognition when president Bill Clinton named her the National Teacher of the Year in 1997. She has since been honored at the White House six times by presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. A veteran junior high and high school teacher in the Cincinnati, Ohio, public school system for over 30 years, Draper instilled in her students an appreciation for the beauty of literature, and the ability to communicate effectively.
As an educator, Ms. Draper was one of the first teachers to achieve national board certification in English and language arts. She has served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and on the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. Of her many teaching awards she has been honored as a recipient of the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, as Ohio's Outstanding High School Language Arts Educator, and as Ohio Teacher of the Year.
Draper's first book, Tears of a Tiger (1994), received immediate attention and acclaim, earning her the American Library Association Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Award, and recognition as that year's best book by the Children's Book Council, the New York City Library, Bank Street College, and the National Council for Social Studies. Her numerous other published works have received similar honors. Her books We Beat the Street (2005) and Copper Sun (2008) both achieved New York Times best-seller status.
Draper received her bachelor's degree in English from Pepperdine College in 1969, and in 1997 was honored by Pepperdine as a Distinguished Alumnus. In 1972, she received her master's degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Draper resides with her husband Larry in Cincinnati, Ohio.
About Jennifer A. Trubenbach
Jennifer A. Trubenbach
Jennifer Trubenbach is the president and executive director of Operation of Hope, a nonprofit medical foundation that specializes in reconstructive surgeries, correcting cleft lips and palates, and other facial deformities. Over its 20 years in existence, Operation of Hope has performed more than 2,000 free facial reconstructions for people in need throughout Ecuador and Africa.
As executive director Trubenbach manages public speaking engagements, fundraising efforts, surgical supply inventories, travel arrangements, volunteer staff resources, and legal and regulatory compliance. She has worked at Operation of Hope since 1996.
Trubenbach was featured in the September 2008 issue of People, in one of that magazine's largest-ever humanitarian stories, spotlighting her personal support of then 15-year-old Beloved Jefeti, a Zimbabwean boy whose face was disfigured by a land mine. People honored Ms. Trubenbach as a "Hero Among Us" for CNN's 2008 Heroes All-Star Tribute. She has also been honored by the Ecuadorean Embassy and the Ministry of Health of Zimbabwe for her humanitarian work. She was named one of Orange County's "Hottest Business People" by Metro Magazine and received the Well Done Award from Kingdom Assignment.
Prior to Trubenbach's current appointment, she served as a field consultant and corporate training executive at ASI in Atlanta, Georgia. Previous to that she held the position of director of marketing, sales, and special events for MGM Grand Air. She also worked in various professional capacities for Bell and Howell, Jet America, and the Carter Hawley Hale Corporation.
Trubenbach earned her bachelor's degree in communication arts and English from Azusa Pacific University, which also honored her as their 2009 Distinguished Alumnus. In 2004 she received her master of arts in educational technology from the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Trubenbach resides with her husband Ted in Lake Forest, California.
