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Seaver College Graduation 2008
He called Sandy Koufax's perfect game in 1965, Hank Aaron's record-breaking home run in 1974, and Kirk Gibson's World Series home run in 1988.
This year Vin Scully, "Voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers," will make the call 650 students and their parents have eagerly anticipated: "Congratulations, Seaver College Class of 2008."
Students of Pepperdine's Seaver College will conclude their undergraduate experience on Saturday, Apr. 26. The commencement ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. on Alumni Park on the Malibu campus. Jamie McCourt, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, will introduce Scully as the commencement speaker. The famed sportscaster for the Dodgers baseball team will receive an honorary doctorate. Clinical psychologist, grief counselor, and author Leslie Landon Matthews will be honored as a Distinguished Alumnus.
About Vincent "Vin" Edward Scully
The accolade "Baseball's All-time Best Broadcaster" belongs to the "Voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers," and Vin Scully is among the City of Angels' most beloved radio and television announcers.
Just one year after college, Scully joined the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers broadcast team of Red Barber and Connie Desmond in 1950. He assumed the lead broadcasting role after colleague and mentor Barber retired in 1953-a post Mr. Scully has held since, and his 59 years of consecutive service with the Dodgers is the longest of any current sports broadcaster with one team. His unique style of blending word imagery, history, players' biographies, and down-to-earth storytelling has endeared him and his beloved sport to millions worldwide.
Scully is universally recognized as one of the most accomplished professionals in his field. His numerous awards include his induction into the broadcast wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame as the Ford C. Frick Award recipient (1982), Top Sportscaster of the 20th Century by the American Sportscasters Association (2000), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Radio/Television News Association of Southern California (2007).
Scully, whose son Kevin is a 1985 Seaver College graduate, has been embraced by millions of appreciative fans. In 1976 he was named the Most Memorable Personality in L.A. Dodger History and in 1982 he had a star placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was given the Voice of Vision Award for his extraordinary ability to paint vivid word pictures for the blind, and has supported the Jackie Robinson Foundation and the Paralysis Project of America.
Scully earned his bachelor's degree in 1949 from Fordham University. In 2000 he was honored by his alma mater with the honorary doctor of humane letters.
Vin Scully resides with his wife Sandra in Thousand Oaks, California.
About Leslie Landon Matthews
Leslie Landon Matthews is a clinical psychologist and author. Her private practice specializes in helping children from divorced homes and teens with eating disorders. Her professional experience has included clinical work with autistic and abused children at the Julia Ann Singer Center and counseling at the Ofman Learning Center.
After completing her dissertation on the grief resolution process, Matthews became certified as a grief counselor and volunteered her time at the Grief Recovery Institute in Los Angeles. Arising from this association Matthews coauthored and published a book, When Children Grieve: For Adults to Help Children Deal with Death, Divorce, Pet Loss, Moving, and Other Losses (HarperCollins, 2001), which was acclaimed by Fred Rogers, honorary chair of the Highmark Caring Place and host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Prior to entering the clinical psychology field, Matthews worked in the entertainment industry, playing the recurring role of schoolteacher Etta Plum on the NBC series Little House on the Prairie. Matthews comes from a show-business family and she is the daughter of Lynn Landon and late actor/producer/ director Michael Landon.
Matthews is active at Bel-Air Presbyterian Church where her family has attended for 10 years. She devotes time to several other charitable organizations including the Boy Scouts of America and St. Anne's, and her husband Brian is an active member of the Seaver College Board of Visitors.
Matthews attended USC and received from Seaver College both her bachelor's degree in psychology (1987) and her master's degree in clinical psychology (1989). She received her marriage and family counseling license in 1990. In 1998 she was awarded her Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy from the California Graduate Institute.
Leslie Landon Matthews resides in Westlake Village, California, with her husband Brian Matthews and their four children, Rachel, Justin, Catherine, and Joe.
