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News & Events Recaps

December 2008

  • In the spirit of Christmas, Pepperdine alumni chapters carried on the motto of University founder, George Pepperdine: "Freely ye have received - freely give." Chapters across Southern California hosted several events to give back, collecting everything from canned goods to toys for those less fortunate.
  • After being presented with an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine, Lady Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, returned to speak with students at the Pepperdine London House on December 3.
  • Gary Stager, visiting professor of education, and students in his Online Master of Arts in Educational Technology (OMET) class at the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology, contributed their design expertise to create a Web site for the One Laptop Per Child Foundation charity campaign, "Give One, Get One."
  • Students in the Seaver College first-year seminar, "Power and the Human Spirit," ended their first semester at Pepperdine with a dinner that raised over $2,000 for NightLight, a ministry reaching out to exploited women and children in the sex trade on the streets of Bangkok, Thailand.
  • Four members of the Pepperdine University Office of International Student Services (ISS) have been honored with awards and distinguished leadership roles for their work with the Council of International Schools and NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
  • The Pepperdine Athletics Department's goal of collecting 500 pairs of shoes by Feb. 17, is part of a community service initiative by the West Coast Conference (WCC) to contribute shoes to Soles4Souls, a non-profit organization that has donated over one million pairs of shoes to disaster victims at home and abroad.
  • The Pepperdine men's water polo team finished the 2008 regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation according to Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Top 20 polls. This is the Waves' highest CWPA ranking since 2002.
  • Jamie Murkey, the Gender Studies Intern for Men's Issues at the Office of Intercultural Affairs (ICA), organized three fall semester events to explore areas of our culture pertaining to men: Christianity and African American men, homophobia, and pornography and sex addiction.
  • Pepperdine's results for the July 2008 California Bar Exam have been released, and the school has had another strong showing. The overall passage rate for all takers was 61.7 percent and the pass rate for ABA-accredited schools in California (first-time takers) was 83 percent. Pepperdine's passage rate was significantly higher at 89 percent.
  • Luisa Blanco Raynal, assistant professor of economics at Pepperdine's School of Public Policy, has been researching how political instability causes economic inequality, specifically in Latin American countries. She presented her work at the Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies (PCCLAS) 2008 Conference on November 7, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.