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News & Events Recaps

May 2008

  • Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez will present the final lecture of this year's Dean's Executive Leadership Series at the Graziadio School of Business and Management on Wednesday, May 28. A columnist with the Los Angeles Times since 2001, Lopez is an award-winning writer and author. Over the course of his 30-year career, he has served as editor-at-large for Time Inc. and contributed articles to Sports Illustrated, Life, and Entertainment Weekly. He also served as a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1985 to 1997, and has authored three novels set in and around the Philadelphia area. He is currently at work on a book of nonfiction. The high profile Dean's Executive Leadership Series introduces students and alumni to leading business innovators working in the field today. 
  • Rhonda Brinkley-Kennedy has been named director of the Urban Initiative at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP). Brinkley-Kennedy will begin her work at GSEP in July 2008. Brinkley-Kennedy is currently the department chair of the doctor of clinical psychology and school psychology programs at Phillips Graduate Institute and was previously program director of the school psychology and clinical psychology programs at Alliant University. 
  • As National Security becomes a growing source of national "insecurity," two Pepperdine University students may have a hand in the solution. The National Security Education Program (NSEP) recently chose Seaver College sophomore Zackary Licudine ('11) and graduate Wrenn Yennie ('07) as recipients of David L. Boren awards. The NSEP David L. Boren Scholarship (for undergraduate students) and the NSEP David L. Boren Graduate Fellowship are intended to provide support to U.S. students who will pursue the study of languages and cultures that are critical to U.S. national security and underrepresented in study abroad programs. 
  • A record number of Pepperdine students have been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student scholarship this year, leading five recent Seaver College graduates to teach or study overseas for the 2008 to 2009 academic year. Three of the five recipients have earned English language teaching assistantships: creative writing major Alissa Smith ('08) will be teaching in Turkey; international studies major Erin Shitama ('08) is bound for Indonesia; and international studies major Brian Clark ('06) will head to Spain come fall. The other two recipients have been awarded full grants to undertake graduate research: music-voice major Keith Colclough ('08) will journey to Germany to study language, while biology major Laura Merwin ('08) will head down under to Australia, where she'll examine plants in drought and fire-prone ecosystems.
  • The latest issue of Graziadio Business Report(GBR) is now available online athttp://gbr.pepperdine.edu. A scholarly online journal, the GBR delivers relevant business information and analysis for business, government, and nonprofit managers. The peer-reviewed journal, online since 1998, publishes four times a year.
  • Jason Robert Brown has been hailed as "one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Stephen Sondheim" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). He comes to Pepperdine Sunday, May 18, for "An Afternoon with Jason Robert Brown". The concert is presented as part of the upcoming Festival of New American Musicals, which will take place during May and June.
  • The Pepperdine University Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art presents Reflections from the Artist's Eye: Contemporary Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation. The exhibition, curated by Billie Milam Weisman, explores various approaches to seeing, ranging from photorealism to comic caricature to cosmic abstraction. 
  • Psychology students in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology will celebrate their 2008 graduation on Saturday, May 17. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. at Alumni Park on the Malibu campus. Molefi Kete Asante, professor in the Department of African American Studies at Temple University, will receive an honorary doctorate. Monica Rivera-Mindt, a clinical neuropsychologist and faculty member at Fordham University, will be honored as a Distinguished Alumnus.
  • The Pepperdine School of Law celebrates its 2008 graduation on Friday, May 16, at 10:30 a.m. in Alumni Park on the Malibu campus. Kurt L. Schmoke, dean of Howard University School of Law, will give the commencement address. Montgomery "Monty" F. Moran, president and chief operating officer of Chipotle Mexican Grill, will be honored as the Distinguished Alumnus. Herbert Nootbaar, former president of H. V. Nootbaar & Co. and a benefactor of the school, will be honored as well.
  • The Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) at Pepperdine University will host a discussion for the Los Angeles community on Tuesday, May 13, with a panel of African American and Latino professionals, parents, and high school students. The group seeks to further understand issues of race and generate strategies toward resolving the underlying tensions that exist between African Americans and Latinos in Los Angeles.
  • The No.13 Waves men's tennis team will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Division I Tournament this weekend on the University's Malibu campus. Pepperdine (18-6) will play the University of Hawaii (8-10) in the first round of NCAA Division I action on Saturday, May 10, at 11 a.m. in the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. Stanford will face UC Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. The winners of each match will advance to the final and the winner will earn a spot at the NCAA Team Tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
  • The executive committee of the Order of the Coif, an honorary scholastic society of law schools, has unanimously approved Pepperdine University School of Law to establish a chapter at Pepperdine. The Order of the Coif is conferred upon schools that have demonstrated an environment of outstanding scholarship and academic excellence and Pepperdine School of Law is the first to gain admittance to the society in four years.
  • Pepperdine University has signed a contract to become the newest member on iTunes U, a service platform provided by Apple that will enable the Pepperdine community to distribute digital videos and audio recordings over the Internet. Participation in the program will transform the public face of the university by allowing diverse members of the Pepperdine community and interested public to enjoy everything from classroom lectures to special events on a computer or a listening device like an iPod. Led by the Pepperdine University Libraries, with support from key stakeholders, the launch of the service will dramatically extend the reach of the Pepperdine learning community.
  • The Pepperdine men's volleyball team will try for its sixth NCAA title Saturday, May 3, as the second-seeded Waves (17-10) take on top-seeded Penn State (29-1) in the national championship match. The game begins at 4 p.m. at the Bren Events Center in Irvine and will be televised on ESPN2. The Waves defeated Long Beach State (LBSU) in three games (30-26, 30-21, 30-26) in the semifinals on Thursday, May 1. Junior outside hitter J.D. Schleppenbach hit a career-best .778 to help take the Waves one step closer to a national championship.
  • Video: Dodger Broadcaster Vin Scully Addresses Pepperdine Graduates: 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," made the call that 650 students and their parents had eagerly anticipated: "Congratulations, Seaver College Class of 2008." Scully addressed the audience and received Pepperdine's highest distinction, the Honorary Doctorate degree. Watch the video of Scully's speech. (Requires Windows Media Player)