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News & Events Recap

April 2009

  • Political activist and businessman Ward Connerly came to Pepperdine on Wednesday, Apr. 29, to explore "America's Promise Realized: Getting Beyond Race." Hosted by the Pepperdine College Republicans, the event was held in the Caruso Auditorium at the School of Law, Malibu.
  • Pepperdine's Emergency Operations Committee, the Office of Insurance and Risk, and the Student Health Center responded to the outbreak of Swine Flu, announcing its close ties with all appropriate agencies to keep abreast of all the latest developments on a local, regional, national, and international basis.
  • While the spring sports seasons wound down, a few hundred student-athletes, coaches, and staff members celebrated Pepperdine University's second annual Student-Athlete Honors Dinner in Firestone Fieldhouse on the Malibu campus. Awards were given for the Athlete of the Year, the Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the Wave of the Year to both male and female recipients.
  • Tony Award-winning Tommy Tune stepped into Smothers Theatre with the Manhattan Rhythm Kings to perform "Steps in Time: A Broadway Biography in Song and Dance." The sold-out show took place on Friday, Apr. 24, on the Malibu campus.
  • The Pepperdine University Fine Arts Division presented its annual Masterworks Concert, showcasing the talents of Pepperdine's concert choir and orchestra on April 23, in Smothers Theatre, Malibu. The "Opera Choruses and Orchestral Masterpieces" program was conducted by Milton Pullen, Pepperdine's director of choirs, and Tony Cason, director of the University orchestra, as part of the Mary Pickford-Stotsenberg Performance Series.
  • The 33rd annual Pepperdine Associates Dinner was held on Thursday, Apr. 23, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. Pepperdine School of Law alumnus and civic leader Rick J. Caruso spoke at the black tie gala, sharing his vision for the City of the Angels through the dinner's theme, "Heart of the World."
  • The Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) at Pepperdine University announced that starting in summer or fall 2009, a new scholarship program called Waves EDGE (Education Development Growth and Excellence) will be available for Pepperdine alumni interested in pursuing one of the six master's or five doctoral degrees offered at GSEP.
  • Volume 38 of Expressionists: Magazine of the Arts, Pepperdine's student-run undergraduate literary and arts magazine, debuted with a gala on Wednesday, Apr. 22, at the Weisman Museum of Art. The issue is a collection of some of the best fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and photography of this current school year.
  • Terrence Roberts of the Little Rock Nine visited Smothers Theatre, Malibu, on Wednesday, Apr. 22, to share the story of how he abruptly became one the teenage faces of the Civil Rights Movement.
  • Ken Starr, the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of the School of Law, argued before the United States Supreme Court on Monday, Apr. 20, in the Horne v. Flores case, which involves the expenditure of state funds toward English language education programs.
  • Two very different musician took to the stage of Smothers Theatre, Malibu, for the April 18-19 weekend. The Pepperdine Center for the Arts Family hosted entertainer Red Grammer on Satuday, Apr. 18, while Russian violinist Mikhail Simonyan performed on Sunday, Apr. 19, as the final act of the 2008-09 Stotsenberg Recital Series.
  • The Graduate School of Business and Management held its 2009 commencement ceremony in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday, Apr. 18, on the Malibu campus. Husband and wife team of actress Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel) and reality TV producer Mark Burnett (Survivor, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?) addressed the graduates. John Figueroa (MBA '97), president of McKesson Corporation, U.S. Pharmaceuticals, was honored as the Distinguished Alumnus.
  • The School of Public Policy held its 2009 commencement ceremony at Alumni Park on Friday, Apr. 17, on the Malibu campus. John B. T. Campbell III, U.S. Representative for California's 48th Congressional District (representing southern Orange County), addressed the graduates, while Alan Beard ('94, MPP '99), founder of Wave Strategies, Inc., a new media marketing firm, was honored as the Distinguished Alumnus.
  • Art created by seniors graduating from the Fine Arts Division went on display beginning Thursday, Apr. 16, at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art on the Malibu campus. Eight graduating art majors showcased their capstone work in the odd.i.see exhibition, including paintings, sculptures, installations, and video art.
  • The Pepperdine Law Review brought top scholars to campus to examine what went wrong with the housing market in a symposium titled, "Bringing Down the Curtain on the Current Mortgage Crisis and Preventing a Return Engagement," on Friday, Apr. 17, in the Mendenhall Appellate Courtroom.
  • N. Lincoln Hanks, associate professor of music at Seaver College, Hanks performed Till Your Day Breaks, a concert of his latest classical compositions, on Wednesday, Apr. 15, followed by a Seaver Faculty Colloquium titled "Till Your Day Breaks: Searching for Transcendence Now in Art Music," on Thursday, Apr. 16.
  • Research by students at the School of Public Policy went on display Thursday, Apr. 16, for an afternoon fair to showcase their educational and environmental capstone projects, at the Executive Dining Center on the Drescher Graduate Campus. The students' research highlighted policy issues at the local, regional, state, national, and international levels.
  • The Natural Science Seminar Series concluded the spring 2009 semester with a presentation by three senior computer science students. Ben Anglin, A.J. West, and Roger Hughston demonstrated the interactive 3-D computer game they created, "The Guardians," on Wednesday, Apr. 15 in the Keck Science Center, Malibu, with supervisor Stanley Warford, professor of computer science.
  • Khoa Ngo, a master of arts in clinical psychology student, with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP), presented on "Constructing New Futures: Examining the Effects of An After-School Enrichment Program" on April 14 at the American Educational Research Association annual conference in San Diego, California.
  • The Humanities and Teacher Education Division at Seaver College, in conjunction with the Great Books Program, presented award-winning poet John Struloeff in a reading from his new book, The Man I Was Supposed To Be. The event was held in the Kresge Reading Room on Tuesday, Apr. 14, followed by a book sale and signing.
  • Terry Schroeder, former head coach of the Pepperdine men's water polo team and the U.S. Olympic men's water polo team, and one of the most legendary players in the history of the sport, was nominated for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame presented by Allstate.
  • The International Justice Mission at Pepperdine hosted the non-profit organization Invisible Children, Inc., on Thursday, Apr. 9, to screen their documentary film The Rescue and discuss ways in which we can all work to promote justice for child soldiers.
  • Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull, made its debut at Smothers Theatre, on the Malibu campus, with a student production from April 7-11. The ensemble piece was directed by Cathy Thomas-Grant, the chair of the Fine Arts Division at Seaver College.
  • The 2008-09 Dean's Executive Leadership Series at the Graziadio School of Business and Management (GSBM) continued on Tuesday, Apr. 7 with Priscilla Stewart-Jones, the senior vice president of human resources for McKesson Corporation, U.S. Pharmaceutical Group, at the Silicon Valley Center at Techmart in Santa Clara.
  • The Latin American Law Student Association at the Pepperdine School of Law honored the life of civil rights activist César Chávez with a week of events held March 31-April 8.
  • For 24 hours straight, from 4 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 3, to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Apr. 4, Pepperdine University hosted its first Relay for Life event at Alumni Park, Malibu. Participants walked a path lined with luminaries to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and raise funds to fight the deadly disease.
  • Showbusiness has its fair share of legal wrangling, from copyright issues of artistic ownership to the hours a minor can work on the set of a film. The School of Law at Pepperdine hosted industry insiders for an afternoon of panel discussions on April 4, to explore issues specific to legal minds in the entertainment industry.
  • The second issue of the 2009 Graziadio Business Report, which publishes four times annually, was published online at: http://gbr.pepperdine.edu
  • Craig Detweiler - a producer, screenwriter, author, lecturer, and the co-director of Reel Spirituality: An Institute for Moving Images at Fuller Theological Seminary - will bring his years of film and media expertise to Pepperdine, joining the Communications Division of Seaver College to begin teaching in the fall semester.
  • The first posthumous museum exhibition devoted to the late pop-artist Robert Dowd culminated at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, on the Pepperdine Malibu campus, on April 5.
  • On Friday, Apr. 3, the Pepperdine University student snack shop, The Sandbar, was transformed into a live music venue in which seniors showcased their musical abilities during a coffeehouse concert.
  • On Thursday, Apr. 2, the International Justice Mission at Pepperdine hosted human rights organization Restore International founder Bob Goff in a discussion of his work and the changes Restore International can make to a child's life.
  • To celebrate the official launching of the new bachelor of arts in Italian Studies at Seaver College, the Cultural Italian American Organization (C.I.A.O.) sponsored a gathering with benefactors and acclaimed Italian author Dacia Maraini on Wednesday, Apr. 1, in Drescher auditorium.
  • The Pepperdine School of Law organization, Advocates for Public Interest Law (APIL), hosted an auction to raise funds to support students pursuing public interest work over the summer. The live auction took place on Wednesday, Apr. 1, in the School of Law atrium.
  • On Wednesday, Apr. 1, student organization Pepperdine Women in Public Policy hosts acclaimed humanitarian aid consultant Dr. Andrea Capachietti for a discussion addressing the violation of human rights inflicted on women in regions of armed conflict, titled "See No Evil: Armed Conflicts and Violence Against Women," in the Drescher Graduate Campus Auditorium.
  • The Seaver College Natural Science Division continued its lunchtime seminar series with a presentation by Amy Lee, Judy and Larry Freeman Cosmetics Chair in Basic Science in Cancer Research at the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her lecture, "A Matter of Life and Death: Induction of Stress Protein GRP78/BiP in Development and Cancer," was held on April 1, on the Malibu campus.