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January Faculty News: Professors Make Academic Waves

Pepperdine faculty members regularly distinguish themselves in their academic fields. January 2011 was no different, as faculty members from four schools gained committee appointments, sat on academic panel discussions, published new research, and more. 

Faculty News from the Graziadio School of Business and Management

Mark Chun, director of the Center for Applied Research was appointed as the new vice chair of the research committee for the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC). PTC is the leading professional organization promoting the advancement and commercial use of information and communication technologies, services, policies, and knowledge, to benefit its members and the people of the Pacific Hemisphere. Read more.

Otis Baskin, professor of management, brought in 2011 with the release of a new edition of his book Effective Leadership in the Family Business, co-authored by Craig E. Aronoff. The book is aimed at helping business-owning families understand and implement the extra dimensions of leadership that family firms require. The authors’ focus on making things happen and getting things done, the process of leadership itself and ways to improve it.

“From Microcredit to Microfinance: A Business Perspective,” the award-winning paper by Ray Valadez, practitioner faculty of economics, and Bruce Buskirk, professor of marketing, was accepted for publication in the highly respected Journal of Finance and Accountancy. At the recent Academic and Business Research Institute (AABRI) Conference in 2010, the authors earned Best Paper in the Accounting, Finance, and Economics Track; the paper provides insights on some of the business microcredit dimensions that may be changing society in the marketing of financial products and financial delivery systems as well as its impact on the poor and communities.

Faculty News from Seaver College

Andrew Yuengert, professor of economics, took part in a panel discussion, titled “What Do Economics and Theologians Have to Say to Each Other? Present Situation and Future Prospects,” on January 7 at the Allied Social Sciences Association conference in Denver, Colorado. The panel was hosted by the Association of Christian Economics, which aims to promote interaction and communication by Christian economists.

Faculty News from the School of Public Policy

James Prieger, associate professor of economics, was awarded a $2,800 grant from the Office of the Provost at Pepperdine for his project “Broadband in the US: Who are the Unserved, and How Important are Prices?” The project addresses the continuing public policy concern over the availability to and usage of broadband Internet access by all citizens in the US.

The Office of the Provost also awarded fellow SPP professor Luisa Blanco, assistant professor of economics, a grant of $1500 for her projects related to the role of institutions for economic development in Latin America. Her research focuses on how institutions matter for foreign direct investment inflows and financial development in the Latin America.

Pete Peterson (MPP '07), executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership, was a panelist for a discussion titled "Who Decides? Democracy and Divide" on January 27, hosted by the Illinois Humanities Council in Chicago. The panel discussed political and ideological segregation between the red and blue states and what these divides could mean for the future of democracy.

Faculty News from the School of Law

Thomas J. Stipanowich, academic director of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, William H. Webster Chair in Dispute Resolution, and professor of law, recently served as Editor-in-Chief of a new set of arbitration protocols for the College of Commercial Arbitrators. Titled Protocols for Expeditious, Cost-Effective Commercial Arbitration, the work received the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution’s Practical Achievement Award last week. Protocols will also be honored by the American Bar Association at the annual meeting in April.

For weekly updates about faculty news, visit the Faculty/Staff Notes page on the Pepperdine website.