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News and Events

News and Events Recap

September 2011

  • A rambunctious cast of more than 30 performing pets including housecats, dogs, parrots, geese, and mice performed a unique blend of comedy, world-champion juggling, and other extraordinary talents at the World Famous Popovich Comedy Pet Theater held in Smothers Theatre September 29.
  • On September 29, Michael Zakian, director of the Weisman Museum of Art, presented a convocation lecture titled "Kandinsky, Mondrian, and the Spiritual in Art," in which he delved into the lives and careers of the deeply spiritual abstract painters Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian.
  • The Graziadio Business Review, the scholarly online journal of the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, published a new issue featuring articles, book reviews, and videos, and covering topics such as creating brand advocates, the U.S. financial crisis and unemployment, and secondary meaning in trademark and trade dress law.
  • The New York Times Magazine once called Kyle Cooper's haunting opening titles for Se7en, "One of the most important design innovations of the nineties," and on September 29 Cooper visited with Pepperdine's Center for Entertainment, Media, and Culture (EMC) to discuss his creative work on over 150 feature films.
  • The Middle East Peace and Awareness student group honored International Peace Week, the week between International Day of Peace and International Day of Nonviolence, by screening the movie Little Town of Bethlehem on September 28. The documentary film follows the story of three men of three different faiths and their lives in Israel and Palestine.
  • Four representatives from the Invisible Children movement presented a screening of Tony—a documentary film featuring a Ugandan teen who grew up in a warzone and travelled to the United States with the organization to advocate on the behalf of all children in Uganda—on September 27.
  • School of Law alumna Laure Sudreau-Rippe provided Pepperdine with a generous gift to establish the Laure Sudreau-Rippe Endowed Chair at the law school. The endowed chair–the first to be given to the school by a female alumna–was announced at a private dinner at which professor Janet Kerr, the first occupant of the endowed chair, was also honored.
  • The Natural Science Seminar Series at Seaver College continued in September, with a lecture by UCSB physics graduate student Ken Henisey, titled "Blobs, Shocks, and Wakes: Complex Dynamics in Black Hole Accretion," and a lecture by Conservation Biology editor Erica Fleishman, titled "Projecting Occupancy and Connectivity as Land Use and Climate Change."
  • Direct from Beijing and on tour in the US for the first time, the National Acrobats of the People's Republic of China opened the Pepperdine University Center for the Arts 2011-12 season with a sold-out performance on September 25, in Smothers Theatre on Pepperdine's Malibu campus.
  • The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art hosted an opening reception on September 24, for its exhibit "California Art: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation." Followed by a Family Art Day with games and activities for the whole family on September 26.
  • On September 23, the School of Law hosted a panel discussion titled, "Hearing Her Story: Reflections of Women Judges," to welcome Deanell Reece Tacha to the University as the new law school dean.
  • Angela Hawken, associate professor of economics and policy analysis at the School of Public Policy (SPP), conducted a series of secret surveys in Syria with the Democracy Council of California between August 24 and September 2, and found that eight out of ten Syrians surveyed want to see regime change and won't be satisfied with mere reform. Read the full survey findings of the Syria 2011 Public Opinion Survey.
  • The EMC teamed up with nonprofit organization Surfers 4 Cetaceans (S4C) and the Malibu Inn restaurant on September 22 to host an afternoon of events celebrating surfing culture and to raise funds for the ocean sustainability nonprofit. Events included a screening of the film Minds in the Water, a feature length documentary film following the five year quest of professional free surfer Dave Rastovich and his friends across the globe to protect dolphins, whales, and the oceans.
  • Sheryl WuDunn, the first Asian-American reporter to win a Pulitzer Prize, opened the 2011-12 W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series on September 21, with a discussion of her bestselling book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.
  • World-renowned classical guitarist and Pepperdine distinguished professor of music Christopher Parkening presented his Fall 2011 master class on September 17 in Raitt Recital Hall, Malibu.
  • The Art History Student Society presented a lecture by Melody Rod-ari, the assistant curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, titled "Origins of the Emerald Buddha and the Legitimation of the Chakravartin," on September 16.
  • Nancy Dodd, editor of the Graziadio Business Review and adjunct professor of screenwriting at Seaver College, discussed her new book, The Writer's Compass: From Story Map to Finished Draft in 7 Stages, on September 15, in Payson Library, Malibu.
  • The EMC hosted "On the Director's Craft"—an evening with film director Jon Turteltaub—September 15 in Elkins Auditorium, Malibu, and included screenings of scenes from his movies, which include National Treasure films, Phenomenon, Cool Runnings, and While You Were Sleeping.
  • The School of Public Policy (SPP), in partnership with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Centennial Celebration, presented a lecture on the faith of Ronald Reagan on September 13, in the Presidential Learning Center at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The event featured opening remarks by SPP dean James Wilburn and a discussion of "Faith in the Power of Freedom" by Natan Sharansky, Chair of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel.
  • Sunday, Sept. 11 marked a decade since the political landscape changed following the attacks on American citizens, and 10 short years since Pepperdine lost one of its own: alumnus Thomas E. Burnett, Jr., who perished on Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. Paying tribute to the heroism of Burnett, his fellow passengers, and all the innocent victims of 9/11, several events were held on Pepperdine's Malibu campus throughout the Sunday of September 11, including a special Waves of Flags display, with 2,977 flags honoring those who died on 9/11. The flags remained on display until September 19.
  • Pepperdine students, faculty, staff, and alumni kicked off the school year by giving back to the community at the 23rd annual Step Forward Day on September 10. The yearly day of service united the approximately 1,400 participants engaging in service projects around campus, across the nation, and around the world.
  • The Pepperdine Libraries and EMC honored the men and women who have served in the ten years since 9/11 with the first film screening of the school year, Brothers at War, on September 8, in Elkins Auditorium, Malibu, followed by a Q&A with EMC director Craig Detweiler and the film's director and producer.
  • Bruce Herschensohn's popular weekly U.S. foreign policy roundtable discussions returned to Pepperdine on September 8, when the senior fellow at the School of Public Policy reconvened his group analysis of current international events. The roundtables continued to meet weekly throughout the academic year in the Drescher Graduate Campus Auditorium, Malibu.
  • Forty-seven Seaver College students who participated in the 2011 Heidelberg Summer Music Program presented two concerts featuring opera scenes and chamber music on September 7 and 8, reprising their original performances, which took place at the Prinz Carl Palais in Heidelberg's old town at the conclusion of the program on June 20 and 23.