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News and Events

News and Events Recap

January 2012

  • From January 29 to 30, Pepperdine University hosted the third annual Veritas Forum, an interactive and inter-disciplinary conference that seeks to engage students and faculty in discussions about life's hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all of life. The forum featured two speakers—Randy Harris, spiritual director in the department of Bible, Missions, and Ministry at Abilene Christian University, and Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World.
  • The Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) at Pepperdine hosted the second annual COASTAL 5K/10K walk/run at Dockeweiler Beach, Playa del Rey on January 28. The event—fully-titled Children's Outreach: Advancing Social Transformation and Learning—was open to walkers and runners of all ages and skill levels united with the aim of raising money to support education and psychology programs for underprivileged children in Los Angeles.
  • The third annual ReelStories FilmFest took place on January 27. The event showcased a number of student-produced films along with three featured films, Q&A's with filmmakers, and an awards reception.  The evening closed with an awards ceremony and a keynote speech by Hollywood film director and producer, Jon Turteltaub.
  • The Good Lovelies, an all-female folk music trio from Toronto, performed their lighthearted and upbeat tunes January 25. Their act featured three-part harmonies, constant instrument swapping, and witty onstage banter.
  • Sonia Nazario, the bestselling author of Enrique's Journey, continued the Seaver Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series on January 25 by exploring the story behind her award-winning work. Nazario has spent 20 years reporting and writing about social issues, most recently as a projects reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
  • The Eighth Annual Frank Pack Distinguished Christian Scholar Lecture took place on January 24. Linda Cannell, the retired academic dean of North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL, presented "Leadership Matters: A Christian Retrospective."
  • Alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends gathered at Firestone Fieldhouse on January 21 to support the men's basketball team against Brigham Young University (BYU) in their West Coast Conference 2012 debut. The family day began before the game included a pre-game tailgate with some of L.A.'s best food trucks; a kids zone with bounce house; entertainment from the Pepperdine Pep Band and mascot Willie the Wave; and the 75th Anniversary Prize Wheel.
  • Pianist George Winston performed a benefit concert for City of Hope Cancer Research at Pepperdine on January 20. One hundred percent of the artist's proceeds from the concert were donated to City of Hope Cancer Research, an innovative biomedical research, treatment, and educational institution dedicated to the prevention and cure of cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.
  • Leslie Kreiner Wilson, director of Pepperdine University's Master of Fine Arts program in Writing for Screen and Television, believes that a neglected area of film scholarship–the screenplay, screenwriting, and the screenwriter–is actually vital to clarifying our view of film history. On January 18, Wilson presented "Frances Marion: Ethics and Screenwriting in Hollywood, 1929-1930," which provided insight into the nature of the problems Marion faced under escalating censorship pressure at MGM in 1929 and 1930.
  • Pepperdine University's Private Capital Markets Project and Graziadio School of Business and Management announced a national partnership with Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. on January 16, focused on the development of research on the national economy as well as private capital access for small and medium sized businesses.
  • The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine unveiled its new exhibit, "The Epic and the Exotic: 19th-century Academic Realism from the Dahesh Museum," on January 14. The exhibit will remain on display in the museum's Gregg G. Juarez Gallery and West Gallery until April 1.
  • The Center for the Arts at Pepperdine hosted Dionne Warwick, one of the world's most famous pop music vocalists and the winner of five Grammy Awards, in a concert on January 15. The legendary singer is most notably known for her instantly recognizable hits including "Walk on By" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"
  • River North Dance Chicago (RNDC) visited Pepperdine January 11 to perform a dynamic, jazz-based show combining athletic prowess and contemporary artistic perspective with bold, theatrical flair. The dance company was founded in 1989 and has grown to become an internationally acclaimed company that embodies a true flavor of Americana in its versatile repertoire.
  • Veteran San Francisco author Felix Justice read Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech January 11 in honor of what would have been King's 83rd birthday. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters on the mall in Washington, D.C., the speech by King was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.
  • Novelist, playwright, and publisher Bart Schneider celebrated the founding of Kelly's Cove Press, his new press devoted to California authors, with a presentation on author Ambrose Bierce, January 10. Schneider spoke on Bierce, featured in two Kelly's Cove publications: Civil War Stories and The Best of the Devil's Dictionary, both of which Schneider edited.
  • The Pepperdine community was saddened to learn that Herbert Luft, who held several key positions with the University over 26 years, passed away in early January. He was 69 years old.