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News and Events

News & Events Recap

September 2012

  • The Center for the Arts presented the four-time Grammy-nominated Puerto Rican band Plena Libre on Sept. 30, featuring hard-hitting horns, master hand-drummers, close-harmonizing vocalists, and innovative choreography.
  • Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning actress Lily Tomlin, whose characterizations of irascible telephone operator Ernestine and devilish six-year-old Edith Ann on television's Laugh-In catapulted her to national stardom as one of America's foremost comediennes, returned to Smothers Theatre for a performance on Sept. 28.
  • Arizona-based children's theatre company, Childsplay, brought all 44 U.S. presidents to life in the Rock the Presidents musical revue at Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Sept. 22. Rock the Presidents highlighted the history of our top executive office in a high-energy, multimedia extravaganza.
  • Pepperdine coaching legend Tom Asbury (men's basketball coach), trailblazing Jennifer Evans Lilley (women's soccer), Major League Baseball veteran Dan Haren, and the school's all-time leading scorer in men's basketball Dane Suttle were announced mid-September as the newest group of inductees into the Pepperdine University Athletics Hall of Fame this fall.
  • Professors Robert Kaufman and Dan Caldwell represented the positions of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, respectively, in a mock presidential debate on Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. at Smothers Theatre, Malibu. This event was copresented by the Malibu Bel Air Republican Women Federated & Malibu Democratic Club.
  • The Pepperdine community commemorated the historic 2012 Founder's Day on Sept. 19, with an audience of loyal alumni, devoted board members, friends, faculty, staff, and the next generation of Pepperdine Waves who honor our founder's motto, "Freely ye received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). Each year, the special event honors the vision of the University's founder, George Pepperdine, affirms Pepperdine's mission, and declares the opening of the new academic year.
  • Gary Dixon, president of The Foundation for a Better Life, shared with the Pepperdine community the message of promoting positive values through the media on Sept. 18, at the Center for Communication and Business on the Malibu campus. The event was cohosted by Pepperdine's Public Relations Student Society of America student group.
  • The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art hosted the exhibition "Pop Culture: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation" from Sept. 15 until Dec. 2, to celebrate the museum's 20th anniversary. The exhibition, organized to mark the Weisman Museum's formal dedication on September 12, 1992, explores the roots of the Pop Art movement as well as the way subsequent generations of artists have drawn inspiration from popular culture.
  • Bruce Herschensohn, senior fellow at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, resumed his weekly U.S. foreign policy discussions from Sept. 13 through Dec. 6, at the School of Public Policy, Malibu. The discussions focused on current international events.
  • To honor the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Pepperdine staged its annual, dramatic display of flags on its expansive lawn at Alumni Park, Malibu—with one flag, of the victim's nationality, for each of the nearly 3,000 lives lost on that tragic day. Additionally, University Chaplain Dave Lemley led a prayer service in Heroes Garden on Sept. 11 to honor the victims, including Pepperdine alumnus Tom Burnett.
  • Merrill Moses ('99), a two-time Olympian and former All-American water polo player at Pepperdine, joined the Waves' staff as the interim co-head coach. Moses, a goalkeeper who helped lead Pepperdine to the 1997 NCAA championship and the United States to a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics, has been playing both professionally and with the U.S. squad for more than a decade before now turning his attention to coaching.
  • Students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Pepperdine University started the new academic year as they meant to go on Sept. 8, as the University community joined together in acts of service for Step Forward Day. The yearly day of service unites approximately 1,400 participants in projects around campus, across the nation, and around the world.
  • The Pepperdine School of Law and the Black Law Student Association hosted alumnus and current U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, AndrĂ© Birotte, Jr. (JD, '91) on Sept. 6. Birotte discussed his journey from Pepperdine to his current role as the top federal law enforcement official of the second largest district in the nation followed by audience Q&A.
  • The Graduate School of Education and Psychology Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series presented Aaron Cohen, cofounder of the Abolish Slavery Coalition, for a discussion on the plight of human trafficking. Cohen spoke on his work of finding and freeing human beings from various forms of bondage on September 5, at the West Los Angeles Graduate Campus.