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News & Events Recaps

September 2005

  • Marv Dunphy, who directed the Pepperdine men's volleyball team to its fifth national championship in 2005, was named the University's 2004-05 "Coach of the Year" in a vote by his fellow head coaches. In his 22nd season leading the men's volleyball program, Dunphy guided the Waves to a 25-2 overall record and capped the year by defeating UCLA in five games at Pauley Pavilion. The national title came exactly 20 years after the Waves won their second national championship when they defeated USC at Pauley Pavilion to conclude the 1985 season with an identical 25-2 mark.
  • Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Washington, D.C. internship program, taught a two-part seminar at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State. The seminar offered an update on the current situation in Palestine and the prospects for peace in the region following the recent unilateral Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip. The seminar was attended by members of the Foreign Service, the Department of Defense and other federal agencies assigned to the Middle East.
  • Pepperdine partnered with Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, to provide 280,000 meals and bottled drinking water to victims of Hurricane Katrina in areas hardest hit by the storm. President Benton announced on September 8, 2005 that a portion of donations received by the University’s Wave Relief Campaign would help offset costs associated with the emergency shipment of food and water.
  • Gerard Flynn, technology training manager and adjunct professor of computer science, coauthored Succeeding in Business with Microsoft Office Access 2003: A Problem-Solving Approach, published in July 2005 by Thomson Course Technology.
  • Nick Rodionoff, head coach of Pepperdine’s women's swimming and diving teams, has his photography featured in Malibu: California’s Most Famous Seaside Community, authored by longtime Malibu resident Marian Hall. 
  • Colleen Graffy, associate professor of law and academic director of Pepperdine's Law Program in London, England, was sworn in as deputy assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy for Europe in Washington, D.C. She will take a leave of absence from Pepperdine to work under Condoleezza Rice at the State Department. Professor Graffy has been appointed to work on public diplomacy issues in Europe with Karen Hughes, the new undersecretary of state. An English barrister, she is the current Chairman of the Society of English and American Lawyers.
  • On September 20, Pepperdine held the inaugural Constitution Day lecture titled “The Original Understanding of the Living Constitution -- The Amendment Process, with a special presentation on the Blaine Amendment and Educational Freedom.”
  • Ed Shafranske, professor of psychology at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology, was an invited participant and facilitator at the American Psychological Association’s 2005 Educational Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.  This invitation-only conference was sponsored by the APA Education Directorate and brings together leaders in graduate education and clinical training from across the nation to address cutting edge issues.
  • Former Pepperdine men's golf All-American Kevin Marsh won the 2005 U.S. Mid-Amateur title in the championship match at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tennessee. With his win, Marsh automatically gained entry into the 2006 Masters that will be played in April 2006 at Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia. He will become the first Pepperdine player to compete in the Masters.
  • Former Pepperdine All-American Jason Gore, who became a household name and fan-favorite during the U.S. Open in June 2005, capped a remarkable summer when he registered a one-shot victory at the 84 Lumber Classic at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa in Farmington, Pennsylvania, for his first career PGA Tour victory. Gore, who helped Pepperdine capture the 1997 national championship, is the first former Waves player to win an event on the PGA Tour.
  • Alexander C. Diener, assistant professor of geography in the International Studies and Languages Division, was invited to Washington, D.C. on September 14, to serve as a reviewer of the World Bank Report on Migration in Eurasia. The workshop was held at the Kennan Institute in Woodrow Wilson’s International Center for Scholars.
  • Seaver College’s 2005-06 Distinguished Lecture Series opened September 29 with “Going Wild for Wildlife,” presented by Jack Hanna. Mr. Hanna is the host of the popular television series, Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures, which reaches 95 percent of U.S. television households every weekend.
  • On September 27, GSEP administration, scholarship fund donors, students and their guests gathered at the Radisson Hotel to recognize the student recipients of the Associated Women For Pepperdine Scholarship, Chiang Kai-shek Scholarship, GSEP Diversity Scholarship, Earl V. Pullias Endowed Scholarship, Glen and Gloria Holden Scholarship, J. McDonald and Judy Williams GSEP Scholarship, Mattie Chissell Memorial Scholarship, Michael Y. F. Chau Scholarship, Olaf. H. Tegner Endowed Scholarship, and the Psy.D. Contribution to Diversity Scholarship.