News and Events
Featured Stories
Robert Chapman: Committed to Service through Public Policy
Robert Chapman worked in the graphic design industry for more than a decade until the events of September 11, 2001 changed everything. "I wanted to do something that felt more meaningful to me," Rob reflects. Encouraged by his interest in international policy and his skill with quantitative analysis, Rob left his career as an art director for computer magazines and enrolled in the Pepperdine School of Public Policy.
Marnie Mitze: A Heart for the Arts
Marnie Duke Mitze loves magical moments that only happen when unspoken energy, beauty, and communication are created, and when there may be 500 people in the room and you can hear a pin drop. Mitze's appreciation and love of performing arts goes back to her days as a concert pianist and skilled project manager experiences that serve her well today as managing director of Pepperdine's Center for the Arts.
Christopher Parkening Book: Grace Like a River
Grace Like a River details Christopher Parkening's rise to fame as one of the world's premier classical guitarists—and everything it cost him to get there. In spite of his enormous success, he discovered that without true meaning and purpose, all his worldly accomplishments were empty and unsatisfying. It is also the story of how God pursued Christopher Parkening in order to give him eternal hope.
Elliot Anderson, 2006 School of Law Valedictorian, Grateful for Pepperdine Experience
Care and personal attention defined Elliot Anderson's experience at Pepperdine. As the 2006 School of Law Valedictorian, Elliot earned the highest cumulative grade point average in his graduating class, but it is gratitude he feels for this honor, not pride. "I cant tell you how blessed we've been to be here," he says.
Kimberly Lowe Earns Top Marks as 2006 Seaver College Valedictorian
Kimberly Lowe deserves a vacation. Within days of her April graduation from Pepperdine University, the hard-working West Hills native jumped instead into a full-time summer job with the Humanities and Teacher Education Division. But Kim has never been one to take it easy. As the 2006 Seaver College valedictorian, Kim graduated summa cum laude and earned the highest cumulative grade point average in her class.
Keren Cohen: Promoting Acceptance of Adult Therapy in Israel
Keren Cohen, a second year student of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) in the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP), is preparing to open her own practice as a therapist in her home country of Israel. According to Cohen, Israelis seek the comfort of family and friends, not professionals, for emotional support. With this in mind, she plans to work with children a population for which therapy is common and accepted and use this as a gateway to treating adults.
YIFTU: Acting on AIDS – Raising Awareness About HIV/AIDS
Taking initiative to help others in need is oftentimes a daunting task many people are not willing to undertake. This is not the case for a group of Pepperdine University Seaver College students like Lindsay Joiner (Seaver '07), who formed the organization You and I For The Universe (YIFTU): Acting on AIDS. Nor is this the case for many people in the Pepperdine community who donated money and food points to offer much needed assistance to people tragically affected by HIV/AIDS.
Provost Tippens' New Book: Jesus in Everyday Life
Pepperdine University Provost Darryl Tippens is publishing a new book titled Pilgrim Heart: The Way of Jesus in Everyday Life. The 224-page work examines discipleship as a particular way of life, guided by a set of simple, but powerful, daily practices known to the earliest disciples and the saints through the ages. Dr. Tippens delves into such topics as friendship, confession, forgiveness, and discernment, while inviting the reader to "consider afresh the way of Jesus."
Full Story
Haydeh Fakhrabadi: Spiritual Healing for Pediatric Cancer Patients and Families
When Haydeh Fakhrabadi traveled to Iran earlier this year, it was not for her usual family visit. Fakhrabadi, a fourth-year PsyD student in Pepperdine's Graduate School of Education and Psychology, is writing a dissertation on the religious coping methods used by parents of pediatric cancer patients. Her interest in the field of religion and health connected her with scholars in Iran and helped her develop professional relationships that she maintains from across the globe.
Full Story
A Scholarly Experiment: Changing How Policy Leaders Are Made
In the 1990s, Ted McAllister was one of three full-time faculty members recruited by Pepperdine to create a unique curriculum for what would become the School of Public Policy. Using his background in history, he helped construct a program that focuses on historical, philosophical, and economical data analysis, and is guided by the moral and ethical principles of great leaders.
Jennifer Trubenbach Gives the Gift of a Smile with Operation Esperanza
Graduate School of Education and Psychology Alumna Jennifer Trubenbach is the program director of Operation Esperanza, a medical nonprofit founded 16 years ago by her father, a retired reconstructive surgeon, to treat populations in Ecuador that are at high risk for facial deformities. The medical team specializes in correcting cleft lip and palate, a condition in which tissue at the roof of the mouth, upper jaw, and lip does not join properly.
Full Story
Faculty Authors Book on Surviving an Ethical Misconduct Disaster
Robert C. Chandler, professor and chair of Pepperdine University’s Communication Division, has coauthored a new book titled, Managing Risks for Corporate Integrity: How to Survive an Ethical Misconduct Disaster. The work, led by Chandler, is the result of over four years of his original research and scholarship in the area of organizational ethical misconduct disasters.
Geoffrey Palmer: Entrepreneurship and Law
Geoffrey Harrison Palmer graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1975, and was honored by the school as the 2005 Distinguished Alumnus. Founder and CEO of G. H. Palmer Associates, a diversified real estate development firm, Palmer has consistently demonstrated both entrepreneurial and keen legal skills throughout his distinguished career.
Taking Policy to the World: Nicki Kurokawa
Nicki Kurokawa, a second-year Pepperdine School of Public Policy graduate student, doesn't yet have a press corps or a State Department motorcade to get her from place to place. But, she has engaged the world with a fervor and has notched nearly the same number of passport stamps as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Well-rounded Inspiration: Athletics' Maurice Hilliard
With award-winning coaches and championship teams, Pepperdine's athletic program is as exciting for its fans as it is for its athletes. While their hard work and training pay off, it's hard to believe that Pepperdine's student-athletes find time for studying in between practice, winning games, and being on the road. One person helping students achieve balance academically, athletically, and spiritually is Maurice Hilliard, academic coordinator in Athletics.
Senior Wins the National Opera Association's 2006 Competition
Christin Wismann enraptures her audience with stunning operatic melodies and an award-winning soprano voice that has been described as a "signature sound." As a testament to her talent, nearly one week after winning the National Opera Association's (NOA) vocal competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on January 7, Wismann returned to California to win the Discovery Artist competition sponsored by the New West Symphony.
Women Who Mean Business: Yifat Hassid
For everyone who has wanted to turn a hobby into a career, take a look at this alumna. Yifat Hassid has pinpointed her true passion and forged a path to small business ownership. She shares the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and offers valuable tips for anyone who dreams of being their own boss.
Under Pressure: Senior Takes Top Honors in Sports Medicine
It was one of those typical award show moments: the host calls out the name of the winner, who just happened to choose that particular moment to go to the bathroom or have a huge mouthful of food. In Pepperdine senior Kentaro Onishi's case, he had just taken a big bite into an apple when his name was called at the annual meeting of the Southwest Chapter of The American College of Sports Medicine (SWACSM) in November 2005.
Professor Oversees Free Elections In West African Country of Liberia
In November 2005, Robert Lloyd, assistant professor of international relations, had the privilege of helping to oversee free and fair elections in Liberia, the first in the country's history. Lloyd, who has spent much of his professional life studying and witnessing first-hand international conflict, was deeply moved by the experience.
Winter Break is Not Just About Going Home for the Holidays
Along with studying criminal law, legal writing and torts this semester at Pepperdine's School of Law, add mold removal to Elizabeth Eubanks transcript, a Rochester Hills resident. From Dec. 17 to Dec. 22, Eubanks, a first year law school student will lead 16 Pepperdine University students from Malibu, California, to New Orleans to work, clean, and bring hope to people who lost everything to Hurricane Katrina in September.
Pepperdine Professors Co-author Book on Post-Cold War Security
Pepperdine University professors Dan Caldwell and Robert E. Williams have completed a timely new book called Seeking Security in an Insecure World. Published in December by Rowman and Littlefield, the book was written as an introduction for a general readership to issues of contemporary security. It will be released and marketed as both a textbook and a trade book, explaining how far more complicated national security is now than it was during the Cold War period.
