Forward Together
The Pepperdine community came together on September 10 for this year’s Step Forward Day to get to know their neighbors and serve in the places they call home.
More than 600
alumni, student, and employee participants
More than 3,000
hours of total volunteer time
600 hygiene kits
assembled for those experiencing homelessness at Midnight Mission and
People Assisting the Homeless
3,000 children served
by volunteers at Baby2Baby organizing essentials like diapers and baby clothes
More than 20
nonprofit organizations served in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties
250 lunches
assembled and served at Ventura County Rescue Mission
21 trees and
19 native plants
planted in the Santa Monica Mountains with 5Journeys and Malibu Foundation
12 classrooms updated
at Frederick K. C. Price III Christian Schools
Chatter
Pepperdine friends near and far celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Malibu campus.
DANIEL HUDSON (’75)
I was in Malibu that first year and was the first elected student body president. It helped me become the person I needed to be, a good father, and a Christian.
CONNIE NEAL (’80)
Our years living on the Malibu campus—from ’76 to ’80—were some of the best of our lives. Seeing our founders and the campus as I remember it reminds me how truly blessed we were.
LUNELL GILLILAND (’76, MA ’78)
Having been there for the first year on the Malibu campus—when there were no trees yet, some of the interior wasn’t quite finished in the dorms, and there were few of the incredible buildings featured in this video—this was quite inspiring.
Sound Bites
Explore a collection of some of the most notable moments from recent events held across the University.
“Research shows that people who take part in religious communities in the United States are better neighbors, better citizens, more generous with their time and money, and more active in community life. The key is not what you believe. It’s that you are part of a community in which you have a common moral framework.”
Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business and New York Times best-selling author
EVENT: President's Speaker Series: Free Speech and the Academy: A Conversation with Jonathan Haidt
“The ministers, the deacons, and the attendees were all prisoners; inmates’ families would come to worship and then spend time in the visiting room. It changed the culture of the whole prison. It became the safest prison in America.”
Burl Cain, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections, Former Warden of Louisiana’s Angola Prison
EVENT: Coffee with Jim: Faith-Based Prison Reform
“Everything now is about storytelling. You have to be a good storyteller if you want to be a cultural actor and create value in 2022. Those in Gen Z are expressing their own personal brands through the brands they purchase, and now the stakes are much higher in this very connected world.”
Daniel André Langer, Executive Professor of Luxury Strategy, Graziadio Business School; Chief Executive Officer, Équité
EVENT: Luxury Recalibrated: Pepperdine Disruptive Luxury Symposium
“It seems that we don’t always think of joy as a serious matter. Too often we think of joy as a bonus rather than a necessity. We think of joy as a spontaneous reaction to something good that happens naturally. But that’s not all that it is. Joy is a serious business. It is of the utmost importance for our careful consideration and application.”
Jim Gash (JD '93), President and CEO, Pepperdine University
EVENT: Founder's Day
Did You Know
An exhibition on "human-centered" artificial intelligence was hosted at Payson Library as part of the annual Human-Centered AI Conference held in November.
From the Archives
The nationwide Nintendo Campus Challenge came to Pepperdine in 1991, when students competed for a chance to win a variety of prizes at 112 game stations, 48 Game Boy units, and other attractions installed around campus.
Source: University Archives Photograph Collection