Faculty Awarded Noteworthy Grants

Two Pepperdine faculty members were recently awarded significant grants to pursue initiatives designed to broaden student experience.

Craig Detweiler, director of the Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture (EMC) and professor of communication at Seaver College, received a $300,000 grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. Detweiler’s initiative, Linking Entertainment, Media, and Culture, will consolidate the business, legal, and creative aspects of media entertainment at Pepperdine into one cohesive program. More than 600 Pepperdine students currently major in some form of media at the university. Of those, nearly 100 undergraduates are majoring in film and media production, and 20 graduate students are pursuing a media-related master’s degree. Courses include film studies, media production, telecommunications, theater, advertising, Internet marketing, and communications as well as managing creativity and innovation at the Graziadio School of Business and Management, and entertainment law at the School of Law. The grant will allow EMC and Pepperdine to explore ways to align course offerings, programs, and resources.  For more information, please visit the Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture website.[BROKEN LINK]

Luisa Blanco Raynal, associate professor in the School of Public Policy, received an award of $14,000 from the Charles Koch Foundation, for the Economic Development Issues Lecture Series.  The series, sponsored by the Koch Foundation, will focus on solutions to specific problems in the field of economic development; and will provide students with opportunities to deepen their understanding of economic growth and development using a market-based approach.   The lecture series will present three talks:

• Robert Klitgaard, professor at Claremont Graduate University, will discuss “The Private Sector Against Corruption: Lessons of Success.” 
• Robin Grier, professor of economics, and international and area studies at the University of Oklahoma, will address “The Political Economy of Free Markets and Economic Development: Turning Conventional Wisdom on its Head?” 
• Jeffrey Nugent, professor of economics and business at the University of Southern California, will present “What Should Developing Countries do About Labor Regulations. Some New Insights Based on Firm Surveys From Around the World.”

For more information on the lecture series, please visit the School of Public Policy website.