Pepperdine Magazine Vol. 9, Iss. 1 (Spring 2017)

Volume 9 Issue 1 Spring 2017

A professor reveals how new societal norms and government regulations are formed through strategic and scientific uses of airtime SETTING THE OPEN TABLE

14

DERYCK J. VAN RENSBURG

18

OF SERVICE

22

Are You Worried About Income Security?

Secure Your Future with a Charitable Remainder Trust with P E P P E R D I N E U N I V E R S I T Y

“A Charitable Remainder Trust was the perfect instrument to lend support for a cause I am passionate about while providing lifelong income security.”

Jean McCrady, Past President, Associated Women for Pepperdine

Join Jean and other members of the Pepperdine family who have discovered the financial and charitable benefits:

We invite you to become a part of our future!

The Center for Estate and Gift

•

Earn an immediate tax deduction

Planning is staffed with a team

•

Help students secure their futures through a Pepperdine degree

of friendly, highly qualified gift

•

Receive income for life

•

Bypass capital gains tax

•

Transfer appreciated stock, cash, or real estate

planning experts who can assist you with important tax information and creative solutions for making the most of your money in 2017.

Contact us at 310.506.4893 for more information.

Volume 9 Issue 1 Spring 2017

FEATURES

32

14 18

14 Setting the Open Table As the new director of the Center for Faith and Learning, John Barton helps set the “open table” of Pepperdine’s religious and academic mission

34

18 Deryck J. van Rensburg

36

22 Of Service

38 40

The Graziadio School’s new dean reflects on his corporate odyssey and the future of business education

In her new memoir, Peggy Grande (’89) captures the intimate and inspiring moments she shared with President Ronald Reagan as his right-hand woman for a decade

26 Under the Influence A professor reveals how new societal norms and government regulations are formed through strategic and scientific uses of airtime

COMMUNITY

22 26

42

32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46

Old Data, New Tricks Silent Treatment Poem Sweet Poem Meant for Ministry A Running Start Claim to Fame Words of the Weiss Diving into History

44

DEPARTMENTS

46

2 Letters 4 Perspectives 6 News 12 Snapshot 30 Alumni 48 In Focus

magazine.pepperdine.edu

1

YOUR FUTURE. UNDER CONSTRUCTION. The Campus Life Project is a multiyear initiative investing in the 21st-century student with sustainable, leading-edge facilities that spark creativity, cultivate community, and enrich academic life.

In summer 2016, Pepperdine launched bold plans to modernize Payson Library, build the new Seaside Residence Hall, and renovate the School of Law. These construction projects will reinvigorate the Malibu campus experience as Pepperdine ushers in a new era of growth and welcomes the next generation of Waves.

PAYSON LIBRARY

SEASIDE RESIDENCE HALL

SCHOOL OF LAW

The newly renovated library of the future will return to service in fall 2017.

Seaver College’s new suite-style housing complex will open fall 2018.

A makeover for the Caruso Auditorium and Lon V. Smith Atrium will be complete fall 2018.

Learn more about the Campus Life Project: PEPPERDINE.EDU/CLP

2

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

I will admit that in the anonymity of a dark room full of strangers, I often succumb to a well-timed swelling of a score or a heartbreaking moment of truth that finally reveals itself onscreen after 90 minutes of excruciating buildup. I empathize with the characters that I am now connected to, imagining how I would navigate the twists and turns of the plot. And in the end I can’t help but be moved by how the story plays out.

Something in me changes—the way I think, the way I feel. It’s no surprise that there is a science behind this phenomenon. These emotional responses that have reduced me to laughter and tears have been strategically invoked by the experts behind the scenes who know just how to speak to my psyche.

In our cover story, “Under the Influence,” we learn that adjunct professor Christian McGuigan at the School of Public Policy enlightens students in the ways in which media influences culture—and policy—by reaching a single person through impactful storytelling. For decades TV, film, and digital and social

media have singlehandedly influenced major cultural movements and sentiments just by determining what viewers see, and especially what they remember.

I hope you are moved by the stories in this issue of Pepperdine Magazine.

I hope you are empowered by the story of alumnus Chris Howells, an army psychologist who has dedicated his life to serving those who cannot endure the lingering effects of trauma for one more day. I hope you are encouraged by the trials and triumph of alumna DeDe Duncan-Probe, the first female bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York, after years of dreaming an unsupported dream.

Gareen Darakjian

senior designer

Courtney Gero

writers

Sara Alamdar, Nate Ethell (’08, MBA ’13), Doug Gillett, Carly Pippin (’07)

graphic designers

Mallory Bockwoldt (’16), Ryan Kotzin

photographers

Grant Dillion, Ron Hall (’79)

copy editor

Vincent Way

production manager

Jill McWilliams

interactive developer

Kimberly Robison (’10)

PUBLISHED BY THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS chief marketing officer and vice president for public affairs and church relations Rick Gibson (MBA ’09, PKE 121) associate vice president for integrated marketing communications Matt Midura (’97, MA ’05)

In her fantasy novel Night Circus, author Erin Morgenstern writes, “You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul... That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words.”

director of communications and brand development Nate Ethell (’08, MBA ’13)

I hope the stories in this issue of Pepperdine Magazine make you think and feel differently, and I hope that when you put down this issue you walk away inspired by the Pepperdine story.

director of digital marketing Mauricio Acevedo

— GAREEN DARAKJIAN editor

Tell us what YOU think!

Do you like what you’re reading? How can we improve?

Visit magazine.pepperdine.edu to tell us what you think about what you’re reading and how we’re doing. We’ll publish your thoughts in the next issue.

Connect with Pepperdine

editor

creative director Keith Lungwitz director of digital media Allen Haren (’97, MA ’07) senior director of operations Ed Wheeler (’97, MA ’99)

Pepperdine Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 1, Spring 2017.

Pepperdine Magazine is the feature magazine for Pepperdine University and its growing community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends. It is published quarterly by the University’s Public Affairs division.

Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, 90263 Pepperdine Magazine is produced with guidance from an advisory board representing a cross-section of the University community. Send address changes with publication name to: Office of Advancement Information Management at Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California 90263 Other information and queries should be directed to the editor.

All material is copyrighted ©2017 by Pepperdine University, Malibu, California 90263.

818.702.1400 Pepperdine is affiliated with Churches of Christ, of which the University’s founder, George Pepperdine, was a lifelong member.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

PA1702006

Think of the last time you cried in a movie theatre.

3

perspectives

N

ot too long ago, perfect strangers aboard a New York subway car found themselves confronted with neo-Nazi graffiti as they made their way home one evening. Everyone, it was reported, stared in silence at the graffiti and each other, uncomfortable and unsure of what to do. It is said that one man stood up and said, “Hand sanitizers get rid of Sharpie,” and found some tissue (and sanitizer) and went to work.

Others followed him.

By Andrew K. Benton

President and Chief Executive Officer

4

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

In Tenino, Washington, a black family left for a camping trip, and while they were away vandals covered their home with racial slurs. Neighbors were shocked to see the N-word and “KKK” messaging on the home and a truck owned by the family. Instead of idly standing by, the neighbors erased the messages so the family, upon returning home, would not need to see the crude words and hate speech. Many in the community who knew the family—and some who didn’t— came together to erase hatred.

our objectivity and balance, I am reminded of my maternal grandmother who taught me to love the poetry of Robert Frost. In one of his poems he concludes with this verse:

When I think about the language that bombards us today or the push to choose one side or another or the harsh speech that seems aimed at threatening

To carry praise or blame too far,

And steadfast, as Keats’ Eremite, Not even stooping from its sphere, It asks a little of us here, It asks of us a certain height, So when at times the mob is swayed

We may choose something like a star To stay our minds on and be staid.

CONVICTED CIVILITY

means that we can hear and process words with which

WE DO NOT AGREE and that we CAN BE UNAFRAID TO REFUTE THEM with truth, courage, and confidence.

The “star” for me in this context is Holy Scripture and the high ideals we all have for those in this community. It encourages us not to be pushed one way or the other by political rhetoric or fear or the sheer volume of prevailing noise. Instead, it emboldens us to choose the star of goodness, kindness, fairness, and—even— love for one another.

At Pepperdine our Christian mission drives our steadfast commitment to loving our neighbor. My faith is so strong that I am not threatened by the beliefs of others; actually, I am strengthened by them. As one writer has noted, “… pluralism suggests … that we can live together in our manyness.”

Pepperdine provides the context for our manyness.

A few years ago there was a campus conversation about whether we prize civility too much over robust disagreement. The line is fine and important. In fact, I value both and hope to contribute to a university campus where strong, thoughtfully articulated positions are placed in conversation with confidence and vigor.

As with most things, however, there is a fairly logical point at which advocacy crosses the line and becomes less valuable and more threatening in nature. For example, the ridicule of political beliefs, faith, or heritage adds nothing to the commonwealth of knowledge or the knitting together of community. It evinces bias and, sadly, fear and ignorance as well.

An invitation to engage in robust, even uncomfortable debate is different for me. It is clearly protected by the First Amendment, it allows steel to sharpen steel, it draws disparate parties into an informative conversation and, at the end, we learn something that is useful.

Let me be clearer: some words and actions are designed to embarrass and denigrate, which should cause all of us to cringe.

There are, also, earnest and sometimes awkward invitations to dialogue that may be hard but may foster a breakthrough in understanding. The character Katherine Watson in the film Mona Lisa Smile said in her role as a teacher of young women, “You’re not…required to like it. You are required to consider it.” I try to remember that.

When my colleagues and I met recently to consider Pepperdine’s response to the complex issue of new federal immigration policies, I shared my simple expectations.

First, we will honor the law. Second, we will ask the question, “What if it were your son or your daughter who found themselves ensnared in issues related to these recent executive orders? How would you want them to be treated?”

And, that is our standard.

I ran across a phrase recently that I like very much and have used in conversation several times over the past year: convicted civility. As soon as I saw those two words together I knew immediately and exactly what they meant to me. Convicted civility means that we can hear and process words with which we do not agree and that we can be unafraid to refute them with truth, courage, and confidence. It means that as we encounter new thinking and information, we are free to ask hard questions and to pursue answers to questions important to us.

Questions should not be threatening, and answers should not be unassailable when given.

I admire strong convictions presented fairly and without elements of ad hominem attack in pursuit of truth and, especially, fairness and justice. Lutheran scholar Martin Marty once said, “People these days who are civil often lack strong convictions, and people with strong religious convictions often are not very civil. What we need is convicted civility.”

While I want to encourage dialogue and the exercise of free speech, I want our community to do what we can to erase hatred, bias, and behavior that are aimed to hurt and maim, not inform and strengthen.

We cannot aspire to speak always with one voice or to agree on all things, but we should seek to find a standard of debate and discourse in all matters that does not chill participation and is not designed to merely silence opposition. Indeed, is silence what we want? Moreover, is it silence that advances learning in community? I do not think so.

This essay was adapted from a message shared at a University town hall meeting on February 15, 2017.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

5

news Pepperdine Mourns the Passing of School of Law Benefactor HERBERT V. NOOTBAAR Herbert V. Nootbaar, longtime friend and benefactor of the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics at the School of Law, passed away on December 18, 2016. He was 108.

“I wish everyone could have the gift of Herb Nootbaar in their lives, but—sadly—there is only one Herb Nootbaar,” said Pepperdine president Andrew K. Benton. “He was one of God’s originals. Tall and dignified, witty beyond comparison, and blessed with the ability to maintain friendships around the world, to say that he was my friend sounds like bragging, but I am proud to say it was the truth.

He traveled the world on behalf of California and America, encouraged humanitarian aid to the Soviet Union at a crucial moment, was a booster of business enterprise, and loved all who came within his embrace. I don’t believe Herb ever met a stranger.

To know him was to love him and to admire him deeply.”

Nootbaar’s ties to Pepperdine reach back more than 50 years when he first interacted with former Pepperdine president M. Norvel Young and his wife Helen. In reconnecting with Pepperdine through Helen Young (’39) and her daughter Sara Young Jackson (’74), senior vice chancellor at the University, Herb and his wife Elinor presented a generous

$6 million gift to the School of Law in 2007 to endow the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics; fund the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Dean’s Office; and support the William French Smith Memorial Lecture Series.

They later donated an additional $4 million to further support the work of the Nootbaar Institute—making them among the most generous couples in the law school’s history.

“Herb Nootbaar and his late wife Elinor were inspired visionaries with the School of Law and the University,” said Deanell Reece Tacha, dean of the Pepperdine School of Law. “Their passion for law, religion, and global justice serves as a reminder of their lifelong commitment to serving humankind. They have made the law school a better place through their abiding interest and generosity.”

6

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

The Nootbaars also gave generously to many other causes, including the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Courtyard in Simi Valley and the Herbert V. Nootbaar Baseball Office and Hall of Fame Complex at the University of Southern California.

Nootbaar is survived by his son, John; daughter, JoAnne; stepson, Gary Barker; 18 grandchildren; and 28 great-grandchildren.

FIRST-EVER GIVING DAY Rallies Tremendous Support from University Community On March 8, the Pepperdine University community united in support of future generations of Waves during Give2Pepp, the University’s first-ever Giving Day. The global initiative mobilized Pepperdine faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends to contribute to the ongoing excellence of the academic programs and student life opportunities that define the Pepperdine experience. Give2Pepp’s 37-hour giving window (from 9 am PST on March 7 to 10 pm PST on March 8) honored Pepperdine’s 1937 founding and allowed for global participation across the University’s seven international campuses.

With approximately 3,070 participants, 1,129 of them being first-time donors, the number of gifts received on Giving Day alone was 40 percent of last year’s entire Pepperdine Fund donor count. Give2Pepp’s primary goals were to heighten alumni engagement and strengthen the student experience through giving. These goals emphasized the impact of the resources harnessed from small annual gifts, especially through student scholarships, as an estimated 75 to 80 percent of all undergraduate students at Pepperdine receive some type of financial aid.

“Through a multi-pronged effort across all five of Pepperdine’s schools, with a focus on social media and gamification of donor goals, we were able to exceed our participation goal by almost 200 percent,” said Pepperdine Fund director Cynthia Ware.

“We aim to build upon this engagement to ensure that every Giving Day is more successful than the last. Give2Pepp’s success is not only a testament to our efforts but to the Pepperdine community’s dedication to future generations of Waves.”

A total of $583,441 was raised in onsite and online gifts of five dollars and greater. Participants had the opportunity to donate to hundreds of designations spanning from Pepperdine’s top-ranked International Programs to its Center for Women in Leadership to each of its 17 men’s and women’s NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports teams. Pepperdine students, alumni, and

friends also participated in 17 University-wide matches and challenges that contributed to $284,730 of the total.

“Giving Day is an opportunity to honor the people and programs that inspire and shape the Pepperdine experience,” said Pepperdine University president Andrew K. Benton. “I could not be prouder of those who participated in Give2Pepp and made it an enormous success. Lives are changed for the better at Pepperdine—and that is a cause that deserves our ongoing investment.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

7

news Pepperdine University Celebrates 41ST ANNUAL PEPPERDINE ASSOCIATES DINNER In the grand ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, members of the Pepperdine community near and far gathered for the 41st annual Pepperdine Associates dinner held Saturday, April 8. The event’s theme, “Convicted Civility,” resounded throughout the evening’s festivities, particularly in the poignant words of featured speaker Robert Gates, chancellor of the College of William & Mary and former United States secretary of defense (2006-2011).

In a candid and engaging conversation with School of Public Policy dean Pete Peterson, Gates, who served as an officer in the United States Air Force and then for 27 years in the Central Intelligence Agency, expounded on his own understanding of the fine balance between strongly held beliefs and peaceful and constructive expressions of those beliefs. The conversation offered Gates the opportunity to reflect on the qualities of leadership—such as honor, integrity, and moral authority—that he has both observed and practiced in his storied, decades-long career.

As the former United States secretary of defense, and the first in US history to be asked to remain in that office under a newly elected president, Gates is widely viewed as a champion of bipartisanship, compromise, service, and diplomacy. Now the chancellor of the College of William & Mary, Gates is advancing those same virtues of civility in higher education, recognizing that we are a society fortified by the strength found in our differences and that, in order for us to succeed, we must always come together.

Read more about the 41st annual Pepperdine Associates dinner: magazine.pepperdine.edu/pa-dinner-2017

International Theologian and Author Miroslav Volf Presents at 2017 Veritas Forum Miroslav Volf, international speaker, theologian, author, and public intellectual, was the special guest speaker at the 2017 Veritas Forum hosted by Pepperdine University’s Office of the Chaplain on March 28.

Volf explored the theme “How Can Religion Heal Rather Than Divide?” as it relates to spirituality and Christian values.

Educated in his native Croatia, and later in the United States and Germany, Volf has written or edited 15 books and over 70 scholarly articles.

Volf has shared his expertise at many prestigious lectureships, including the Dudleian Lecture at Harvard University and the Chavasse Lectures at the University of Oxford.

Volf has been featured on National Public Radio’s Speaking of Faith and Public Television’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly and was a keynote presenter for the Trinity Institute’s 36th National Theological Conference, “The Anatomy of Reconciliation.”

Author and Social Activist CORNEL WEST Speaks at Lecture Series on Faith, Intellect, and Culture

8

As part of his public mission “to keep alive the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.—a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice”—noted speaker, professor, author, and activist Cornel West addressed the Los Angeles community on February 24 at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport Hotel.

West is arguably one of the nation’s most well regarded experts on a variety of social issues. A spoken-word performer, his collaborations with respected musical artists and filmmakers are well-known. As a frequent television commentator and guest, West is also an outspoken critic of political corruption and the abuse of power.

The event was hosted by the Graduate School of Education and Psychology as part of the Margaret J. Weber Distinguished Lecture Series, which this year will explore the theme “Wholeness: The Intersection of Faith, Intellect, and Culture.”

Most recently he served as professor of philosophy and Christian practice at Union Theological Seminary and holds emeritus status at Princeton University.

He has published more than 20 books and edited 13.

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

Learn more about Cornel West: magazine.pepperdine.edu/cornel-west

Pepperdine OPERA STUDENTS Win Prestigious National Opera Association Award Seaver College students in the Flora L. Thornton Opera Program were awarded First Place in the Opera Division I category of the National Opera Association’s Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition at the annual national convention held in Santa Barbara on January 5. The participating Pepperdine students presented a scene from Mozart’s two-act opera Don Giovanni.

The talents of several Pepperdine faculty members were also demonstrated throughout the production. Thornton Opera

Program director and music professor Henry Price III provided stage direction and adjunct professor Andy Gladbach (’15), associate professor of music Louise Lofquist, and visiting instructor David Wilkinson provided musical direction. Adjunct professor of theatre and costume designer Melanie Watnick led costume design.

Price was additionally presented with the National Opera Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual convention on January 7. Sophomore

Pepperdine University Partners With Barna Group for Landmark Study, “THE STATE OF PASTORS” Pepperdine University and Barna Group, a leading research organization at the intersection of faith and culture, partnered to present “The State of Pastors,” a groundbreaking study, research report, and live event and webcast giving insight into the needs, challenges, and well-being of today’s pastors.

Drawing from interviews with more than 10,000 pastors from 40 denominations across all 50 states, “The State of Pastors” study analyzed aspects of pastoral life that, until now, were largely unexplored.

The complete published study findings were presented on January 26 in a 160-page monograph complete with full-color infographics, and findings were discussed in depth at “The State of Pastors” live event at Pepperdine’s Malibu campus.

“Barna Group and Pepperdine share a deep love and concern for America’s pastors, who continue to play a significant role in the health and well-being of society,” said Barna president David Kinnaman.

“It’s vital to understand how a culture skeptical of Christianity impacts how our church leaders are adapting spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. We pray that “The State of Pastors” research, event, and published report remind pastors that they are valuable and valued, and equip the people and ministries that support them with insights to better meet their needs.”

Learn more about “The State of Pastors”: magazine.pepperdine.edu/the-state-of-pastors

Matthew Soibelman and alumnus Rudy Giron (’15) were national finalists at the vocal competition held at the event. Giron also received the Legacy Award, a special award presented to the leading minority student in the competition.

The Thornton Opera Program’s complete production of Don Giovanni was presented at Smothers Theatre on February 23 and February 25.

Read more about the opera students: magazine.pepperdine.edu/opera-award

School of Law Dean DEANELL REECE TACHA Honored with Namesake Endowment Scholarship Deanell Reece Tacha, who has served as dean of the Pepperdine School of Law since 2011, was honored with the Tacha Endowed Scholarship at her retirement dinner on Friday, April 7, at the Malibu West Beach Club.

Provost Rick Marrs presented Tacha with the new scholarship program in honor of her commitment to developing the next generation of ethical leaders.

“There was a strong sense from students, faculty, staff, and administration that it would be appropriate to honor Dean Tacha’s time at the School of Law and her love of students by establishing a scholarship in her name that would support students,” said Donald Earl Childress III, professor of law.

In her five years at the law school, Tacha tirelessly raised money for student scholarships to assist with rising tuition costs, traveled cross-country to advocate for post-graduation job placements, and built relationships with leading legal scholars and thought leaders to develop a more robust faculty.

Learn more about the Tacha Endowed Scholarship: magazine.pepperdine.edu/tacha-scholarship

magazine.pepperdine.edu

9

news Graziadio School of Business and Management Announces PEATE INSTITUTE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP The Graziadio School of Business and Management launched the Peate Institute for Entrepreneurship, an innovative new initiative supported through a long term, multiyear donation from Dan and Coco Peate.

The institute will help students launch and accelerate new business ventures while earning academic credit toward a master of science degree in entrepreneurship.

The highly selective one-year program will provide full-tuition scholarships to 15 program participants annually, awarding academic

DAVENPORT INSTITUTE Awarded $300,000 Grant from James Irvine Foundation The Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at the School of Public Policy was awarded a $300,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation in support of its work to promote and evaluate public engagement practices at the local government level.

While the Davenport Institute has been a recipient of support from the Irvine Foundation in the past, the new grant offers increased flexibility in programming to support the important work of local public engagement.

It will continue to provide for the institute’s ongoing training work with public sector officials, allow for the expansion of its public safety offerings, and begin to develop additional community-focused training. It will also provide support to begin evaluating the impact of the training sessions and grant efforts on municipal public processes.

“Local democracy isn’t something that just happens every other year at the ballot box,” notes Ashley Trim (MPP ’09), executive director of the Davenport Institute. “We are very grateful to the James Irvine Foundation for their partnership and support of efforts to engage Californians in the very important local decisions that are made between election cycles.”

10

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

credit for reaching start-up milestones as students launch their businesses through an incubator that nurtures, grows, and accelerates those ventures.

Student entrepreneurs will receive unique access to advisors, industry professionals, an entrepreneur in residence, and faculty.

The institute may pursue equity investment in new ventures, as well as facilitate dialogue with angel and venture capital investors to nurture a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The inaugural cohort is scheduled for fall 2018.

Weisman Museum Hosts LARRY BELL ART EXHIBITION The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art displayed the art exhibition Larry Bell: Pacific Red from January 21 through April 2.

The exhibition featured a new site-specific installation that used Bell’s signature materials—glass, plastic, and industrial coatings—to push the boundaries of vision and perception.

Bell was a founder of the California Light and Space movement in the 1960s and has since continued to explore the dynamic possibilities of light and optics—forcing audiences to question the reliability of what they see. Using layers of overlapping glass, his surfaces function both as mirrors and windows, pushing the limits of sculpture by dissolving mass into perceptual phenomena.

Psychology Professor THEMA BRYANT-DAVIS Serves as Panelist for National Convening on Minority Mental Health

GRAZIADIO SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT Hosts Fall 2016 Commencement

Thema Bryant-Davis (MDiv ’16), associate professor of psychology at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP), was selected as a speaker and panelist for a joint White House, Department of Health and Human Services, and American Psychological Association Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs conference held in Washington, DC, on November 28.

The Graziadio School of Business and Management fall 2016 commencement ceremony took place at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu on December 10.

In their decision to include Bryant-Davis, organizers of the meeting cited the significant body of research she has contributed in the area of minority mental health, her extensive work for the American Psychological Association, her reputation as a private Los Angeles clinician, and her involvement with GSEP. The conference highlighted the unique and persistent behavioral health disparity challenges for communities of color and the development of possible strategies to resolve these enduring behavioral health equity issues on a national and local level.

“The most meaningful part was being able to connect with people across institutions and agencies that are committed to enhancing mental health, especially for underserved populations,” BryantDavis says of the experience. “I hope the information I presented will help families by raising awareness about the unique challenges and strengths of the African American community.”

The event honored Robert Kyncl (MBA ’97) as the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Deryck J. van Rensburg, the new dean of the Graziadio School, delivered the commencement address to graduates.

Kyncl is the chief business officer for YouTube, the world-renowned video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. In this role, Kyncl oversees all business functions including content, sales, marketing, platforms, access, and strategy.

Van Rensburg is the ninth dean of the Graziadio School. Previously serving as president of global ventures at The Coca-Cola Company, he began his position at Pepperdine on November 1, bringing to the role 32 years of global business experience across eight countries. His expertise includes general management, strategic entrepreneurship and venturing, and organizational leadership and renewal across cultures.

Intercultural Communication Student CECILIA ARTEAGA Wins Prestigious Hispanic Public Relations Association Scholarships Seaver College senior Cecilia Arteaga was recognized by the Hispanic Public Relations Association, Los Angeles chapter (HPRA-LA) as the winner of the HPRA-LA Scholarship and Esther Renteria Community Service Scholarship at the 32nd annual PRemio Awards and Scholarship Gala.

The HPRA-LA Scholarship Program supports students of Hispanic descent as they pursue their educational goals.

The program recognizes the achievements of undergraduate communications students in their academic and community service endeavors.

A former recipient of the Marcia Silverman Minority Student Scholarship Award from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Foundation, Arteaga is currently pursuing an intercultural

communication degree alongside an ethnic studies minor and has served as chapter president of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) at Pepperdine, which received the Star Chapter Award during her presidency.

“I hope to be part of bold movements within the communications industry and other disciplines that seek to bring positive social change,” Arteaga says. “I want to work in spaces where marketing meets advocacy and where creativity rises from adversity—especially places working to empower the Hispanic community along with other historically disadvantaged and underrepresented groups.”

Learn more about Arteaga’s path to success: magazine.pepperdine.edu/cecilia-arteaga

magazine.pepperdine.edu

11

snapshot

12

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

erched atop the vast, almost endless Camelback Ranch baseball facility in Glendale, Arizona, Seaver College students have traveled to hear baseball history come alive through the real-life stories, names, and numbers shared by Ned Colletti, senior advisor to the president of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Read more about this unique mentorship experience in the midst of Dodgers spring training in the next issue of Pepperdine Magazine.

Photo: Grant Dillion

magazine.pepperdine.edu

13

feature

Setting

Open

the

Table As the new director of the Center for Faith and Learning, John Barton helps set the “open table” of Pepperdine’s religious and academic mission

BY GAREEN DARAKJIAN

14

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

n his welcome message on the Center for Faith and Learning website, director John Barton reinforces the following claim: “In the world of faith-based higher education, Pepperdine is uniquely positioned to blend a diverse, world-class education with a robust, inclusive, Christian experience.”

Through the years the University has been challenged to explain—and oftentimes dissect—how it demonstrates this stronglyheld institutional mission. At the center and throughout the University, higher learning is aligned with a higher purpose, and Barton has been tasked with helping to define and implement what that means for the University community.

Following his first month in the position, Barton sat down with Pepperdine Magazine to discuss his vision for the Center for Faith and Learning, offer a snapshot of how its mission resonates with students, and share his perspectives on how Pepperdine’s Christian values help unite the diverse University community.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

15

feature GD: What is your take on the role of faith in academics?

JB: George Pepperdine once said

that Christian education should help students learn not merely “how to make a living,” but “how to live.” I think that summarizes it nicely. A Christian education is not only about preparing for a career. It is about living well. It is not merely about receiving information but experiencing transformation, and faith is central to such transformation.

A healthy, robust faith not only shapes the way you experience the world and how you see others. It also motivates learning and drives the pursuit of further understanding. When I think of faith and learning in this way, Pepperdine is situated in an exciting place. Not only do we celebrate the University’s specific Christian heritage with Churches of Christ, which has always emphasized the importance of education, but we also participate in 2,000 years of Christian intellectual traditions. In addition, we also participate in the broad, diverse, and diversifying realities of the

world around us. All of this provides a wonderful context for exploring the intersections of religious faith and academic learning. It provides the context in which we invite people into a deep process of transformation.

GD: How does the Center for Faith

and Learning serve the diverse campus community?

JB: Faith and questions of faith are

alive and pervasive at Pepperdine. The Center for Faith and Learning is one of the mechanisms that helps keep the conversations about faith alive and vibrant on the University’s campuses.

In a number of different ways, we work to equip faculty for the integration of faith and learning in their teaching and scholarship and we provide numerous opportunities for students and all members of the Pepperdine community to explore the intersections of faith, learning, and vocation.

The integration of faith and learning is about knowing yourself, knowing your world, and knowing your global neighbors.

16

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

Of course, because Pepperdine is a Christian university, Christian identity and community shape and guide the conversations, but that identity also invites the contributions of people from diverse backgrounds including different cultural, racial, denominational, religious, and nonreligious backgrounds.

In fact, the Christian mission of Pepperdine doesn’t simply tolerate such diversity; it welcomes it, celebrates it, and even requires it. The notion of an open table and the inclusive community that it represents is discussed widely on campus these days, and that language and pursuit is motivated by the call and the welcoming hospitality of Christ. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, “Welcome one another just as Christ has welcomed you.” I find such hospitality to be an engaging and important part of the integration of faith and learning.

GD: You’ve mentioned on Twitter

one of your favorite Elie Wiesel quotes: “Questions unite people. Answers divide them.” How do you think that plays out at a place like Pepperdine where students are encouraged to engage in “spirited inquiry?”

JB: People of all different backgrounds

find solidarity around the big questions, the big pursuits, and the dialogue we have as we ask those questions together.

Obviously, we ask those questions and take part in those conversations in search of answers. Elie Wiesel wasn’t trying to

undermine the importance of seeking answers, but he was reminding us that when answers become too rigid, they can become divisive and even abusive—they become poles of division rather than invitations to dialogue and relationship. I find Wiesel’s insight to be both sobering and inspiring. It encourages both a confident pursuit of truth and profound humility along the way. We should think of ourselves as being on a journey rather than having already arrived, as seekers of truth rather than controllers, advocates rather than guardians. That’s what the academic enterprise is all about and, I believe, faith is a powerful motivator and guide in that.

we’re right back to the transformational process. The integration of faith and learning is more than theories and pedagogies. It is something to inhabit and embody. Whether you’re teaching physics, constitutional law, or any other subject, the teaching enterprise is embodied in people who care not only about the subject matter, but who teach it as a kind of worship and who care deeply about their students as people.

So, I think Wiesel’s statement resonates with the call of Christian academics.

Jesus doesn’t call us to act as if we have all the answers. He calls us to be humble, to be seekers, to be in dialogue with the world around us. He calls us to treat everyone, in every situation, as we want to be treated. He calls us to seek and serve, and promises to be with us as we do.

bright, passionate, and ambitious. They are also overly busy, feel many crosspressures from a demanding society, and often put too much pressure on themselves. Like many in our culture now, they also experience an ironic mix of global connectedness and personal loneliness. Students (and professors!) carry all this into the learning environments of the classroom. Because of that, I think Pepperdine’s small class sizes and “whole person” orientation is vitally important.

GD: How do you think Pepperdine expresses its Christian mission?

JB: The integration of faith and

learning is about knowing yourself, knowing your world, and knowing your global neighbors. Through these pursuits, we are on the path to knowing God. Pepperdine’s Christian mission inspires and guides such processes. It helps us to imagine and live in those “thin spaces” in which heaven and earth come near to one another.

At its core, the Christian faith is built on a conviction that truth appeared in clearest form in the incarnation of Jesus, who is the embodiment of truth. When we apply that to faith and learning,

GD: What are some of the most

pressing questions or concerns that students bring to the classroom?

JB: Pepperdine students are incredibly

Religiously, students are trying to figure out how to navigate an increasingly diverse world. I find many students are seeking ways to both inhabit a distinct and robust faith while also maintaining a posture of openness and respect for others. Those qualities make working with them exciting, and I think Pepperdine has something unique and important to offer them.

GD: You are passionate about

exposing students (and yourself) to different faith practices. In what ways do you think this enhances learning??

JB: We live in a diverse world. If you take a short walk through a major metropolitan airport like LAX or a shopping mall or many other public locations, you can hear more languages, rub elbows with more nationalities and religions, and experience more diversity than many of our grandparents or greatgrandparents would have experienced in a lifetime. Our world is also becoming more diverse in the sense that people from different backgrounds are living and working together in shared political and national spaces. That presents both challenges and wonderful opportunities.

One of the key things that education must do is prepare people for that world, for how to live well in that world, to collaborate peacefully and effectively in that world. We must all know how to both learn from and contribute to the diversities around us.

Toward that end, cultural and religious literacies and competencies have never been more important. Of course, when studying other religions and meeting and interacting with people from those religions, not only do you learn more about the world and our global neighbors, but you also learn more about yourself and your own convictions and practices. This is faith and learning at its best and undergirds again the importance of Pepperdine’s Christian mission. In the end, if we can be true to that mission and embody its humility and welcoming hospitality, then we can become a model for the kind of inclusive community of learning that our globalized world increasingly needs.

That can happen, and is happening, on our campuses. I am grateful that the Center for Faith and Learning is able to contribute to that.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

17

feature

THE GRAZIADIO SCHOOL’S NEW DEAN REFLECTS ON HIS CORPORATE ODYSSEY AND THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION

By Nate Ethell (’08, MBA ’13)

18

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

ake one look at Deryck J. van Rensburg, installed last November as the ninth dean of the Graziadio School of Business and Management, and you immediately see the personal trappings of any corporate executive turned business school dean—a man tall in stature, affable in a nature, impeccably attired, and flashing a million-watt smile that would give even Julia Roberts pause. Confident, stylish, and charming, it’s easy to imagine a not-too-distant future where he becomes affectionately known as the debonair dean.

But as soon as Van Rensburg delivers his congenial greeting, you realize there is more to this man’s story.

Betrayed by an inviting, if not slightly enigmatic accent, the 58-year-old South African native speaks with casual elocution, occasionally softening his voice as he reflects on the milestones of his life and the journey he has traveled to be where he is today.

Born in 1959, Van Rensburg was raised in South Africa when Apartheid was the law of the land. His story truly begins, he says, at age 4 when his mother walked out on his family, a moment he characterizes as the most formative event of his life and one that—even at his young age—would shape his ability to trust and believe in people.

“It was a defining moment in my story,” shares Van Rensburg, “and one that would sound pretty bleak if it weren’t for God.” Growing up in a large blended family following his father’s remarriage, at age 18 Van Rensburg began two years of compulsory military service, assigned to the police force in Johannesburg during the time of the Soweto uprising in 1976. With no particular ambition to go to college up to that point, he says his perspective on a college education changed as he faced the prospect of a life in the South African police force. Soon after he enrolled at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, where he encountered his “Damascus Road” experience.

“As I was sitting in one of my first-year classes, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and this marketing professor walked in and changed my life,” says Van Rensburg. “He was so into his subject. There was chalk flying. He was really living it, and it exuded out of him. And I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ He changed me.”

At the encouragement of his professor, Van Rensburg took the first step into his career in business and marketing, qualifying for a position in a highly selective entry-level program at Unilever, the premier consumer package goods company with offices based in Durban, South Africa. His first foray was in the food business on the company’s brand management track.

While at Unilever and living in Durban, Van Rensburg shares that God had started calling him to make some tough decisions about the direction of his life. “We were in the middle of Apartheid and were wrestling with questions like, ‘What’s our role and responsibility as Christians in the context of a nation that is characterized by policies that were so anti-biblical?’”

In 1988 Van Rensburg and his new bride, Rozanne, felt called to leave South Africa and relocated to the United Kingdom. Van Rensburg first earned his MBA while in England, followed by a training and development company in Brussels, Belgium, and assumed his final post at Unilever in London, working for another six years in Elida Faberge.

And then Coca-Cola called. “At that time, Coca-Cola had a chief operating officer who had a very ambitious growth vision for the company and felt the talent bench needed to be strengthened with 50 additional managers,” explains Van Rensburg. “I was a marketing person but wanted to be a general manager, so I went for the interview, got the job, and started in the London office with Coca-Cola as the customer strategy director for European retailers.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

19

feature But that assignment wouldn’t last long.

Just eight months later, Van Rensburg began something of an international tour with Coca-Cola, accepting a new role as region manager in Vienna, Austria. Two years in, he was then approached about another transfer—this time to Bucharest, Romania, to run five East European countries.

The decision would be among his hardest yet, especially as he considered the impact relocating to Romania would have on his family. “I wanted to go west, not east,” says Van Rensburg. “But sometimes the doors in life aren’t the doors you think you should go through. They’re not attractive; they don’t look right. If God is in it, though, he knows what’s next.”

Van Rensburg’s business prowess was tested as soon as he landed in Bucharest, just days before the 1998 Russian financial crisis that rocked most of eastern Europe.

“There I was, this young general manager now, responsible for five countries in an absolute crisis, and I had no clue what to do,” says Van Rensburg.

In an unusual move, he reached out to one of Romania’s independent franchise bottlers for advice. “The onus is on the Coca-Cola Company to provide strategic leadership, so it was unusual from someone on my side of the franchise to approach the bottler for direction.”

Van Rensburg’s humble request, however, was the beginning of a constructive dialogue between company and partner, and with some creative thinking around pricing strategy and the consolidation of Coca-Cola’s franchise bottlers in the country, he was able to right-size the organization and return its revenue stream to a sustainable level.

After one year in Romania, Van Rensburg accepted his next assignment in Athens, Greece, running 20 countries for

20

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

Coca-Cola as the company’s president of the Southeast Europe and Gulf Division, before heading to Berlin nearly four years later to lead the Germany and Nordics Division. As the biggest market in Europe, that division was also the most structurally challenged. While huge and profitable, it hadn’t grown in nearly a decade, pushing Van Rensburg to examine the culture and capabilities of his team, as well as his own leadership style.

His division was shortlisted as one of the best performing divisions for Coca-Cola two years in a row.

In 2007, following more than a decade with the company, Van Rensburg finally crossed the pond to serve as Coca-Cola’s president of venturing and emerging brands,

“It was phenomenal what we accomplished just by the team reappreciating it had the capabilities and ideas,” explains Van Rensburg, acknowledging the pitfalls of organizations deadlocked by corporate culture and structure. “And I realized we were the people we had been waiting for.

There was not going to be someone to walk in and save the day for us.”

Employing his team’s feedback, Van Rensburg spearheaded a new vision and strategy to grow the division and in the process began the monumental challenge to consolidate 21 long-time bottling partners into one.

While many business schools encourage their graduates to be the best in the world, I think the next generation of leaders will be the best for the world.

a new corporate venturing group at the company’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Developed in response to the stagnation of Coca-Cola’s core businesses, this group was charged with discovering innovation in the entrepreneurial community that was introducing new beverages and new product categories.

“We figured out a really good formula to retain the strengths of entrepreneurialism, and the passion and inspiration of each founder, while leveraging the scale of a large company,” he reveals. That post evolved into his work as president of Coca-Cola Global Ventures, his last position with the company, which looked at new disruptive platform technologies for the beverage giant.

Van Rensburg’s introduction to Pepperdine came—as introductions to universities so often do—through one of his children. Despite all four of his children being born and raised in Europe, certain hobbies seemed to be ingrained in their South African DNA, including a love of surfing by oldest son Joel (’12), which ultimately led to his discovery of Pepperdine. Following in his brother’s footsteps, second son Micah (’14) enrolled two years later, and daughter Bethany has just completed her first year.

One day while Van Rensburg was still working in Atlanta, he met with former

Pepperdine vice chancellor John Miller, who asked him whether he would ever consider heading the Graziadio School.

After 32 years in business and more than two decades with perhaps the most recognizable brand in the world, Van Rensburg already knew the answer to that question.

“It came at the right stage of my life as I was thinking about Deryck 2.0 and doing something that would develop the next generation of leaders,” explains Van Rensburg.

Now more than six months in as the school’s chief executive officer, Van Rensburg is already leaving his mark on Graziadio as he considers the kinds of disruptions needed in business and academia. “Business is one of the most powerful social institutions of our age,” says Van Rensburg, who interviewed 26 deans and former deans of business schools before beginning the role. “And we’ve seen what happens when you decouple an ethical framework from a leader in business.”

the school. He identifies these initiatives as premium experiences that will allow Graziadio to implement its vision for a more cross-sectional, multidisciplinary approach for research and scholarship.

“It’s that structural innovation that allows you to pour innovative ideas and different levels of funding, expertise, programming, research, and outreach to the business community,” he says.

Van Rensburg also plans to introduce the doctor of business administration (DBA) degree to the Graziadio School, a doctoral program he himself completed from the University of Manchester in 2014.

“I think the next frontier is the DBA, and we have always been pioneers in taking education to working adults at Graziadio,” explains Van Rensburg. “By offering a higher level of qualification for accomplished executives who are looking for significance in their own personal development and intellectual quests and business challenges, we can pioneer in a new way.”

Pepperdine, he contends, can uniquely speak to that opportunity. “While many business schools encourage their graduates to be the best in the world, I think the next generation of leaders will be the best for the world,” Van Rensburg says. “We have wonderful values-based faculty with great experience and scholarship. It’s not a stretch at all to imagine us being at the forefront of developing best-for-the-world future leaders.”

Through all of his efforts, Van Rensburg is committed to enrolling the highest caliber of students, creating a truly transformational learning experience, and incubating the next generation of business leaders at Graziadio. And as he refines his vision and strategy for the school, he’ll continue to push his faculty, staff, students, and alumni to challenge the status quo and approach him with their own innovative ideas.

Like any good business executive, Van Rensburg has framed out a strategic plan to build the Graziadio brand, starting with the formation of additional institutes for

“It’s imagination that unlocks the future,” Van Rensburg says. “If you can get people to imagine again and dream again, it’s limitless what can be done.”

Get to know Dean Van Rensburg in our exclusive new video: magazine.pepperdine.edu/dvr

magazine.pepperdine.edu

21

feature

Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation

SERVICE In her new memoir, Peggy Grande (’89) captures the intimate and inspiring moments she shared with President Ronald Reagan as his right-hand woman for a decade

By Gareen Darakjian

22

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

eggy Grande sat in the lobby of a Century City office building after a successful internship interview, waiting for the hiring manager to return with a validated parking ticket. It was 1989 and the Seaver College senior wasn’t sure she had enough cash on hand to pay the fee. She had just breathed a sigh of relief when the far door of the lobby opened and out walked two US Secret Service agents. Walking behind them was the man she enthusiastically hoped to work for.

“My heart went into total panic mode,” recalls Grande, of the thrill, excitement, and surprise that she felt upon seeing her hero in person for the first time. “I had prepared to meet my interviewer, but in all my preparation it never occurred to me I would actually meet ‘him,’ and there ‘he’ was walking toward me.”

his remarkable ability to make everyone he met feel like the most important person in the world.

“Sometimes you have this hero in your mind and are disappointed when you meet them, but he was one of the few

Out of respect, and so as not to seem threatening, Grande stood up against the wall, put her hand over her heart, and looked off into the distance as former president Ronald Reagan passed, a most sincere reaction revealed in the spontaneity of the moment. Noticing Grande, President Reagan stopped, introduced himself, and asked her for her name.

The self-proclaimed “nerdy little kid from Orange County who loved politics and government and presidents” had always been fascinated by the White House and Washington, DC, and had seen President Reagan once when he had visited Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse for a speaking engagement. Now face-toface, she couldn’t believe she was being considered for an opportunity to work with him on a regular basis.

In her debut book, The President Will See You Now, Grande takes readers on a journey of the decade she spent working in President Reagan’s office shortly following his presidency, first as an intern and ultimately as his executive assistant.

Beyond her professional interactions as his right-hand woman, and sparing details of his politics and policies, Grande’s book is an ode to Ronald Reagan the man and

Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation

people who was put on a pedestal and was better than you could have ever imagined,” she explains. “He was known as ‘The Great Communicator’ and yet I remember the kindness of his actions far more than what he said.”

Her greatest writing challenge was being the vehicle by which readers saw his true persona without interrupting his story with her own.

“Not everyone can relate to being president, but everyone can relate to at least one part of my story,” she says.

“I think in my story, everyone will find a part of their story as well.”

Her story, Grande explains, is like that of so many young people’s: being thrust into a great big world that is much larger than once thought. It also includes the joys of being a newlywed and a first-time mom, the heartache of witnessing her father lose a hard-fought battle with colon cancer, and juggling the demands of the professional arena.

The President Will See You Now gives readers a behind-the-scenes, unscripted insider’s look at a man who Grande affectionately describes as “gentlemanly and gracious and kind and humble.”

Grande admits that at the outset she thought the tome would honor President Reagan’s principles, but in the end it encapsulated what life was like in the former president’s California office and the memories she still carries with her— like the rooftop visits on clear, blue days that offered him a few moments of fresh air to gaze at his beloved city through a pair of binoculars.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

23

feature STORIES COLLIDE Grande’s career began in the former president’s public affairs office, where she edited speeches and press releases and ran errands typical of a college intern. As her term came to a close and she was set to graduate from Pepperdine, it became clear to her that the Office of President Ronald Reagan—and the man himself—would play an enormous role in her future.

As it happened, the executive assistant to the chief of staff was planning to move to Washington, DC, and her position became available. Grande quickly jumped at the opportunity to work alongside Reagan’s post-presidency chief of staff, Fred Ryan, who had been responsible for managing the establishment and operations of the Century City office and was instrumental in the design, fundraising, planning, and overseeing of the construction of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

“When working for a president, there is no room for error, especially from a security standpoint, but also from a protocol, communications, and image standpoint,” she says. Coincidentally, the standards of poise and correspondence she was expected to adhere to as a sales

Photo: Peggy Grande courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation

associate at Nordstrom department store prior to her career in the former president’s office provided a solid foundation. “It seems like an unlikely preparation, and yet you work with very high-end clientele and some very demanding people. You learn a lot about customer service and how to interact with people, problem solve, and think on your feet, which is in essence diplomacy.”

While Reagan was in the White House, he employed hundreds if not thousands of people. Following his term, he was joined at his Century City office by 10 to 12 staffers, a tightly knit group that often wore multiple hats. Grande was frequently the face and voice for Reagan, eager to accurately represent a “man who had spent a lifetime creating goodwill.”

“His brand and his image and his name are assets he has built over a lifetime,” Grande says. “I never felt pressure from him, but I felt the pressure from myself.

It was an invigorating environment.”

So invigorating in fact, that Grande’s first pregnancy announcement to Reagan while on a business trip in Mexico was interrupted by Secret Service agents bursting into the room to declare that a bomb threat had been made at the venue. She later found a less tense time

to share her good news—safely aboard the private plane heading back to California.

After working for the chief of staff for three years, President Reagan’s executive assistant announced her retirement and Grande was pegged for the role. She was pregnant with her first child but could not turn down the offer, especially after Mrs. Reagan assured her that they would be willing to wait for Grande to return from her maternity leave to continue in this role.

Through the years Grande’s job ran the gamut from greeting Reagan at his car and walking him up the stairs to ushering heads of state and visionary leaders around the office. One of her favorite yet most unexpected roles was serving as President Reagan’s post-presidency photographer, which gave her the opportunity to forge a closer relationship with her boss and be the ultimate fly on the wall during private meetings with guests, including Mother Teresa, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Billy Graham.

“One of the most profound things I noticed about him was that these were all personal relationships, not just political associations,” Grande recalls.

“After his presidency, these people had no diplomatic reason to visit with him, but they liked him and wanted to spend time with him. That made such an impact on me as a young person, that this is how politics is done at its highest and best.”

PUTTING PEN TO PAPER A little over five years ago, a man approached Grande at one of her speaking engagements and asked if she would ever consider writing a book.

She promptly replied that she never would. But he persisted, inspired by her presentation of the timeless leadership principles she learned from the president

24

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

himself. “He looked me in the eyes and said: ‘If there was a woman who sat outside Abraham Lincoln’s office door every day for 10 years, don’t you think people would want to hear her story?

Don’t you think she would owe it to history to tell that story?’”

Not everyone can relate to being president, but everyone can relate to at least one part of my story.

At the time she was running her own portfolio of businesses, traveling around the country for speaking engagements, and looking after her four children. “It was never the right time to write a book,” she says. The years go by and you don’t realize what’s interesting about your own history.

Yet more recently, Grande was inspired and encouraged by RoseMarie Terenzio, personal assistant, publicist, and confidante to John F. Kennedy, Jr. during the last five years of his life, who in 2012 wrote her own memoir titled Fairy Tale Interrupted.

Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation

Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation

“She handed me a copy of her book and I read it cover to cover on my flight from New York to L.A.,” Grande recalls. “I felt like I knew JFK, Jr., better in the end, and I didn’t know things that I didn’t want to know.” Terenzio connected Grande to a literary agent, who then connected her to Hachette Books, where she was encouraged to put her stories into book form.

She explains that there has never been a more important time to share this story about what she describes as “true leadership.”

“We have been through a tumultuous election cycle. People feel battered and bruised on both sides of the political aisle,” Grande says. “Part of the reason why so many people adore President Reagan is because of who he was and what he represented, even if their politics didn’t align with his. We were

proud of who we were on the domestic stage and globally in the 1980s.

We need a primer and a reminder of what leadership looks like at its highest and best and to realize that strength can coexist with gracious humanity.

So much more can be accomplished if we could go back to when diplomacy was based on personal relationships and not political rhetoric.”

prior. As the public started saying their goodbyes, Grande and team still said good morning to him nearly every day for the next five years.

THE ELEGANT DECLINE

While his illness presented certain challenges professionally, her connection to a boss of whom she was so fond invoked in her feelings of self-doubt, fear, worry, confusion, and, especially, deep sadness.

The book describes, in heart-wrenching detail, Grande’s final moments with President Reagan, which stirred familiar feelings of losing a father-like figure.

On November 5, 1994, President Reagan announced to the American people that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, an affliction that would take his life 10 years later. The official announcement was made in a public handwritten letter issued by his office in Los Angeles, the same letter that Grande had been allowed to read aloud to fellow staff just one day

“The positive impact he left on me still has the power to change lives,” she continues.

“His legacy lives on in part in me, but really in the hearts and minds of anyone who was changed by his life as well.

The President Will See You Now is the story of a beautiful life and how you can live life to the fullest with dignity and elegance, all the way to the very end.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

25

feature

A professor reveals how new societal norms and government regulations are formed through strategic and scientific uses of airtime

BY SARA ALAMDAR

26

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

TEENAGERS HATE BEING LIED TO, taken advantage of, and bossed

The Science of Storytelling

around by adults. And according to research, they sometimes turn to cigarettes as a form of rebellion against conformity and discipline.

That is why anti-smoking campaigns had consistently floundered for decades until the “truth” anti-tobacco campaign that launched in the late 1990s, when television executives finally realized that national commercials featuring adults telling kids to avoid cigarettes were completely counterintuitive. Instead, they redesigned the ads to focus on teens addressing their peers, informing them that tobacco companies were deceiving them and implementing strategies that were oppressive to minorities. When the teenage smoking rate dropped dramatically following the launch of the reimagined ads, the “truth” campaigners discovered the power and influence of their new strategy.

This example of the media’s tactical approach to changing social norms is one of many that professor Christian McGuigan explores in his Media and Social Impact course at the School of Public Policy.

“If you’re looking at what can play a major role in influencing public policy in any given time period, it’s culture and how culture changes,” he reveals. “Culture is both the object of change and the agent of change.

You have to use culture to change culture.”

According to McGuigan, the road to a major cultural shift and new public policy measures often begins with the prominence of entertainment media, primarily due to the large audience that television, film, and digital media (including social media) draw. The entertainment media space can also be vastly influenced by a relatively small number of individuals, which helps generate a large following for their endorsements.

But how exactly do these influential figures use media to promote cultural change? Scientific research indicates that inspiring empathy and prompting subsequent action is induced through effective storytelling.

A study spearheaded by Paul J. Zak, a psychology and economics professor at Claremont Graduate University, suggests that the human brain produces the neurochemical cortisol (commonly known as “the stress hormone”) when audiences engage in entertaining and relatable narratives.

“Cortisol tells us to pay attention if the story is engaging and really grabs our attention,” McGuigan explains. “When that happens, through the synthesis of another neurochemical, oxytocin (the “bonding hormone” responsible for creating deep emotional connections), the audience will begin to self-identify and empathize with the characters to the point where they start to experience similar emotions. That is the reason we bond with certain characters and why effective stories can actually move us.”

The study found that when both male and female audiences connected with a character in an engaging story, their brains produced such high levels of oxytocin that the neurochemical persisted long after viewing the content.

“Our brains are hardwired to process information in a narrative form,” McGuigan shares. “So when people say they were changed by a story or that a story changed their perspectives, it really did change them. It changed their brain chemistry.”

Teaching Through Television Emotional connections to quality content can thus drive the general public to take action in a way that is relevant to the story they just watched. A notable example of one such influential storyline is that of “the designated driver.” In 1988 the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health devised a national communications plan to decrease the number of alcohol-related vehicular homicides. At the time, the trite “Don’t Drink and Drive” campaign was proving ineffective with the target demographic of young adults between the ages of 15 and 24. As with early antismoking campaigns, merely telling people to avoid a specific action was very evidently not working.

Those involved in the Harvard study modeled their project after a similar campaign that had proven successful in several Scandinavian countries, which introduced the concept of “the designated driver.” Instead of recommending that people not

magazine.pepperdine.edu

27

feature drink and drive, the new message was to ask the public to take a break from drinking just one night a week and to volunteer as the sober driver for their group of friends.

In determining how to scale this call to action and reach the widest possible audience, the researchers met with studio executives to discuss integrating designated driver storylines into network television. Within four years, over 160 prime-time television shows, including Cheers and The Cosby Show, had incorporated this narrative into their scripts.

“In addition to their traditional programming, the major networks all worked together, aired various public service announcements related to the designated driver, and were able to successfully introduce this concept to the wider American public,” McGuigan notes.

“If you can have that blanket awareness within your target demographic, then there’s an opportunity to start inspiring some kind of personal behavior change. And if you can get that personal behavior change at scale, then you can start to see social change.”

A Call-to-Action Film McGuigan has tested the validity of this research in his own life as well. As the former vice president of integrated content strategy at film production company Participant Media, he developed a social impact campaign around the 2011 global water crisis documentary Last Call at the Oasis. His plan was to create a call to action that motivated Millennials to pledge to reduce their water footprint in their everyday lives, specifically by making mindful decisions about purchasing food and clothing that require excessive water to produce.

28

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

In order to expand their potential impact, McGuigan and his team established a partnership with the National Geographic Society and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, as well as with several corporate partners who funded the project. The partners agreed that for every pledge received, one thousand gallons of water would be reallocated to the Colorado River.

Part of the strategy was to continually educate people about their water footprint after they had made the pledge, sending them biweekly texts with facts, updates, and quizzes about how their new water-conscious choices are improving the earth and helping the Colorado River.

To date, the nearly four-year-old project—which is tracked via the website changethecourse.us—has restored about 240 million gallons of water to the Colorado River through 240,000 pledges. McGuigan credits the campaign’s success to strategic external partnerships.

“When a brand wants to do something in the social-good space, it is often beneficial to work with a nonprofit partner. While a nonprofit has great solutions for resolving issues in the political or social realms, they often lack the scale, audience, and funding that a brand can provide,” he explains.

“If you’re a brand or foundation, you might have the scale or the reach, but you have a difficult time breaking through the daily noise in media in a legitimate way. That’s where you have a feature film, documentary, television show, or digital series that allows you to cut through the noise and reach your target audience in a way that you can’t with any other piece of content.”

McGuigan is continuing this work today as vice president of content strategy at Cone Communications, an insight-driven and idea-led integrated marketing agency known for igniting brands with high-impact strategies and programs that help clients achieve both business and societal outcomes.

Social Media and Social Justice In addition to television and film, McGuigan examines the power of digital content through the political efforts of the Harry Potter Alliance—a group of predominantly young people that comprise about 250 chapters globally, who joined together based solely on their fandom of the Harry Potter book series.

After gaining a substantial following, the group decided to use its influence and love of Harry Potter for social change by raising awareness around issues that are germane to the spirit of the titular character. The group discovered, for example, that the chocolate used in Harry Potter-themed candy frogs sold by Warner Bros. (who owns the eight-film franchise) was not sourced from fair trade farmers and may have involved child slavery.

In order to gain traction and demand action from Warner Bros., the alliance launched a massive international campaign entitled “Not in Harry’s Name” to influence the media conglomerate to start sourcing fair trade chocolate for the frogs. Their campaign included user-generated videos and petitions, and advocates began to source their own fair trade chocolate frogs simply to prove to Warner Bros. that ethical production was possible.

The author of the fantasy series, J. K. Rowling, also recognized the campaign and suggested to Warner Bros. that the

appropriate executives meet with Harry Potter Alliance cofounder Andrew Slack to discuss potential solutions. The conversation eventually took place, and after a four-year battle Warner Bros. agreed to start using fair trade chocolate in their frogs.

“We see these moments of major attention in cultural change, but it can take a significant amount of time to actually establish a new normal,” McGuigan contends. “So although sometimes it can take decades, it could also be accelerated in the 21st-century media landscape.”

From Boardroom to Classroom In exploring these concepts and strategies in the classroom, McGuigan notes that prior to his professorship at Pepperdine when he was a guest lecturer at the School of Public Policy, some students already seemed to have a solid understanding of the ways in which culture influences the development of public policy.

Student Adlah Chisti, who is already on the path toward a career in government and politics in Washington, DC, has found McGuigan’s examples of cultural influence on political matters particularly intriguing and beneficial.

“This class offers great insights on how culture and media can influence policies themselves, depending on how they are ‘packaged’ for public consumption,” she shares. “This is important because sometimes state and federal governments have inadequate tools in promoting or advocating policies.”

As McGuigan explains, that is why those who are in the culturechange business tap into film, television, digital media, and strategic partnerships to achieve change.

“Whatever these graduate students end up doing in the public policy world, having this background and understanding of how media influences culture and culture influences public policy could help influence their career path, especially if they are trying to achieve something groundbreaking in that space.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

29

alumni

KINGS LIVING LIKE

Los Angeles Waves alumni received the Royal LA Kings Experience on February 18, 2017, at STAPLES Center where the LA Kings faced off against the Florida Panthers. Before the game, alumni and friends were treated with a Shot on Goal experience, hitting the ice as they attempted to hit pucks across the goal line.

Later they had the opportunity to network and reconnect with the VIP Green Room Experience, where they won autographed

30

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

memorabilia from LA Kings alumni, heard from LA Kings television analyst Jim Fox, and posed for photos with Bailey, the official team mascot. Following the game, alumni took part in an exclusive meet and greet with LA Kings center Jordan Nolan.

As Pepperdine Waves rally together in the sports and entertainment capital of the world, Pepperdine is proud to be the official education partner of the LA Kings, STAPLES Center, and L.A. LIVE.

“It’s a great family vacation in a beautiful setting that is reasonably priced, and it gives you the opportunity to reconnect with Pepperdine people.”

Peek inside a day in the life of Pepperdine Family Camper Meriam Hansen (’91, JD ’95) during last year’s fun!

7:30 am - I woke up to a fresh ocean breeze filling the room and grabbed a hot cup of coffee from the Hospitality Lounge before making my way to enjoy breakfast with my family overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

10 am - On our way to hike the Los Liones Trail, Megan, the camp director, showed me a sweet photo that a student leader snapped of my son, Christopher, during the Puppy Party at Kids Camp. Kyle and I hit the dirt with the other parents to hike to the top of Parker Mesa Overlook! Here we caught panoramic views that swept from Malibu all the way to Downtown L.A.

2 pm - After learning the basics on land, my family and I took to the water to surf some waves!

The instructors were with us every step of the way, and Kyle and Matthew even got the opportunity to surf the same wave!

8 pm - We ended the day with sidesplitting laughter at the “Fammys” —Pepperdine Family Camp’s talent show. Featuring jokes about gummy bears, animal skits, and a camp-wide sing-a-long to “Let It Go,” this night left us with memories that will last a lifetime.

Meriam Hansen is one of seven School of Law alumni who attended Pepperdine Family Camp last summer with her family. Hailing from the Greater Sacramento area, the Hansen family also attended Pepperdine Family Camp in its inaugural summer of 2013, as well as in the summer of 2015.

Registration is officially open for Pepperdine Family Camp’s fifth summer of fun. This year, you can choose between The Weekender (an all-inclusive three-day weekend getaway) or The Classic (an all-inclusive five-day family vacation) on Malibu’s beachside campus.

The Weekender: July 14 to 16, 2017 The Classic: July 19 to 23, 2017

SPACES ARE LIMITED! REGISTER TODAY! 310.506.6602 | familycamp@pepperdine.edu pepperdine.edu/familycamp

alumni@pepperdine.edu • pepperdine.edu/alumni

magazine.pepperdine.edu

31

community | scholarship

DATA, NEW Old

At a federal digital consultancy in Washington, DC, School of Public Policy alumna Lindsay Young (MPP ’10) develops data technology inside the government for the government

TRICKS

By Gareen Darakjian

IN THE LATE 1990s an Associated Press reporter by the name of Martha Mendoza was investigating the use of federal lands for a Los Angeles Times piece. What she found over the course of her lengthy research period, buried in reams of data, was that the federal program charged to save the lives of wild horses was actually using its multimillion dollar grant to instead ship them to slaughterhouses to be used for meat. It took Mendoza months of research poring over endless numbers and land documents to determine the sinister intentions of the program.

As an innovation specialist at 18F in Washington, DC, School of Public Policy alumna Lindsay Young is in the business of empowering journalists—and scholars, developers, and other data seekers—by developing the technology that advances the efficiency of data organization. In the last two years Young has helped the Federal Election Commission release a new API—application programming interface—and launch a public beta website designed to improve access to political fundraising and campaign spending data.

32

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

“You don’t know what people are going to find useful and how they’re going to use it,” explains Young, who also educates students in the government analytics master’s program as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University. “A data set might not be interesting to you, but people can leverage that data to run a business, or be more efficient, or lead to an exposé. Finding that data can lead to a lot of unexpected benefits.”

While the FEC boasts a sterling reputation for housing bulk data, its existing web interface was difficult to use and not intuitive. “The information was always there, but it was so hard to find that people were having trouble using the resource.”

Young and her team launched the FEC beta site (beta.fec.org) in 2015, which will unveil formally this spring. According to the 18F blog, the new website allows users to “browse comprehensive lists of candidates, committees, filings, receipts, and disbursements.” A new glossary tool helps define campaign finance jargon.

The FEC website also enables users to utilize the bulk data as well as the open source (public) APIs to not only collect data but also write their own programs.

The open data advocate splits her time between advising strategy and actually implementing the technology that improves transparency and usability.

At the Sunlight Foundation, Young became immersed in investigative data journalism and was specifically drawn to the numbers behind the stories. In her role as a software developer, reporter, and researcher, she used campaign finance and lobbying records to produce meaningful public interest journalism.

After five years, she became intensely aware of the data presentation she preferred—and the type she thought was most efficient—and set out to develop it herself. While she had no intention of

switching careers, she had begun taking free courses in programming language taught by a friend and realized the benefit of the complicated logic that actually simplified routine tasks and added value to the ways people used open source data.

“We were required to work with stakeholders with their own interests and ideas and try to balance different interests in a collaborative way,” says Young. “I think that, on a different scale, requires strategic thinking.”

The first script she wrote wasn’t very long, but it helped to introduce important win/loss percentages for political action committees that were used on TV and in print media by journalists who knew what

With a new FEC website on the horizon, Young and her team of 10 continue to work with reporters, those who file with the FEC, and even members of the public who want to know about money in politics on how they would prefer to

TRANSPARENCY helps people make INFORMED and responsible decisions, and the government has an OBLIGATION

TO BE TRANSPARENT because

it ultimately needs to ANSWER they were looking for but needed help finding the data. The website became the Sunlight Foundation’s top hit.

“Once we created these kinds of data explorers, the end result wasn’t for journalists, but journalists sharing it with an audience,” says Young.

Young was initially drawn to the School of Public Policy because of her interest in civics, but cultivated a passion for civic technology while there. Though she had originally considered pursuing a law degree, Young realized she did not want to practice or study law, but wanted the types of jobs that she could get with a law degree. The self-proclaimed “political data geek” realized public policy emphasized the concepts that were more in line with her interests, especially the ones that she discovered while working as a marketing analyst at Morgan Training Company using technology to analyze customer satisfaction data.

TO THE PEOPLE. navigate the resource. Young contends that openness leads to better habits.

“All the code I’ve ever written has been published online. When you publish a code and make it shareable, you don’t cut corners because you know people can see it, and if you know no one’s going to ever look at it, you don’t put in extra effort. The same goes for most things.”

“I’ve been on both the inside and outside [of the government], and it’s definitely something I want to continue to pursue so that people have the technologies and data to support democracy,” she continues. “Transparency helps people make informed and responsible decisions, and the government has an obligation to be transparent because it ultimately needs to answer to the people.

If people don’t know what’s going on, the government will not be as effective. I want people to have the data to make the best decisions for themselves.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

33

community | scholarship

A psychologist reflects Between 2001 and 2009, nearly four million American on his experiences as an air force officer to develop customized therapy treatments for active-duty military service members

BY SARA ALAMDAR

Note: Howells’ comments represent his personal opinions. They do not represent the opinions of the United States Air Force or the United States Army.

military men and women who served during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom committed suicide.

According to clinical psychologist Chris Howells (MA ’08, PsyD ’12), about 60 percent of military members who have either contemplated or attempted suicide were never actually deployed, negating the popular misconception that suicidality is directly related to serving overseas and experiencing wartime trauma.

“That opens the door to the idea that maybe there are more people on active duty that are dealing with anxiety and depression,” he says, a discovery that has increased his desire to learn about new opportunities to administer effective treatments for those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Now a civilian working for the Department of the Army in a special program focusing on PTSD, Howells harnesses the unique insight he gained while serving as an active-duty air force officer after completing his doctoral degree from the Graduate School of Education and Psychology.

34

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

During those fast-paced years as the director of psychological health at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, Howells realized the difficulties that clients experience when attempting to unload years of depression and anxiety in 50-minute therapy sessions occuring, on average, every few weeks. For these clients, overcoming the apprehension to open up was particularly difficult while attempting to juggle the job-related duties that include simulated deployments and attacks, maintaining mission readiness, and physical training.

Howells quickly discovered that the primary challenges military psychologists and clients encounter are issues of allotted session times and self-censorship.

On-site treatments further hinder honest communication from clients for fear that the discovery or diagnosis of certain disorders will prevent them from continuing their military service—and earning an income.

“Therapy works when you can speak freely about your issues, but these clients are operating in a culture where they may fear doing that because the person who is providing the therapy is also the person who is rendering the decision of whether they are deployable or fit to stay on active duty,” Howells explains.

Breaking this cycle proves to be a challenge, as military mental health providers navigate the difficult balance between giving people the level of care that they require and deserve in a system in which care resources may be thinly spread while simultaneously maintaining a roster of fully deployable service members.

This is especially concerning for those already suffering from mental health illnesses, as their potential deployment might result in a worsening of depression, PTSD, familial strains, or other psychological issues.

While that puts pressure on the providers developing and administering the trauma treatments to be more thoughtful and think less traditionally, it also pushes growth in a positive direction. “Traditional talk therapy is not enough for PTSD,” insists Howells, who now, in his current role as a clinical psychologist for the US Army at Joint Base San Antonio and Fort Sam Houston in Texas, customizes his treatment plans to encourage his patients to explore the mind-body connection through body work, yoga, interventions, and meditation. Howells exclusively treats active-duty military service members battling PTSD and the comorbid (coexisting) conditions that often accompany that diagnosis, such as alcohol dependency, marital discord, and chronic pain.

His clients, referred from all branches of the military, are able to express

their personal pain without concern of judgment or disciplinary action by their command. Therapy provides a place where they can feel free to disclose otherwise hidden emotions tied to their trauma—perhaps about their superiors and colleagues— without fearing that these details will be exposed through the proverbial grapevine.

“I tailor how I interact with people,” he shares about his unique program.

“I’m very open to giving people the opportunity to speak freely, be [angry], and have a place where

of the specific patient in order to adequately confront the most complicated of issues.

“Treating PTSD is not like treating blood pressure or an infection,” he says, commenting on the frequently idiosyncratic network of symptoms seen in the disorder. “PTSD therapies can be very effective for many, however there is a lot of room for growth and improvement, and the mental health field is starting to own that and shine a spotlight on recognizing the limitations of treatment.”

That’s something I keep in mind when working with these folks— that understanding where they’re coming from really legitimizes some of their experiences. they can take the military bearing out of the equation and just be people in therapy.”

“Having worn the uniform and been on the other side of that, I understand the frustrations that come from prolonged courses of treatment where the system doesn’t always line up for the individual,” Howells continues.

“That’s something I keep in mind when working with these folks—that understanding where they’re coming from really legitimizes some of their experiences.”

In closely examining what is not working for clients, which accounts for 30 percent of those in therapy, Howells asserts that treatments must expand in complexity and be tailored to the needs

magazine.pepperdine.edu

35

community | spiritual life After years of talking to God through pen and paper, a visual artist publishes a book that shares her innermost prayers

By Sara Alamdar

Photos: Katrina Warme

36

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

W

hen it comes to daily prayer and worship, spiritual writer and freelance photographer Katrina Warme (’16) is in constant communication with God—seeking wisdom to make ethical choices, sharing God’s affection and compassion with the world around her, and admiring the natural beauty in all creation.

The author of the recently published book of poetry, hello, dear one..., Warme’s work is a creative collection of her prayers to God and the desired responses she imagines receiving from him. Conscious of her audience’s potential religious diversity, she unveils her private conversations with God through spiritually generic language that resonates with the majority of her readers— even those who are not affiliated with any specific faith.

Warme also shares her poems on Instagram (under the handle @sweeterchord and compiled through #sweeterpoetry) where

The Definition That Was Never Yours To Write Note to self: Every time you said, “it couldn’t possibly get better than this,” it did.

So then why do you keep believing that you don’t matter, when even the most beautiful things in life are drawn to you?

You are not the sun, setting vibrantly and leaving darkness.

You are the horizon it longs to dive into, knowing that in you it finds a new beginning.

The Truest Birthday Gift It’s not that I want to convince you that you are loved. It’s that I want to be your reminder— today and whenever you need it (even if you don’t think you do)—that you already were. Utterly. Completely.

Incessantly and perfectly.

By the One who called you “Beloved” before time began.

(You need this too, dear one.)

the deeply emotional words are strategically paired with original portraits to tell stories that invoke optimism and reinforce self-worth.

“I believe that hope is a choice as much as it is a feeling,” she explains. “The more we choose to be thankful and hopeful, the richer our lives will be and the more we will be able to notice what God is doing around us.”

The following poems from hello, dear one... illustrate Warme’s message of remaining faithful during adversity, which she describes as “a sweeter chord in a dissonant world.”

The Christening “You are the same,” said the voices, “when everything around you is different. New. Whole. Rejoicing. But you? You are the same. You are stuck.”

No. I am new every morning, whole again each moment, and I will not believe their lies again.

This is for You.

Yes. I need other people.

And that’s okay, too.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

37

community | spiritual life

MEANT FOR A PSYCHOLOGIST’S LIFELONG DESIRE TO MINISTER TO FAMILIES IGNITES A HIGHER CALLING

By Sara Alamdar

n December 3, 2016, DeDe Duncan-Probe (MA ’93) became the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York, establishing her as the first female bishop of the diocese’s nearly 150-year history. Known professionally as the Right Reverend Doctor, Duncan-Probe now holds a title that was until recent decades held only by men in the Episcopal Church.

This record-breaking achievement was especially meaningful for the bishop, as her childhood dream to join the ministry was consistently rejected by those around her.

“I started feeling like my being in ministry was a bad thing because everyone around me was asking, ‘What are you really going to do with your life? This isn’t what good girls do,’” she remembers.

Duncan-Probe was particularly interested in ministering to children and families in her congregation, and although she had devoted much of her time to her church community in different leadership capacities, she knew that an official invitation to participate in ministry was highly unlikely.

38

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

“It was confusing because I wanted to serve Jesus and help people,” she continues, “and they were telling me that I was being difficult.”

As an alternative to tending to her own passion, Duncan-Probe found a similar career path in providing mental health services and relocated from Texas to California to pursue a master’s degree in psychology at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology.

Although her new plan seemed like a suitable substitute at first, her part-time employment as a children and family ministry coordinator at a local church only fueled her desire to advance God’s kingdom by working in an actual ministry.

“I had spent 28 years listening to people tell me that women can’t be in ministry, so it took me a while to come to the awareness that that was actually my calling, and not therapy,” she shares.

This epiphany, along with another move from Los Angeles to San Francisco, introduced Duncan-Probe to other women involved in ministry—namely one who served as a rector at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Palo Alto, where she began to attend.

Feeling both empowered and intrigued seeing a woman taking on a leadership role in the church, Duncan-Probe approached the rector to inquire about borrowing a book on the Greek language so she could better understand Scriptures. But instead of a book, the rector offered Duncan-Probe the chance to enter into Episcopalian discernment— an extensive interview, assessment, and research process under the supervision of a committee—to determine whether a person is truly called by God to serve in the church.

“I argued with her,” Duncan-Probe recalls of the life-changing meeting.

“I said, ‘I can’t go into discernment. I’m a woman. Women don’t do that.’ But through her support, and the support of that committee, I was able to really open my heart to what God was calling me to do.”

MINISTRY Sponsored by the Diocese of El Camino Real, which includes Palo Alto congregations, a committee of eight met with her over the course of one year for intensive testing, questioning, background checks, psychological evaluations, and the taking of sacred vows. The next phase was to meet with a committee of 20 people at a diocesan discernment retreat, where they discussed her family life, spiritual journey, and financial matters.

She then enrolled in a master of divinity program at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, where she spent the next three years engaging in follow-up sessions with the Diocese of El Camino Real committee. Upon graduation, she met with the Commission on Ministry, a group of about 10 people who throughout the discernment process monitored the seminary and tracked her schoolwork.

“The whole process takes about five years, and anywhere from 40 to 100 people at any point

MY HOPE FOR THE DIOCESE IN THIS TIME IS TO STIR UP—JUST AS I VOWED TO DO—A SENSE OF CALLING TO BE LIKE JESUS IN REAL AND MEANINGFUL WAYS.

are engaged in discerning with you whether there is a call to ministry,” Duncan-Probe reveals.

Once she was approved by the commission and the bishop, she began serving in the church, partaking in the vows she had promised to fulfill.

Since becoming ordained, DuncanProbe’s goal has not necessarily been to gain crowds of new Sunday visitors, but rather to increase the number of people who are touched by the ministry and inspired by the message.

Believing that the Gospel is as relevant now as ever, she encourages her church to freely share God’s love with the world by applying traditional Christian principles to a contemporary lifestyle.

As Duncan-Probe explains, “People want to do something that has meaning and value—they don’t just want to gather for a social club. So how the church lives out its mission has to change.”

One way to show biblical compassion to a post-modern society is to bestow on everyone the same level of respect and kindness that we would Jesus.

“Especially during this time of confusion over what the nation should do about immigrants and refugees, we must recognize that Jesus was an immigrant and a refugee,” she says. “My hope for the diocese in this time is to stir up—just as I vowed to do—a sense of calling to be like Jesus in real and meaningful ways.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

39

community | athletics

LYNN WILLIAMS (’15) dominated on the soccer field for Pepperdine.

Now she hopes to do the same

By Doug Gillett

Though the rise of Lynn Williams to the US women’s national soccer team has been unconventional, it began in a way that will sound familiar to many families.

A self-declared “crazy kid,” Williams’ parents signed her up for soccer at the age of 5 to allow her to release the energy that is typical of children her age.

Though she played the sport throughout her childhood, it took some time for Williams to get on the national team’s radar. Many prospects for the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) start off in the US Soccer youth system before they get a chance to play on the national under-17, under-18, and under-20 teams. Williams’ hometown of Fresno was not known as a hotbed of soccer talent, and when she started looking at colleges, she found herself being recruited more for track than soccer.

for the US national team

Though it wasn’t her intended path, she followed the sport that was, at the time, presenting her with the most immediate opportunity. While playing in a soccer tournament, Williams was spotted by San Bernardino Valley College and referred to Pepperdine.

After seeing Williams play, Pepperdine women’s soccer head coach Tim Ward and associate head coach Twila Kaufman invited her to visit campus.

“I came down and they offered me a scholarship,” Williams says. “I mean, look at Pepperdine. You can’t pass that up.”

She wasted no time in rewarding her coaches’ confidence. Williams scored her first collegiate goal in only her second game as a Wave, a 2-0 win over Arizona. The very next game, at Cal State

“He really took me under his wing. I think he touched every person he ever met and made you feel like the most important person in the world when he was talking to you.”

Hilliard passed away in 2012 at the end of her freshman year, but Williams still remembers how he impacted her athletic career.

“At the memorial service, it was just crazy to look around the room and see how many people had the exact same experience. He helped me shape who I was, put me on the right path.”

From there, Williams only continued to impress. She earned first-team All-WCC honors as a sophomore and—despite missing the last four games due to injury—as a junior too.

Though Williams has played for the USWNT, she’s not a contracted player yet, so she still has to wait for invitations to camps and hope she gets selected from the player pool. Fortunately, she has a secure gig as a professional player in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

“In the past there have been other women’s pro leagues that folded. They haven’t succeeded,” she says. “But we’re going into our fifth season. It’s a very stable league and it’s expanding. When it first started out, it had eight teams, and now we have 10. And we just signed our first TV deal. It’s kind of amazing what’s happened.”

Once again, coaches put a lot of faith in Williams—the Western New York Flash

IT’S ALWAYS AMAZING TO SEE WHERE THIS GAME HAS TAKEN ME. Fullerton, she hit the tying goal with only 44 seconds remaining in regulation, then scored the game winner in overtime.

In what turned out to be a West Coast Conference championship-winning season, Williams started all 20 games.

The USWNT couldn’t help but take notice.

She did well at her first U-23 camp but struggled at the next one as the injury lingered. “They told me that I needed to go back, have a great season, and they would see how I did from there.”

took her sixth overall in the 2015 NWSL draft—and once again, she delivered.

Last season, she earned both the NWSL’s Golden Boot Award and Most Valuable Player honors, and was named to the NWSL’s all-star team.

Though she experienced athletic victories on the field, Williams faced personal struggles at home and felt far from her family during her first time living away.

She says she owes much of her success to a particular coach—but not the kind one might think.

Williams gave them exactly what they were looking for, earning all-WCC honors for the third year in a row and named a first-team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

She earned a spot on the national U-23 team and helped them win a tournament in La Manga, Spain.

“Those were my first two actual soccer games for the US,” she says.

The club has since moved south to become the North Carolina Courage, but Williams says she’s up for the new adventure. “I haven’t ever been to North Carolina, so I’m excited to see what it’s like,” she says. “I feel like I’ve traveled the US and seen states that I don’t know if I would ever have been able to see if it weren’t for soccer. It’s always amazing to see where this game has taken me.”

“Our athletic chaplain, Maurice Hilliard, was there my freshman year,” she recalls.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

41

community | athletics

Law alumnus David Baker (JD ’79) plays an integral role in promoting the values of the NFL and its heroes

By Doug Gillett

Going to Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, this year would’ve been the experience of a lifetime for most people. For David Baker, it was definitely a business trip.

Since the Tuesday prior to the big game, Baker, who is president and CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, attended events in partnership with the NFL, from speaking engagements to a

42

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

reception for the 18 finalists chosen for the Hall of Fame.

Baker also served as master of ceremonies at the Hall of Fame’s Merlin Olsen Luncheon honoring running back Earl Campbell and Houston Texans owner Bob McNair.

Baker also presided over the 48 elite media voters who entered “The Room” at 7 am Saturday to deliberate which

legendary players, coaches, or other contributors should be included in the 2017 Hall of Fame class (any inductee has to earn at least 80 percent of the 48 votes to be elected). They emerged 10 hours later with a class of seven NFL greats who were introduced during the Super Bowl the next day.

During the week Baker also made an appearance at the NFL Commissioner’s Party at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on Friday evening and sat for interviews on Radio Row at the Media Center downtown.

And even then Baker’s work wasn’t done.

“On Monday we have orientation for the new Hall of Famers, and they’re measured for their bronzed busts, gold jackets, and Ring of Excellence—all the iconic symbols for one’s election to the Hall.”

and spent two years playing basketball professionally in Europe. He returned to the US to attend law school at Pepperdine with a small scholarship from the NCAA and eventually served as the editor in chief of the Pepperdine Law Review.

“Being part of the first class to graduate from the law school in Malibu was a magical time,” he remembers.

“There were so many people who made an impact on me there, but none more so than [Dean Emeritus] Ron Phillips,” Baker says. “Long after my days as a student were done, I faced an ethical crisis in my life, and Dean Phillips helped put it in perspective for me; he redeemed me. He is a great man of impeccable character. All my life I have looked up to him, and I will look up to him the rest of my life, too.”

As Baker wound down his career in The next day, he was back on the road. the Arena League, he took the last five Last season he toured the nation and made Not every play runs perfectly, not every stops at 15 stadiums game is won, and there are times when in 17 weeks giving fans a look at the you get tackled for a loss or you fumble.

Hall of Fame rings.

Yet despite the fact that so much of Baker’s career has revolved and continues to revolve around football—he also owned an Arena League team, the Anaheim Piranhas, for one year before being named the league’s commissioner—he spent his entire athletic career on a basketball court.

“I was too big to play football, if you can believe that,” says Baker, who stands 6-foot-9 and weighs in at about 375 pounds. “But I always loved the diversity and the variety present in football. It takes all kinds of people with different talents. It is a strategic chess match on multiple levels.”

As an undergrad Baker was a power forward for the UC Irvine Anteaters

Photo: courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

footballs made with his signature and sent them to “the five most valuable people in [his] life.” Phillips was one of them. Despite Baker’s assumption that “he’s probably put it on eBay by now,” Phillips still displays it proudly in his office.

“I wouldn’t get rid of it for anything,” Phillips says. “David is a great, great guy. We’re really fortunate to have a connection with him.”

for athletics, I wouldn’t have been able to go to college at all. If it hadn’t been for sports, I would not have had the advantages presented to me—I wouldn’t have lived in Europe or played basketball there, and I wouldn’t have gone to Pepperdine, which afforded me so many opportunities later on.”

Perhaps that’s why, even in an age when big money controls everything in sports, Baker still speaks with sincere passion about the values the Pro Football Hall of Fame venerates. “Today I was talking to one of our Hall of Famers, Aeneas Williams, who was a safety; he’s now a pastor in Ferguson, Missouri, helping that community deal with some of the racial struggles they’ve had there,” he says. “Or Jim Kelly, who went to four Super Bowls and never won, but never gave up—and he’s the guy God picks to fight cancer.”

The question is: how do you get back up again Those are but a few of the reasons Baker calls football “a great metaphor for life.”

“Not every play runs perfectly, not every game is won, and there are times when you get tackled for a loss or you fumble,” he says. “The question is: how do you get back up again? If you have respect for what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with, and you have a passion for it, that makes a huge, huge difference.”

Sports have been an ever-present part of Baker’s entire family. One of his sons, Sam, was a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons and played six seasons before tearing a patellar tendon in 2014. His other son, Ben, is director of broadcasting for NASCAR. “Neither one of my parents could read or write,” Baker says, “so really, if it weren’t

magazine.pepperdine.edu

43

community | the arts

Weiss

of the

By Sara Alamdar

Anne-Marie: Will I ever see you again?

Charlie:

Sure. Sure you will. You know, goodbyes aren’t forever.

Charlie:

Yeah, uh. I love you, too.

Anne-Marie: Well then, goodbye, Charlie. I love you.

44

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

A former business major’s deep fascination with the afterlife inspires him to transform painful family hardships into award-winning Hollywood scripts

Those famous words from the final scene of the 1989 animated classic All Dogs Go to Heaven represent the unshakable, everlasting love that binds families together, and the deep heartbreak of separation caused by death.

For Academy Award- and Emmy-nominated Hollywood screenwriter David N. Weiss (’81), those words are permanent reminders of a future reunion with his mother, who was called to heaven when he was just 19 years old.

The writer of the beloved children’s film, Weiss discovered early in his career that the most effective way to overcome emotional pain is to embrace it—a skill he has mastered by continually allowing his real-life experiences to influence his art.

Over the last two decades, he has cowritten a slew of popular television and film scripts, including Rock-A-Doodle, The Story Keepers, Rugrats, Cybill, Shrek 2, Are We There Yet?, and The Smurfs—all of which contain various, hidden pieces of his private life.

Most recently Weiss cowrote the script for Disenchanted, the highly anticipated sequel to Disney’s hit musical Enchanted, set to hit theatres in 2018.

Now at the height of his career, the member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who long ago decided that he “didn’t want [his] work to do any harm” admits that, in addition to his Godgiven talent and self-motivated diligence, he owes his success to three distinct components of his life: his spirituality, his family, and his business degree.

A Reform Jew turned evangelical Christian turned Orthodox Jew, he credits his ability to stay grounded in a high-pressure environment to his faith in God. “There is a correlation between the pursuit of the arts and the need to express oneself.

The problem is, if you need continual affirmation in order to be happy or fulfilled, when you get off the stage or finish a project and go home, nobody is there to applaud you in the same ways anymore,” Weiss explains.

Instead of seeking affirmation from an audience, he advises that entertainment professionals establish a firm sense of self, ideally one rooted in spirituality, as that will induce a new, strong sense of confidence that will help them accomplish their goals.

...Often as a writer, you solve story problems by and going towards the pain. And even though it’s painful, there’s that needs to happen there.

looking inside healing

The second element of his success originates from his family life, where some profound hardships have inspired him to take a deeper and closer look at the human experience he often portrays in his comedies. This is particularly true for his works on Nickelodeon’s Rugrats television series and movies.

In an episode entitled “Rugrats Chanukah Special,” Grandpa Boris and his rival, Shlomo, argue about which one will take on the lead role in an upcoming Chanukah play at their synagogue. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that the root of their feud was based on misplaced, mutual resentment: one man was never able to have children and the other was overwhelmed by the constant presence of his grandchildren.

Weiss, who is now the proud father of Channah and Sam, candidly shares, “My wife and I were struggling to have children while I was writing that, and often as a writer, you solve story problems by looking inside and going towards the pain. And even though it’s painful, there’s healing that needs to happen there. So I wrote myself into the show.”

Weiss’ family life is also quietly portrayed in the Primetime Emmy-nominated Rugrats “Mother’s Day” episode, as well as Rugrats in Paris: The Movie—both of which explore the character Chuckie’s emotions about the loss of his mother, whom he remembers faintly but fondly.

For a man who experienced the death of a parent at a young age, writing his own story as experienced by Chuckie helped guide Weiss through his own grieving and healing processes.

Having a business degree from Seaver College has also become for Weiss a powerful instrument in the writing world,

as he explains that the program trains students to maximize opportunities, foster teamwork, and solve problems for clients.

“My business degree from Pepperdine has been such a useful tool to help navigate my career in film,” notes Weiss, who credits his education with helping him in his service as a trustee of the Writers Guild of America Healthcare Pension Plan, which manages approximately $2.5 billion. “As a Hollywood writer, I write largely for studios that have a property that they want to convert into a film— whether it’s a book or a sequel or a TV show—so it’s really about solutions.”

For up-and-coming screenwriters, he stresses the value of perseverance and encourages them to look for positive signs as confirmation that they are pursuing the right career path.

“There are people out there who keep trying to sell a screenplay, but have never had any success—ever. That’s not a good sign. I would say give it about seven years.

If you’re just not getting anywhere, then look elsewhere for a career.”

Saving money is also crucial because landing the next project can take several months, or even longer.

But his most personal and applicable piece of advice is to always keep a friendly attitude—a gesture that, for him, demonstrates trusting God. “Some people in this industry aren’t nice because they’re afraid they’re going to get cheated,” he says. “But when you realize that God is on your side and everything is going to be okay, that will allow you to feel more relaxed and be kind.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

45

community | the arts

into A Pepperdine visiting professor of art serves as Pearl Harbor’s first artist in residence and draws attention to the site’s historic significance

By Carly Pippin (’07)

The Eyes of the Gods, looped installation Single channel video compiled from the Archive of the World War II Valor Photographer: Chris Rohrer Image courtesy of Jane Mi and Honolulu Biennial Foundation

“There’s a comfort to being in the water,” says Jane Mi, an avid scuba diver, underwater photographer, and visiting assistant professor of digital arts at Seaver College. “It’s like being at home.”

As a first-year teacher at Pepperdine Mi is thrilled to work so near the sea—a place that has played a pivotal role in her life and career. Growing up in Taiwan, she would swim with her grandfather, whose love for the ocean infused her psyche. At 14, after moving to Hawaii, Mi learned to scuba dive and began to regularly explore the California coast and its plethora of kelp beds. She studied economics at Claremont McKenna College and engineering at Harvey Mudd College and later received a master’s degree in ocean engineering from University of Hawaii at Manoa.

46

Pepperdine Magazine

Spring 2017

Mi’s background is an amalgamation of scientific and artistic influences, all of which have converged to inform her role as an art professor. “I am a scientist and an artist,” says Mi. When asked how she ended up in two such disparate fields, she notes, “Engineering and the arts go hand in hand. You see this in the history of Western culture. Leonardo Da Vinci used engineering to make money to fund his art projects because he understood that everything informs

everything else. We’ve become so specialized in contemporary culture, but art and science are a natural pairing.”

In addition to her engineering pursuits, Mi also serves as the first

Art becomes a way to talk about difficult things, without being uncomfortable. over a decade and a half, you want to dig deeper,” she explains.

Photo: Vincent Ricafort

artist in residence at World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, the national park monument that is home to Pearl Harbor and several other sites of strategic importance to the Pacific front. Just last December, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mi was the sole female—and only civilian—to dive with an elite crew of US Navy and National Park Service members to film the underwater interment of two USS Arizona survivors: John Anderson (boatswain’s mate, second class) and Clarendon Hetrick (seaman, first class).

The project, which gave Mi unprecedented access to Pearl Harbor and the National Park Service’s archive, led her to ponder the creation of a new work focusing on unknown aspects of the location and its history. The Hawaiians called the area Pu’uloa, or long hill, and its three lochs (sea inlets) were home to over 27 fishponds.

For most Americans, Pearl Harbor is synonymous with “infamy” and the “waking of a sleeping giant.” But for Mi, having explored the site’s underwater depths, the harbor took on new meaning. “What was Pearl Harbor before it was attacked?

How significant was it to native Hawaiians and how did it get its name? Living in Hawaii for ’Anae (mullet) Woodblock prints of varying size

Her questions have resulted in a three-part installation called The Eyes of the Gods, which was exhibited at the inaugural Honolulu Biennial from March 8 to May 8, 2017. The Eyes of the Gods includes archival drawings and photographs of Pearl Harbor from the 19th to 20th century as well as Hawaiian woodblock prints of ’anae—the fish found in Pearl Harbor fishponds—which were vital to the local Hawaiians’ survival and livelihoods. By showcasing both European and Hawaiian vantage points of Pearl Harbor, Mi invites viewers to examine their own previously held notions about the site and confront any prejudices they may hold.

This semester, Mi is having her students do self-portraits around the idea of surveillance. The assignment? To create a portrait that a computer can’t recognize.

In her roles as scientist, artist, and teacher, Mi has found ways to give shape to contemporary questions about identity. Her art surrounding Pearl Harbor invites us to consider how, in our own lives, contact with different people and places shapes who we become.

For Mi, art is powerful because it permeates. “When someone looks at art, whether or not they sense it, they naturally begin intuiting what it might mean to them,” says Mi. “Art becomes a way to talk about difficult things, without being uncomfortable. And that’s why I do it—to enable those conversations.”

“My interest in archives is to look at history from a different perspective to highlight aspects that may have been overlooked,” says Mi. “Historical collections allow us to see how views of a certain place, people, or location change over time.”

The last part of Mi’s installation, a video work comprised of archival underwater footage, focuses on Pearl Harbor’s most recent identity: home of the Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific, a major location for US Department of Defense intelligence and surveillance. In the video, Mi uses an algorithmic technique, similar to the government’s face recognition and surveillance systems, to find and compile images of the water around Pearl Harbor—and nothing else.

The resulting footage removes people, sea life, and surrounding objects, forcing viewers to confront the power of technology to manipulate what you see: land or water; people or animals; or, if you’re the government, enemy or ally.

Views of Pearl River (Dampier) 8.5” x 11” drawings from the Bishop Museum Archive

Views of Pearl River (Dampier) 8.5” x 11” drawings from the Bishop Museum Archive

magazine.pepperdine.edu

47

in focus

PILLAR OF THE MONUMENTAL CROSS that warmly greets Pepperdine community members, friends, and guests alike is called the Phillips Theme Tower, a structure that captures the University’s fervent spiritual focus present throughout the Malibu campus.

The vast tower is also an illustrious landmark abundant with rich institutional history and little-known fun facts shared here.

Share your favorite memories of the Phillips Theme Tower with us:

Construction of the tower was completed in 1973

The light inside the cross has been lit only twice in 44 years The cross is 125 feet high and 345 feet above sea level Its location is two miles from the Pacific Ocean

It was designed by famed architect William Pereira

It was a gift from the B. D. Phillips Foundation

It is programmed to chime 10,000 times a year

magazine@pepperdine.edu The structure took over 2,000 hours to complete

THANKS2YOU our first-ever GIVE2PEPP was a huge success!

AMOUNT RAISED

3,070

$583,441

TOTAL

TOTAL

Figures represent totals at time of publication

Your generosity will continue to impact the lives of Pepperdine students for generations to come.

Did you miss Pepperdine’s inaugural Giving Day? It’s never too late to give back!

Every gift matters! It’s not how much, BUT HOW MANY! Make a secure gift online:

give.pepperdine.edu

Give every year. Make a difference every day.

Or send a check to THE PEPPERDINE FUND • 24255 Pacific Coast Highway • Malibu, California • 90263-4579

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY 24255 Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, CA 90263-4138

25%

Cert no. SW-COC-002556

Follow the journey of the remarkable men and women who guided Pepperdine from its founding as a small faith-based college to its emergence as a top-tier university.

AVAILABLE NOW Buy here: pepperdine.edu/questbook