Pepperdine Magazine - Vol. 9, Iss. 2 (Summer 2017)

Volume 9 Issue 2 Summer 2017

Following a long and decorated career, a WNBA champion and Olympian takes the reins of Waves women’s basketball 40

Net Results Executive Decisions 14

Below the Line 18

A World of Difference 22

Home Team Hero 26

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Photo: Joseph Ramli (‘17)

Volume 9 Issue 2 Summer 2017

FEATURES

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34 36

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38 40

22 26

14 Executive Decisions A pioneer in behavioral therapy spearheads a new psychology program focused on treating autism spectrum disorders

18 Below the Line As the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution celebrates 30 years, Pepperdine Magazine reflects on the principles and players that have led to its indomitable track record

22 A World of Difference Two alumni travel around the globe to spread Pepperdine’s mission of purpose, service, and leadership as Foreign Service Officers

26 Home Team Hero In a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Seaver College students learn from one of the best in the history of Major League Baseball

COMMUNITY

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32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46

Mixed Company The New News Serve, Love, Stay Busyness Management Net Results A Shot at Greatness Ace of Plates For the Record

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DEPARTMENTS

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

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letters LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Champion.

An advocate and a defender. A warrior. A winner.

It’s not a label that one person or one group of people or one institution can commonly claim. Champions don’t only break records—they set the standards for greatness. At times governed by external forces, they are driven by something more personal and particular—a benchmark that they have set for themselves. And when they push past their comfort zone, they are met with an indescribable sense of satisfaction that can only result from defeating a self-imposed challenge and achieving a goal out of reach for many.

When I hung up the phone after my interview with DeLisha Milton-Jones, I was sure that she embodied all of the ways the word could be defined. Throughout her career she has been recognized as the

fastest, strongest, and fiercest against her competition. But as I began to peel back the layers of her tough-as-nails courtside reputation, I learned that she leads with her heart and soul and owes much of her success to her steadfast faith. She is the ultimate defender—of her own legacy and that of the team she hopes to take to similar heights.

This issue also recognizes the Foreign Service officers who champion the rights and needs of communities around the world and the pioneering faculty and students at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology who advocate for a more holistic understanding of developmental disorders, namely autism.

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

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We celebrate the visionaries at the School of Law who, 30 years ago, saw a need in the legal world at a time when traditional avenues of justice just weren’t cutting it and decided to do something about it. Year after year—12 to be exact—the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution continues to be recognized as the number one program for dispute resolution in the country.

More importantly, we look at what sets this group apart—their courage to trust their instincts, their enthusiasm to motivate those around them, their optimism during moments of failure, and their grace in times of triumph.

— GAREEN DARAKJIAN editor

Do you know a GAME CHANGER? BOUNDARY BREAKER? SERVANT LEADER? COMMUNITY BUILDER? Submit your nominations by September 12 to recognize extraordinary Pepperdine alumni who are living out the mission of the University.

pepperdine.edu/40over40

editor

Gareen Darakjian

senior designer

Courtney Gero

writers

Sara Alamdar, Doug Gillett, Vincent Way

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) director of communications and brand development Nate Ethell (’08, MBA ’13) creative director Keith Lungwitz director of digital media Allen Haren (’97, MA ’07) senior director of operations Ed Wheeler (’97, MA ’99) director of digital marketing Mauricio Acevedo Pepperdine Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 2, Summer 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

818.702.1409 All material is copyrighted ©2017 by Pepperdine University, Malibu, California 90263.

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

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Connect with Pepperdine

Other information and queries should be directed to the editor:

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perspectives

RARE PEOPLE I HAVE ALWAYS FELT THAT I HAVE BEEN AT THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME. BUT MOSTLY, I HAVE BEEN THERE WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE.

By Marv Dunphy (’74) Head Coach, Men’s Volleyball

The right place was Pepperdine and the right time was 1972 when it all began for me and the others who were embarking on an exciting adventure at a new campus in Malibu. As I look back on my many years as a Wave, that place is still Pepperdine and the people are still those who embody what being a Wave is all about.

Years ago, President Andrew K. Benton and former Director of Athletics John Watson (’72) asked me to share my perspective on what it means to be a Wave with the Pepperdine Athletics coaches and staff at the annual reception at the president’s home. I felt proud

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about my experiences as a Pepperdine student, athlete, assistant coach, head coach, and teacher, and I was honored to share the things I had learned along the way.

One of the things I shared then and still share to this day in our opening team meeting is to take pride in the fact that others have gone before you.

Pepperdine Waves share a long history of exceptional athleticism. They have not only experienced the glory of victory, they have set the standards for ethical sportsmanship. They have represented Pepperdine with pride and strived to be a part of something bigger than

Each and every Wave shares the HONOR of being included in a TRADITION that is UNIQUE to Pepperdine.

themselves—throughout regular season, in national championships, and on the global Olympics stage.

Having those things in common, each and every Wave shares the honor of being included in a tradition that is unique to Pepperdine. A key part of that tradition is knowing the difference between competitiveness and toughness. Anybody can be competitive, but Waves stand out because they are not only confronted with adversity, they embrace it.

Of all the qualities that embody what it means to be a Wave, most people find significance in my statement about how rare it is for people to do their best. Doing one’s best does not mean winning at all costs or being perfect.

It means being diligent and committed to a personal mission and developing the habits that will eventually shape who they are. It means serving others and leading by example. It means competing with a sense of pride, purpose, and passion.

As I enter a new phase in my time at Pepperdine after these 45 years, I am grateful for the opportunity to have served this institution. Even more, I am grateful for the chance to have learned from the Waves.

… live up to and pass on the athletic tradition and heritage of Pepperdine University. … have a tradition of always pulling for other Waves. Know that others have gone before them.

… are tough. They know the difference between competitiveness and toughness.

… know that it’s not how big you are—it’s how good or great you are. It’s not where you are—it’s who you are. … know that the truly great are great over time.

They don’t just practice well once in a while.

They don’t just do things right once in a while.

They don’t just win once in a while.

They do it over time. … win with dignity, lose with class, and treat their sport with respect.

… know that the habits they are developing at Pepperdine will be with them for the rest of their lives.

… are rare people.

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news PAUL L. CARON Announced as Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of the School of Law Paul L. Caron has been named the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of the Pepperdine School of Law. Caron, previously associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of law, formally began his responsibilities as dean on June 1.

“Since his first days as a distinguished visiting scholar through his selection as a tenured professor and now his candid and strategic participation in this search process, I have admired Professor Caron for his keen intellect, generous outreach to others, and his sterling reputation within the national legal community,” said Pepperdine president Andrew K. Benton. “It will be a privilege to work side-by-side with him to advance the Pepperdine School of Law, an entity we both hold in high esteem. He will be, I believe, a remarkable law dean.”

Caron came to the School of Law in 2010 as the D & L Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law. He joined the School of Law tenured faculty in 2013 as professor of law and assumed the role of associate dean for research and faculty development in 2015.

Previously Caron served as the associate dean of faculty and the Charles Hartsock Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. “Paul Caron is a highly regarded scholar and wonderful mentor to our law school students,” says Pepperdine provost Rick R. Marrs. “He has a comprehensive knowledge of legal education in our country and a compelling vision for the place of our law school in that landscape. I eagerly anticipate working with him as he helps us achieve our goal to move the law school toward national prominence, providing our students with the highest educational experience and

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empowering them to become leaders in their communities.”

and accounting every year since 2006

by Accounting Today.

A widely respected expert in tax law, Caron has written over 50 books and scholarly articles and is the publisher and editor of TaxProf Blog, the most popular tax blog on the internet. He is also the owner and publisher of the Law Professor Blogs Network of more than 50 blogs in other areas of law edited by law professors around the country. He was named the third most influential person in legal education by the National Jurist in 2016 and has been listed as one of the 100 most influential people in tax

“I am honored to be chosen as the next dean of this great law school at this important point in its history, following in the footsteps of Deanell Tacha, Ken Starr, Richard Lynn, and Ron Phillips,” shared Caron. “I look forward to building on their work to advance Pepperdine’s unique position in legal education by combining academic and research excellence with a deep-rooted commitment to our Christian mission that welcomes people of all faiths and backgrounds.”

Pepperdine Coaching Legend MARV DUNPHY Announces Retirement Volleyball coaching legend Marv Dunphy (’74) announced his retirement on June 19, bringing to an end an incredible career that included four NCAA championships and more than 600 wins at Pepperdine, as well as seven Olympic appearances as a coach, highlighted by a Gold Medal in 1988 as head coach of the US Men’s National Team.

“I’m very grateful to Pepperdine for all that it’s given me,” said Dunphy. “I can’t imagine any other institution being as supportive of a coach as Pepperdine has been to me. I want to thank our current and former players for giving me the privilege of being their coach and for all that they brought to this program.”

Due to occasions when he stepped away to pursue his own education goals or to coach with the National Team, Dunphy served four different stretches as the Waves’ head coach: 1977–1978, 1982–1985, 1989–1999, and 2001–2017. He has been head coach for 34 of the 47 seasons that men’s volleyball has existed at Pepperdine.

During his most recent 17-year run, Dunphy led the Waves to a top-10 finish in the national rankings 16 times and into the top five 11 times. In addition to the four titles, Pepperdine finished second at the NCAA Championships five times under Dunphy and won or shared 12 conference regular-season or tournament titles.

“Marv Dunphy is the greatest teacher and coach with whom I have ever been associated,” said Steve Potts (JD ’82), Pepperdine’s director of athletics. “Through teaching and coaching volleyball, Marv has impacted the lives of countless student-athletes during their time at Pepperdine and even well beyond. He has been an incredible ambassador for Pepperdine University all around the world. He leaves a standard of excellence for which we should all strive as his legacy.”

After winning the 1985 NCAA title, Dunphy stepped down for three seasons in order to become head coach of the

US Men’s National Team, which he led to a tremendously successful run between 1985 and 1988. The American squad maintained a number-one world ranking and won every major international tournament: the 1985 World Cup, the 1986 World Championships, the 1987 Pan American Games, and the 1988 Olympic Games.

That began a stretch that saw Dunphy work at seven different Olympiads in various capacities. He was either an assistant or consultant coach with the US men in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 (winning Gold in 2008), and a consulting or scouting coach with the US women in 2012 and 2016 (winning Silver in 2012 and Bronze in 2016).

Dunphy was a standout volleyball player himself and played at Pepperdine during the program’s early years. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University in 1974. He went on to earn a master’s degree in physical education from USC in 1978 and doctorate in physical education from BYU in 1981.

Dunphy will remain at Pepperdine during the 2017–2018 school year in order to continue teaching his popular coaching class and to assist with special projects for the department and men’s volleyball program.

Read more about Marv Dunphy’s legacy at Pepperdine: magazine.pepperdine.edu/marv-dunphy

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news Graduate School of Education and Psychology Presents Lecture on the FEMALE PERSPECTIVE The Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) presented the panel discussion “The Women’s Table - Wholeness from a Female Perspective” as part of the Margaret J. Weber Distinguished Lecture Series.

Under the 2016–2017 theme of “Wholeness: The Intersection of Faith, Academics, and Culture,” this event explored themes of religion, intellect, and social impact, and how they intersect to promote personal and professional fulfillment.

Special guests included representatives from the Central Basin Municipal Water District, Muslim Public Affairs Council, and Pace Universal.

“It is the role of academia to encourage communication across disciplines, thoughts, domains, and even theological perspectives,” shares GSEP dean Helen E. Williams. “It is often within sustained dialogue that we find the deeper meaning of any one point of view, and therein we often discover common ground as well. We must teach our students to seek solutions to challenges by engaging in productive civil disagreement coupled with productive civil discourse.”

Graziadio School of Business and Management Hosts 2017 FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE SYMPOSIUM The Future of Healthcare Symposium, hosted annually by the Graziadio School and held at the Marina del Rey Marriott on March 23, explores how advancements in policy and technology can reshape and improve healthcare. Each year experts and professionals converge to expand the healthcare discussion with shared insights, experiences, and ideas.

Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the leading practitioners shaping the future of healthcare, presented the keynote address. With a long record of experience at the top levels of policy, and trained as both an oncologist and a political scientist, he provided a uniquely thoughtful perspective on the most difficult issues in medicine today.

Other guests tackled topics such as “Transforming the American Health System Towards Value-Based Care,” which focused on patient health improvement and efficiency, and “Advances in Telemedicine for the 21st Century,” which examined the opportunities and challenges embedded in new and emerging medical technology.

Pepperdine School of Law Hosts 2017 NOOTBAAR CONFERENCE The School of Law hosted the 2017 Nootbaar Conference on March 9 and 10 focusing on the theme “Religious Critiques of Law.” Speakers from a variety of religious traditions addressed the law based on their backgrounds, supporting and challenging the notion that religious critiques of law, such as those explored by legal ethics scholar and author Thomas L. Shaffer in his book American Lawyers and Their Communities: Ethics in the Legal Profession, are of value.

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Shaffer encourages attorneys to examine the law from a religious perspective and contends that law schools train attorneys to analyze religion-based issues from a legal standpoint while ignoring the possibility that religious congregations may possess their own impressions of the justice system.

Throughout the two-day event, speakers discussed the history of religious influence on law and assessed what religion might say to subjects that do not ordinarily encounter

religious critique, such as property and contracts.

Historian Niall Ferguson Leads Inaugural TAGLIAFERRI DEAN’S DISTINGUISHED LECTURE On March 29 Scottish historian and Harvard University history professor Niall Ferguson presented “Why Leaders of the Future Need to Study the Past: The Case for Applied History” at the inaugural lecture of the School of Public Policy’s Patricia Tagliaferri Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series, recently

established with major support from regent Gus Tagliaferri (MBA ’74, PKE 11).

While most graduate policy programs focus on the quantitative side of public policy, the School of Public Policy has understood from its founding that public leaders must consider the array of the social sciences in formulating sustainable public policy. This includes the study of history, and in this lecture, Ferguson made the compelling argument that

Award-Winning Pepperdine Theatre Production Explores TOPIC OF SEXUAL ASSAULT on University Campuses The Pepperdine University theatre department presented the US premiere of the internationally acclaimed play The Interference at Smothers Theatre from April 5 to 8.

Set against the backdrop of the worldwide university campus sexual assault epidemic, The Interference explores the seemingly infinite source of opinion, commentary, and distorted or suppressed information that have become routine players in the aftermath of these incidents. The play also takes a closer look at the unique circumstances involved when student-athletes are part of the story.

Written by Scotland-based playwright Lynda Radley and directed by Pepperdine professor of theatre Cathy Thomas-Grant, The Interference won the prestigious Scotsman Fringe First award at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. The cast, comprised of students who are part of the Pepperdine Scotland company, spent eight weeks in Edinburgh rehearsing and working alongside Radley and some of the leading members in Scottish theatre.

Within days of its world premiere in summer 2016, the show earned acclaim from leading critics at prestigious publications including The Scotsman, The Herald, British Theatre Guide, The List, and Broadway Baby. It has also received a Bobby—an award given by Broadway Baby in recognition of the best of five-star shows. The show was also shortlisted for Amnesty International’s Freedom of Expression Award for outstanding work addressing human rights issues.

domestic and international policy failures have been founded on a misreading—if not complete ignorance—of history.

How can leaders “think historically” when making decisions? Should the president have a “Council of Historical Advisers?”

Ferguson explored these and other important questions as he examined whether those who “don’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Davenport Institute Hosts CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE REVIEW Demonstrating Power of Deliberation in the California Initiative Process The Pepperdine School of Public Policy and the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership partnered with Healthy Democracy on a project to demonstrate the power of deliberation in the California Initiative Process from March 5 to 7.

The Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) Demonstration Project brings Californians together to provide clear, useful, trustworthy evaluations of ballot measures. A panel of 18 to 24 voters from California universities heard directly from a ballot measure’s supporters and opponents as well as independent experts. During the process, panelists deliberated on what they had learned in order to fairly evaluate the measure. At the conclusion of the review, the panel presented its findings in a “Citizens’ Statement.”

“The CIR offers a way for everyday Californians to hear from experts and advocates and analyze a ballot measure outside the ‘noise’ of expensive, organized campaigns,” explains Ashley Trim (MPP ’09), executive director of the Davenport Institute. “It was encouraging to see students from across the state enthusiastic about engaging in civil deliberation around a complex issue.”

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news Seaver College Alumni Earn Prestigious FULBRIGHT SCHOLARSHIPS Six recent Seaver College graduates have joined the elite rank of Fulbright Scholars, one of the most prestigious scholarly awards worldwide.

Stefanie Bartlett (’17), Amelia Dal Pra (’17), Micah Lambert (’17), Kristopher Mazich (’17), and Julia Naman (’17) will live out the Fulbright Program’s mission of promoting international goodwill through the exchange of students as they prepare

to travel abroad to embark on a diverse array of experiences as English Teaching Assistants (ETA) and researchers. Biology major Natalie Aguirre (’17) will expand her scientific research experience working in a lab in Spain.

Meet the six alumni and learn how they will contribute to cultural research and relations: magazine.pepperdine.edu/fulbright-2017

Weisman Museum Celebrates 25 YEARS OF ACQUISITIONS with Process and Reality Art Exhibition The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art displayed Process and Reality: Works from the Permanent Collection, Celebrating 25 Years of Acquisitions from May 13 through August 6.

This thought-provoking exhibition was inspired by Process and Reality, a landmark book by the early 20th-century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead. The works on view included major figures in contemporary art and revealed many surprises to regular gallery-goers.

Exhibition highlights included early work from the 1970s by Ed Moses and Mary Corse; a rare Tony Berlant assemblage from 1964 revealing the

inspiration of Ed Keinholz; an Ed Keinholz construction addressing the disparity between American affluence and Third World poverty; and a 1982 work on paper by pioneering street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, which ranks among the artist’s best drawings.

“I am incredibly proud of this exhibition because all of the art was donated to Pepperdine by friends of the museum,” says Weisman Museum director Michael Zakian. “These works include prime examples by some of the best-known artists of our time. It is deeply rewarding to see that LA collectors believe in the Weisman.”

Graziadio School Hosts 2017 SEER SYMPOSIUM The Graziadio School of Business and Management hosted the sixth annual Socially, Environmentally, and Ethically Responsible (SEER) Symposium on February 3.

This year’s theme, “The Recipe for Innovation,” provided a forum for examining all facets of business and challenging conventions to change the way communities think about food, energy, fashion, economic opportunity, and sustainability.

With an interactive format that encouraged participation from an audience of graduate business students and business leaders, this gathering of a broad group of world-changing innovators, executives, thought-leaders, and entrepreneurs challenged and inspired attendees.

This year’s industry leaders included representatives from Clean Energy Renewable Fuels; Honest Tea; Defy Ventures, Inc.; Whole Foods Market; and Honeywell International, Inc. The event also showcased the annual “Fast Pitch” competition, in which students from across the University are given the chance to pitch an entrepreneurial idea in front of the SEER community for feedback.

View highlights from the 2017 SEER Symposium: magazine.pepperdine.edu/seer-2017

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Governor Jerry Brown Speaks at 44TH ANNUAL SCHOOL OF LAW DINNER 74TH ANNUAL PEPPERDINE BIBLE LECTURES Held in Malibu From May 2 to 5, nearly 250 guest speakers from around the world led over 360 inspiring sessions to explore books in the Old Testament known in the Jewish tradition as the Scrolls of the Megilloth.

Bob Goff, New York Times best-selling author of Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World, was among the special guest speakers. Goff’s singing group, Acappella, also performed music from its 35-year anniversary tour.

Peter Enns, author of The Bible Tells Me So and The Sin of Certainty, addressed characteristics of doubt and faith, while Phil Claycomb, executive director of Nexus, a church planting leadership ministry building collaborative partnerships between Churches of Christ and independent Christian churches, discussed life lessons.

Dudley Rutherford, author of Walls Fall Down and senior pastor of the 10,000-member congregation Shepherd Church in Porter Ranch, California, presented insights for overcoming hardships jointly with Jeff Walling, Pepperdine’s director of the Youth Leadership Initiative.

More than 800 guests attended the 44th annual Pepperdine School of Law dinner held at the Beverly Hilton on March 3.

Rick Caruso (JD ’83), member of the School of Law Board of Visitors, dinner chair, and founder and chief executive officer of Caruso, one of the largest privately held real estate companies in the United States, introduced this year’s featured speaker, California governor Edmund “Jerry” G. Brown, Jr. “You need rigor in your education, but rigor alone is not enough,” Governor Brown said in his speech. “If it is only rigorous, it leads to paralytic death. You need imagination, but if all you have is imagination, you have insanity. If you link imagination and rigor ... you get the Pepperdine School of Law.” The Honorable André Birotte, Jr., (JD ’91) led the awards ceremony, which included the Vincent Dalsimer Appellate Advocacy Competition Award, Dean’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship, and the Professor of the Year Award in the 1L and 2L/3L categories, presented to Donald Earl (Trey) Childress III and Steven M. Schultz, respectively. The Otto P. Cipolla Preceptor of the Year Award was given to Catherine C. Baggett, the Honorable James J. Di Cesare (JD ’73), and Kelsey L. Schulz (JD ’14).

Pepperdine Celebrates Graduates at 2017 COMMENCEMENTS Commencement ceremonies for the School of Public Policy, Graziadio School of Business and Management, Seaver College, School of Law, and Graduate School of Education and Psychology were held at the Malibu campus throughout April and May. At the School of Public Policy ceremony, which took place April 21, an honorary Doctor of Public Policy degree was bestowed upon John Sibert, who served as mayor of the City of Malibu from 2012 to 2013 and again from 2016 to 2017.

Thomas J. Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the US Chamber of

Commerce, delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Business degree at the Graziadio School of Business and Management commencement on April 22.

Dan Beckerman, president and chief executive officer of AEG, delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the Seaver College commencement ceremony on April 29.

At the School of Law commencement ceremony, held May 19, the University bestowed an honorary Doctor of Laws

degree on Michael M. Boone, cofounder of international law firm Haynes & Boone.

On May 20, GSEP associate professor Thema Bryant-Davis (MDiv ’16), licensed psychologist, minister, and sacred artist, delivered the commencement address at the psychology ceremony at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology commencement. At the education ceremony, Mildred Garcia, president of California State University, Fullerton, delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

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snapshot

Lithe & Bright At the 2017 Loqui: A Celebration of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence, the Dance in Flight troupe expresses the feelings of darkness, determination, and liberation associated with the American social justice movements throughout history.

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feature

e v i t u Exec A pioneer in behavioral therapy spearheads a new psychology program focused on treating autism and attention disorders

By Sara Alamdar

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L

IFE IS ALL ABOUT HUMAN INTERACTION:

calling your parents to ask how they’re doing, texting your friends to make weekend plans, stopping by your coworker’s cubicle to see if that report is ready. These everyday social scenarios involve communication, cooperation, and compromise—all crucial skills that allow us to think critically and live independently.

But these skills, which must be taught and practiced during childhood to help navigate us through adulthood, are sometimes difficult to instill—especially in individuals diagnosed with disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit disorder. Training these individuals to boost their interaction skills is the specialty of board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs), a dedicated group of therapists with particular expertise in applied behavior analysis (ABA). Generally speaking, ABA methods are used to improve behavioral excesses (to reduce actions that are expressed too frequently) as well as behavioral deficits (to increase engagement in certain activities).

As a nationally recognized leader in the field of ABA, Associate Professor Adel Najdowski directs the new master of science in behavioral psychology program at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology, where students receive hands-on training working directly with children and adults diagnosed with ASD. Through her courses, the esteemed psychologist imparts her vast knowledge of ABA intervention to effectively promote emotional selfregulation and self-management skills within this specific population.

S C H O O L DA Z E Through courses like Autism Spectrum Disorders, Najdowski informs her students about some of the most frequent experiences that young children encounter at school prior to becoming officially diagnosed with ASD or attention deficits.

According to Najdowski, children’s issues with self-management and self-awareness are commonly misconceived by schoolteachers, who oftentimes mistake exhibitions of these behavioral deficits as acts of disobedience or noncompliance.

This is especially true when teachers have just finished reviewing the details of an upcoming assignment in class and students with these diagnoses do not know how to get started on a project that was discussed just moments earlier.

“They get overwhelmed, so we must teach them how to break down these tasks into smaller units and also how to plan each step,” she explains.

Many children with ASD also tend to avoid eye contact due to their interest in objects more than faces and sometimes dominate conversations and talk only about their own interests. When communicating with these individuals, Najdowski emphasizes the importance of attributing some of their behaviors not to impoliteness or inconsideration, but to their executive dysfunction—a hindrance in the mental processes that help individuals selfmanage their time, energy, and resources in order to accomplish goals like daily household chores.

“Oftentimes, they do not have the skills to understand that what they are thinking and experiencing is different than what other people are thinking and experiencing,” she explains. “It looks like they lack empathy, but it’s really a skill deficit.”

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feature IN THE INTEREST OF TIME

O P E N T O N E G O T I AT I O N Currently enrolled in the pilot program, graduate student Stacey Coombes became completely fascinated with ABA interventions when she first became a behavior therapist and began teaching these skills to clients diagnosed with ASD and watching them connect with their caregivers.

Under Najdowski’s mentorship, she is in the process of exploring ABA outside the classroom as she writes her thesis on social problem-solving—a behavioral process she describes as “the ways in which people negotiate getting what they want in everyday life.” As Coombes explains, developing social problem-solving skills begins with identifying a problem during a social interaction and creating a solution for the best possible result. In sharpening these skills, individuals will cultivate a range of behaviors that can produce a desired effect.

“Social problem-solving is not an inherent trait,” the behavior therapist contends, adding that deciding how to act in an effort to get what we want requires several simultaneous social behaviors, including identifying a problem (both from our own perspective and the perspective of others involved) and selecting the best possible solution for resolving the problem.

To clarify this concept, she points to the familiar familyfriendly activity of playing board games, noting that while determining who should start the game off might seem like a simple decision, it actually involves a complex thought process for the players.

In order to collect the appropriate data for her thesis, Coombes is working with Najdowski to teach social problem-solving skills to several young participants.

“Children diagnosed with ASD generally have deficits in the area of social interactions and perspective taking. Teaching them effective skills allows them to communicate their wants and needs with other people, which further engages them socially,” Coombes says.

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Graduate student Jesse Fullen, who has long been fascinated by the connection between the physical and social components of human behavior, is also applying ABA approaches to train his young clients.

Fullen’s investment in becoming a BCBA is trifold, as he divides his time between taking courses in the master’s program, working as a behavior therapist for an ASD agency, and assisting Najdowski with her field research, including a research project focused on teaching time management skills to children diagnosed with autism.

“Children with autism don’t realize that they are [racing against the clock],” he reveals. “They come into these situations where they either overbook themselves or run out of time to complete a certain activity.”

In an effort to help improve these deficits, Fullen is assisting Najdowski in a research project she is conducting with a local ASD agency, The ABRITE Organization, located in Sherman Oaks, California. Fullen is working directly with ABRITE’s clinical manager Fernanda Welsh to gather research data corresponding to an intervention for teaching children what a schedule is and how to follow one, as well as how to manage their time by determining how much time is left for finishing a specific task.

Fullen’s current commitments to the field have proven both strategic and fruitful, as all three facets of his academic and professional experience have invoked in him a passion for creating his own curriculum for working with these populations.

“What I see at the agency helps me to work with Dr. Najdowski to create the protocol because I can conceptualize what we are doing in the [time management] study,” he says. “We are implementing all of these trainings for children and we are seeing very good results.”

His work at the ASD agency has also opened his eyes to people’s lack of education about ASD—especially regarding the popular misconception that all diagnosed individuals have exactly the same traits, symptoms, and challenges. Fullen admits, however, that ASD can be difficult to understand because the disorder is generally very wide.

“Not every kid has the same issues or the same deficit,” he maintains. “Some kids are more deficient in time management skills, while others have difficulty with the socialization aspects of executive functioning.”

“I have had clients on the spectrum that had their diagnoses removed. If these individuals get enough ABA intervention— which is the most scientifically proven form of intervention for autism— best-outcome children can get to the point where they are

indistinguishable among their peers.”

BOOK SMART

In spring 2017 she published her training solutions in Flexible and Focused: Teaching Executive Function Skills to Individuals with Autism and Attention Disorders, a book that offers an effective curriculum for mental health professionals, educators, and family members working with children, adolescents, and adults who qualify for these diagnoses.

Intentionally written in simple, everyday English—and through numerous worksheets, data sheets, and checklists— Najdowski’s book breaks the lesson plans into smaller steps and organizational schemes to make the information more straightforward and less intimidating for both practitioners and clients.

“The skills noted in the book are for the things that we do every day to manage ourselves,” she shares.

Along the way, Najdowski’s students have learned that executive function improvements are possible for those committed to their professors’ training techniques—if the clients acknowledge their deficiencies, are self-aware, and are motivated enough to make progress a personal goal.

Regardless of their explicit deficits, however, Najdowski’s two decades of experience demonstrates that while some parents may be concerned that their child might qualify for the ASD diagnosis, moving past that initial fear and meeting with a mental health professional is crucial in opening the door for treatment opportunities.

Adel Najdowski

After more than 20 years of working with children who have been diagnosed with ASD, Najdowski has developed an innovative set of guidelines for successful treatment options. Her recommended techniques are designed to help strengthen executive functioning skills.

A M E S S AG E O F H O P E

“For example, if you’re getting ready to go to a meeting, you have to plan for it in advance—maybe set your alarm or shop for new clothing. But then you receive a phone call or see something on social media, and you have to ignore those distractions, stay focused on your goals, and continue taking the steps necessary to reach those goals.”

“I have had clients on the spectrum that had their diagnoses removed,” she says. “If these individuals get enough ABA intervention— which is the most scientifically proven form of intervention for autism—best-outcome children can get to the point where they are indistinguishable among their peers.”

When teaching these types of selfmanagement strategies to new clients, Najdowski begins by enforcing a few relevant rules, shadowing them through all the steps (often outlined in a printed list), and providing feedback.

Once sufficient progress is made, she fades her assistance to ensure that clients can continue to apply these lessons on their own.

“It’s like cooking food from a recipe or looking at a map for step-by-step instructions when driving somewhere new,” she notes. “Eventually you probably won’t need to look at the recipe or the map, but if you do have to look at them for the rest of your life, it’s okay because at least no one has to watch over you. You are self-managing.”

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feature

BELOW LINE THE

As the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution celebrates 30 years, Pepperdine Magazine reflects on the principles and players that have led to its indomitable track record

BY GAREEN DARAKJIAN

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Peter Robinson

Tom Stipanowich Randy Lowery

L-R: Chancellor Charles Runnels, Dorothy and Leonard Straus, University President David Davenport, and Randy Lowry

L

OS ANGELES, 1986. A time when

everybody wanted their day in court. Demand for judicial services was high and the courts were not equipped to promptly and efficiently adjudicate all the cases being filed. The time of filing to the time of trial in some jurisdictions was often five to six years and the cost of litigation was steadily increasing. Many lawyers simply could not afford taking on cases with small payouts, and attorneys were crying out for help.

There was mounting interest in resolving court cases through negotiation with the help of a mediator using a process called alternative dispute resolution (ADR), an emerging solution for the formal, time-consuming, and costly court litigation. As the justice system was slowly being reimagined, research was uncovering the great opportunity for the ADR field to change the way conflicts were resolved.

LaGard Smith, a professor at the School of Law, took notice of these developments and, along with Dean Ron Phillips and Assistant Dean Charles Nelson, caught the vision to develop a program at Pepperdine’s School of Law that addressed the shift in how society understands and reconciles conflict. Their goal was to meet the needs of the legal system by preparing Pepperdine students committed to resolving disputes more creatively and efficiently. Smith felt that mediation’s goal of reconciliation was consistent with the mission of the University and knew Pepperdine should be part of the great shift that was taking place in the legal world.

Smith traveled to the Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon, to visit a professor by the name of Randy Lowry (’74, MA ’77), a Pepperdine alumnus who was quickly becoming known as one of the nation’s leading experts in the field of dispute resolution. Smith hoped Lowry would be the perfect person to lead the charge at the School of Law.

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feature Lowry joined the School of Law faculty in 1986 as the director of clinical law and, along with fellow faculty members, was tasked with creating an innovative experiential, skills-based ADR program.

Two years later, the School of Law began offering its first academic program in dispute resolution, a 14-unit certificate designed to provide a supplementary experience for JD students. Lowry then hired Peter Robinson, a noted mediator and professional skills trainer, to serve as associate director of the dispute resolution program.

“Dispute resolution was becoming very important,” recalls Robinson, who, prior to Pepperdine, was the director of the Christian Conciliation Service of Los Angeles. “Our law school was preparing students for this reengineered justice system. Pepperdine was on the cutting edge of that shift.”

experiencing conflict around the world, and contributes to the research and development of new methodologies and practices in dispute resolution. The niche that the Straus visionaries carved out for the institute is distinctive for its commitment to bringing mediation and arbitration theory to life.

“The practice [of ADR] is the thing,” confirms Robinson. “It is a big part of the Straus Institute. Everyone who teaches mediation or arbitration has served as mediators or arbitrators. We are committed to preparing practitioners.”

In 2005 Lowry and Robinson began discussions with Thomas Stipanowich, CEO of a Manhattan-based think tank, the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, about cosponsored skills training for corporate lawyers. When Lowry departed

The institute currently offers both professional training and academic programs in dispute resolution, including a certificate program, a Master of Dispute Resolution, and a Master of Laws with concentrations in mediation, international commercial arbitration, and international commercial law and arbitration. The rigor and breadth of these programs attract students from all over the world, from those just entering their legal practice to senior judges and experienced attorneys.

When surveyed, many entering 1L students cite the dispute resolution program as their number one driving force behind their decision to attend the School of Law. As Pepperdine’s reputation grew, so too did its recognition. This year the Straus Institute was once again ranked number one in dispute resolution by U.S. News & World Report for the 12th time in 13 years.

Our law school was PREPARING STUDENTS for this reengineered justice system. Pepperdine was on the CUTTING EDGE of that shift. - PETER ROBINSON “A past presiding judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court confided that he believes a significant reason ADR was accepted by lawyers and judges in Southern California was the way Pepperdine approaches and teaches dispute resolution,” Robinson continues. “It’s done in a way that lawyers and judges can relate to and embrace. He said the practice of law changed and that we were part of that transition.”

The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution was formally named in 1991 in honor of Leonard Straus—a Harvard-educated lawyer and CEO of Thrifty Drug stores— and his wife, Dorothy.

Together, Lowry and Robinson helped develop the framework for the program that continues to challenge students through tailored academic courses and programs, equips practitioners to address the emerging demands of their fields, counsels religious communities 20

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Pepperdine to take over as president of Lipscomb University, Stipanowich and Robinson began discussions that created a new leadership team for the Straus Institute in 2006. Stipanowich, a noted scholar whose work in arbitration and dispute resolution has been cited by the US Supreme Court and many other tribunals, joined the Pepperdine faculty as professor of law and academic director of the Straus Institute. As managing director, Robinson assumed responsibility for the day-to-day running of the institute.

Stipanowich drew upon his many contacts at large corporations and major law firms to create a new Council of Distinguished Advisors for the institute, including top lawyers from General Mills, Amgen, the US Air Force, and many other organizations.

Meanwhile, Stipanowich’s scholarship and role in major national and international initiatives has greatly enhanced the institute’s academic reputation and its national and international visibility.

“How has our comparatively little university been ranked higher than Harvard in this area of specialty? Part of it is the people,” says Robinson of the faculty and staff who have contributed to the Straus Institute’s global success. “Part of it is the vision, part of it is hard work, and part of it is grace. A lot of it is momentum.”

Robinson remembers a time when the Straus Institute was still building its reputation in the nascent world of ADR. “Now with the recognition,” he says, “the opportunities are very different. Now that we’ve established ourselves as a credible entity, we have to think about what’s next.

How can we be a blessing and be used and bring glory to God and to Pepperdine?”

Today, people come from all over the world to study at the institute, often experiencing a transformation in the way they view and resolve conflict. Karinya Verghese (LLM ’15) experienced a dramatic change in the way

she viewed her place in the legal world while working on large-scale real estate transactions at a corporate law firm in her native Australia.

“I was part of a system where people had less control of their disputes and how they were resolved,” she reveals. “I was deeply entrenched in the documents and slowly losing touch with the people behind the disputes.”

To counteract this disconnect, she began to shadow a mediator on her days off and spent her free time studying the art of mediation. After relocating to the United States Verghese decided there was more to her future in mediation than just passion.

She moved to Los Angeles and explored LLM programs in dispute resolution and found herself at Pepperdine.

“The curriculum was exactly what I needed to connect with the things I felt were lacking in the market,” she recalls. “The experiential programs like the Mediation Clinic gave me a unique opportunity to flex my skills in real-life disputes and actually try different techniques to see what works and what doesn’t.”

Verghese now sits on the board of the Center for Conflict Resolution, the same organization that offers the Mediation Clinic to Straus students. As the associate regional director at FINRA’s Office of Dispute Resolution (West Region), her role is focused on arbitration, a practice she learned much about as a Straus Institute Research Fellow (2015-2016) working closely with Stipanowich after earning her LLM degree. At the time her passion was still in mediation, but one of her projects was helping Stipanowich make updates to the new edition of his arbitration textbook.

“It came full circle,” she says. “I never thought I’d work in arbitration, and now I’m working at an arbitration forum.

That experience has been so incredibly helpful in forming my understanding of the rules of arbitration from an academic perspective as well as from Tom’s perspective as an arbitrator.”

At the Straus Institute faith is paramount and an integral part of the practice of law that has facilitated conflict resolution at local churches and enabled communication among divided communities around the world. In 2008 president Andrew K. Benton provided funding for Straus to start the PACIS Project in Faith Based Diplomacy, a unique international interfaith reconciliation program.

“The PACIS Project provides an academic ‘home’ for the education and mentoring of the next generation of faith-based diplomats and for new scholarship born out of field experiences,” said the late professor Tim Pownall in 2011.

That same year, Pownall, along with fellow PACIS director Brian Cox and codirector Michael Zacharia (LLM ’10) traveled to Egypt and Syria to lead members of different faith backgrounds towards reconciliation and put together workshops where individuals from both Muslim and Christian backgrounds could engage in dialogue and ask for and receive forgiveness. Later that year, the Association for Conflict Resolution, a nationwide association of mediators and arbitrators, recognized the PACIS Project and Pownall with their annual Peacemaker Award.

“Faith is not something that is way off to the side in most people’s lives. It’s a prominent driver in conflicts and has been for hundreds of years,” explains Lowry, who himself traveled as far as Nairobi, Kenya, where the PACIS team was summoned to aid in a conflict between American missionaries that had spread to churches in the community.

“Mediation isn’t about reviewing evidence and making a decision,” Lowry continues.

“Mediation is about helping people make decisions for themselves that are durable long after we’ve left.”

“Go below the line!” Those four words traveled across a restaurant dining room in Malibu where Lowry was having lunch during a visit to Pepperdine a few years ago. He knew that the words were meant for him, and he knew exactly what they meant. The person who shouted the phrase was a former student of Lowry’s who, over 10 years later, still credited her law school professor with changing the way she approached negotiations in her professional life. She explained to him that the phrase contributed to her professional success.

When explaining negotiation, Lowry draws a line at the top of a page. Above the line are the facts and evidence collected from both sides of parties.

Below the line are the interests and needs of the individuals involved. The items below the line, Lowry insists, are key to understanding the driving forces behind conflicts and are often most powerful in helping resolve them.

“Most conflicts begin as a people problem. Lawyers make them a legal problem,” Lowry says. “We mediators go back and try to figure out the people problem again, and when we figure that out often we’re able to be helpful in coming to a resolution.”

Stipanowich, who as a young construction litigator was asked by a client, “Isn’t there a better way to resolve our disputes?” now sees the “go below the line” approach as underpinning fundamental changes in the way 21st-century lawyers practice law.

“Traditional legal education focused on substantive legal concepts is necessary, but not sufficient,” he explains. “We must embrace a holistic approach to the practice of law that sees our clients as whole people that bring particular hopes, fears, values, and needs to the table. Our program is about giving lawyers the tools to serve the whole person.”

Read about alumnus Marcio Vasconcellos (LLM ’16) and the visiting faculty that transformed his experience at the Straus Institute: magazine.pepperdine.edu/marcio-vasconcellos magazine.pepperdine.edu

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A World of

feature

Kauffeld chats with Afghan children during a project-monitoring visit to the Gulestan Valley.

Pease awards an elementary school child with a prize at a US-embassy-sponsored program promoting a shared heritage.

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Imagine moving to a different country every couple years to start a brand-new job.

Between constantly updating your resume, exploring an unfamiliar culture, and saying goodbye to the handful of close friends you made, it seems like hardly any time is left for implementing international aid and addressing complex foreign policies on behalf of the American government.

But for United States Foreign Service officers Benjamin Kauffeld (’92) and Leah Pease (MPP ’01), the delicate balance between social adjustments, professional achievements, and global assistance projects has become second nature.

In an array of capacities, Kauffeld and Pease have each spent about two decades serving overseas, collaborating with various government agencies to protect both American and local interests in communities abroad.

Two alumni travel around the globe to spread Pepperdine’s mission of purpose, service, and leadership as Foreign Service officers

By Sara Alamdar

WORKING REMOTELY In Islamabad, Pakistan, Kauffeld works for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve living conditions in remote villages through projects that provide education, improve healthcare, and build roads that connect isolated residents with commercial centers and increase accessibility to clean water. One of his office’s major projects, known officially as the FATA (federally administered tribal areas) Infrastructure Project, will also facilitate cross-border trade routes between the province of Balochistan in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

Although the security and work requirements of Kauffeld’s current job keep him primarily indoors in the air-conditioned offices of government buildings, some of his most memorable experiences have been from hands-on projects out in the field. Throughout a 22-year career that includes visiting nearly 100 countries, the crisis, stabilization, and governance officer has countless stories about the scenes he has witnessed—many incredibly touching and some unbelievably frightening.

During his first assignment working with the United Nations World Food Programme in southern Sudan, Kauffeld lived in tents, battled extreme temperatures, contracted malaria twice, and was once forced to evacuate on foot when a nearby village came under attack. Under more typical circumstances, he engaged directly with rural communities about their food security needs and managed food distributions to hundreds of thousands of people over a two-year period.

“When you start out in international development work, whether for emergency relief operations or long-term development, you must be flexible to go where the work demand is,” Kauffeld explains.

“Relief in particular is cyclical, and there will be a lot of donor funding and jobs after a major natural disaster (like an earthquake or tsunami) or civil conflict (like in Syria or Yemen), but these funds and jobs can also dry up as the response winds down. So you have to be ready to move.”

The day the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami shook

Sri Lanka, Kauffeld, who happened to be on vacation with his family in nearby Thailand, immediately flew to Colombo, Sri Lanka, to manage humanitarian assistance activities at the heart of the disaster.

Upon landing, Kauffeld met with various representatives of other national embassies as well as the United Nations, and together they assessed the damage and requested the necessary emergency relief assistance. Kauffeld spent the next few months teaming up with first responders, donors, and private organizations to manage Sri Lanka’s recovery.

“Hundreds of kilometers along the coast were hit and over 30,000 people were killed,” Kauffeld recollects. “We drove into devastated coastal towns and villages where houses had been overturned and there were boats on the road. I even saw a fully boarded train that had been swept off its tracks and thrown like a toy.”

Kauffeld’s assignments in the Middle East proved to be just as perilous. During a 2010 assignment in western Afghanistan, when local residents were highly in favor of anti-Taliban stabilization and

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feature TALK OF THE TOWN Growing up near the small northern California town of Yreka, Pease often dreamed of distant voyages. Now working as a public affairs officer at the US embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pease has relocated seven times over the last 16 years, embarking on new adventures within different roles.

As a member of a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan, Kauffeld briefs British Army General Nicholas Parker.

development efforts, Kauffeld joined the Provincial Reconstruction Team to supervise construction projects—all while fully embedded with the US military, living on a forward operating base, and wearing protective gear to meet local officials.

According to Kauffeld, “It was among the most austere working environments … it looked like the surface of Mars, was regularly over 130 degrees, unimaginably dusty, and occasionally

When you start out in international development work, whether for emergency relief operations or long-term development, YOU MUST BE FLEXIBLE to go where the work demand is.

— Benjamin Kauffeld 24

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very dangerous”—particularly the day a vehicle in front of him drove over an improvised explosive device, which miraculously failed to combust completely.

Two years later, Kauffeld was involved in supporting transparent and accountable governance in Ghana when he suddenly received word that the country’s president, John Atta Mills, had died from health complications.

“Thankfully Ghana managed a very regular and peaceful transition of power,” mentions Kauffeld, who was selected to coordinate the participation of the senior under-secretary-general of the United Nations at the state funeral and was the lead field officer coordinating visits from the United States secretary of state and a four-star general for the event.

Despite the harrowing occupational hazards that Kauffeld has endured, he still prefers fieldwork to office work.

In his current role at USAID, his team’s main effort is to channel taxpayer funds for international assistance to reliable organizations that then conduct relief activities. “[Office work] separates you from really interacting with people and seeing the very tangible effects of your assistance.”

While in Sarajevo, Pease is responsible for maintaining favorable relationships with media outlets, government agencies, and community members in support of US policy priorities. As she puts it, “We explain American policy and values to the public of the country that we’re in. The majority of employees at US embassies are local staff and the managers are the US diplomats.

The locals—who make up the majority of employees at US embassies—have expert knowledge and know how to get things done in their country, while we—the US diplomats—lead on foreign policy.”

Although her professional title changes every one to three years, her multiple roles as a generalist commonly involve strategic communications. Prior to Sarajevo, Pease dedicated three years of service as a course coordinator and instructor for both American and local staff at US embassies across the world, teaching the intricate details of public affairs and diplomacy to a diverse audience, ranging from brand-new Foreign Service officers to local employees who have worked with the Department of State for more than 25 years.

Throughout Pease’s career—which includes serving in Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the US Mission to NATO in Brussels, Belgium, and in Washington, DC—one of her most memorable experiences occurred while working as a desk officer covering UK and Ireland issues at the US State Department.

During this assignment, Pease was able to partake in the historic Washington, DC, visit between Ian Paisley, leader of the main loyalist party in Northern Ireland, and Martin McGuinness of

It was remarkable to see HUMAN NATURE and witness how people can change. It showed me what PEACE can do. ­—Leah Pease

Ireland’s nationalist political party, Sinn Féin.

While the two leaders had been sworn enemies for most of their lives and political careers, they found themselves as the elected co-ministers of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing agreement. In this capacity, they managed to work together to bring lasting peace and prosperity to Northern Ireland, despite a half century of opposition to each other’s respective party.

This collaborative effort was a testament to the fruits of long-term diplomacy and international cooperation, as the US government had been committed to the Northern Ireland peace process with other key international players for more than a decade by this time.

“It was remarkable to see human nature and witness how people can change,” Pease says of the former enemies. “It showed me what peace can do, and it was the most meaningful resolution I’ve seen in foreign policy.”

Italy, Honduras, and Venezuela, the Spanish speaker knew she wanted to continue studying American politics and international relations.

So when she traveled to San Salvador, El Salvador, to partake in a summer internship program while at the School of Public Policy, Pease sensed a deep confirmation that her life’s calling had been unveiled. She joined the US Foreign Service just a few months after graduation, and following orientation and training in Washington, DC, (the second day of which was the September 11 attacks in 2001), she moved again to Venezuela to begin her career as an embassy consular—a position mostly responsible for interviewing people who want to come to the US, both as tourists and immigrants. Consular officers also help Americans abroad with various requests, such as replacing lost or stolen passports, issuing birth certificates for babies born overseas, and providing notary public services for legal transactions.

They also perform welfare checks, visiting international prisons holding American inmates to ensure that their human rights are not being violated—one of the first tasks Pease was assigned while newly employed in Venezuela. Thinking back to these visits, she remembers how the new prisoners would beg her to expedite their release, while the long-term inmates were familiar with the routine and knew

that a consular officer did not possess the authority to set prisoners free.

“The US embassy provides a lot of services that you don’t know about if you’ve never needed them,” she explains. “We help Americans who get in trouble in any way, whether it’s medical or legal assistance.”

FIRST CLASS No matter how far away their jobs have taken them over the years, Pease and Kauffeld both credit the education they received at Pepperdine for helping them prepare for a lifetime of international service projects.

“My first semester at Pepperdine was the perfect study guide for the first Foreign Service exam,” remembers Pease. “So much of what was on the exam was exactly what we had talked about in class every day.”

Kauffeld, who double majored in international studies and humanities, addresses that his participation in Pepperdine’s yearlong Heidelberg program and its summer program in Moscow, Russia, allowed him to develop a wellrounded and multidimensional worldview.

“These experiences opened my eyes to issues of global poverty and inequality,” he affirms, “and I became very passionate about wanting to make a difference for people.”

Pease addresses the media in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pease, who describes her position as “your traditional diplomat,” recalls how her childhood desire for visiting other countries helped define her passion for foreign service.

After jumping at the chance to visit Costa Rica as an exchange student the summer after high school and spending time volunteering and studying in

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feature

By Gareen Darakjian

In a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Seaver College students learn from one of the best in the history of Major League Baseball

W

hen former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager (GM) Ned Colletti reflects on the 10

greatest days of his baseball career, he might think of the fateful one when he oversaw the signing of Clayton Kershaw, who is becoming known as one of the best pitchers of all time.

He might even recall his leadership in the Dodgers’ return to the Latin American market as one of the defining moments of his 35-year journey. But today the Chicago native—and childhood Cubs enthusiast—remembers his last official day as a baseball executive: October 22, 2016.

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T

hat night at Wrigley Field, the lines of loyalty were almost indistinguishable. While Colletti had a stake in the Dodgers advancing to the World Series, the seeds of his love for the game were sown in Wrigley Field as a Cubs fan. As the team he helped construct was ending its 2016 post-season short of the World Series, he remembered the countless matches he attended at that very location with his father while growing up in the Chicago suburb of Franklin Park.

He couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of nostalgia as his hometown team won the National League Championship Series, claiming a historic victory against the team that he had helped design for the last 11 years, the first nine in the GM role.

In a course called The General Manager, Colletti advised a group of 25 students on the pertinent leadership role in professional sports, one that he has nurtured and made his own through the years. The second course, Behind the Scenes: Major League Baseball, prepared students for the capstone experience of traveling with Colletti and John Watson (’72), professor of education and coordinator of the sport administration program at Pepperdine, to Camelback Ranch during Dodgers spring training. The curriculum, which aimed to give students a never-before-seen look inside the championship franchise, was a little different than your average college course.

“It was the last hurdle for the team I grew up with to go to the World Series, and I thought, ‘How poetic is that?’” muses Colletti, who transitioned following the 2014 season into a role as a TV analyst for the Dodgers' SportsNet LA. “It was one of the most precious things my dad and I shared—baseball, and especially the Cubs. It could have been any team, but it was that team and I was there for it rooting against them.’”

The trip promised meetings with different leaders in the Dodgers organization, including president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, general manager Farhan Zaidi, head of strength and conditioning Brandon McDaniel, video coordinator John Pratt, and Alanna Rizzo, a TV host on SportsNet LA, to name a few.

He was also there for five of the seven World Series games, including the final matches in Cleveland that so ceremoniously led to a win for the Cubs that was more than a century in the making. The Chicago team’s roundabout and sometimes rocky road to a sweet victory almost runs parallel to Colletti’s path to his place in Major League Baseball history—one that he hopes will inspire a new crop of executives and leaders as he shares his life lessons as an adjunct professor at Seaver College.

“I wasn’t a major league player. I wasn’t educated at an Ivy League school. I really had to work my way through the system and learn everything there was from the bottom up,” says Colletti, who has been mentoring students at Pepperdine for the last two years. “Teaching gives me an opportunity to discuss my experiences from the beginning of a career at the bottom of an organization all the way through it to the very top.”

This spring Colletti gathered a group of Seaver College students and some of his closest friends and designed for them a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from the greatest athletes, sports executives—including himself—and media professionals in the game.

Throughout the week, more of Colletti’s friends expressed interest in mentoring the young scholars and joined the group in impromptu drop-ins to share their perspectives on their areas of expertise. Students met with Hall of Fame pitcher and announcer John Smoltz, sportscaster and MLB Network host Greg Amsinger, and former NHL forward Mike Ricci, who talked about his development as a hockey athlete.

Between the sports talk and conversations about how to make themselves more marketable in a tough economy, Colletti also endeavored to boost students’ confidence and reminded them of the great blessing of having “the opportunity to have opportunities”—internships and conversations with people who can help guide them down the path to professional success.

“They aspire for great things,” he asserts. “They aspire for a tremendous life, a life of morals, ethics, and also prosperity as an employee. That’s a lot to try and weave together as you’re hitting your 20s.”

“All they really need on the outside is one person to believe in them,” Colletti continues. “They don’t need 20, they need one. I gave them ideas about how to make that happen.” magazine.pepperdine.edu

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feature Colletti is no stranger to opportunity and he certainly doesn’t take for granted those individuals who saw potential in his eagerness to learn and commitment to succeed.

He was given one of his first opportunities when Gary Klasen, a sports editor at a small newspaper in suburban Chicago, gave the North Illinois University journalism graduate a chance to cover sports. From there he took jobs covering football and basketball beats at the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times, and Commercial-News and expanded his writing ability. He was then given an opportunity to cover the Philadelphia Flyers for the Philadelphia Journal. And then life turned upside-down for Colletti.

In September 1981, 800 miles west of Philadelphia where he and his wife Gayle were living at the time, Colletti learned that his father was dying of lung cancer at the age of 49. Gayle was eight months pregnant with their first child and they had just bought a duplex in Philadelphia.

By December, the Philadelphia Journal had folded, leaving Colletti jobless with a 30-year mortgage to pay off. Bob Ibach, a sports writer in Philadelphia, introduced him to Dallas Green, the general manager of the Cubs at the time. The duo approached him about applying for one of the two job openings in the front office of his

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hometown team. Colletti would have taken a pay cut had he accepted one of the positions, so he made them a deal.

Twelve years ago in November 2005, Colletti got a call from Frank and Jamie McCourt to come to Los Angeles to be the GM of the Dodgers.

“I didn’t have the experience that some people had on a resume,” he says. “What I did have was an opportunity to present to them that I would do two jobs for a higher salary than I would have received for doing one job—but for less cost than if they had hired two employees. I showed them that I was willing to compromise and be creative, willing to find a way to help the company, and they helped me.”

“There are many people who come into your life, and at the time you don’t necessarily know why they are in your life.

You don’t always know the job right now is going to pay a dividend later in life,” he says. “One place led me to another person to another place. I look back at my life and my career and I see God’s plan. The magnificence of it is so inspiring to me. And while it was so unclear to me while I was in the midst of it, it made perfect sense in hindsight. I’m the most blessed person you’ll ever meet.”

“My mother told me every day to try to be a blessing to somebody,” Colletti remembers. “You don’t have to know them, you don’t have to do anything magnificent, but try to be a blessing to somebody.”

The pithy philosophy paid off. Three years later Green brought Colletti into the business side and introduced him to the salary arbitration process and negotiation, scouting, and player development. After eight years with the Cubs, Colletti went to San Francisco to work for the Giants, the last nine of his 11 years there as assistant GM.

At Camelback Ranch, senior Sam Ravech (’17) was soaking up every moment of his time learning from the greats, and especially from the man who had given him the opportunity to be there. He had sat down with Colletti a few weeks before the trip and remembers a conversation they had had about the seasoned executive’s long career and how his faith had helped shape it. In fact, between classes in Malibu and life-changing trips to Arizona, Colletti was always on call and made himself available to meet with students any time his guidance was needed.

Teaching gives me an opportunity to discuss my experiences from the beginning of a career at the bottom of an organization all the way through it to the very top of it.

Colletti advised the aspiring sports broadcaster to stay true to himself, stay focused on his faith, and avoid getting caught up in the noise of the limelight. As a baseball fan and someone on the fast track to making his own name in sports broadcast journalism, Ravech couldn’t believe that he had the opportunity to learn from the legend himself.

This year Ravech was tapped by the San Francisco Giants— Colletti’s former team—to take on a broadcasting role for their Double-A team located in Richmond, Virginia—becoming the youngest professional broadcaster in the league. Though he didn’t have much baseball experience, he had spent the last four years delivering game-time analysis for Waves basketball and volleyball. The Giants were impressed by his talent and the experience he had gleaned from his father Karl Ravech, the longtime host of Baseball Tonight on ESPN. “I’m definitely following in my father’s footsteps, but I want to make my own footprint in the industry,” Ravech contends.

“I’ve been around baseball my whole life, but to learn from Ned Colletti, one of the best GMs in Major League Baseball ... he’s changed the game.”

About 10 years ago someone asked Colletti, “What do you see yourself doing when you’re done with baseball?” He didn’t initially have a response.

“I really couldn’t answer it because I didn’t know what I had wanted it to look like, but then it dawned on me what a poignant final chapter or two might be,” he says. “When someone holds a memorial service for me, I want people to remember that I did something outside of my 35-year baseball career that was meaningful to other people in a positive way. As amazing as the baseball positions have been, as wonderful as it was to be the GM of one of the most iconic franchises in the history of sports anywhere, doing something so profoundly positive and helpful to other people when I had completed my baseball career was something I sought.”

“And perhaps this is it. Perhaps it’s God opening the door for me to use my experiences, my strengths, my weaknesses, my successes, my failings—to use it for the good of young people coming up through education. When I drive up Pacific Coast Highway and pull into campus, I have a tremendous sense of peace in my soul.”

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alumni

The Pepperdine Perks® Program

Cha-ching! Pepperdine Alumni Affairs is helping you save money.

The Pepperdine Alumni Association is offering alumni the opportunity to join the Pepperdine Perks® program. When you register for the program, you’ll be able to save money at thousands of local and national retailers on things you buy every day, including movie tickets, video rentals, restaurants, toys, car repairs, and even professional services! Plus, you’ll receive discounts on special-occasion purchases, including gifts, travel, and entertainment.

Your Pepperdine Perks® membership allows you to save five ways: 1. Show and save: Show these merchants your card or smartphone at the time of purchase to redeem the discount.

4. Cashback rewards: Perks members will be able to shop online at more than 1,000 retailers and earn cash back just for doing so. No points, no rewards, no gimmicks. Just cash!

2. Mobile: Download the PerksConnect™ app on your smartphone to view various discounts in your neighborhood. This user-friendly app will allow you to find deals on the go.

5. Gift cards: Members can receive discounts on the purchase price of a gift card. Gift card(s) will arrive in the mail within seven business days and can be used just like cash.

3. Online savings: Discounts are available from over 100 internet-based vendors. These discounts are accessed through a link on the PerksConnect™ website or by using a value code.

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pepperdine.edu/alumni/perks

Alumni

LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

Save the Date

Serving as the voice of 120,000 alumni (and counting), the Alumni Leadership Council plays an important role for the Pepperdine Alumni Association. The council, made up of representatives from all five schools and George Pepperdine College, recently completed a study on improving alumni benefits, services, career resources, and affinity groups. This summer, the council will present its recommendations to the University’s administration. Look for exciting new initiatives coming soon to better serve the Pepperdine alumni community.

Saturday, September 9, 2017 A heart for service is a common thread that connects Pepperdine across its many schools and geographic locations. This September join thousands of Waves around the world at Step Forward Day 2017, Pepperdine’s international day of service that invites the global University community to connect with local neighborhoods, impact the lives of others, and celebrate the University’s mission. Take part in fun-filled volunteer projects, including gardening, sorting food donations, and much-needed maintenance alongside fellow Waves. Invite your friends and family to save the date and “step forward” with you to serve your local community.

If you would like to participate or have an available service opportunity, email alumni@pepperdine.edu.

alumni@pepperdine.edu • pepperdine.edu/alumni

Alumni

STRATEGIC PLAN In March 2017 Pepperdine Advancement and Alumni Relations initiated a University-wide alumni engagement strategic planning process to unify and strengthen its alumni engagement strategies and programs. The plan will present a vision, mission statement, goals, strategies, objectives/ tactics, metrics, timelines for five years, and resource requirements.

With a plan and clear priorities, Alumni Relations will take engagement opportunities to a higher level where alumni are broadly connected, as well as a more personal and exclusive level with individuals and small interest groups.

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community | scholarship

COMPANY A double alumnus is selected by the mayor of Los Angeles to bridge the gap between business and government

By Sara Alamdar

JASON NAZAR (MBA ’05, JD ’07)

started his first business at 7 years old.

It was called Loans Incorporated, and the budding entrepreneur collected his own lunch money and loaned it to his classmates—even collecting interest at 25 cents per day. He believed he had enough to share and drafted handwritten contracts for his borrowers to sign to legitimize the deal.

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recognized business magnate in the technology realm—a niche expertise that caught the eye of Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti.

“My dad is a Persian Jewish immigrant who came to the US in the 1950s. By the time I was born, he was a full-time entrepreneur and worked in real estate,” he explains. “So I always had the model of somebody that worked for himself, with a business built his own way, and that had a big influence on me.”

In February 2016 Mayor Garcetti appointed Nazar as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) for the City of Los Angeles. Launched in 2014 and modeled after a technique popular among venture capitalists, the mayor’s vision for the EIR program is to develop a liaison between the city’s business community—specifically those invested in entrepreneurial and technology endeavors—and local government, offering support and resources on both sides of the partnership through one grand-scale project for the city.

So began Nazar’s lifelong passion for entrepreneurship, which has encouraged him to expand his portfolio from schoolyard lender to nationally

For his EIR project, which raised over $100,000 from sponsors, Nazar worked tirelessly with a team that included staff members from the mayor’s office

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to organize and host the largest-ever technology job fair in the history of Southern California: TechFair LA.

Nazar (left) with Mayor Garcetti (right)

On January 26 this year, 14,000 Los Angeles residents congregated Downtown to meet with representatives of nearly 300 internationally known corporations, including Snapchat, SpaceX, and Tesla—all of which were seeking to expand their network of employees.

of Law, delicately balancing his academic responsibilities with operating a highprofile content site, presenting at speaking engagements, and writing articles on entrepreneurship for online platforms like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Business Insider.

“This widely successful event is an example of what you can do when you combine the private and public sectors to help the community,” Nazar says of the project that challenged him to develop all the concepts and content, drive audience attendance, and book the keynote speakers, which included former Los Angeles Lakers coach and basketball legend Byron Scott.

The faculty and administration at the School of Law were incredibly supportive of Nazar’s impressive endeavors, and even then-dean Ken Starr encouraged him to pursue his dreams while staying focused on his law degree. “He would say, ‘Look, Jason, we all know you’re going to be an entrepreneur, but just do what you have to do to get through law school. Then go off on that journey.’”

After six months of investing his energy into creating, promoting, and executing TechFairLA, Nazar spent other parts of the year connecting Los Angeles entrepreneurs with policymakers, educating them on how best to work with city government to realize their business goals.

This was a similar role to the one he has perfected producing and managing Startups Uncensored, the longest-running technology mixer in Los Angeles, attended by nearly 20,000 people since 2008.

“I have brought in notable CEOs, at first from Los Angeles and then eventually from the Bay Area and New York, to talk about their experiences,” Nazar notes.

“And Mayor Garcetti came and spoke at one of the events back when he was a council member.”

When the entrepreneur and the politician first met, Nazar was primarily focused on Docstoc, his first global website that at its peak generated 30 million unique visitors a month—making it one of the most visited websites in the world from 2008 to 2014. Docstoc garnered nearly 50 million registered users when it was sold to software company Intuit in 2013.

Nazar began developing Docstoc during his third year at the Pepperdine School

The Pepperdine alumnus took that advice to heart. In 2015 he launched Comparably.com, a platform that lists how much employees should be earning in their current positions, informs users about a company’s office culture as reviewed by employees, and helps digital candidates land their dream jobs by connecting them with companies in the technology industry.

Having raised $14 million thus far and partnering with numerous major Los Angeles-based venture capital firms, Nazar explains that the goal of Comparably is “to close the gender pay gap so that women are being paid as fairly as men, create a level playing field between employers and employees, and make work culture more transparent.”

...I always had the model of somebody that worked for himself, with a business BUILT HIS OWN WAY, and that had a big influence on me. ­— Jason Nazar

While Nazar’s professional accomplishments have gained international attention over the years, his most rewarding venture has been witnessing former employees become entrepreneurs.

“That’s something I’m extremely proud of,” Nazar admits. “I’ve often invested in their businesses and joined their boards knowing that what I’m doing is directly helping other people as a launch pad to what they ultimately want to do in their careers—that’s truly fulfilling for me.”

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community | scholarship

The

New

By Sara Alamdar

Seaver journalism students present social issues in new ways to promote positive community outreach

At the recommendation of her journalism professor and broadcast news program adviser, Corona took to the streets to

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investigate. A few interviews later, she discovered that the general consensus among the homeless was that they felt uncomfortable leaving their possessions behind. To them, the streets were home, and they argued that no one leaves their house simply because of rain. One man even mentioned that he had grown so accustomed to living outside that he now preferred it to indoor housing.

What they did want was a day center—a place to shower, do laundry, and charge their phones. Some were even willing to pay a small fee for these services.

They also emphasized the importance of receiving food or clothing over dollars and cents, and explained that any money collected from panhandling would typically be spent on things like alcohol.

Corona, astounded by their candor and enthusiasm to share their wants and needs, presented her findings to former Malibu mayor Laura Rosenthal to collaborate on a more effective plan to help the city’s homeless population.

Photo: Logan Beitler

In anticipation of heavy rainstorms that were predicted to ravage the California coast during El Niño 2016, Malibu City Council members proposed a plan to provide homeless residents complimentary shuttle services from Malibu to Santa Monica for an overnight stay in a shelter. The following morning, the same shuttles would return the residents back to Malibu. While the idea seemed like a charitable initiative that would be desired by the local transient population, Seaver journalism major Karina Corona (’17) wondered how Malibu’s homeless community really felt about being relocated without their input on the matter.

Karina Corona (left) and Alexis Padilla (right)

“We talked about the shuttle system and the idea of a homeless shelter in the future. I also brought up the idea of the day center,” Corona recalls. “She was quite surprised by the idea and thanked me for relaying the information to her, because it was not a concept that had been talked about before within the city council.”

This proactive and impactful approach to storytelling—and then taking it a step further to propose a realistic

solution—is what assistant professor of communication Theresa de los Santos (’01, MA ’08) instills in her students at Seaver College. Known as solutions journalism, this news style focuses on a major community issue, highlights groups that have already attempted to solve related problems, and addresses what they have accomplished so far.

“Solutions journalism is about digging a little bit deeper and criticizing public policy to ask, ‘Is this the right solution for this particular issue?’” de los Santos explains. “It’s about showing audiences that there are a lot of current problems and a lot of work to be done, but you don’t just leave the story there.”

Solutions journalism is about digging a little bit deeper and criticizing public policy to ask,

‘Is this the right solution for this particular issue?’

— Theresa de los Santos

Delivered with neutral, non-threatening tones, these news stories also provide audiences with a sense of hope

rather than fear, offering the opportunity to get involved and promote positive change in an otherwise disheartening situation.

According to one of de los Santos’ studies, people will stay engaged in a hope-framed message significantly longer than stories based on fear, indicating that perhaps this common negative bias is part of what is causing so many people to turn away from the news.

“The ratio of negative stories to positive stories is 17:1, so that got me thinking about how we can train students to do this better,” she reveals.

Recent graduate Alexis Padilla (’17), who accompanied Corona to film her interviews with the homeless residents, applied the same journalistic method when exploring the implications of the 3-2 council vote that established Malibu as a sanctuary city this March.

“Hispanics are the second most dominant ethnicity in the city, so I felt it was important to tell this story,” she shares, specifically focusing on the potential consequences of legislative decisions on that particular community. “Immigration is a huge topic in the news recently, and it’s creating fear for many people.”

Extremely passionate

about social justice issues, Padilla expresses that these types of stories are often excluded from mainstream media.

In her efforts to research this topic vastly enough to provide possible calls to action, she worked with members of Malibu City Hall, the Malibu Labor Exchange, and professors who research Hispanic culture in the United States to examine this event in a way that would avoid demonstrating advocacy for

either side of the decision—an element that de los Santos claims is key in delivering true solutions journalism.

Padilla, who describes solutions journalism as “more of a mentality,” contends that incorporating components of hope and related outreach efforts can help assuage the public’s angst, thereby making news more appealing to follow.

With a deep journalistic dedication to tell stories that highlight both the struggles and achievements of Latino communities in the United States, fellow alumna Corona shares similar insights. “It just

goes to show that we each have a voice,” she says. “And as journalists, it’s our job to make sure that those who may not always get their voice heard get the chance to speak.”

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community | spiritual life

Serve, Love, Stay This summer, Caleb Scott will be traveling to the heart of a conflict that has been called one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time. His goal: to serve the church and the people of the Middle East.

An international refugee crisis inspires undergraduate Caleb Scott ('17) to a professional calling

By Vincent Way

Since graduating with his degree in international studies in April, Scott has made a three-year commitment to work at Horizons International, a humanitarian aid nonprofit, where he will be working on humanitarian aid distribution and home visitation on their Refugee Leadership Team. It won’t be his first trip abroad or even his first foray into international ministry.

As a high school student, he seized every chance to serve people in need. He was left unsatisfied by the short duration of his humanitarian journeys to Nicaragua, Mexico, Hawaii, Belize, Uganda, and Costa Rica and felt moved to pursue an opportunity with a lasting impact. It wasn’t until he launched an exploration of the Middle East—inspired by the locations he first came to know in the Bible—that

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On the shores of Lesbos, Greece, Caleb Scott stands ready to welcome and assist a rubber dinghy teeming with Syrian refugees.

he became aware of the decades-long discord and spiritual strife that the region’s geopolitics generated.

At Pepperdine, Scott followed his heart for service and for the first time saw with his own eyes and heard the stories of locals living in refugee tents. He traveled to places like Turkey, Lebanon, and Greece, where just last year he was part of a team that rescued refugees as they fled their crisis-inflicted home countries.

While the experience was fruitful, Scott couldn’t help but feel sadness over their uncertain futures.

“I had no idea where they would end up, and I knew that a lot of them would stay trapped in camps or sent back,” he wrote on his website. “Today, the spiritual battle in the Middle East is just as intense as it was the day the disciples left Jerusalem. I want to follow in the footsteps of Paul and the early disciples in this region.”

In his sophomore year, Scott read online about a church ministry that was making a difference in Mafraq, Jordan, a town on the Syrian border through which many displaced Syrians have fled the civil war that has been raging in their country since 2011. He was moved—so moved that he and a fellow sophomore emailed the pastor and asked if they could help. The pastor simply responded, “We need a lot of help, so come.”

Scott spent five weeks in that summer before his junior year addressing the immediate needs of the approximately 90,000 refugees in Mafraq. On a typical day he would rise early, load a truck with supplies for new arrivals—mattresses, fans, blankets, gas, stoves, food, and clothes— and make deliveries. In the evening, he would return to a family or group they had distributed to during the day and share tea.

As the refugees would unload their experiences to Scott’s imploring ears in evening conversations, the young aid worker came to learn the hard part and real meat of aid work. Scott recalls Nypha, a young widow with two sons.

He could barely keep eye contact when she described their daily reality.

“She said they could barely ever hear each other because the planes, guns, and bombs were so loud,” he says. “She explained that the bombing was worst at three specific times of day and it got so bad that they would wait to eat meals until after the bombing just in case someone died because then they would have more food to go around.”

Hearing this kind of heart-breaking testimony every night was hard and Scott found it difficult to sleep, sorrowing over

attempting the treacherous maritime winter crossing from Turkey. He actually missed the first two weeks of class, but his professors were happy to assign make-up work in reward.

The very next summer Scott began his first experience with Horizons International and focused his attention to working with Syrian refugees making their way into Beirut, Lebanon. The refugee experience is different in Lebanon, while the humanitarian need is just as acute.

“The Lebanese government is very unfriendly toward the refugees and have not allowed establishment of a large UN camp like you find in Jordan or Turkey,” he explains. “In addition to smaller, dispersed camps, refugees live in small apartments in the slum areas of Beirut, where you’ll have five families sharing an apartment.

THERE IS THE POVERTY OF HAVING NOTHING, BUT THEN THERE IS THE SPIRITUAL POVERTY OF HAVING LOST THEIR HOMES, JOBS, AND FAMILY. the refugees’ lives. “I can’t put into words how terrible an emotional state these people are in,” he laments. “There is the poverty of having nothing, but then there is the spiritual poverty of having lost their homes, jobs, and family. That was when I knew I wanted to dedicate time longer than the month I was serving and loving the refugees.”

Just a few months later, as soon as Scott got a break between finals and the start of spring semester, he headed off to the island of Lesbos in Greece with the International Surf and Lifesaving Association to deploy his years of experience as a lifeguard to receive and rescue the raft-loads of Syrian refugees

The men do construction labor for next to nothing, so it can be like slave labor. I also spent time at Horizons’ School of Hope to educate refugee kids because they aren’t able to go to a Lebanese school.”

Asked about how easily Christians like himself navigate dialogue with Muslim refugees there, Scott informs that “faith is discussed more openly in the Middle East than in the US—they are glad to be talking about their faith. Since Jesus is a prophet in Islam, you find these commonalities that bridge the gap. They want to hear more about him. The worries are when religion becomes political and sects fight for power.

That is what is happening in Syria and why 1.5 million Syrians are now in Lebanon.”

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community | spiritual life

Busyness After serving in ministry for 25 years in 20 countries, a spiritual director hones in on a life-changing approach to self-reflection

By Sara Alamdar

R

egardless of what we believe, most of us encounter one of two typical spiritual struggles: either we are in the midst of overcoming disappointments and complaining of God’s absence or we are far too busy to notice his presence. Whichever side of the pendulum we land on, we are often in denial about feeling disconnected and find comfort in the distractions that push us further away from examining our spiritual health.

For people who understand this dilemma, theology expert Robert Woodcock has some simple yet profound advice: if you want to hear a personal message from God, escape to a place of complete solitude and listen for a small, still voice.

With over 25 years of experience transforming people’s spiritual outlooks— which includes working extensively with Christians, people of other religions, and those unaffiliated with any particular faith—Woodcock is the first-ever spiritual life officer at the Graziadio School of Business and Management. His vision: to

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introduce students, staff, and faculty to spiritually transformative approaches to business, life, leadership, and work.

“Students come here to develop social, financial, and emotional capital, but what about spiritual capital?” he implores.

“Where will they draw from when they’re alone and have to make decisions? We [encourage] Christians, as well as people of different faiths, to reflect upon these concepts, some for the first time, at the beginning of their education at a great business school.”

Prior to joining the Graziadio School in February 2016, Woodcock operated Integrative Guidance—a Pennsylvaniabased private practice where, through a series of reflective exercises, the spiritual director trained his clients to find their purpose in life. After listening to his clients’ needs, Woodcock soon learned that while people were quick to disclose their grievances, they did not seem to know what to pray for. This led him to explore numerous theological approaches, including the works of celebrated religious

figures, to develop spiritually formative questions and practices that shine light on what God wants each of us to do with our time on earth.

Woodcock’s unique spiritual guidance, which he now offers at the Graziadio School, begins with asking people to reflect on the previous day to identify where and when they sensed feelings of belonging, connection, and support.

He then asks them to consider which parts of the day made them feel the most uncomfortable, lonely, and unappreciated.

These honest and thorough reflections produce revelations of which persons and activities they should pursue in order to increase their sense of encouragement and happiness the following day, while highlighting which negative situations to avoid moving forward.

“They start learning that they can do some of the work on their own,” he shares.

“They just need someone to listen to them and not pray for them so much,

Students come here to develop social, financial, and emotional capital, but what about spiritual capital?

— Robert Woodcock

but act as a prayer companion to pray with them and witness what’s happening. After a while, you begin to see growth, and then you start to see transformation happening.”

The next step is to explore what once made them feel alive. According to Woodcock, many people grew up demonstrating a talent they passionately enjoyed—such as art, sports, or music— but the overwhelming responsibilities of adulthood slowly detached them from continuing to nurture these interests.

But after they rediscover what once made them genuinely happy, they will have the opportunity to relive those joyful moments.

“Our work isn’t about accomplishing a goal,” Woodcock explains. “Our work is

focused on getting people grounded in their core identity. Who are they? Who does God say they are? A lot of people have difficulty getting in touch with their deepest desires.” Desires, as Woodcock suggests, that are often placed on our hearts by God for a specific purpose.

“Most people say they want to do the will of God, but they don’t think about the desires that God gave them,” he says.

“So if they can discern that God gave them these desires, they can ask, ‘What am I going to do with that?’ And a big part of that is exploring who they are.”

As Woodcock explains, this exploration requires people to periodically break away from their busy schedules to allow time for quiet reflection and prayer. This is a practice that may pose a challenge

for the members of the Graziadio School community who have already sought Woodcock’s guidance in rebalancing their daily workloads to prioritize their spiritual health. Without this balance, Woodcock warns that ignoring feelings of detachment can eventually lead to the spiritual equivalent of arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat that in some cases can be lifethreatening) and recommends spending a few hours each week in the quiet presence of God to regain inner peace.

“I think people get a feeling of arrhythmia in their lives, and they can sense that there is a better rhythm,” he says. “And that’s part of why I’m here—to help highly motivated and busy people at a world-class business school be more contemplative about their life and work.”

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community | athletics DELISHA MILTON-JONES is a woman of contradictions. Soft spoken, polite, and eloquent, she is known as “Sunshine” off the court to her teammates and all who have the privilege of knowing her. On the court, she becomes “D-Nasty,” challenging her opponents with her dizzying defense, dropping buckets with impeccable dexterity, and leading her team with an intense focus that has earned her two back-to-back WNBA championships and two Olympic Gold Medals. When she was named head coach of the Waves women’s basketball team this spring, everyone was eager to witness which Milton-Jones would show up on the hardwood and how her decades-long legacy of domination would translate at Pepperdine.

Net Results “I’ve only known one way to play, and that’s hard,” says Milton-Jones, a self-proclaimed “country girl” who credits her whatever-it-takes mentality to her modest—and oftentimes difficult—upbringing. “I know how to roll up my sleeves and get to work and never take anything for granted,” she says.

“That’s been a driving force behind me all these years.”

At 11 years old the Georgia native already stood six feet tall. She wasn’t quite sure about the dolls and books her sister spent time with and instead took pointers from her athletic next-door neighbor, a cousin who had experienced some success playing basketball in her youth. She tried her luck on her middle school basketball team and hit her stride in high school, where she started as a freshman on the varsity basketball team.

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She was noticed by the USA Basketball organization in her junior year and was launched into the world of high-stakes sports that would transform her life and set her on a path to international success.

“Every step of the way, every experience I had took me to another level,” says MiltonJones, who earned numerous MVP titles at overseas competitions and at basketball camps during her summers off.

She was then recruited by the University of Florida, where she led the Gators to four consecutive NCAA tournaments and helped them score a spot on the NCAA Elite Eight in her senior year. She also averaged 20 points per game and was the recipient of the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year award, the Wade Trophy, and the Honda Collegiate Women Sports Award.

Summer 2017

Photos: Jason Flynn

Following a long and decorated career, a WNBA champion and Olympian takes the reins of Waves women’s basketball

By Gareen Darakjian

After graduating in 1997 she was faced with the decision of playing overseas in Poland, joining the WNBA, or playing alongside soon-to-be legends as part of the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL). She seized the opportunity to further develop her skills and earn some money with the ABL. By 2000, she and her fellow teammates—Dawn Staley, Teresa Edwards, Yolanda Griffith, Natalie Williams, and Katie Smith, to name a few—were the best women’s basketball players in the country and stood together on the podium to collect their medals at the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. That’s when the players in the ABL decided to make a separate draft to declare for the WNBA, still in its infancy and fighting to pave the way for the recognition of women’s basketball.

Milton-Jones’ chance was in the hands of WNBA great Lisa Leslie, who was very clear about her intentions for her fourth draft pick for the Los Angeles Sparks.

She wanted somebody who was going to run circles around opponents with a quick-hitting high-low offense—MiltonJones’ specialty.

“I became the Robin to her Batman, and we made magic,” she recalls, referring to her 11 years on the trailblazing team. She also went on to compete on the Washington Mystics, the San Antonio Silver Stars, the New York Liberty, and the Atlanta Dream throughout her 17-year professional career. She holds the WNBA record for

most games played (499) and is one of only seven players in league history with at least 5,000 points and 2,400 rebounds.

When she got the call to join the women’s basketball coaching staff at Pepperdine, she had to make the decision to retire from playing the sport that had shaped her life and career.

“I was truly blown away,” recalls MiltonJones, who credits her husband Roland, a professional basketball player himself, with giving her the initial push to pursue the coaching opportunity. “To hear [athletic director] Steve Potts (JD ’82) say that I’m the person he wants to lead the charge ... it was euphoric.

You realize how monumental it is.

It’s not just about you setting out to achieve a task and walk away with a prize. This is something different.”

At Pepperdine, Milton-Jones was introduced to a very young, very injured team. But through the seemingly constant physical challenges they faced, the team persevered and eventually claimed a victory over Gonzaga last year, a team that has earned a reputation as a college athletics juggernaut.

“Our team experienced a lot of growth just by beating teams we had never beaten before,” Milton-Jones explains. “The blueprint that [former women’s basketball head coach Ryan Weisenberg] had was a good one. I want to continue our ascent to greater success.”

But this time it’s someone else in the jersey sinking buzzer-beaters and charging through plays on the court. “It’s me trying to get others to perform, whether it’s the staff or the players,” she says. “That in itself can be scary and overwhelming.”

For Milton-Jones, her priority is bringing the “pro mentality” to the collegiate level and giving the players the type of freedom to perform in ways that feel natural to them until they develop the IQ that MiltonJones requires of a championship team.

“That is going to take some patience on my end,” she says. “I can’t be so caught up in wanting [the game] to look a certain way because it will be chaotic for them to fight the urges to do what comes comfortably to them.”

As she continues to groom the team and instill in them the fighting spirit that has taken her from her hometown to the big leagues, Milton-Jones hopes to bring a different brand of basketball to Firestone Fieldhouse—one with energy on both ends of the floor that will help the team win games but also gain fans and followers.

Milton-Jones explains that the success of the women’s basketball team depends on the relationships that the program builds within the Malibu community.

“We need to get the community invested and involved the same way the Pepperdine women’s program has supported the local community,” she asserts. “We have a great women’s team with a great mission behind them. They deserve that support!”

I’ve only known one way to play, and that’s

HARD. magazine.pepperdine.edu

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community | athletics

I

f Sahith Theegala seems to cut a confident figure on the golf

course, particularly for a 19-year-old college sophomore, he’s earned it. On top of clutch performances in several NCAA tournaments, Theegala was partnered with PGA Tour legend Phil Mickelson at the Genesis Open this past February and played him to the wire, finishing just one shot behind the three-time Masters Golf Tournament winner. What’s more, he finished two strokes ahead of Australian Jason Day, ranked number one in the world at the time.

a

“Phil was great to talk to,” Theegala says. “As we were walking down the fairways, he’d have all sorts of stories to tell me.

He started off talking about college, ‘Do you have a girlfriend,’ things like that—we had a lot to talk about."

“When you grow up playing golf, you obviously look up to him. He was second only to Tiger [Woods] for so much of his career, so it was really amazing to get to play with him. Not many other people can say they got to play 31 holes on Sunday with Phil Mickelson.”

When Theegala talks about “growing up playing golf,” he may actually be underplaying his experience. He remembers picking up a club for the first time at age 2. Just before he turned 6, he got his first set of clubs. A few months later, he was playing in his first junior tournament.

He says he picked up his interest in golf from his father, who came to the US from India with Theegala’s mother when they were in their 20s. “My dad loved watching sports on TV. One day he was watching the Masters, and I was intrigued by it right away, so I just sat right down and watched with him. I remember him talking about Tiger and all the top players, and that just seemed really interesting to me at the time.”

Even before he started as a freshman at Diamond Bar High School in Southern California, Theegala recalls getting recruiting overtures from Pepperdine men’s golf coach Michael Beard.

SHOTat

Greatness Golfer Sahith Theegala shines at the college level—and beyond

By Doug Gillett

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At the time, he didn’t even know where Pepperdine was, but when he started visiting schools toward the end of his sophomore year, he accepted Beard’s invitation for a campus tour in Malibu.

“The first time I visited Pepperdine, just getting to know the coaches and walking around campus with my dad, I knew this was a special place,” he says. “One of the main reasons I went to Pepperdine was the coaches—everyone seemed to have a lot of respect for them. They definitely seemed to know what they were doing."

“The total experience of going to Pepperdine and joining the golf team was way better than I thought, the way coach goes about practice and tournaments. He also does such a good job of fundraising and networking. Coach knows so many people and he’s introduced me to so many of his friends, and that’s really helped me outside of golf too.”

One of those people is Paul Porteous, a longtime supporter of both Pepperdine

and the golf team. Porteous paid Theegala’s way into the qualifier for the Genesis Open, and the two played in a foursome that won the four-ball part of that qualifier—a victory that earned a $50,000 donation to the Pepperdine golf program.

Ranked 25th nationally headed into the NCAA Championships, Pepperdine made the top-15 cut and finished a respectable 13th in the tournament. And Theegala says the team could be even better this coming season with its top four golfers returning.

It also kicked off an amazing year for Theegala, which included the Genesis Open pairing with Mickelson, a win in the Southwestern Invitational in Westlake Village (in which Pepperdine upset sixth-ranked USC by a whopping 16 strokes), and a trip to Chicago with his team to play in the NCAA national championship tournament.

When that new season gets underway in a few months, Theegala will be one of the team’s undisputed leaders. At that point, he’ll have a US Open appearance under his belt, becoming only the second golfer in Pepperdine Athletics history to play in the open while still a student.

“That was probably the best part of my year, honestly,” he says. “Being so close with the guys on the team, it was like having family out there. We were so excited to be there. And all of our actual families traveled out there too, so we had a big group, like 30 or 40 of us going out to dinner.”

But it’s been a long time since he last felt any real nervousness on the links. “For me, once I hit the first tee shot, I’m good,” Theegala says. “I know it’s a game I’ve played my whole life. I’m not going to force anything, whether I’m playing with Phil Mickelson or another college player.

I just play my own game.”

I'm not going to force anything, whether I'm playing with Phil Mickelson or another college player. I just play my own game.

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Ace of Plates

BY GAREEN DARAKJIAN

An unexpected introduction to global flavors sets up a volleyball player with an international culinary career

“I MADE SURE NONE OF THEM WERE BROKEN.” That’s about as much effort that CJ Jacobson (’98) put into selecting a carton of eggs at the supermarket—and about as much as he knew about where those eggs came from. That was before he burst into the culinary world a little over 10 years ago—almost by chance—and became known for his penchant for local ingredients and insatiable appetite for foraging for things like sorrel and buckwheat from the mountains to the sea.

These days the chef/restaurateur, who is celebrated as one of the most memorable cast members on the hit Bravo competition show Top Chef, no longer peruses supermarket aisles. Instead, his passion lies in refining the flavors found in the Levant at Ēma, his latest restaurant venture in

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Chicago where he is chef/partner. The Mediterranean eatery demonstrates Jacobson’s mastery of revealing the beauty in the simplicity of ingredients. It also celebrates his indistinguishable California fare and the flavors he first discovered on his travels to the Middle East years ago.

local eateries Axe, the Yard, and Campanile and refined his skills under renowned chef René Redzepi at Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark, which for four years was ranked by Restaurant magazine as the Best Restaurant in the World. And then Top Chef came calling.

A rising volleyball career after a successful college run took the six-foot-nine Jacobson around the world to the countries and communities that first exposed him to nuanced flavors and minimalist approaches to produce and dining. Locals guided him down the winding streets of Tel Aviv and through bustling bazaars bursting with scents and spices that he had never experienced growing up in Southern California.

“It gave me a lot more confidence,” he recalls of his stint on the third season of the Primetime Emmy Award-winning show in 2007. “I knew my place in the culinary world. I didn’t know a lot and I was lucky to be there. I needed to learn and grow.” Ultimately, he was booted for his execution of roasted broccolini, a dish that Anthony Bourdain famously likened to “something you would find in the back of Bob Marley’s closet.”

He continued to make subsequent appearances in season 10 and on Top Chef Duels, the latter of which earned him an unexpected victory. And as he advanced in quick-fire challenges and impressed judges with his innovative dishes, he discovered the importance of giving and receiving constructive criticism.

“I remember everything I ate, and especially everyone’s approach to food,” remembers the Orange County native, who played on the US National Volleyball Team that took him to parts of Europe and the Middle East after competing as a middle blocker on the Waves men’s team. “It was the first time that I tried things like foie gras and cow udder. My relationship with food stood in stark contrast to the ones that I observed through my travels. People aren’t afraid of food so much in Europe and Israel.”

During a stay in Belgium, Jacobson’s meals were provided by his host family that lived on a sprawling property that was dotted by English-style gardens and home to roaming animals. The man of the house was a chef at a local restaurant and frequently welcomed local purveyors who made daily deliveries of meat, vegetables, liqueurs, and even eggs. Intrigued, Jacobson inquired about the friendships that the man nurtured with these vendors. The man’s response —“Why would I buy eggs from someone I don’t know?”— suddenly and dramatically shifted Jacobson’s view of food.

“Kitchens are so cutthroat and tough—just one compliment will keep you going for a while. Now I’m intentional about giving my chefs feedback about their food,” he says. He applied this philosophy most recently as executive chef of Girasol restaurant in Studio City, California, his farmers’ market-driven, hyper-seasonal ode to California cuisine. With a new homebase at Ēma in Chicago, where a culture of fine dining outweighs a focus on locally sourced ingredients, the seasoned locavore is committed to bringing his signature sunshine to the Midwest.

I was fascinated by how DIFFERENT PEOPLE saw food in DIFFERENT WAYS.

“It was eye-opening how healthy their lifestyles were,” he says. “I was fascinated by how different people saw food in different ways.”

Jacobson earned a Gold Medal at the US Olympic Festival in 1995, but after an unsuccessful Olympic trial, which also marked the end of his volleyball career, he opted to pursue culinary school in an effort to prolong his wonder and exploration of global food culture. After graduating from the Le Cordon Bleu-affiliated College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, California, he worked for Wolfgang Puck and as a private chef throughout the Los Angeles area. Jacobson took his talent to

“My whole methodology of ingredients had to change,” he explains. “I spent my entire career for the most part in L.A., and a large part of that was going to farmers’ markets and building relationships with the farmers.

The selection would inspire me and dictate what I cooked.”

Now he is fueled by his dedication to sharing the flavors he’s known and loved with a different crowd—and will hopefully contribute to the dynamic shift taking place in the culinary world.

As he continues to develop his repertoire and expand his eclectic endeavors, he predicts an evolution in diners’ palates and an eagerness to explore the faraway flavors he so appreciates.

“The restaurant industry has grown in the last decade,” he says. "I think Eastern Mediterranean and North African food will become part of the main conversation. As more and more people start getting into food, we will start to look at regions like Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries that haven’t yet found their voice in fine dining. It’s an exciting time.”

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FO THE

community | the arts

ECORD R

By Sara Alamdar

A group of Seaver students unite as alumni to elevate the level of praise and worship throughout Los Angeles

College graduation marks the beginning of a new journey, a life stage characterized by enthusiastic explorations of different paths. For a group of exceptionally gifted—and convicted—musicians at Seaver College, the separate roads on which each had chosen to travel fatefully brought them back together.

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his band of music makers, now known as Well Collective, is the majority of the vocal and instrumental talent behind the 2016 album Covers—the very first record that features volunteer student worship leaders of The Well.

Formed in fall 2012, The Well allows students to freely seek, commune with, and worship God together regardless of their religious affiliations or backgrounds.

The Thursday-night gatherings, held weekly at the Malibu campus and attended by an average of 300 students, facilitate praise and worship through live music, encouraging the crowds to participate in any way they feel moved.

These worship leaders were so passionate about making music for God that The Well’s worship director, Taylor Begert, felt inspired to honor their spirit of excellence by arranging to produce an album of

Begert also works as worship director) in Ventura County to create the live album of recognized modern Christian worship music. The recording session also commemorated the four years these students had spent together at The Well and marked the final time they would be able to worship together. With most of the participants anticipating the 15-song album to exude a sound typical of live recordings, hearing the occasional glitches on the record still exceeded their expectations of the final product.

For guitar player Jacob Williams (’16), who also works as a recording engineer, accepting a less-than-perfect sound was out of the question. Upon hearing the album for the first time, he felt compelled to take the seemingly unfinished product to Revolver Recordings, the recording studio in Thousand Oaks, California, where he had just landed a job, to edit and remaster some of the vocals and instruments to significantly improve the sound quality.

We knew what we were making was more than just a list of songs—it’s a PORTABLE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE. one of their live worship services. Rather than a traditional studio recording, the project was designed to be a portable worship experience for Seaver students to continue to encounter God through the ministry of The Well wherever they go.

Over the next six months, Williams invited each of the worship leaders to come into the studio to re-record their songs, patiently and professionally piecing all the parts of a musical puzzle together one sound at a time.

“We wanted to give the students on the record a tool that they could use when they went out into the world,” he explains of the musical and ministry talents that the soon-to-be working professionals could showcase to future employers.

“Recording live presented many challenges,” recalls vocalist Christy Panchal (’16) of the worship service at Community Bible Church. “The live recording was a good starting point, but we spent a lot of time working on it in the studio. Jacob especially spent countless hours putting the album together.”

After scouting possible locations with superior sound equipment, Begert and the students collaborated with the staff at Community Bible Church (where Well Collective’s album Covers is available on iTunes.

Bass player Wilson Howard (’16) remembers his time working on the

project as “the best summer of [his] life,” spending numerous nights working late in the recording studio with Williams to assist with tracking instrumentation that needed to be replaced or added throughout the album.

“Every moment in the studio was worship,” he recalls. “Whenever we were recording guitars or vocals, the priority was to praise the Lord with a joyful noise first and foremost and then to get a recording of it.

We knew what we were making was more than just a list of songs—it’s a portable worship experience, and I think that comes across when you listen to it.”

Begert, who regards the album as “a collection of heartfelt moments designed to take you on a journey with the creator of the universe,” adds that every musical portion that made it to the record was genuinely created in authentic worship.

In fact, when the students occasionally shifted their focus from worship to production during particular songs,

Wilson Howard (’16)

the sound quality changed so much that those segments had to be re-recorded.

“I wasn’t thinking about singing; I was just worshiping,” he shares. “The vocals that you hear on the record are of the vocalist actually encountering Jesus.”

Panchal and Howard reveal that Well Collective is in the process of developing a second album, this time featuring all original music.

“It’s special to see how God grows everybody individually to make a very strong team,” says Panchal of the worship band. “It’s clear that we are all pursuing this together.”

in focus

over

MIND MANNER

While none of us particularly like to receive criticism about our behavior, it can sometimes feel crippling to our self-esteem.

Try this: Engage in mindful walking as you travel from one meeting to another. Pair your breath with your footsteps, taking a stride with an inhale and another stride paired with the exhale. It is critical to do something to clear the mental decks before entering the next meeting.

Try this: Do a short, focused breathing meditation before entering the feedback session. Even a few minutes of meditation serves as a sort of “self-esteem shield” for people who receive negative feedback.

INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT

In organizations with meetingheavy cultures, employees often move from one meeting directly into another. When this happens, we carry with us all of the unfinished business and interpersonal complexities from the previous meetings, leaving us less able to be fully present to the new ideas and people.

On good days, disagreements can provide diversity of viewpoints and the friction necessary to spark great ideas.

But with differentiation comes the inevitability of conflict, which can make us feel ungrounded and lost as to how best to manage.

ENDLESS EMAILS

Try this: Switch up your behaviors to avoid becoming comfortable in a familiar routine. Try to speak one level louder than usual, hold eye contact with someone a second or two longer than you usually would, or search for aspects of the physical space you may not have noticed before.

B A C K - TO - B A C K M E E T I N G S

We often react automatically when a situation at work feels familiar. Without thinking, we simply do whatever worked well enough before.

PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

THE DAILY GRIND

As organizations attempt to optimize their workforce, they are increasingly turning to practices connected to mindfulness, an intentional awareness of our present experience. Here, Darren Good (MA '02), assistant professor of applied behavioral science at the Graziadio School, shares exercises drawn from his specific research in workplace mindfulness to combat common daily stressors and improve employee performance, relationships, and well-being.

Email has become associated with taking on more work or managing difficult relationships.

As a result battling your inbox can be one of the most stressful aspects of your workday or night.

Try this: When feeling ungrounded, the simplest thing to do is notice what’s on the ground— your feet. Notice the contact they make with your shoes and the ground. Notice the distribution of weight. It seems strange, but in stressful situations, we need a simple action like this to keep ourselves grounded.

Try this: Observe your physiological responses to email.

Does your breathing become shallow or do you hold your breath when engaging with particularly difficult emails? These are signs of stress. This presents an opportunity to take several deep breaths as a way to relax and then re-engage in a more relaxed way.

Web exclusive: a short script for a mindful breathing exercise magazine.pepperdine.edu/mind-over-manner

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I GIVE to PEPPERDINE because… ...collegiate athletics gave me the confidence and courage to go out into the world and strive to be a leader and the best person I can be. Donations from alumni helped us purchase uniforms and shoes and supplies that we needed to perform at our best.

JENNIFER C., Seaver College Alumna

...WITHOUT DONATIONS, opportunities like the Yellow Ribbon Program may not exist and veterans

...THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY CHANGED MY LIFE, AND I KNOW IT HAS CHANGED OTHERS’ TOO. AND THROUGH

...our daughter graduated this year, and Pepperdine has done so much for her. We love the school’s focus on building future servant leaders to impact the world.

BARBARA B., Seaver

College Parent

THESE CHANGED LIVES, WE CHANGE THE WORLD. PETE PETERSON, Dean,

...someone gave to me and helped me on my educational journey.

I am forever grateful.

CALVIN B., Graduate

School of Education and Psychology Alumnus

...I am a longtime resident of Malibu, and my family and I have benefited from the various programs, facilities, and theatre arts that Pepperdine has offered.

ANNA A., Malibu

School of Public Policy

Community Member

like me may not be able to go to such an amazing school!

ANTHONY B., Graziadio

School of Business and Management Alumnus

...I feel so very fortunate to be a member of the Pepperdine community. While at present I can only give back modestly, I want to strengthen the bond and invest in our future.

DEREK O., School of

Law Alumnus

...only one in 40 Graziadio School alumni gives back to our school.

Other schools have as high a number as two in three. We must change this metric—and change begins with us.

NOELLE B., Graziadio School of Business and

Management Alumna

Why will you give to Pepperdine? Share your story and make your gift today.

EVERY GIFT MATTERS!

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October 13-15, 2017

Blue and Orange Madness Fair

SCHEDULED EVENTS Concert at Alumni Park Student Organization and Class Reunions

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