Pepperdine Magazine Vol. 13, Iss. 3 (Fall 2021)

Volume 13 Issue 3 Fall 2021

TEAM TEAM

Moments

A MOMENT OF SILENCE The 20th anniversary of the attacks on 9/11 drew the Pepperdine community together with the University’s annual Waves of Flags display and a special ceremony honoring the nearly 3,000 lives lost two decades ago.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

1

Contents

F E AT U R E S

14 Degreed and Dedicated A group of alumni-turned-employees share their unique Pepperdine stories of faith, unexpected twists, and the secrets behind their fulfilling decades-long careers

20 Team Drive After years of preparation, and with some of the nation’s best players, the Pepperdine men’s golf team’s second NCAA Championship title was no surprise

26 Curators of Culture Through a comprehensive collection of art, artifacts, and relics from some of the most painful and poignant periods in history, the Kinsey family celebrates the cultural contributions of African Americans and helps shape the narrative of the Black experience for generations to come

May Howard Jackson, Slave Boy, 1899.

Bronze, 17 x 12 x 9 in.

2

Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

V O LU M E 1 3 | I S S U E 3 | FA L L 2 0 2 1 Pepperdine Magazine editor

Gareen Darakjian

senior designer

Courtney Gero

writers

Sara Bunch Jessie Fahy (JD ’11) Amanda Pisani Jakie Rodriguez (MS ’13)

SPOTLIGHT

34

44

Positive Energy

Yes, and . . .

Renewable energy experts discuss government and corporate responses to the public’s increasing demand for natural resources

The Pepperdine Improv Troupe is a comedic powerhouse that has been preparing its members for careers in acting, writing, and directing for more than 20 years

38

46

The Great Connector For 20 years, Jimmy Azadian (JD ’01) has mentored more than a dozen law students throughout their pursuit of judicial clerkships and helped place them in prestigious legal positions— but he’s not stopping there

graphic designers

Mallory Bockwoldt (’16)

Danae Doub

photographer

Ron Hall (’79)

copy editor

Amanda Pisani

production manager

Jill McWilliams

Published by Integrated Marketing Communications Ed Wheeler (’97, MA ’99) Executive Director of Integrated Marketing Communications Nate Ethell (’08, MBA ’13)

One Long Day

Senior Director of Communications and

Five years after surviving a terrorist attack, alumna La’Nita Johnson (’14) continues to make sense of the unthinkable

Keith Lungwitz

Brand Development

Creative Director Allen Haren (’97, MA ’07) Director of Media Production

42

Mauricio Acevedo Director of Digital Marketing

The Athletes’ Advocate Student-athletes, the NCAA, and the University itself all rely on the behindthe-scenes efforts of the University’s faculty athletics representative

Pepperdine Magazine is the feature magazine for Pepperdine University and its growing community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends. It is published three times per year by the University’s Public Affairs division and is produced with guidance from an advisory board representing a cross section of the University community.

9 Headlines

6 Inside Voices

32 Snapshot

7 Campus Notes

48 The Cut

ADVERTISING Each issue of Pepperdine Magazine contains a limited number of half- or full-page advertising opportunities for University departments and initiatives. To learn more about advertising, contact magazine@pepperdine.edu.

Manage your subscription to Pepperdine Magazine: magazine.pepperdine.edu/subscription Send letters to the editor and other queries: magazine@pepperdine.edu All material is copyrighted ©2021 by Pepperdine University, Malibu, California 90263.

Pepperdine is affiliated with Churches of Christ, of

MAGAZINE.PEPPERDINE.EDU

PA2108331

1 Moments

which the University’s founder, George Pepperdine, was a lifelong member.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

3

Editor’s Letter

Milestones, better known to wellworn travelers as mile markers, have been historically installed on roadways to provide reference points to drivers as they move along on their journeys.

These markers let drivers know they are on the right path and indicate how much longer they have to go before reaching their destination. Mile markers also provide critical information to runners during a marathon, reinforcing for them, step-by-step, the challenge they have taken on and providing a push to get them to the finish line. But, how do we know when we are reaching the milestones in our everyday lives?

What are our mile markers? And how will we be able to tell how far we have left to go?

It’s worth considering how we define milestones. Many of us think about the big moments—graduating college after four years of hard work during a global pandemic, finally getting that promotion after countless late nights at the office, or buying your first home in the midst of the most challenging real estate market in recent history. Is your milestone meeting a weight-loss goal or beating a personal record on your

Peloton? Or do your milestones include reading 10 pages of a book each night or finishing your final round of chemo?

The stories featured in this issue celebrate the defining moments, both big and small, that make up our lives: a dedicated group of alumni experiencing fulfillment in lifelong careers, a comedy troupe bringing joy and entertainment to the community for two decades, a nonprofit professional finding peace after surviving a deadly terrorist attack, and a tightly knit team winning a national championship 25 years in the making.

Milestones help us see how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. And while road signage provides distinct demarcations of distance, many in the form of massive, lit-up boards reporting the miles to your next stop, our personal milestones might not be as clear or as significant. Regardless of what the signposts of our lives look like, these moments are worth recognizing so that they both remind us of the challenges we have endured and motivate us to progress to our next point. Let’s just remember to make time for a rest stop along the way.

GAREEN DARAKJIAN editor

4

Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

Join Others in the Pepperdine Family Who Have Benefited from

establishing a

Capital Gains

Bypass Trust Here’s How It Works:

Potential Benefits • Immediate tax deduction

1

UNITRUST

REAL ESTATE

3

• Capital gains savings • Income for life

PEPPERDINE

2

• Relief from management

responsibilities • Strengthen lives for purpose,

service, and leadership

DONOR

1

Transfer real estate to a charitable remainder unitrust. Property is sold tax-free.

2

Receive an immediate tax deduction and income for life.

3

At the end of the trust term, the trust remainder is gifted to Pepperdine.

Want to Know More About Capital Gains Bypass Trusts?

The Center for Estate and Gift Planning is staffed with a team of friendly, highly qualified experts who can provide you with more information about how donating real estate can benefit you.

Contact us at 310.506.4893 or cegp@pepperdine.edu for more information.

Inside Voices “Keeping dunamis at the core of the work being done at the Office for Community Belonging will assist our efforts to treat each other as we should be treated.”

I’ve Got the Power: Dunamis and Community Belonging

By J. Goosby Smith Vice President for Community Belonging and Chief Diversity Officer

6

Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

For music buffs or children of the 1980s like me, the word “power” will likely bring to mind the hook of Snap!’s 1990 hit song famously featured in the film Bruce Almighty or perhaps the Public Enemy track opposing it altogether. “Power” may remind fans of a television show starring 50 Cent and Omari Hardwick about the double life of a clever businessman or the multi-hued Mighty Morphin Power Rangers who battled as a team against various forces of evil. As these cultural artifacts show, we are perennially interested in power. But what is power?

And how does it relate to promoting a sense of belonging among the members of the Pepperdine community?

Power is potential. It has the capacity to make an impact, which means that it exists whether or not it is deployed. In the New Testament, the Greek word for power was δύναμις, which translates in English as “dunamis.” While other words were used to connote the concept in the New Testament, dunamis was the most frequently referenced—117 times. In the Office for Community Belonging, we employ the word as an acronym: • Dialogue - Conversations that encourage mutual understanding • Universitas - An appreciation of how our different roles contribute to a united whole • Neighbor - An altruistic concern for those in our community • Agility - The ability to adapt and innovate • Mindfulness - An intentional commitment to creating a sense of belonging • Imagination - The willingness to envision a better tomorrow • Service - An egalitarian generosity toward our brothers and sisters

God has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). It is this power, of and from God, that we invoke, welcome, and allow to guide our efforts to create and sustain a community of belonging at Pepperdine. Without this godly focus, we risk fixating on the most divergent needs of individuals, rewarding bottom-of-thebarrel behavior between opposing factions, encouraging the vilification of those with different perspectives, and relentlessly stoking irrational and unjustified fears.

Relying solely on our natural inclinations and power to do this work is insufficient. It is through dunamis that we will transform this world and resist being conformed to it.

My hope for the Pepperdine community is that when we disagree, we look past each others’ shortcomings and gift each other with benevolent assumptions. I hope we remember the power in our tongues to speak life into each other, articulate the way to a better tomorrow, and consider each others’ needs alongside our own when we can’t quite muster the mercy to consider the other’s needs ahead of our own. I hope we remember to greet each soul on campus— as we rush to classes, meals, rehearsals, and meetings—with brief and authentic eye contact and a passing “Hi” or at least a smile, acknowledging that “I see you.”

Finally, I hope we remind ourselves daily to acknowledge and respect one another’s humanity, identities, experiences, and perspectives with compassion, grace, and empathy. Keeping dunamis at the core of the work being done at the Office for Community Belonging will assist our efforts to treat each other as we should be treated—as miraculous examples of God’s creation who are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Campus Notes PEPPERDINE PEOPLE

Elizabeth Nepute The director of operations for Pepperdine Dining Services knows which ingredients create the perfect blend of food quality and safety standards “Food brings people together, and we strive to create an inclusive environment where everyone can enjoy our dishes and spaces. We hope students take time to share their meals with those around them.”

Waste elimination—whether food, paper, or plastic—is a very large focus for Dining Services and Pepperdine. Food surplus is donated and food trimmings that cannot be recovered are placed in composting bins.

All the produce purchased by Dining Services can be traced to California farms. “We have a responsibility to support local farmers, work with vendors who have environmental protection goals, and teach our community about sustainability.”

Classic comfort foods such as burgers, pizza, tacos, chicken tenders, and French fries are by far the most popular dishes among students, followed

by Italian and Asian cuisine.

“Food is a powerful aspect of culture, and as food providers, cultural education is extremely important for us. We try to be mindful of everyone’s unique needs.

Each school year, French fries are the number one seller with more than 30,000 orders. Starbucks makes nearly 200,000 drinks and warms up more than 50,000 pastries and Jamba Juice blends more than 20,000 smoothies.

In 2021 Dining Services introduced new rotating restaurants at Waves Cafe and the Caruso School of Law Cafe, on-campus food trucks, and Grubhub mobile ordering at the Drescher Cafe, Waves Cafe, Starbucks, and the Caruso School of Law Cafe.

“The most gratifying part of my job is making a difference in people’s lives, such as through our partnership with Swipe Out Hunger, whereby hundreds of pounds of food are donated to a local food bank.”

Pepperdine’s Food Insecurity Group has created food cabinets that are stocked with free nutritious meals, snacks, and beverages.

Nepute’s team donates food for the cabinets and loads free points on 150 meal cards for students in need each year.

Singing His Praises This summer Pepperdine’s six-member a cappella group, Won by One, traveled along the West Coast to perform live concerts at churches, summer camps, and special events. Learn more about the legacy music ministry that began in 1995 to strengthen ties between the University and Churches of Christ.

1,500+

PERFORMANCES since 1995

15–20

annual AUDITIONS for 2–3 SPOTS

120+

5–6 members

SONGS recorded on 17 ALBUMS

each YEAR

4–6

hours of WEEKLY

REHEARSALS

6–15 states

visited on 8-WEEK summer tours Source: Office of Church Relations

magazine.pepperdine.edu

7

Campus Notes SOUND BITES Explore a collection of some of the most notable moments from recent events held across the University.

C H AT T E R The community shared its support for the new Hub for Spiritual Life, a recent initiative that encourages collaboration with students to develop and integrate programs, training, and resources to cultivate a vibrant and consistent spiritual experience at Pepperdine.

APRIL CONRAD (’89) I loved spending time in that beautiful chapel as a student at Pepperdine! It was so comforting and peaceful. The spiritual life teams were amazing!

“You have to take what you’ve done in the past and position it in a way that . . . looks like you will be good at solving complex problems. The lowest hanging fruit is using your own professional network [to launch your career].”

Kaushik Ravi, Private Equity Investor and Founder, Elevate Career Network EVENT: Career Transitions and Success: Finding your Passion and Pivoting

“I love change and uncertainty because they force the [entertainment] industry and all of us to rethink how we tell stories and how the different [storytelling] strategies might look . . . And I think there will be a shift and fluctuation with what [streaming] platforms will provide [post-COVID-19].”

Jennifer Hollingsworth, Chief Operating Officer, Motion Picture Group, Lionsgate EVENT: Entertainment Evolution Symposium: How Technology, Data, and Analytics Drive the Industry Post-COVID-19

KIM D. GUSTAFSON (’95) Stauffer Chapel is a great place to worship! It is the place where I married my husband 23 years ago in front of our families, friends, and beautiful stained glass windows overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Great memories.

CONNIE NEAL (’80) I was on the Pepperdine Spiritual Life team in 1978. We rocked and made waves! I pray you do the same! And I have happy memories of worship and friendship in this chapel.

“We are all committed to the dignity of all human beings [and] to the human rights that bring justice, equity, liberty, hope, and love to our communities and to our countries. I believe they rest on the rule of law and fundamental forms of democracy, [which] depend on lawyers.”

“Don’t let your ego keep you from taking a low-level job that can actually eventually get you to where you want to end up.

Don’t let your ego lie about what should happen to you. Don’t ever stop being in learning mode. Don’t fall for the lie that cool will outweigh lack of integrity.”

Jeffrey R. Baker, Clinical Professor of Law/Assistant Dean of Clinical Education and Global Programs, Caruso School of Law

Christa Zofcin Workman (’97, MBA ’00, JD ’01), Co-President/Chief Operating Officer, River Road Entertainment

EVENT: International Conference on Legal Clinics and Access to Justice

EVENT: Graziadio Business School Full-Time Programs Summer 2021 Commencement Ceremony

HATTIE PACE Such an amazing team!

So pumped!

FROM THE ARCHIVES Students move their belongings into campus residence halls at the beginning of the school year during the mid-1970s.

DID

YOU KNOW

On July 29, 2021, nearly 80 alumni-owned restaurants participated in the second annual Pepperdine Restaurant Day that supports Waves through food takeout, delivery, and dine-in services across the country.

Source: University Archives Photograph Collection

8

Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

Headlines

Pepperdine Commemorates 20th Anniversary of 9/11 with Annual Waves of Flags Display and Remembrance Events For the 14th consecutive year, Pepperdine University commemorated the lives lost in the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, with the Waves of Flags display at Alumni Park. The nearly 3,000 flags represented each of the innocent victims, including a national flag for each foreign country that lost a citizen in the attack. The flags were on display for public viewing from September 9 through September 25, 2021.

On the occasion of the attacks’ 20th anniversary, Pepperdine hosted Honoring the Heroes of 9/11, a day of activities held on the Malibu campus that invited all members of the community to connect and reflect on the day together.

“On September 11, 2001, our nation and the world were forever changed. Twenty years later, we continue to honor the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives and the first responders who sacrificed everything for their country and fellow man,” said Pepperdine University president Jim Gash (JD ’93). “The hearts of Pepperdine University’s students, faculty, and staff collectively break for that tragic loss we still feel today. May those who lost their lives and those left grieving be honored by our commemoration and know that Pepperdine stands with them.”

Honoring the Heroes of 9/11 featured a silent tribute and remembrance event highlighted by a wreath-laying ceremony to honor each of the fallen victims at Heroes Garden, followed by a prayer service led by University chaplain Sara Barton at the Amphitheatre.

Guests were also invited to Elkins Auditorium to attend a screening of the film United 93, featuring the heroism of Pepperdine alumnus Thomas E. Burnett, Jr. (MBA ’95). The events concluded with the Honoring the Heroes of 9/11 Ceremony, which featured remarks by actor and humanitarian Gary Sinise, who has been an advocate for America’s service members since the early 1980s and whose namesake foundation was established with a mission to honor the nation’s defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need. Throughout the day, all 2,977 victims’ names were memorialized on scrolling displays on campus.

This year Pepperdine launched the Waves of Flags Endowment Fund to help ensure permanent support for the Waves of Flags tradition and establish a legacy that will last in perpetuity. The resources generated by the fund support both the display and an annual ceremony on the Malibu campus that will ensure that the men and women from all walks of life who perished on 9/11 will be remembered on the Pepperdine campus for years to come.

ཁ Learn more: magazine.pepperdine.edu/wof-endowment-fund

magazine.pepperdine.edu

9

Headlines Pepperdine University Receives $10 Million Grant from W. M. Keck Foundation for STEM Education In August 2021 Pepperdine University was awarded a $10 million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation to establish the Keck Data Science Initiative. The initiative will strengthen teaching methods and access to research in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by broadening the curriculum and advancing instruction and research in key areas of science that will amply equip students for new scientific and industry demands.

“This funding will provide students with the opportunity to integrate data science into their particular research and academic interests, ultimately extending beyond the Natural Science Division and into other diverse disciplines at Seaver College,” said Jay Brewster, Pepperdine provost and professor of biology in the Natural Science Division. “We are thrilled to have been awarded this funding and are deeply grateful for the continued partnership between the Keck Foundation and Pepperdine University.”

Through the initiative, Pepperdine will train the next generation of STEM scholars

and data scientists by introducing a bachelor of data science degree program, engaging students with data science leaders within the broader global scientific community, partnering students with science faculty and guest scholars, and applying data science to ethically address relevant and critical questions in contemporary society.

The grant will fund academic and scholarly initiatives around the emerging field of data science, provide support for undergraduate

research fellowships through the Keck Student Scholars program, and the purchase of critical equipment. Additionally, several classrooms at the Keck Science Center— funded originally by a Keck Foundation grant almost 41 years ago and upgraded 25 years ago—and the Rockwell Academic Center will be renovated and modernized over the course of one year beginning in summer 2022.

Kelly Maxwell Haer Named Executive Director of the Boone Center for the Family In June 2021 Kelly Maxwell Haer was named executive director of the Boone Center for the Family at Pepperdine University. Haer is a licensed marriage and family therapist and has served as the Relationship IQ program director at the Boone Center since 2017.

“I am honored and delighted to take on the role of executive director for the Boone Center for the Family,” said Haer. “The Boone Center’s mission—to strengthen and promote healthy relationships as we honor God’s essential foundation, the family—is increasingly vital to community and personal well-being in the midst of today’s challenges.

I look forward to working with the Boone Center team and the broader Pepperdine family to expand our current, evergreen programming while also creating resources relevant to this cultural moment.”

Haer is a researcher and speaker on the emotional experience of never-married single women. A mental health expert,

10 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

she has presented at local, state, national, and international conferences on singleness and long-distance dating relationships, eating disorders, and couples’ use of communication technologies after infidelity.

Throughout her career, Haer has helped young adults form healthy relationships.

Her passions include creating space for this group to process relational concerns, training leaders to connect with young adults, and equipping the church to support young adults’ relational needs.

Among her speaking topics, Haer focuses on equipping young adults for relational success in regard to dating, friendships, boundaries, relational styles, communication and conflict, relationship with family, and relationship with God; supporting singles as they cope with ambiguous loss; and guiding parents and teens through understanding eating disorders from a faith-based perspective.

Alumnus and Investment Executive Jeremy Johnson Named to Pepperdine Board of Regents Pepperdine University has appointed alumnus Jeremy Johnson (’02, MBA ’04) to the Board of Regents, the governing body and chief policy board of the University. Alongside University administration, the distinguished members of the Board of Regents shape policy and direction for Pepperdine and each of its schools.

Johnson is the president of Fernandez Holdings, Inc., an investment firm with a diverse portfolio of businesses operating in multiple industries throughout the United States. He is responsible for driving growth in the portfolio’s performance, discovering new businesses to acquire, and managing the acquisition process.

Johnson also works with portfolio companies to uncover areas for profitability improvement, identify incremental growth opportunities, and leverage synergies among the various businesses.

A double alumnus of Pepperdine University, Johnson earned a bachelor of science in business administration from Seaver College in 2002 and a master of business administration from the Graziadio Business School in 2004.

Newly Imagined Light House Opens at Tyler Campus Center On August 23, 2021, the Light House, a newly imagined gathering space on the second floor of the Tyler Campus Center in Malibu, officially opened its doors for students, faculty, and staff. With a welcoming atmosphere that marks a new chapter of fellowship at the Malibu campus, the Light House will serve as a venue for a variety of student activities including spiritual life gatherings.

“The Light House is a stunning space where my staff in the Hub for Spiritual Life can connect with our community in worship, service, and conversation,” said Sara Barton, University chaplain and associate vice president for spiritual life. “I look forward to engaging with students in such a beautiful setting.”

The space, which features a prominent lounge and light features reminiscent of its name, will also be used for Student Government Association meetings and fraternity and sorority functions.

Pepperdine University Celebrates Founder’s Day 2021 The 84th annual Founder’s Day returned to an in-person celebration on September 22, 2021, as Pepperdine president Jim Gash (JD ’93) introduced Jay L. Brewster, the University’s new provost who also serves as a professor of biology at Seaver College. At the podium alongside Dee Anna Smith (’86), chair of the Pepperdine Board of Regents, President Gash presented Brewster with the provost’s medallion.

Highlighting the theme of “Unity,” this year’s ceremony included an invocation from J. Goosby Smith, vice president for community belonging and chief diversity officer, as well as the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance by Kimberly J. Hill (’12), a 2020 Olympic gold medalist who played on the USA women’s national volleyball team in Tokyo and the only alumna in University history to win Olympic gold. The ceremony also featured the unveiling of the Waves men’s golf team’s 2021 NCAA Division I national championship banner.

The event concluded with an introduction of two new Founder’s Day traditions: the lighting of the lantern by student and alumni representatives from all five Pepperdine schools and the University’s new alma mater, “We Will Climb,” written by songwriter, composer, and film and television producer Jimmy Dunne and performed by the Pepperdine Chamber Choir and the Pepperdine Wind Ensemble.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

11

Headlines Center for the Arts Announces 2021–2022 Season of In-Person Performances

Pepperdine University Introduces New Fall 2021 Support Groups for Student-Veterans In August 2021 Pepperdine University introduced two new support groups for student-veterans. The Student-Veteran Support Group (SVSG) is available for all part-time and full-time students and the Military-Connected Women’s Group is available for the women of the Pepperdine Veterans (PeppVet) Council and their spouses.

“Over the past year, we have received a lot of feedback from student-veterans looking for new ways to meet and build belonging through improved peer-to-peer support and social networking opportunities during their Pepperdine journey. These support and social groups will help do just that by connecting veterans and military-connected students across our five Pepperdine schools,” said Eric Leshinsky, director of student veteran affairs at Pepperdine. “In the past, military-connected student interactions and activities would typically be limited to a single campus or school event. Developing new avenues for social and support activities led by their peers and other veterans is a primary objective of the PeppVet Council.”

SVSG group meetings include discussions related to military service, the transition from military to civilian life, and challenges associated with being a student. The Military-Connected Women’s Group helps foster new relationships through community outreach, social events, and ongoing conversations about the unique experiences and commonalities that members share.

On August 23, 2021, the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts announced its 2021–2022 season, marking its reopening after more than 16 months of virtual performances due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The center continues to prioritize the safety of guests and performers by integrating all local public health guidance and incorporating a flexible ticket exchange and cancellation policy for patrons whose plans may change due to local conditions.

Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro kicked off the season on September 21, 2021, followed by two performances by Whose Line Is It Anyway? stars Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood on September 24, 2021.

Additional entertainers invited to perform at Pepperdine University during the current academic year include JD Souther, a GRAMMY-nominated artist and songwriter Hall of Famer; the Wailin’ Jennys, a Juno Award–winning group and “darlings of the North American roots music arena” according to the Toronto Star; dance company iBalletX, known as Philadelphia’s premier contemporary ballet expanding the vocabulary of classical dance; America’s Got Talent finalist Catapult, known for their creative dancing shadow silhouettes; and Chris Thile, multiple GRAMMY Award winner, mandolin virtuoso, composer, and vocalist.

Graduate School of Education and Psychology Introduces Pepperdine Excellence Postdoctoral Project for Equity Research In a continued effort to create and foster a diverse community of inclusion, equity, and belonging, the Education Division of the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) launched the inaugural Pepperdine Excellence Postdoctoral Project for Equity Research (PEPPER) on September 1, 2021.

As part of the program, two alumni of the PhD program in global leadership and change were selected to complete a one-year, part-time postdoctoral fellowship to engage in teaching and research in partnership with Education Division faculty.

PEPPER provides opportunities for research and scholarship and maximizes the impact of

12

Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

diversity through pedagogy in order to increase both the number of professors who value diversity as a means to enhance the education of all students and the overall diversity in higher education. “[PEPPER] is an extension of the diversity, equity, and inclusion work we have been doing for the past year,” said Gabriella Miramontes (’01, MA ’02, EdD ’08), director of the Center for Global Partnership and Learning and GSEP visiting professor. “If we expect to drive change in the space around inequity and injustice, we need to address inequities wherever we see them, and this program—while not a complete solution—is a culmination of those efforts.”

Graziadio Business School Celebrates Classes of 2020 and 2021 with In-Person Commencement Ceremonies The Graziadio Business School celebrated more than 600 graduates of the Classes of 2020 and 2021 over the course of three ceremonies on August 13 and August 14, 2021. During the first ceremony on August 13, 418 graduates from the part-time programs walked across the stage to receive their degrees. On the morning of August 14, 121 graduates from the full-time programs were recognized for their achievements.

The executive programs closed out the weekend of celebrations in the afternoon of August 14 with 77 graduates in attendance.

During the ceremonies, Deryck J. van Rensburg, dean of the Graziadio Business School, presented three alumni—Brett M. Johnson (MBA ’05), Andy Kubitz (MBA ’11), and Christa Zofcin Workman (’97, MBA ’00, JD ’01)—with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Student speakers included Chintan Upadhyaya (MBA ’21), Philippe Thibault (MBA ’21), and Sharifa Batts (MBA ’18, DBA ’21).

Graduate School of Education and Psychology Celebrates Classes of 2020 and 2021 with In-Person Ceremonies On September 25, 2021, the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) held in-person commencement ceremonies for the school’s Class of 2020 and Class of 2021 graduates.

The two ceremonies honored graduates from the Education Division and Psychology Division.

“In this commencement celebration and through their subsequent actions, our graduates are demonstrating to the world what it truly means to be leaders in professions that improve and enrich the lives of individuals, families, and communities,” shared GSEP dean Helen Easterling Williams. “We at GSEP are

delighted to walk alongside them in this next phase of their individual and collective journeys.”

The ceremonies began with invocations from associate dean Farzin Madjidi (MBA ’88, EdD ’91) and professor of psychology Amy Tuttle Guerrero before Pepperdine president Jim Gash (JD ’93) delivered the commencement address for both ceremonies. After Williams presented the graduates in each program, assistant clinical professor of education Ricardo Vigil (MA ’05) and professor of psychology Drew Erhardt closed each of the ceremonies with a benediction.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

13

Features

Degreed and

Dedicated A group of alumni-turnedemployees share their unique Pepperdine stories of faith, unexpected twists, and the secrets behind their fulfilling decades-long careers

By Sara Bunch

14

Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

B

ased on the most recent University data from fall 2020, Pepperdine employs more than 1,500 full-time faculty and staff, in addition to the myriad part-time and

student employees across all five schools and University-wide departments. More than 700 of these employees are Pepperdine alumni, many of whom walked onto the Malibu campus as first-year students and stayed to serve for decades to come.

Find out why hundreds of Waves choose to remain part of the Pepperdine family long after completing their degrees and how they continue to find tremendous meaning and satisfaction in their work.

JULIET ALLUP (’04, MPP ’06, MBA ’17) Associate Director

Trust and Estate Administration Juliet M. Allup was a senior in high school when she answered a strong, unshakable call to attend Pepperdine after visiting the Malibu campus with her mother. Twenty-two years later, the business-savvy accountant’s relationships with other alumni have supported her success as she has moved through her career.

After a decade working in forensic accounting in the private sector, Allup was approached by Pepperdine staff about joining the office of International Programs as a finance manager. After encountering countless cases of fraudulent business practices in her previous position, she embraced the chance for a career that would not test her morals. “Pepperdine’s workplace promoted values that aligned with my own, especially in terms of upholding a strong moral compass,” she says. “While working on fraud cases, I always referred back to professors who stressed the importance of maintaining integrity while working in the business world. Thinking back on Pepperdine’s values, I always followed my heart and integrity.”

Currently, Allup works with the Pepperdine Investment Office, General Accounting, Center for Estate and Gift Planning, and Real Estate Operations to manage the accounting for investment assets in donor trusts and the management of trusts donated to the University. Moved by the many Pepperdine stories, memories, and anecdotes that she hears from donors, Allup’s career satisfaction stems from knowing that she is making a difference in the lives of the next generation of Waves through those committed to preserving Pepperdine’s legacy.

Working at Pepperdine has also provided Allup with a new perspective of family, which she now views as people who don’t share the same name or bloodline. This became particularly apparent in 2015 when she suddenly and tragically lost her father. In a time of profound pain, she did not feel comfortable expressing her grief until the coronavirus pandemic struck the world five years later.

“Through my everyday experiences with colleagues and donors over the last couple of years—especially while navigating the uncertainties of COVID-19 together—I slowly learned how to live again, trust myself, and trust God. Through the emotional and spiritual support of my colleagues, today I am the best version of myself, and I never could have made it to this point without my Pepperdine family,” Allup shares. “While we don’t know how people are feeling or what they are going through, we can always be a source of comfort and inspiration by the way we treat them, and this lesson from my time at Pepperdine is invaluable because it has helped me overcome tremendous obstacles.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

15

Features

KYLE DUSEK (’90, ’97, MS ’99) Customer Relationship Marketing/Marketing Automation Manager Integrated Marketing Communications Kyle Dusek began his Pepperdine career as an entertainer. When his childhood passion for the performing arts led the Nebraska native to the stage at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, in the mid-1980s, Pepperdine’s Jerry Henderson, the former head of the Pepperdine theatre department, took notice and recruited Dusek to Pepperdine.

Once in Malibu, the web technology expert was involved in the Edinburgh Summer Program, where he played the role of Richard Cory in Who Killed Richard Cory? during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. After earning a second bachelor’s degree that shifted his career from theatre to mathematics and computer science, Dusek found a new crew in fellow website designers and programmers who were just as dedicated to producing quality work.

Throughout his 35 years at Pepperdine, Dusek has witnessed immense changes to the Malibu campus, including the additions of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Raitt Recital Hall, and Lindhurst Theatre, as well as the building of the Drescher Graduate Campus, the Center for Communication and Business, and the Seaside Residence Hall. His diverse array of experiences on campus has also contributed to his professional success during his time at the University. His theatre degree has helped him generate the confidence needed to speak in front of large crowds and to problem-solve from multiple perspectives, while his math and science degree has sharpened his coding, management, and administrative responsibilities. Currently enrolled in Pepperdine’s MBA program, Dusek’s business degree has helped him better understand the significance of turning data analysis into storytelling in order to successfully achieve business objectives.

“Had I not been attending and working at Pepperdine, I would not have learned as quickly that being of service to others gives meaning to life,” Dusek says about the University’s mission of strengthening lives for purpose, service, and leadership. “I absolutely love to help people by providing the best customer service that I can at work or supporting people in my personal life.

Pepperdine’s celebration of faith, the interactions with fantastic people, and the enjoyment of learning new things inspire me to stay at Pepperdine.”

16

Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

Had I not been attending and working at Pepperdine, I would not have learned as quickly that being of service to others gives meaning to life.

—Kyle Dusek

HUNG LE (’87, MA ’03)

DENNIS LOWE (’75, MA ’77)

Pepperdine University

Graduate School of Education and Psychology

In 1975 an 11-yearold Hung Le kissed his family goodbye, and with a small suitcase in hand, he headed to the airport from Vietnam to Seattle, Washington, as American troops were preparing to withdraw from the Vietnam War. Le’s parents had made arrangements for him to travel with his cousins to the United States in hopes of preserving and furthering their family legacy during a time of great unknown.

Several years later, on the verge of adulthood and yearning for a sense of community while away from his family, Le began planning for college. After consulting with a beloved guidance counselor, he unexpectedly found himself at Pepperdine, which, nearly 40 years later, he still calls home.

Le’s Pepperdine story began with a path he initially attempted to avoid: he was completely opposed to moving to California and pursuing a relationship while in college—both of which materialized as he followed God’s directions over his own plans. In fact, Le proposed to his wife, Corinne (’87)—whom he met while studying abroad in Heidelberg, Germany—at the base of the Phillips Theme Tower. They wed at Stauffer Chapel and hosted their reception at the Brock House. Today the couple and their four sons, three of whom are Pepperdine alumni and one a junior at Seaver College, live at the Malibu campus, where they are able to work, study, and spend quality time together—even eating their meals around an orange and blue dining table­—every day.

Along the way, Le made an impression on the University as well.

A few years following his graduation from Seaver College, Le left his 70-hours-a-week Wall Street career to work in a former University department called Campus Life (now Student Activities). In 2000 Le launched OneStop, an integrated student services office that addresses students’ many administrative needs in one place. For many years he has also served as the director of the Kenya: Made in the Streets Summer Program, a ministry that rescues children from the streets of Nairobi and provides them with a home, education, and vocational training.

But perhaps his most singular achievement is his first self-assigned project: to make orange cool—a feat he has accomplished by handing staff members orange shirts to wear during New Student Orientation every spring and fall, giving new students a taste of the color that will represent them during their time in Malibu. Le’s official signature even reads “Hung Le, OBC,” meaning Orange by Choice—a slogan created by alumni Campus Life employees back in the 1990s.

“I don’t think of myself as making a living here. I have made a life here,” says Le. “I found an incredible family who cared for me, nurtured me through difficult times, and came together to help bring my family from Vietnam over to the United States after a 16-year separation. God used this community to reunite us.”

When a teenaged Dennis Lowe left Los Angeles to attend Abilene Christian University in 1971, he never imagined one day becoming a double alumnus and an active member of the Pepperdine community for nearly 50 years—39 of which he has spent as a psychology professor at Seaver College and the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP).

Growing up in a family of six, Lowe’s parents encouraged him to enroll at an affordable college. After moving to Texas, he assumed he would build a new life in a new state. But while on a break from school, the late Pepperdine Chancellor Emeritus Charles B. Runnels—a close friend of the Lowe family through the Inglewood Church of Christ—convinced Lowe to attend Pepperdine during its inaugural year at the Malibu campus.

“He was pretty persuasive and worked with my parents to ensure that it would be financially possible for me to transfer, so I found myself at Pepperdine in 1972 and never looked back,” recalls Lowe, whose friendship with Runnels’ son, Duke, led to the two young men becoming college roommates. “Those early years on the Malibu campus were incredible.

With just a few hundred students, we knew almost everyone and were aware of being at the onset of something quite special.”

During his first week in Malibu, Lowe’s friendship with Duke and his wife resulted in a life-changing surprise: an introduction to then student Emily Scott, a 35-year Pepperdine staff and faculty member and Lowe’s wife of 45 years. In 2006 the Lowes returned to Abilene Christian together as part of the school’s centennial celebration to speak to students about relationships from a psychological perspective—a topic the couple has successfully mastered through their personal and professional endeavors.

As the M. Norvel and Helen Young Endowed Chair in Family Life in the Psychology Division of GSEP, Lowe has been an integral part of shaping the university that touched him deeply as a student, particularly as the founding director of the Boone Center for the Family, a licensed therapist at the Pepperdine Counseling Center, and a visiting professor in International Programs. A seasoned professor, Lowe teaches at several Pepperdine campuses as well as online while working with various University committees, pursuing research, advising students, and supporting fellow faculty as a course lead and coordinator.

“The best part of my job is interacting with students in the classroom,” shares Lowe, who performed in the University’s first-ever Songfest and remembers waiting for Firestone Fieldhouse to be constructed so he could attend home basketball games. “When I was a student, Pepperdine faculty demonstrated caring concern for me as well as a dedication to their roles as instructors and mentors. I hope that, in some small way, I can help to facilitate a similar experience for my students. At this point in my career, I also enjoy the opportunity to support, encourage, and mentor other instructors.”

Associate Vice President and University Registrar

M. Norvel and Helen Young Endowed Chair in Family Life

magazine.pepperdine.edu

17

Features

GABRIELLA MIRAMONTES (’01, MA ’02, EdD ’08)

Director, Center for Global Partnerships and Learning; Director, Excellence and Innovation Practices; Visiting Professor Graduate School of Education and Psychology As a child of immigrant parents who were unfamiliar with the American education system, Gabriella Miramontes didn’t receive much direction about pursuing a college education and securing a professional career. But soon after getting married, she was accepted into the Graziadio Business School’s BSM program and began working as an enrollment specialist at GSEP, where she eventually earned master’s and doctoral degrees.

Today Miramontes serves as the director of the Center for Global Partnerships and Learning, as well as the director of excellence and innovation practices, and is a fulltime visiting professor at GSEP, where she works closely with her longtime mentor, Farzin Madjidi (MBA ’88, EdD ’91), the associate dean of GSEP’s Education Division.

The two met more than 20 years ago when Madjidi was teaching Miramontes’ statistics class at the Graziadio School. A shy and introverted student, Miramontes would often sit in the back corner of the classroom and refrain from participating in discussions. But when she attended a GSEP employee meeting to inquire about a job recommendation, Madjidi, without warning, announced to the entire group that Miramontes would be joining the doctor of education in organizational leadership program.

“I couldn’t make him a liar, so at that moment I resolved to get my doctoral degree,” Miramontes recalls, fulfilling a dream she had had since high school. “Because of that experience, Dr. Madjidi became my coach, mentor, and friend, whom I owe everything to throughout my Pepperdine journey.” As a result, Miramontes found the voice she once struggled to share in front of others, noting that the doctoral program taught her to grow, gain confidence, and contribute to larger conversations on important topics, such as advocating for underrepresented groups, particularly women in leadership.

“Pepperdine has given me perspective on the value of the human spirit. Our faith is the cornerstone of what we do, and that is something that you don’t see very often at other organizations,” she says. “If I can support and nurture one student the way I was supported and nurtured here, then that alone makes coming to work every day worthwhile.”

18 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

If I can support and nurture one student the way I was supported and nurtured here, then that alone makes coming to work every day worthwhile.

—Gabriella Miramontes

SHELLEE WARNES (’94, MDR ’02)

Director of Operations, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution Caruso School of Law Shellee Warnes was a nontraditional student who realized that advancing her career would require the pursuit of higher education. When a couple of her five sisters suggested that she enroll at Pepperdine, where she was already employed at the Seaver College Office of Admission, Warnes took a leap of faith and joined the bachelor of science in management degree program, followed by a certificate in dispute resolution and a master’s degree in dispute resolution—all while working full time and raising three children with her husband, who was also employed by Pepperdine at the time.

In her current role at the Straus Institute, Warnes applies the problem-solving skills she acquired in the master of dispute resolution degree program on a daily basis, particularly while assisting students with their academic needs and coordinating management processes with faculty.

“I know our academic programs inside and out,” she says.

“I am familiar with many of our classes and faculty from firsthand experience, and I think my enthusiasm for what we do and how we do it allows me to be successful in my role.”

“Every professional team has a special bond, but I genuinely consider the Straus team as part of my family. Many of us have worked together for a long time, and I value each of those friendships,” Warnes continues. “Our program also attracts a very diverse group of students from all over the world, and it is truly rewarding to hear them speak about how what they learned at Straus has changed their lives.”

ELIZABETH WHATLEY (’84, MA ’87) Director, Florence Program International Programs Initially introduced to the University in 1978 during Pepperdine’s firstever Youth Citizenship seminar, Elizabeth Whatley spent a week at the Malibu campus and was immediately sold on the idea of a beachside Christian school. “Everything after that was history, and my life journey began,” says Whatley, former president of the Delta Tau Omega sorority and longtime active member of the University Church.

“My education prepared me for my career in a way I did not expect,” explains Whatley, who strives to be the type of positive and influential role model for her students that other staff and faculty were for her. As a student, Whatley was mentored by current University chancellor Sara Young Jackson (’74) and Laura Horwitz (’89), both of whom worked in the Campus Life office in the 1980s. “Their doors were always open for me to come in and talk to them about my goals and dreams, and they always had an open ear for me. They guided me through my entire four years as an undergraduate,” she recalls.

As the administrator of the Florence program, Whatley fervently worked with Pepperdine Alumni Affairs during the pandemic to organize as many virtual reunions of the program as possible, helping alumni remain connected during a time of global isolation. “I love watching my students grow while they study in Florence. They enter the villa as one person and leave as another,” she says. “The growth is so beautiful to witness.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

19

TEAM TEAM 20 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

After years of preparation and with some of the nation’s best players, the Pepperdine men’s golf team’s second NCAA Championship title was no surprise

BY ABIGAIL RAMSEY

With a masterfully recruited team years in the making, the 2019– 2020 Pepperdine men’s golf season began with intense momentum.

Boasting some of the nation’s top players and an unquenchable competitive spirit, the players were more than prepared to put in their best to clinch the 2020 National Collegiate Athletic Championship (NCAA) title until the COVID-19 pandemic brought the season to a halt. Although key teammates graduated in 2020, and the summer brought a great deal of uncertainty, the team’s momentum held strong.

After a highly competitive season, the team made history yet again to seize their second NCAA title at the 2021 NCAA Championship.

In 1997 Pepperdine men’s golf journeyed to the Chicago suburbs to battle it out for their first championship title. That year marked the team’s third appearance in the championships, and, at the start of the championship, they ranked 24th out of the 30-team competition. Their head coach, John Geiberger (’94), was out of commission due to an unexpected case of chickenpox, so former Waves player Kevin Marsh (’96) and former associate athletic director Tim Wilhelm (’75), who had come to observe the tournament, stepped in to aid the team throughout the week’s competition. Despite the challenges, the team played expertly to secure a win against runner-up Wake Forest University.

While the 2021 championship was a longawaited celebration after the team first raised the trophy in 1997, the accomplishment was made possible through years of careful development and exceptional talent. In Pepperdine’s early years at the Los Angeles campus, a top-tier golf program was already planting its roots. One of the program’s early mentors included former Pepperdine athletics director Wayne Wright (MA ’66) and, in 1981, following a brief hiatus, the golf program made its return with Professor Emeritus Bob Gilliam as its first official head coach.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

21

Features

TEAM PLAYER Since the men’s golf program’s formal inception, the team has logged 20 West Coast Conference (WCC) wins, 11 appearances at the NCAA Championships, and nearly 50 player awards, including the 2020 National Player of the Year Award given to Sahith Theegala (’20), who is currently competing— and making headlines for his impressive performance—as a rookie in the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) tour. In the last decade, the team has climbed in the rankings from its spot beyond the top 100 programs to topping charts at number one in preseason rankings—a rise due in part to head coach Michael Beard (’02), who has been named the WCC Coach of the Year four times and received the 2020 and 2021 Dave Williams Award honoring Division I collegiate golf coaches across the nation.

Since the program claimed its first NCAA Championship title in 1997, team recruits have longed to see Pepperdine on the championship green again. As a Waves athlete from 1998 through 2002, Beard knew the program was one of the best in the nation. He was a talented golfer holding several school records at the time, including a 72.72 scoring average, 55 below-par rounds, and 22 top-10 finishes. He was also named an All-American player in 2000 and 2002.

“Golf is such an individual sport, but I felt a deep sense of community playing with Pepperdine,” reflects Beard. “We cared tremendously for each other off the green, but we also had a healthy competitive spirit between each of us.”

Coach Beard on the course during his days as a student-athlete

That sibling-like rivalry pushed the team to finish eighth in the 2002 NCAA Championship and chart in the top 40 of teams across the nation.

After graduation, Beard played professionally for six years and displayed his talent in several mini-tours as well as two PGA tour events.

After a stint assistant coaching for Pepperdine briefly during the 2010–2011 season and at Arizona State University from 2011 through 2012, Beard made his long-awaited return to Pepperdine as head coach in 2012 beginning a decade of unprecedented growth for the program.

“I always knew Pepperdine was a top program, and I wanted to bring to this group of players that same sense of camaraderie I felt

as an athlete,” shares Beard. Reflecting on his own professional golf experience, he saw how easily the sport could get complicated. His hope was for his players to find joy in the simplicity of golf.

I always knew Pepperdine was a top program, and I wanted to bring to this group of players that same sense of camaraderie I felt as an athlete.

—MICHAEL BEARD (’02) The men’s golf team of 1997 raises the program's first NCAA championship trophy.

22 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

PLAYER INVESTMENT Beard not only envisioned what the men’s golf team could be capable of but also knew the practical steps he needed to take to see the vision come to fruition. With the support of Pepperdine Athletics, Beard began his search for the nation’s most coveted recruits. In 2015 Theegala joined the team’s ranks and quickly became a standout competitor, earning him the WCC Freshman of the Year award and ranks in the All-WCC first team and the Golf Coaches Association of America PING All-West Region team in just his first year. Throughout his college golf career, Theegala tallied three NCAA All-American awards, and, in 2020, he won the Haskins Award, the Ben Hogan Award, and the Jack Nicklaus Award, becoming one of just five players to win all three awards in the same year.

Other notable recruits included Roy Cootes (’19), Clay Feagler (’21), senior Joe Highsmith, junior William Mouw, and Frederick Wedel (’16), who each played integral parts in several WCC Championship and NCAA Championship appearances. As Beard recruited new talent, the powerful culture of community he wanted to replicate from his time as a student-athlete was top of mind. He knew to look for players who could fit in with a group of strong personalities and had a deep desire to specifically attend Pepperdine.

“Coach Beard is so aware of the players he has and what makes them tick,” shares Wedel, who ranks fourth in Pepperdine’s all-time scoring average and is currently in his fifth year of professional golfing. “He gets the best out of each of us. That means he doesn’t always tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear to be better. It takes somebody special to push players to something greater, and [Beard] has that ability to create a winning culture. I can’t give enough credit to Beard and to the whole Pepperdine family for molding me into the person and player I am today.”

Beard’s dedication to his players and his commitment to excellence on and off the green led players to push through adversity and strive for greatness. The team, which previously ranked outside of the nation’s top 100, quickly progressed an average of 15 places over the course of six years until the close of the shortened 2020 season when the team earned the nation’s number one ranking.

“In 2017 we were making our way back from the championships, and each of the guys knew they belonged on that green—they just needed to keep getting out there and making slight improvements,” shares Beard. From that year on, each player continued to tap into their team relationships to grow and progress together.

“Every year the team would get better, and our attitudes would change. Each new player coming in saw the success of the players before him, leading to each of us knowing we had a chance to win a national championship,” shares Cootes, who competed with the Waves in the 2019 NCAA Championships. “Coach Beard was such a big influence on that shift. He created such a trustworthy environment that we knew we could achieve anything.”

Sahith Theegala (’20)

Roy Cootes (’19)

Frederick Wedel (’16)

Joe Highsmith

Joe Highsmith (right) shares a celebratory moment with Coach Beard.

William Mouw

magazine.pepperdine.edu

23

Features

It takes somebody special to push players to something greater, and [Beard] has that ability to create a winning culture.

Coach Beard assesses the course at Alumni Park.

—FREDERICK WEDEL (’16)

A CHAMPIONSHIP LEGACY After seven years of careful planning, recruiting, and coaching, the team was ready to raise the championship trophy again. On June 2, 2021, after a demanding competition over six days in the grueling Scottsdale, Arizona, heat, the dream of the team winning a second

NCAA Championship was finally a reality.

The tenacity of the 2021 championship players was reminiscent of the 1997 team.

This time, the Waves managed a 3–2 victory over the University of Oklahoma, Pepperdine’s rival as the top-ranked team in the nation, with expert plays from

Highsmith and Mouw, who both won the first two points in the championship’s new match-play format, and fifth-year senior Feagler, who secured Pepperdine’s lead on the 18th green.

As the team enters the 2021–2022 season to defend their title, teammates Dylan Menante and Mouw were named to the Haskins Award preseason watch list, the same award Theegala received in 2020.

Additionally, the team continues to be highly ranked, competing at the highest levels of collegiate golf in the nation, proving Beard’s tenure as head coach continues to position the team and its players for greatness.

“As we enter this new season with a smaller group of players, we are going to continue putting our energy into the camaraderie and team relationships,” Beard says. “We want them to be comfortable with failure and know that they have a team to fall back on when they need support.”

William Mouw putts as NCAA championship spectators look on.

24 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

The men's golf team celebrates its second national championship in 2021.

Joey Vrzich

Joe Highsmith (left) and Coach Beard study the course.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

25

Features

Curators of Culture

By Gareen Darakjian

26 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

Samuel L. Dunson, Jr., The Cultivators, 2000.

Oil on canvas, 38 ½ x 26 ½ in.

Through a comprehensive collection of art, artifacts, and relics from some of the most painful and poignant periods in history, the Kinsey family celebrates the cultural contributions of African Americans and helps shape the narrative of the Black experience for generations to come Khalil Kinsey was born in March 1977, two weeks after Roots, the television miniseries based on Alex Haley’s 1976 novel, first aired. During each episode of its eight-night run, Khalil’s parents, Shirley (MA ’76) and Bernard (MBA ’73) Kinsey, the matriarch and patriarch of what would become a family deeply invested in the sharing of critical historical art and artifacts, watched with wonder as their history—and the histories of many others born in their generation—was displayed in spectacular detail.

L—R: Khalil, Shirley, and Bernard Kinsey

Shirley, who met and married Bernard, a former Xerox executive, when they were both attending Florida A&M University, had grown up with her grandmother in St. Augustine, Florida. Like many African Americans, Shirley did not have a complete understanding of her family’s background. “My grandmother’s parents and grandparents, I’m sure, had to have been born into slavery,” she says. “Finding out [through Roots] that people could actually go back to Africa and find out a little bit more about their history was really special for me.”

It wasn’t until Khalil was in fourth grade that the gaps in their family history became increasingly apparent.

“I thought I had done a great job,” says Khalil, who had pored over limited family trees and interviewed living family members and elders to gather information to help him complete an assignment that tasked him and his classmates with preparing a family history report. “It was a sober awakening when I got to school and realized that my report only went back about four generations. That was all that anybody could tell me about,” he recalls. “My classmates’ family trees could go back for centuries, and I just remember the confusion I felt coming home with questions. My parents didn’t have all of the answers, and that is what informed their steps moving forward.”

While the Kinseys could not uncover much about their own personal history, they were galvanized by the potential and the healing power of examining the collective history of a people—one whose narrative had been defined by the accomplishments of a handful of notable figures throughout time that were, albeit honorably, repeated over the course of generations. What started as an earnest effort to excavate library resources containing evidence of the impact of Black people throughout history became the starting point for a lifetime of profound study of stories that transcended the few ​​ that were elevated during Black History Month each year.

“Kids, Black and white, didn’t think that Black folks did anything else,” says Shirley.

“It was important for me that that knowledge got out there. From that point on, Khalil had to do all his reports on African American people who did something notable. It was hard at first because the school library didn’t have very much, so we went to the public library and found what we could. And it just grew from there.”

The Kinsey Collection The family had humble goals of increasing their own knowledge and information. They first started collecting African American art prior to including historical documents in their search and befriended and supported artists that they met along the way. Coupled with a love for discovery that the Kinseys have nurtured through the travel and cultural appreciation and preservation they have engaged in since the beginning of their relationship, their desire for understanding was the lens through which they approached their tremendous undertaking.

“You cannot understand American history without understanding the African American story,” Bernard continues. “Most Black people and white people walk around every day with cataracts because they have no idea of the American story as it relates to the contributions of African Americans and building this culture.”

Beyond wanderlust, their thirst for discovery took the Kinseys on challenging journeys—both physically and emotionally—through some of the most significant milestones and the darkest days of perpetually oppressed peoples. In 1995 Bernard received a document from 1832 recording the purchase of a young African American male in Alabama, which set in motion their decades-long pursuit of truth and facts that painted an accurate historical record of America.

“It literally changed my life because until I actually had this document in my hand, I didn’t really believe or know that someone could own someone,” he says. “Holding that document sent shivers through me because it was like I was holding his life in my hand. I immediately began to think about how African Americans got into this predicament in America, that we could have no agency to the point that someone could buy and sell us like cattle or a piece of lumber.”

During their partnership, which now spans more than five decades, Bernard and Shirley set a goal of traveling to 100 different countries during their lifetime and have amassed one of the most significant private collections of African American history and art.

The decorated corridors of the Kinsey home, one of many pieces of real estate they have developed over the years, became a gallery of sorts of art, artifacts, historical documents, and relics from critical times in history that the family shared with visitors with great joy and enthusiasm.

“They have been sharing [their collection] with whoever came through their doors for years. Especially my friends,” says Khalil. “Their goal was always about sharing with young people and aiding in their journey of life and living and its possibility.”

In 2005 the Los Angeles Times visited the Kinseys’ Pacific Palisades home to profile the family and showcase the architectural details of their Modernist cliffside property.

In “These Walls Do Talk,” readers were taken on a guided tour of oil paintings, bronze busts, and Aboriginal abstracts produced by artists such Artis Lane, Ed Dwight, Tina Allen, and Colin Byrd and documents and ephemera depicting significant moments throughout time. As the Kinseys added pieces to their personal possessions, their home became the launching ground of the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, a traveling exhibition considered to be one of the most comprehensive surveys of African American history and culture outside the Smithsonian Institution.

To date, it has been experienced by more than 15 million people across the world, toured more than 30 US cities, and received three national awards.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

27

Features A Traveling History Most recently on tour at the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington, one of Shirley’s favorite pieces, Untitled, an oil painting created in 1951 by Hughie Lee-Smith, was showcased among dozens of other treasures from the Kinseys’ massive collection. In a segment about the exhibition shot for the TODAY show, Shirley relates the first time she saw the artwork that depicts a young girl, joyful despite the instability and isolation the painting evokes, jumping rope among the ruins of a home.

“I thought, ‘That’s me,’” she shared with the journalist.

“I didn’t know where I was going, but I was going somewhere,” an accurate representation of the childlike innocence and fragile promise of hope Lee-Smith’s series of paintings elicits.

Through primary source material, documents, artifacts, and art, the Kinsey Collection illuminates a comprehensive story that, the Kinseys relate, is painful in parts. Notable historical pieces include the earliest known Black marriage record from 1598; the first book written in 1600 by an African about Africa before the continent was marred by slavery; a proclamation from Warren County, North Carolina, that declared “any person may kill or destroy said slaves”; the Dred Scott decision; and a portrait of Alexander Lucius Twilight, the first African American college graduate (1823) and the first African American to hold elected office (1836).

“Overall, the collection is about an incredibly strong people, a brilliant people, a loving people and those who I always say, perhaps, might be the most patriotic of us,” says Khalil, who serves as the chief operating officer A baptismal record and a marriage and chief curator of the Kinsey African certificate dated 1595 and 1598 American Art & History Collection and Foundation. “Black people have always been the barometer for the viability of this American process and the ideals that America is still striving to live up to.”

In its 34 tour appearances over the last 15 years, the collection has made stops at the Smithsonian American History Museum, where the collection was the preview exhibition for the National Museum of African American History and Culture prior to the physical location’s groundbreaking. In 2013 the collection also began a five-year partnership with Disney World and was the first private collection to be exhibited at Epcot in the American Pavilion. It has earned a nomination for the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal as well as a citation for the President’s Medal for Museum and Library Services, the nation’s highest honor conferred on museums and libraries for service to the community, for its exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach—a museum that Bernard recalls he was not allowed to enter as a boy growing up during segregation.

From December 2016 to March 2017, the University of Hong Kong partnered with the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection on the exhibition Rising Above that included more than 120 items and culminated in the printing of the book Rethinking America’s Past: Voices from the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection that was produced in collaboration with eight professors from both Hong Kong and the United States to be used by the university’s American history department in class discussions. In February 2017 the Hong Kong Philharmonic honored the Kinsey Collection by performing a concert inspired by the exhibition.

In 2014 Pepperdine held an exhibition at Payson Library featuring key pieces from the Kinsey Collection during Black History Month, an initiative that planted the seed for a larger exhibit in the future. Both Pepperdine alumni and, that same year, recipients of the University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, Bernard and Shirley formed close relationships with the University and have been imagining ways for the Pepperdine community to engage with the collection ever since.

In February 2021 the Kinsey family presented their collection and illuminated both significant and previously unseen pieces of American history at Pepperdine’s President’s Speaker Series.

As Bernard took attendees and viewers on a journey through the transatlantic slave trade, the Civil War, the Reconstruction era, segregation, the Harlem Renaissance, and beyond, he paid homage to intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and trailblazers who significantly contributed to the culture and endurance of African Americans in America.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to expose the Pepperdine academic community and students to these wonderful stories through different avenues,” says Bernard, who references future collaborations to enhance the inclusion of such historical reference materials in the University’s curriculum.

The Cultivators: Highlights from the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, which will be on display at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art from January 15 to March 27, 2022, on Pepperdine’s Malibu campus, will bring the collection to Los Angeles for the first time since 2006 when it was presented at the California African American Museum. The exhibition will home in on a narrative that speaks to Bernard and Shirley’s origin story of meeting through the civil rights struggle and coming to Los Angeles to begin their journey through collecting art and history.

“This exhibition will focus on telling this very connected, cohesive story through the lens of Los Angeles and Pepperdine and my parents’ journey through it all,” says Khalil.

The Weisman Museum exhibition will feature never-beforeseen art pieces and artifacts such as the first book of poetry written in 1773 by an African American, Phillis Wheatley, in the United States. On display will also be poetry by Langston Hughes, letters from Zora Neale Hurston, and books by Alain Locke. A baptismal record and a marriage certificate dated 1595 and 1598, respectively, offer updates to historical records that document the arrival and the presence of people of African descent in America pre-slavery. They were both found in St. Augustine, Florida, Shirley’s hometown.

The first book of poetry, written in 1773, by an African American, Phillis Wheatley

28 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

With every exhibition and every object, our motive is to dispel the myth that we weren’t there and that we did not participate at every level or in every aspect of the human, American experience.

Five letters written by Zora Neale Hurston discovered by Shirley among her uncle James A. Webster’s belongings after his death in 1993

—Khalil Kinsey

The Myth of Absence From 1595 to the present, the 700 treasures in the Kinsey Collection stand as a declaration of truth—and the foundational concept of the myth of absence, the spirit in which the collection is curated and shared. The concept, first coined by author and historian Lerone Bennett and utilized by the Kinseys through their endless exploration, states that Black people are "invisibly present" in common tellings of American history and the American story.

“They are absent not because they weren’t there, but because of a myth that requires that absence,” says Khalil.

“With every exhibition and every object, our motive is to dispel the myth that we weren’t there and that we did not participate at every level or in every aspect of the human, American experience.

We are trying to normalize this history in a way that demonstrates ordinary people doing extraordinary things, but also ordinary people doing ordinary things that at the time were extremely difficult for them to do.”

The collection mostly speaks to the historical record and artistic contributions of African Americans and intentionally omits their involvement in the realms of sports or entertainment, categories the Kinseys acknowledge have been covered largely elsewhere and have long been one of the primary reference points for Black life and contribution.

“We hope to increase the scope—both internally as Black people, for Black people—how Black people look at ourselves and see what’s possible for us and our community,” says Khalil, “but also how our greater society understands and then views Black contribution and Black people as a result. The Kinsey Collection represents, among so many other incredible organizations and collections and museums, an analysis of moments in

history through primary source material that can offer solutions for untangling some of these issues and approaching them in a different way.”

Throughout their curation process, the Kinseys are guided by the facts and the notion that people are entitled to their opinions but can not outrun the facts presented in primary source documents— artifacts that unlock the door to the breadth of the Kinsey Collection.

“It has to be factual,” says Bernard.

“It has to be a letter, a book, a document, a manuscript. What we found throughout the 34 cities we’ve been in is we don’t have to do much. We just tell the audience to read the material, and they will have an aha moment. The collection is not open to personal interpretation or judgment.

We are laying out the facts and providing the connective tissue and believing in the human process. Anybody that’s of an open mind and spirit that comes through the exhibition is going to come to certain conclusions and understandings on their own that will forever expand their minds.

Our hope is that they will then go and take that knowledge outside of the museum and share it with others.”

The Kinseys’ second principle is a concept called “Learn, use, teach,” a philosophy that has informed each exhibition and display throughout the family’s 15-year journey of showcasing their collection and is a reflection of Shirley’s former profession as a teacher.

Through the Bernard and Shirley Kinsey Foundation for Arts & Education, the Kinsey family is dedicated to impacting educational and cultural institutions through exhibitions, public programs, lectures, books, workshops, and training seminars to increase awareness of African American history and ancestry.

The foundation has partnered with the Florida Department of Education to develop a curriculum taught to K–12 students throughout the state as well as

The 1857 US Supreme Court decision in the case of Dred Scott, a slave from Missouri, whose fight for freedom reached the nation’s highest court

with the Los Angeles County Office of Education to make historical educational content available to students and teachers online. Most recently, the Renton School District in Washington began to develop a curriculum based on the contents of the collection that will be replacing outdated textbook material.

“We are giving our ancestors a voice, a name, and a personality,” Bernard says. “The world knows that they matter.

That we matter. And to America, the understanding of that is very important.

These are people who were buried with no names at all. No gravestones. When we talk about commitment to the Myth of Absence, we say it’s like walking into a graveyard with bare headstones. And with this, we are able to give them a voice and name and personality so they can be known.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

29

Features

You cannot understand American history without understanding the African American story.

—Bernard Kinsey (MBA ’73)

A Discovery of Self While the traveling Kinsey Collection offers a deep dive into African American history, it also includes cultural art and artifacts from around the United States and the world. A vast landscape of pieces from Aboriginal, Japanese, Chinese, Haitian, Cuban, and Belizean artists and Native American and Inuit art outlines the couple’s early collecting days and mirrors their broader travels.

As a college student, Bernard was a park ranger at the Grand Canyon and helped to integrate the park service. His and Shirley’s first travel venture took them to national parks to explore Indigenous culture and Native American artifacts. Their search later expanded to Mexico, where they learned about the Teotihuacan, Mayans, and Aztecs, and they began to see the similarities between their beadwork and basket weaving and that of Africans.

“While learning about these other cultures, we began to wonder why we didn’t know enough about our own,” says Shirley. “It brought us to understand the commonality among cultures.”

Through their endeavors, Bernard also learned that his own father, U. B. Kinsey, was involved in the civil rights movement and the teachers rights movement in

30 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

Laura Wheeler Waring, Woman Wearing Orange Scarf, 1940. Oil, 17 x 12 in.

Florida. When her uncle, James A. Webster, passed away in 1993, Shirley discovered that he grew up knowing and attending the exhibitions of many of the artists, including Jacob Lawrence, in the Kinseys’ collection.

“It’s been very interesting and, frankly, keeps us moving,” says Shirley. “We have no plans to slow down with this.

“We hope,” says Bernard, “that when anyone experiences the Kinsey Collection, they will learn something, they will begin to use it, then they will teach someone else.” Shirley continues, “We hope they walk away educated, motivated, and inspired and wanting to learn more.”

Experience

on the Pepperdine

Mobile App! DISCOVER stunning, high-resolution design on your smartphone or tablet GET INSTANT ACCESS to each new issue as soon as it becomes available EXPLORE compelling and inspiring content at your convenience

PEPPERDINE.EDU/U-MOBILE-APP Free on the App Store and Google Play

Snapshot

Not The Same OldSong

W

hen songwriter extraordinaire Jimmy Dunne offered to write a new alma mater for Pepperdine, the answer from University leadership was an unqualified yes. Dunne, who has worked for many years writing music for television, film, and an array of popular vocalists, has also composed a number of alma maters. “I just find it so rewarding to get under the skin of a university and to try and express that through music,” he says. And as the parent of Caruso School of Law graduate Alexis Dunne (JD ’19), he had a special affinity for Pepperdine.

To develop a sense of the school from the perspective of those who know it best, Dunne met and chatted with students, faculty, and alumni. One alumnus’ quip about the school’s challenging topography inspired Dunne to adopt the theme of climbing—“both the physical act of climbing and, more importantly, the sense of climbing together, overcoming hurdles, and getting to your destination together.”

“While walking up the hill to the cross at the top of campus, I was imagining what a Seaver College senior would be thinking about as they climbed and looked out at the vista,” said Dunne. “The sense of wondering what their next chapter would be and realizing that they’re blessed to bring with them the Pepperdine family to give them confidence and inspiration on their journey.”

The new version of the song also includes a reference to the light of the lantern, a sort of lyrical leitmotif that provides a symbol of the light that Pepperdine shines on students—the light of knowledge and truth, as well as the light of Christ. And, adds Dunne, “the light that students are bringing into the world.”

32 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

“We Will Climb” Music and Lyrics by Jimmy Dunne

In front of me, the most amazing vista All I see—the richest college memories Looking back, I realize I’m right where I should be Will I climb Will I dare to dream The light of the lantern Will it shine through me Will I catch A wondrous wave Will I ride on a crest That shapes my days And when the storms out on the sea Test all I’m born to be I will draw from my days here You’ll always be, always be with me We will climb We will dare to dream The light of the lantern It will shine through me We will climb We will reach for more We’ll hold this light together We’ll share these days forever We will climb Pepperdine Pepperdine

“Fight for Pepperdine” Dunne also took the time to revitalize the Pepperdine “Fight Song” with fresh, unambivalent lyrics that open the newly recorded, marching-band-style song with a richness and energy that will surely get spectators on their feet and singing along at every type of sporting event.

Up on the hill in Malibu We are the Waves of orange and blue, Waves will Waves will crush you!

We’re gonna fight, fight, fight for Pepperdine We’re gonna win for the orange and the blue The mountains and the sea inspire victory In the waves of Malibu We’re gonna fight, fight, fight for Pepperdine And show our pride for everyone to see Come on and raise your voice To show the world your choice And cheer our team to victory . . .

VIC-TOR-Y!!!

ཁ Listen to “We Will Climb” and “Fight for Pepperdine” on the Pepperdine Magazine website: magazine.pepperdine.edu/alma-mater

magazine.pepperdine.edu

33

Spotlight

Renewable energy experts discuss government and corporate responses to the public’s increasing demand for natural resources

By Sara Bunch

34 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

M

ichael Kotutwa Johnson (MPP ’03) begins each day by remembering a powerful fact: that although

today Indigenous Peoples constitute less than five percent of the world’s population, they have been protecting 80 percent of the Earth’s biodiversity on a mere 25 percent of the land. As the program officer at the Native American Agriculture Fund, a private charitable organization, Johnson—a member of the Hopi tribe located in northern Arizona and a 250th

generation dryland crop farmer—is often requested to offer advice to tribal, state, and federal governments in agricultural ventures and renewable energy proposals, such as wind and solar farms.

“Considering these statistics, the voices of Native Americans belong at the forefront of making clean energy changes to tribal lands,” explains Johnson, who constructed his own renewable-energy home adjacent to his non-irrigated corn, melon, and squash fields. “My seat at the table, which is primarily granted to me because of my education level, allows me to help develop equitable solutions, highlight Indian Country’s biodiversity, and partner with renewable energy companies.”

This biodiversity, which has resulted in living species of wildlife found nowhere else in the country except on tribal lands, is part of environmentally friendly Indigenous land management schemes derived from clean energy values like working only with what the environment naturally provides. Such schemes have been practiced

by Indigenous Peoples for millennia. While Indigenous methods have allowed Native Americans to survive in their environmental surroundings, they have also provided the rest of the nation with additional options for healthy foods that have been produced using what are commonly referred to as regenerative practices.

In Johnson’s experience, discussions about renewable energy policies between Native Americans and the government also highlight issues derived from past mistrust of state and federal governments. While representing the best interest of local tribes, Johnson must be cautious to never exploit Native traditions while employing Western language to explain certain farm-specific clean energy techniques and benefits.

Often, however, these traditional practices are not validated or accepted by government agencies who rely solely on scientific criteria often without

considering supplemental expert testimonials to approve funding for renewable energy programs— despite thousands of years of proven success.

Native Americans are also frequently excluded from conversations about renewable energy at the federal level because their populations are typically omitted from national data collection surveys focused on climate and weather conditions. Without a presence in national data, government agencies are unaware of their needs, further disqualifying them from receiving funding for renewable energy programs.

“It’s critical to invite more Native Americans to share their knowledge when renewable energy policies are being developed and to keep in mind that our demographic includes scientists and researchers as well as farmers,” shares It’s critical to Johnson. “We have a vested interest in invite more this area, but the difference is that our education has been acquired differently.

Native Americans We tend to learn more from elders that we know rather than from scholars we to share their don’t know.”

To help improve such communications, knowledge when Johnson recommends streamlining renewable energy government processes to increase the inclusion of diverse perspectives. With policies are being additional representation, and therefore increased potential and opportunity developed and to for renewable energy farming methods, Johnson hopes that tribal landowners keep in mind that will develop local clean-energy foodprocessing infrastructures so that our demographic children and families can continue to includes scientists benefit from sustainably grown produce.

“I want to create something that and researchers can help everybody,” he says. “I am advocating for a complete restoration as well as farmers. of the Native American food system through conservation and Indigenous MICHAEL KOTUTWA land management schemes as a way to JOHNSON (MPP ’03) fulfill this request.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

35

Spotlight “It’s a dynamic space that is constantly moving and evolving, which is exciting because no two days are ever the same,” shares Kelley Smith Burk (MPP ’04) about her career as the director for the Office of Energy located within the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. While all 50 American states and territories have some variation of the office of energy, Florida is the only state that houses this office within its Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services—a strategic placement that began in 2011 as a way for the state to allocate renewable energy resources to its three largest economic drivers: agriculture, tourism, and construction.

Through this organizational change, Smith Burk continually collaborates with other state departments, local government agencies, utilities companies, and community members interested in sharing their concerns and solutions around the increasing demand for renewable energy sources built into public and private properties.

In fact, Smith Burk points out that just five years ago only two percent of Florida’s energy was renewable, compared to the current 7.3 percent and projected 22.8 percent in the next 10 years.

“Renewable energy isn’t just putting a solar panel on a roof. You have to assess whether the technologies you want to apply fit the location, and that takes multiple communications with numerous stakeholders,” Smith Burk says. “We listen to people’s stories, explore what projects would make the most sense for them, and develop pilot programs to see what works.”

While certain programs sometimes prove more effective and valuable than originally expected, some projects result in highlighting where improvements must be made and how to solve existing issues in new ways. One critical need that her office has successfully met is helping make renewable energy more accessible and affordable to underserved communities in Florida. “There are many low-income neighborhoods that don’t have the money to launch the programs they want, and my office fills those gaps with our funding to ensure that they receive the attention they require and that no community gets left behind,” she says.

In consideration of the state’s tumultuous weather conditions during hurricane season, Smith Burk also partners with legislators to discuss how the loss of fossil fuel energy can be replaced in the event of a disaster. She examines, for example, how electricity can be supplied for a week following a power outage after a hurricane and whether enough renewable energy systems exist to sustain schools, hospitals, and emergency shelters in the event of a major disaster.

During such discussions, Smith Burk notes that goal-setting and program development involve a variety of factors, including geography, resource availability, political systems, and environmental issues. In determining the future of renewable energy, Smith Burk emphasizes the importance of continuing to educate and train young people in the field—including the academic, public policy, research and development, utility, and vehicle manufacturing arenas—because energy impacts every single area of our lives.

“Not having the proper energy to turn on the lights, start a car, join a Zoom call, or power our mobile devices will lead to huge issues,” Smith Burk warns. “Investing in future generations who are coming into this field through internships and entry-level positions is critical because our jobs require positive relationships and effective communication between diverse entities, and we must prepare incoming employees to help the world in innovative, intelligent, and compassionate ways.”

36 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

POWER HOUSE Nobel Chang (’14, MBA ’15), cofounder and managing partner at Palladium Energy Development, LLC, embraced his journey into renewable energy 12 years ago by being part of a team that developed an off-grid wind-, solar-, and battery-energy system designed to provide power to places without access to electricity in rural Asia and Africa. Realizing he could help improve people’s lives fueled his love of renewable energy—a passion that has only grown with the worsening state of climate change and its environmental impact.

Initially launched with two business partners and two rounds of capital, Palladium, a privately held company that is developing and financing 500 megawatts of utility-scale solar and solar plus storage projects across the United States, continues to invest in and evaluate a wide range of renewable technologies and fuels, such as green hydrogen, stand-alone storage, and pumped storage hydropower with the goal of providing a reliable, round-the-clock source of renewable energy.

While the cost of solar energy made its usage an exclusive luxury in its early days, new technologies have since been developed for renewables to be competitive with conventional sources of power. The cost of installing new solar and wind farms has fallen drastically while efficiency has improved exponentially through continuous innovation. “There is a myth that solar energy is expensive, but it is now cheaper to build new solar systems than to run existing coal plants,” Chang reveals. “In fact, 2020 was a record-breaking year for solar energy because it’s not just about the environment anymore—it’s about making financial sense.”

Chang shares that he has never been more optimistic about renewable energy development and predicts that innovations will continue as demand increases among academic institutions, government agencies, corporations, and utilities companies. Continuing on this path, however, comes with its unique set of obstacles.

“As an industry, we face a multitude of challenges from community opposition to wavering legislative and regulatory policies to rising costs of interconnecting into the grid to supply chain issues,” Chang says. “Developing successful projects takes a team of talented and dedicated people with an aligned goal of building renewable energy against all odds.”

He remains optimistic about the real impact the people of the renewable energy industry can make. “I have witnessed firsthand the sheer power of the creativity and tenacity of the people behind the renewable energy transition,” Chang says. “There is no issue that we, as a collective, are unable to solve. We are part of something that’s bigger than we are as individuals.”

FIRM BELIEFS “Energy laws are some of the oldest federal laws in the United States, and not much has changed since the days of the oil barons in the 1930s,” explains Jennifer Brough (JD ’07), an attorney who advises pipeline, electric, and renewable energy companies on corporate matters, often representing them before federal agencies such as the United States Department The industry is of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. adapting and “Both corporations and federal agencies want to hear straight talk,” open to change she says about communicating with like never before, state and federal agencies on behalf of her clients. “Lawyers who dance and we are now around issues or raise problems without offering solutions pose more witnessing much of a hindrance than assistance.”

As laws regarding the development more flexibility of new energy infrastructures change with each presidential and creativity administration—which means in changing to legislators must continually work to adapt to updated laws and renewable sources. regulations of yet another new era—Brough must also diligently keep abreast of such policy shifts to JENNIFER BROUGH (JD ’07) strategically guide her clients on how to bring their projects to fruition.

According to Brough, while companies were previously resistant to investing in greener technologies, wider access to renewable energy sources— such as natural gas pipelines accepting natural gas from sources like animal waste—has caused a shift in corporate behavior toward more creative solutions. “The industry is adapting and open to change like never before, and we are now witnessing much more flexibility and creativity in changing to renewable sources,” she says.

A partner at Locke Lord, an international full-service law firm that specializes in complex litigation, regulatory compliance, and transactional negotiations, Brough has learned that many companies assume that as renewable energy sources become more popular, the world’s reliance on fossil fuels will soon come to an end.

“While we have made incredible strides in renewable energy storage and delivery, there is much more work to be done,” Brough says. "If we accept the reality that fossil fuels are part of the energy transition, we can make smarter decisions about reducing emissions and constructing energy projects in a more environmentally acceptable manner."

magazine.pepperdine.edu

37

GREAT

BY GAREEN DARAKJIAN WITH JESSIE FAHY (JD ’11)

fl flflfl

38 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

In May 2021 the Honorable Consuelo Maria Callahan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit served as the commencement speaker at the Caruso School of Law commencement ceremonies for the graduates of the Classes of 2020 and 2021. Callahan, the first woman and first Latina to become a Superior Court judge in San Joaquin County, was appointed to the Superior Court in 1992 and elevated to the California Court of Appeal for the Third District by governor Pete Wilson in 1996. After serving seven years as a State Court judge, Callahan was nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003 by George W. Bush and went on to be confirmed by a Senate vote of 99-0.

Taking the podium to address the attendees, Callahan reflected that one of the highlights of her profession is wishing graduates well as they chart their own destinies in their pursuit of their legal careers. She advised, “Be the Pepperdine lawyer you have been trained to be. Do live a life of purpose, service, and leadership.

Do see value in yourself and every person that crosses your path. Set goals for yourself, and don’t let the nonbelievers define your future. Know that hard work and determination are essential to your success.”

Just before her poignant address, Callahan was introduced to the guests seated in Alumni Park by James “Jimmy” Azadian, a Caruso School of Law alumnus, member of its Board of Advisors, and one of Callahan’s former judicial clerks, who, over the course of his own remarkable career, would far exceed the standards of legal professionals his mentor described to the graduating class.

Since his time as a clerk in her chambers, Azadian has established himself as a highly respected litigator, serving as the West Coast appellate chair and coleader of the nationwide appellate and critical motions practice of Dykema's Los Angeles and Washington, DC, offices. Throughout the years he's developed a close bond with Callahan that has defined and reinforced his own relationships with law students and graduates seeking mentorship as they pursue judicial clerkships. In fact, Azadian has cultivated a vast network of judicial greats that has translated into an extraordinary track record of connecting and elevating Waves in their pursuit of judicial clerkship opportunities.

In simple terms, a judicial clerkship offers hands-on training for both future litigators and transactional attorneys. Law clerks read briefs, examine records on appeal, reference research guides created by staff attorneys, conduct legal research, and prepare bench memoranda that outline the case’s key facts, procedural history, issues on appeal, arguments, and relevant precedents. These memoranda also include the clerk’s recommendation on how the judge (or judges) should resolve the matter.

“A clerkship is an invaluable opportunity for budding practitioners to hone their research, writing, and analytical skills,” says Laine Kontos (JD '98), assistant dean of the Caruso School of Law Career Development Office.

“Litigators learn what influences judges’ decisions, and transactional attorneys learn what happens when deals go bad and result in litigation, enabling them to better strategize and structure deals for their clients. Clerkships provide a high level of responsibility and autonomy early on in one’s legal career while simultaneously providing an opportunity to develop a close relationship with a talented lifelong mentor.”

Azadian stresses the importance of learning at the hands of the most gifted and talented lawyers in the country who make critical decisions every minute of every day.

“Looking at it through the eyes of jurists, you develop a very different way of practicing law as a lawyer because you start to see that it’s not about sheer advocacy. It’s about what argument is most likely to

be accepted by the courts for your clients or for your adversary.”

Azadian, an appellate lawyer who had initially decided early in his schooling to pursue a career as a trial lawyer, specializes in complex federal and state court commercial litigation raising cutting-edge and core business issues, the First Amendment to the Constitution, Article I of the California Constitution, and the application of California’s anti-SLAPP statute in federal court.

He also serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit as appointed by Ninth Circuit chief judge Sidney Runyan Thomas and is a court-appointed mentor to civil practitioners through the Ninth Circuit Mentorship Program.

He credits Callahan with changing the course of his legal career and, specifically, his interest from trial litigation to appellate litigation.

“My experience as Judge Callahan’s clerk called me to the area of building a case—to harness the facts in order to advance and secure the law and to be the chief architect of a legal theme and of a systemic design for winning a case,” says Azadian. “I felt I could make a significant difference in those areas for both corporate clients and individuals. I truly consider myself an officer of the court rather than just an advocate.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

39

Spotlight

LIFTING ALL SHIPS ✩ ✩ ✩ As a law student, Azadian completed his first experience working for a court with Judge Dickran Tevrizian, a now retired United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Tevrizian hired Azadian to serve in his chambers full time during Azadian’s third and final year of law school—an opportunity that granted the law student the same experience as being a judicial law clerk, but without the pay. At the time, Tevrizian was the first and only Armenian federal judge in the country and had been appointed to the state bench by former governor of California Pat Brown when he was still only in his twenties—details that impressed and intrigued Azadian beyond the fact that several of his classmates had completed judicial externships with Tevrizian.

“I wondered what it took for him to become a judge because the Armenian American Bar is a small community,” says Azadian, who became deeply invested in Tevrizian’s story and his journey to the bench. Before applying, Azadian spent time learning more about Tevrizian and visited his courtroom to witness the judge’s mastery at work.

“He was fiercely intellectual, fiercely shrewd, and fiercely real,” says Azadian. “He was just a real person and would write and speak to lawyers and non-lawyers with the same easy-to-understand language.

His example compelled me to consider becoming a judge.”

Azadian impressed Tevrizian enough to encourage him to pursue a clerkship following graduation—an ambitious endeavor for a law student already midway through his third year of law school. Tevrizian wrote a glowing letter of recommendation that caught the attention of several federal trial and appellate court judges, including District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, considered by many to be the most prestigious court in the country after the Supreme Court. During the full-day interview with Judge Urbina and his law clerks, Azadian completed a writing assignment that demanded quick problem-solving skills and concluded the meetings with a conversation with Urbina in his chambers.

“He said, ‘I don’t hire people out of law school,’” Azadian recalls of the discussion. “‘I’m not really even sure why you caught my attention.’”

Despite his exceptional performance as a student, Azadian did not have the experience typical of Urbina’s previous clerks, one of whom had served as a federal prosecutor in Hawaii and the other who had served as New York governor Mario Cuomo’s chief of staff. Urbina offered him

Jimmy’s mentorship was profoundly significant to my professional development and to my confidence as a young lawyer.

— Amanda Luck Culp (JD ’05)

40 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

the job nonetheless and required an answer immediately. Despite the other interviews he had scheduled that week, Azadian accepted and served a three-year clerkship that established his legal foundation in the nation’s capital.

Today, Azadian advises law students similarly and has a clear piece of advice for law students with aspirations of securing a clerkship: “Do what the judge says.”

“The first offer you get is the one you take,” he continues, “and never keep a judge waiting.”

Amanda Luck Culp (JD ’05), a faculty scholar at Caruso Law, was the first Pepperdine judicial extern Azadian helped hire. As a law student, Culp was interested in pursuing an internship in Washington, DC, and reached out to then professor Jim Gash (JD ’93) who directed her to Azadian for his expert guidance.

“Jimmy taught me that meticulous, clear, and concise legal writing need not be devoid of personality,” Culp says. “He demonstrated that effectiveness demands honesty. He advised me to tell the truth, admit my mistakes, and treat everyone with respect. Jimmy’s mentorship was profoundly significant to my professional development and to my confidence as a young lawyer.”

Azadian’s wisdom made an impact far beyond that moment and continued as Culp proceeded through her academic career. One year later, she received a call from her mentor who informed her that Judge Urbina was hiring law clerks out of cycle.

“He told me, ‘Stop everything and send me your resume today,’” Culp says. “He believed in me, he mentored and prepared me, and he advocated for me. Jimmy Azadian represents the very best of Pepperdine.”

Upon graduation, Culp secured a judicial clerkship with Judge Urbina and served in that capacity for three years. “[Amanda] was sensational,” says Azadian. “Her hard work and excellence opened up the door for future Waves to join Judge Urbina’s chambers.”

Over the last 20 years, Azadian has helped place more than a dozen Caruso Law alumni in judicial clerkships, including Jeffrey Cook (JD ’06), Mark Kanow (JD ’18), Brittney Lane Kubisch (JD ’12), Shant Ohanian (JD ’11), Margot Parmenter (JD ’13), James Slattery (JD ’05), Cory Webster (JD ’10), and Matt Williams (JD ’10), many of whom were Azadian’s own students in his appellate advocacy class at Caruso Law. Webster later became Azadian’s teaching assistant and is currently a decorated appellate advocate and senior counsel in Dykema’s Los Angeles office, where he works in the national appellate and critical motions practice group that Azadian leads.

“Since I met Jimmy 12 years ago when I was a 2L, he has gone out of his way to advance my career,” says Webster. “Like a zealous advocate for a client, he made my burdens and goals his own. He knew my desire to be a judicial law clerk. My pursuit of that goal took several years, but he stuck by me all along the way, giving advice, reviewing and editing application materials, and making phone calls to advocate for my cause.

I treasure my appellate clerkship experience, and it never would have happened without Jimmy.”

The common thread among the students Azadian has helped place has always included a desire to work hard, dedication, and perseverance in spite of obstacles. “Kevin Durant says, ‘Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard,’ and these students and alumni have clearly demonstrated that truth,” Azadian says.

I truly consider myself an officer of the

court rather than just an advocate.

— Jimmy Azadian (JD ’01) FROM MENTEE TO MENTOR ✩ ✩ ✩ Azadian’s path to mentorship began as a law student at Caruso Law, where, he says, he discovered the value of supporting students throughout their professional growth as he developed close relationships with his first mentors—his professors.

“They were epic in how they mentored me,” says Azadian. “And that mentorship did not stop at the law school doors upon graduation. It continued throughout my career. To this day, I rely on my law professors.”

Beyond the judicial titans that Azadian has learned from, he credits “Pepperdine law legends” with inspiring him to advance the next generation of leadership—legends such as Andrew K. Benton, president of Pepperdine University from 2000 to 2019; Ken Starr, dean of Pepperdine Law from 2004 to 2010; Ron Phillips, senior vice chancellor and Caruso School of Law Dean Emeritus; President Gash; and professors Barry McDonald, Bob Cochran, Allen Linden, and Douglas Kmiec. He recalls many times while sitting in Kmiec’s office when Kmiec would receive calls from Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

“Professor Kmiec would say, ‘Nino, I’m meeting with a student right now. I’m going to have to call you back,’” Azadian recalls.

“Can you imagine that? What does that tell you? It tells you somebody thinks of a student as that important, and the student starts to feel that they can add value to our justice community.”

A decade later, Azadian taught a course in appellate advocacy with then dean Starr and invited Justice Scalia to speak to students as a distinguished guest lecturer. “I remember telling Justice Scalia that I was a fly on Professor Kmiec’s wall when Justice Scalia would call him,” says Azadian. “Justice Scalia quipped, ‘So, you were the reason he wouldn’t take my calls!’”

“You may be thinking, ‘All these people did was support you,’” Azadian continues.

“No, they didn’t. They talked to me for hours about what it means to do justice.

They told me what they regret in their own

careers. What they wish they would’ve done differently. And for me not to make those same decisions. But they didn’t turn out so badly, these people.”

Azadian has a secret recipe for successfully interviewing with a judge, but he won’t share it on the record. Ultimately, it comes down to a carefully crafted process of guiding students through mock interviews, building their confidence to affirm that they are the best for the job, and to use effective communication to convince the interviewing judge of that fact.

Recently, Azadian joined the alumni cohort of the Pepperdine Caruso Law Clerkship Committee as an advisory member and hopes to help current and future Pepperdine Caruso Law students secure federal clerkships through his role on the committee. This fall, Azadian is also teaching a course on the role of the appellate attorney at the law school. During the last semester alone, he spent countless hours preparing two graduating Caruso Law students for their judicial clerkship interviews, both of whom have since secured those roles.

As Azadian’s focus remains on the advancement of Caruso Law students in the halls of the nation’s most prestigious courts, his own professional accomplishments shine as exemplars of the power of community support and the devotion of mentors to encouraging developing legal professionals to carve their own path and invest in the next generation of leaders.

“It’s not just the legal investment and a career investment that these people made in my life,” says Azadian. “They invested in me in every way—in terms of faith, in terms of family, in terms of my career, in every important dimension. I will forever be grateful to the school. And, boy, am I glad that I went to Pepperdine. Oh boy, am I glad.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

41

Spotlight

THE

ATHLETES’ DVOCATE Student-athletes, the NCAA, and the University itself, all rely on the behindthe-scenes efforts of the University’s faculty athletics representative

BY AMANDA PISANI

42 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

M

isconceptions about student-athletes abound.

“They spend all their time training.”

“They pay other students to do their homework.” “They never go to class.”

The truth is very different. Studentathletes, and Pepperdine’s studentathletes in particular, are undoubtedly some of the hardest working, most disciplined young people you’ll ever meet. Yes, they spend a lot of time training. And practicing. And fine-tuning their skills as game strategists and competitors. But they are also devoted scholars. As Pepperdine athletic director Steve Potts (JD ’82) puts it, “You have to be a student first if you want to be an athlete at Pepperdine.”

Bridging the gap between athletics and academics and guiding busy athletes on their academic journey is the job of the school’s faculty athletics representative.

The position, mandatory for every NCAAaffiliated college, is appointed by and reports to the university’s president.

“The institution is an NCAA member, not just the athletic department,” Potts explains. “In fact the admission office, the financial aid office, and the registrar’s office all need to comply with NCAA rules.”

Don Shores, who recently retired from the faculty athletics representative position at Pepperdine after more than two decades, notes that the position requires a breadth of knowledge about NCAA requirements and their interplay with a student-athlete’s college career.

“My job was to keep my nose in everything and try to know as much as possible about what was going on,” he says.

One of the most critical roles played by the faculty athletics representative is repeatedly certifying for the NCAA that every student-athlete meets all the organization’s requirements to compete. This requires tracking each student-athlete’s grades and progress toward a degree at the end of every semester. “Because the faculty athletics representative is also a faculty member, they’re trying to grade papers and finals and turn in grades as well as ensure the student-athletes’ eligibility. It’s a busy time,” notes Potts.

More broadly, advising studentathletes and helping them navigate their academic responsibilities are also part of

name, image, and likeness. In response, the job. Shores explains that studentJessop is creating a brand development athletes might be hesitant to bring their class for Pepperdine student-athletes concerns to a coach or faculty member, with the support of Potts and his team. but the faculty athletics representative “You have college athletes now at can serve as an ombudsman that has a major programs earning millions of foot in both worlds. “They are expected to dollars in sponsorship revenue, and be as objective as possible from both the I’m teaching the student-athletes here academic and the athletic side,” he says. how to build a brand,” she says. She will Nobody understands both sides better also be sure that the students are ready than Pepperdine’s new faculty athletics for their next chapter. “They have so representative, Alicia Jessop. An associate much more opportunity accessible to professor of sport administration, them beyond sport. They can also start Jessop is keenly aware of the dedication displayed by the school’s student-athletes. a business, use their network to get a job in a business they like, or create a “My top priority,” she says, “is making product. A student-athlete’s potential sure the campus community at large, and doesn’t have to be limited to what they certainly all undergraduate professors, are currently excelling at.” understands the commitment that As most NCAA faculty athletics student-athletes make to the University.

These are people who spend [significant representatives are male, Jessop is time] on sport-related activities, and yet excited to bring a woman’s voice and they have some of the highest GPAs across perspective to the table. “I look forward the NCAA. The college athlete is a school’s to sharing and acknowledging the issues embodiment of what a well-rounded women face in athletics and helping their student and individual should be.” sports gain attention,” she says. “Having As one of the country’s foremost a woman in the role is long overdue,” authorities on the issue of NCAA adds Shores. “Alicia understands athletics governance, Jessop’s passion for better than I do now after 24 years in the supporting athletes extends beyond position. She is invested in this for her campus. Noting the NCAA’s increasing life; it’s who she is.” interest in the input of school members, Shores believes that such expertise is invaluable.

Jessop is also widely versed in the area of athletes’ welfare, “The college athlete is a school’s and much of her research and consulting work has involved embodiment of what a well-rounded helping athletes transition from sports into different careers. She student and individual should be.” observes that both professional and college athletes must “fully embody the identity of an Alicia Jessop athlete” to be successful, but that when their careers in sports end, they’re often at a loss.

“In their twenties, they find themselves battling an identity crisis that most Americans face when they retire at age 67 or above,” she says. “They are not prepared for what is next, and there is a huge mental, physical, and also economic consequence to that.”

Jessop is determined to maximize athletes’ abilities to take full advantage of their talent and to broaden their postathletic career horizons, and her mission is aided by a new and very significant change in the NCAA rules. Inspired in part by a Supreme Court decision that the NCAA cannot limit the educationally related benefits a college offers to a student-athlete, the new rule permits student-athletes to now profit from their

magazine.pepperdine.edu

43

Spotlight

YES AND ...

The Pepperdine Improv Troupe is a comedic powerhouse that has been preparing its members for careers in acting, writing, and directing for more than 20 years

By Abigail Ramsey

M

ost days, Elkins Auditorium is filled with the sounds of students scribbling furious notes during seminars or the staccato clacking of keys as focused scholars listen intently during packed lectures. However, on performance nights, the Pepperdine Improv Troupe (PIT) treats more than 200 faculty, staff, students, and community members to a showcase of quick wit and clever dialogue, and the uproarious laughter from within the auditorium spills from the open doors and into Joslyn Plaza.

Created and directed in 2001 by Tracy Burns, a legendary improv instructor and performer, the troupe began as a small but mighty gang that gathered in the Howard A. White Center (HAWC) for the group’s earliest performances. As word spread and its popularity grew over the years, students in the troupe’s first ensembles recall the HAWC

44 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

becoming so packed that there was hardly room for people to move. With such close quarters between the improvisers and the audience, it created an intimate and uniquely lively environment.

“Those early shows in the HAWC were so special,” shares Brian Jones (’04), who first joined the troupe in 2001. “There was something so dangerous and exciting about each performance, with the players and audience connected in the process.”

Led by Burns and the troupe’s musical director, Allen Simpson, Jones was able to carve out his own space as an actor within his craft. Through careful practice, he established deep bonds with his scene partners, listened more intently, and trusted his instincts to make the right decisions throughout the performance.

“As part of the process, you have to completely surrender to the moment and collaborate with your audience for suggestions,” Jones says. “That demonstrates just how important vulnerability is to the artform.”

BREAKING THROUGH FEAR Jones took note of the troupe’s strengths as Pepperdine continued to experiment and compete with neighboring colleges and universities. The group could dig even further into their techniques with Burns as the troupe’s skilled director and Simpson as the musical director carefully guiding each student through their highs and lows.

Just a few years after its inception, the troupe continued to grow, forcing them to find a bigger space in which to rehearse and perform. Around 2007, the troupe was formally recognized as a club, which secured funding for Burns and Simpson, and began performing in Elkins Auditorium to a packed crowd. With more space for shows, the troupe became a staple not only for Pepperdine students but also for the surrounding community.

“The shows were so eagerly anticipated that one couple would make the drive from Ventura down to Malibu to catch the first half of the show before getting back on the road,” Simpson recalls.

A junior at the time, Alex Skinner (’09) first became involved with the group after being enraptured by the energy of one of their shows. Even with a short performance tenure of two years, Skinner knew it would have lasting impacts on his acting career.

“I honed my ability to listen closely before I reacted and lean on those in the scene with me,” reflects Skinner. “It was one of the most valuable experiences because I knew that I could explore, fail, and keep exploring until I got it right.”

As a mentor and musical director, Simpson sees the students’ growth from a different angle. Those new to the troupe fear the moment Simpson gets on the piano keys to lead a musical improvisation, which requires intense trust between musician and performer to compose, write, and perform a song that continues to carry a scene forward.

Yet, despite their fear, and with Simpson’s masterful intuition and partnership with the performers, they are able to quickly find themselves in the scene, plant themselves on stage, and perform their songs with confidence.

“You can see their passion for creativity while they are performing,” shares Simpson.

“They are writing, composing, and performing all at the same time, which helps them realize they can do so much within the industry and within their lives.”

Simpson (left) and Jones (right) laugh with students during the troupe’s weekly rehearsal.

CONNECTING THROUGH COMEDY After more than a decade of professional acting and improvisation, Jones returned to Pepperdine to succeed Burns as the troupe’s director in 2013. He hoped to emulate Burns’ teaching style while harnessing his own personal experience of improv’s influence on his craft and desire to promote the troupe’s legacy. While the group continued to grow in popularity, the students’ rigorous training and their commitment to creating a tightknit crew did not falter.

“What has sustained this group for so long has been each student’s contributions to the troupe’s energy evolution,” shares Jones.

In spring 2020, the troupe had anticipated a lively semester of in-person performances until the COVID-19 pandemic pushed classes and student activities to digital formats. In an effort to stay connected and fresh as the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic grew, the troupe continued to hold their weekly rehearsals via Zoom. As their laughter during rehearsals uplifted them through a difficult season, the troupe began exploring different ways to enhance their virtual performances and bring that same joy and laughter to the community that had encouraged and supported them through it all.

“Our performances were always designed to bring light to the community, and, as everyone was experiencing so much uncertainty, we knew we wanted to meet that moment in some way,” shares Indy Wilson (’21), who served as the troupe’s president at the time.

Familiar with the energy of their packed shows in Elkins, Wilson was anxious about how improv could be performed and presented in a digital format. However, the troupe embraced the opportunity to tap into experimenting and playing with the format, pushing their performance muscles even further. As the pandemic stretched from one academic year to the next, the actors decided to celebrate the troupe's 20th anniversary by taking advantage of

Our performances were always designed to bring

light to the community.

I N DY W I LS O N ( ’ 2 1 )

the new platforms that could connect performers with troupe alumni regardless of location. Throughout summer 2021, the troupe hosted four virtual performances featuring a long list of alumni special guests exploring the new medium, breaking the rules, and connecting even while apart.

“PIT is electric,” says Seaver College student and this year’s PIT president Lauren Drake. “It was the first community in which I felt truly loved, seen, and like I belonged.

Now, as we all continue to make it through such rough personal seasons, I am looking forward to how we can continue to bring laughter to the community.”

As students made their return to campus in fall 2021, Jones passed the directorial baton to Isabel Klein (’19). Klein, a troupe alumna and working actor, is eager to give back to the program and see students transform their acting craft through improv.

“It is such an honor to coach this program that was part of such a transformative experience for me,” shares Klein. “Improv has not only made me a better actor but it has also let me lean into laughter and joy in the midst of difficulties. I cannot wait to see how our students give to their community this year.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

45

Spotlight

A Morpougha village elder gifts Johnson a traditional Burkina cloth during a farewell ceremony.

We don’t usually expect that one day of our lives will change everything, but for one Seaver alumna, life is now “before the terrorist attack” and “after the terrorist attack.”

Five years after surviving a terrorist attack, alumna La’Nita Johnson (’14) continues to make sense of the unthinkable Amanda Pisani

46 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

As an international studies and Hispanic studies major at Seaver College, La’Nita Johnson fell in love with service. Volunteering with the school’s programs, most notably as the coordinator of the volunteers who taught English to day laborers as they waited for daily work, was the cornerstone of her Pepperdine years. “I saw what language and labor inequity looked like in our community. It was my first experience witnessing this type of hardship and development challenges,” she says.

“I lived it every week.”

When she began working after graduation at GE Capital, the financial services division of General Electric, her passion for service led her to arrange a mission trip through her employer’s partnership with the nonprofit buildOn to construct schools in developing countries.

Traveling to Burkina Faso, a small landlocked country in West Africa in January 2016, Johnson planned to spend seven days serving with the organization, after which she’d do some sightseeing. Her week in a rural village—which included starting the construction of a school for both boys and girls, getting to know the villagers (through translators of Moore and English), and partaking in traditional activities such as making shea butter—was a deeply gratifying experience.

Returning to the city at the end of their trip, Johnson and her coworkers planned a dinner out in a Western-style cafe to celebrate their achievements and their time together. Waiting inside for the entire group to arrive, she took advantage of the Wi-Fi to call her parents, send them some photos of her time in the village, and tell them she was safe. Approximately 15 minutes after the whole team was assembled and seated together in the back of the cafe, the scene would take on a markedly different appearance.

Suddenly several people entered the restaurant and started firing indiscriminately. In the melee, Johnson was able to flee to the restaurant’s bathroom with several other patrons, including some from her group, where they remained in hiding for about two hours while the shooters, who were later identified as Al-Qaeda militants, threw bombs into the cafe, left, returned, started shooting again, and continued bombing the building.

“What I will always remember,” she says, “is the sound of phones going off. There was a lot of screaming and crying and glass shattering. I heard a child screaming. It was the owner’s son. I later found out he was killed.”

Johnson eventually escaped from the restaurant, but with the perpetrators of the violent act still at large, the streets remained unsafe.

She hid in an alley with another woman as the shooting continued all night. She cut her toe quite badly and recalls that as the hours went by she had thoughts that were both quite logical (“My toe will have to be amputated”) and seemingly ridiculous (“I’ll never wear sandals again”).

About 16 hours after the attack began, Johnson was found by the police and was taken to a hospital for treatment. Members of her party located her there and told her that two people in her group had been killed in the attack. Later that day she was evacuated from the country along with her companions.

Everything Was Different

Johnson returned to work in Chicago but found that her former easygoing state was no longer accessible to her; she couldn’t remember how she’d moved fearlessly through the world. Her job began to feel toxic to her, and she was forced to go on disability leave. She felt the need to understand what happened, to herself and in Burkina Faso, and she started researching the event online. This led to two discoveries.

The first was about the dearth of information for civilians with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It took little time to learn that the mental health issues she was experiencing fell outside the traditional conversations of healing from trauma. “When you search ‘what to do after a terrorist attack,’ most of the information addresses veterans that have suffered IED bombings or returned from war,” she says. “At the time, I was a 22-year-old middle-class African American girl, and my experience was nothing like that. I wanted to know, for example, why I was so tired when I hadn’t really done anything that day.”

Eventually, Johnson decided to fill the void. She created a website, ptsdoutloud.com, as both a place to share her thoughts and as a resource and safe space for those who have undergone trauma. “Instead of holding it in or isolating myself, which is what I’d been doing, I thought, ‘Just write about it.’ There were a lot of attacks after mine, and I thought perhaps others might stumble on what I’d posted and relate.”

Johnson sees herself as a devoted advocate for a public that is more accepting and knowledgeable about mental health. “For a while after the attack, I wished I’d been shot, just so people could understand the ongoing nature of the trauma. They weren’t satisfied that the mental anguish of having lost two members of my group and experiencing such evil and death was a sufficient cause of my distress.” She would also like to see a wider understanding of the extent to which PTSD is experienced. While it may arise after a traumatic event like a car accident or a natural disaster, it’s also a largely unidentified experience in communities of color. “It doesn’t look like the veteran experience,” says Johnson. “But in communities where people are impoverished and denied access to employment, there will be individuals experiencing high levels of PTSD,” she says. “But when it doesn’t look like how we see it in the news, as a nation we don’t say ‘that’s a problem.’”

Many people, including some who were victims of the same terrorist attack, have made connections with Johnson through her site and blog. She’s heartened when she learns that she’s touched them when they respond to her posts with messages like, “Thank God, I’m not crazy.” She’s developed a very individualized approach to speaking with others about healing from trauma and moving with a traumatic event into their future.

“When I was able to stop considering what other people wanted for me and stop looking externally for validation about what the experience meant is when I was able to make a lot of changes and have harder conversations,” she says. Now she asks others, “What does it mean for you? How do you want to make sense of what occurred for you?”

For a while after the attack,

I wished I’d been shot,

just so people could understand the ongoing

nature of the trauma.

Making the Difference Matter

For Johnson, making sense of what occurred was essentially her second discovery. While reading reports of the attack, she learned that the gunmen who conducted it were youths.

A co-survivor told her that while hiding under a car that day, he noticed that they were not even wearing shoes. “I was heartbroken,” she says, “that this was an option for kids. I’d been instilled at Pepperdine with the need to know why God put me on this planet and to ask how I was going to serve in the world. I then asked myself, ‘How do I make sure kids don’t choose this as an option?’”

Johnson determined that she must be an educator, but having spent all her savings on counseling, she was not in a position to go back to school. She applied for some foreign service fellowships and was awarded a Payne Fellowship, which paid for her graduate studies, offered her two internships, and, thereafter, helped start her career in the foreign service. She is now an education officer in Guatemala with USAID working on youth workforce development programming with local youth training nonprofits. Her efforts help ensure that the country’s youth don’t face an empty future and that they have opportunities to continue their education, be trained to start a business, or obtain employment.

In addition to directly assisting the youth of Guatemala, Johnson is also committed to broadening the diversity of the foreign service. “One of the most gratifying aspects of my job is mentoring new Payne Fellows and prospective applicants,” says Johnson. “It is a fellowship to enhance traditionally underrepresented groups, and if I can bring more people of color into the foreign service to converse with the people we’re impacting, I’m grateful for that experience. My biggest dream,” she continues, “is to create an organization, maybe an afterschool program, that works with Black and brown youth for professional development. People of color are underrepresented in these types of leadership roles.”

Although Johnson’s life was irrevocably changed by her service trip to Burkina Faso, her devotion to helping others has only been strengthened. “In the Pepperdine Volunteer Center, we had deep pedagogical conversations about what inequity looks like, and those conversations stayed with me.”

She is also clear that the University’s continued dedication to involvement in service programs will be invaluable to both students and the larger community. “We have to find ways to not only have the conversations at an academic level,” she says. “We have to also get our people out there serving.”

Johnson meets with a Nebaj Indigenous representative during USAID’s launch for the Alliance for Education.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

47

h T e Cut

Created Equal Two common myths I hear are that creativity is only connected to the arts and that only certain people are born creative. We are all creative, and creativity is like a muscle that must be exercised. Creative problem solving is a strategic and intentional process that requires clarification, ideation, development, and implementation. Understanding this process will help us generate innovative solutions for the increasingly unexpected challenges we encounter in this world.

As company cultures continue to evolve and businesses increase their reliance on technology, alumnus Steve Ralph (’97, EdD ’17), practitioner lecturer of organizational theory and management at the Graziadio Business School, explains how we can rely on our personal ingenuity to creatively solve problems, overcome disruptions, and manage a successful workplace.

48 Pepperdine Magazine

|

Fall 2021

Now You See It Examine challenges or problems from a different perspective. Thinking of how someone else might approach a challenge or meeting with a small group of diverse individuals and asking them how they view your situation will provide you with alternate viewpoints.

Disruptions Welcome Functional fixedness, or the ability to see the use of something in only a specific way instead of considering potential alternate uses, stifles creative thinking. When we feel stuck and notice a lack of growth, we can encourage creativity by changing our daily routines, like where we exercise, how we spend our free time, and the roads we take to drive to work. These simple disruptions allow for new experiences that can spark new insights.

Work Space Organizational leaders have a responsibility to encourage innovation so that companies can survive and thrive in a highly disruptive world. But fears of failure and judgment prevent us from taking the risk of sharing new ideas and attempting new approaches, so leaders who require innovation from their employees must provide a psychologically safe space for fostering creative growth. You can’t have innovation without creativity, which is an essential component of an organization’s competitive success.

It’s in the Details While the exponential growth of technology offers amazing benefits, the overwhelming amount of details we process every day has created information overload that can result in stress that moves us from the neocortex (where the strategic and creative thinking happens) to the brain stem (where the flight, fight, and freeze reactions occur). We should consistently ask ourselves whether we are managing our devices or whether they are managing us.

Just Wandering When we set aside time to unplug from our devices, we provide meaningful space for our minds to wander. This is where we often come across excellent creative insights, which is why people often say they get their best ideas in the shower or on a hike. It is because we are not distracted and filling our minds with information, but rather using the quiet spaces to make connections.

REDISCOVER US

The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts is pleased to once again present an innovative, unique, entertaining, and diverse selection of artists for our 2021—2022 season.

We are excited to welcome you back to our theatre and to reconnect with our incredible community in person as we share our love for the arts.

Explore our programming and purchase tickets: arts.pepperdine.edu/tickets

| arts.pepperdine.edu | 310.506.4522

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

The Cultivators

Highlights from the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection

Organized by the Bernard and Shirley Kinsey Foundation for Arts & Education and KBK Enterprises, Incorporated

An impressive survey of African American history and culture, this exhibition of the award-winning Kinsey Collection includes masterful paintings and sculpture, photographs, rare books, letters, manuscripts, and more that celebrate the achievements of African Americans from the 16th century through slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and up to the present day.

January 15–March 27, 2022 Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art

Pepperdine University | 24255 Pacific Coast Highway | Malibu, CA 90263

Plan your visit: arts.pepperdine.edu/museum

Hughie Lee-Smith, Untitled, 1951. Oil on masonite, 25 1/2 x 31 1/2 in.