Pepperdine Magazine Vol. 8, Iss. 2 (Summer 2016) by Pepperdine University

Volume 8 Issue 2 Summer 2016

A childhood curiosity about the world around him propelled School of Public Policy professor Wade Graham into a lifelong exploration of the landscapes that define our lives. 26

U R BA N LEGEND

Veered Science 14 Super Star 18 Tempting Faith 22

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Volume 8 Issue 2 Summer 2016

FEATURES

34 36

38 40

22 26

14 Veered Science Caught between the choice to become a veterinarian or medical doctor, a scientist finds middle ground as a disease ecologist.

18 Super Star Brought up in the very school system that she now leads, alumna Michelle King (MS â&#x20AC;&#x2122;92) is uniquely positioned to impact the same community that helped shape her career and decades-long passion for education.

22 Tempting Faith Singles and couples receive relationship and marriage insights from Christian therapists versed in science and scripture.

26 Urban Legend A childhood curiosity about the world around him propelled School of Public Policy professor Wade Graham into a lifelong exploration of the landscapes that define our lives.

COMMUNITY

32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46

Reading, Writing, and Relationships Psych Effects The Power of Silence A Question for the Ages Footprints in the Sand Leading the Field A Word of Art The Medieval Eye

DEPARTMENTS

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Letters Perspectives News Snapshot Alumni In Focus

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letters LETTER FROM THE EDITOR What do you want to be when you grow up? The ubiquitous question is one that has the potential to either stump youngsters on the cusp of adulthood or stimulate their progress, goal planning, and discovery. In the case of the members of the Pepperdine community profiled in this issue of Pepperdine Magazine, the question may have been a fruitful exercise in determining their impact on the world. Perhaps Michelle King (MS ’92) sat in her fourth-grade class at Windsor Hills Elementary School envisioning a future where she would have the opportunity to lead an increase in graduation rates across the district. This January, shortly

after being named superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, King stopped by Windsor Hills Elementary on a tour of community schools to visit the place where her dreams first emerged. As a student studying with biology professor Lee Kats in his Costa Rica summer program, would-be veterinarian Barbara Han (’02) reaped the benefits of high-impact learning while studying the ecology of the tropical environment and discovered a passion for infectious diseases linked to amphibian population declines. In his grandfather’s dining room, Bryan Keene (’06) learned to wield a pencil and paintbrush at a table that sat just below a fresco of the Bay of Palermo in Sicily, an image that stimulated his curiosity about

art and architecture of the Mediterranean island. He now continues his pursuits as assistant curator of manuscripts at the Getty. Coming of age in the fairytale town of Santa Barbara in the company of some of the architecture world’s thought-leaders, School of Public Policy adjunct professor Wade Graham laid the foundation for a future investigating the urban and rural landscapes that define where we live, play, and work. This issue celebrates the circumstances that help determine the rest of our lives, the mentors who nurture our journeys of discovery, and the passion that fuels our every inquiry. — GAREEN DARAKJIAN editor

Registration is now open! October 14-16, 2016

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Spring 2016 Summer 2016

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Pillar of the Community

Quarter-Life Lessons

You are such an inspiration. Congratulations on all your accomplishments and future endeavors. May the Lord continue to bless you.

Thanks for aligning yourself with your life's calling and helping many to identify and be in their sweet spot to fulfill their life’s purpose. Press on, Paul! —Alex Amissah

—Dorothy Yell

SENIOR DESIGNER

Courtney Gero

WRITERS

Sara Alamdar, Doug Gillett

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Samantha Burg, Ryan Kotzin

PHOTOGRAPHER

Ron Hall (’79)

COPY EDITOR

Vincent Way

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Jill McWilliams

APP AND DIGITAL ISSUES

Keith Lungwitz

INTERACTIVE DEVELOPER

Kimberly Robison (’10)

MULTIMEDIA

Nathan Pang (’07)

PUBLISHED BY THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND CHURCH RELATIONS Rick Gibson (MBA ’09, PKE 121)

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND BRAND DEVELOPMENT Nate Ethell (’08, MBA ’13) CREATIVE DIRECTOR Keith Lungwitz

—Barb Singleton (BSM ’95)

—Soraya McPherson King (’84)

Gareen Darakjian

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS Matt Midura (’97, MA ’05)

I am glad to have found out about this woman, Linda Forster, and the important work she has done and continues to do.

It is inspirational for those who are not familiar with the community of Watts and for those young people who live in and around the area that glean from her example of hopefulness.

EDITOR

DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA Allen Haren (’97, MA ’07)

Graziadio School of Business and Management Launches Fred Sands Institute of Real Estate The Drescher Graduate Campus in Malibu—we can’t think of a greater location in which to learn about real estate! Great appreciation to Fred Sands for the endowment. —Mike Gard

Tell us what YOU think! Do you like what you’re reading? How can we improve? Visit magazine.pepperdine.edu to tell us what you think about what you’re reading and how we’re doing. We’ll publish your thoughts in the next issue.

SENIOR DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Ed Wheeler (’97, MA ’99) Pepperdine Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 2, Summer 2016. Pepperdine Magazine is the feature magazine for Pepperdine University and its growing community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends. It is published quarterly by the University’s Public Affairs division. Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, 90263 Pepperdine Magazine is produced with guidance from an advisory board representing a cross-section of the University community. Send address changes with publication name to: Office of Advancement Information Management at Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California 90263 Other information and queries should be directed to the editor. All material is copyrighted ©2016 by Pepperdine University, Malibu, California 90263.

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perspectives

A High-Impact

Institution By Lee Kats

Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Initiatives Frank R. Seaver Chair of Natural Science Professor of Biology

ften when I interview prospective faculty members, I inquire if they know higher education terminology, and specifically if they are familiar with â&#x20AC;&#x153;high-impact practices.â&#x20AC;? It should not surprise me, but it always does, to see how many new PhDs are not familiar with the term. This group of learning-focused activities in higher education has been empirically shown to be where students engage in the most impactful and meaningful learning. Measuring learning is still not something many research-oriented universities focus on and most new PhDs are coming out of programs narrowly focused on their discipline and less focused on how and where people learn. Pepperdine, on the other hand, has built much of the student experience both at the undergraduate level and at the graduate and professional school level around high-impact practices.

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High-impact practices engage students in original scholarship and research with faculty mentors, service-learning experiences, international learning experiences, internships, and communitybased course work and study. While Pepperdine is still not widely known as a research university, I am proud to report that Pepperdine faculty increasingly publish high-quality scholarly books, publish in the top discipline journals, and are receiving growing numbers of external grants and are being awarded larger and larger grant amounts. It is not uncommon

now for a faculty member to receive a $250,000 grant or larger from an external foundation or agency. However, in my role as a research administrator, I get to see up close just how passionate our faculty are when it comes to research and scholarship. For most, they do not only engage in research for their loyalty to discipline or their passion for the academy. They write external grant proposals because they know that these types of funded opportunities provide the support

for students, both undergraduate and graduate, to learn with them in a side-by-side partnership where tough questions are explored and new answers are discovered. In other words, high-impact practices don’t just impact students, but they enhance faculty learning and change faculty lives as well. I have experienced this firsthand while developing courses with colleagues in Costa Rica and Argentina. I became a better teacher experiencing and seeing the social and environmental challenges of these two very eco-conscious countries. My courses back in Malibu began to include real-life examples of the challenges of biodiversity conservation in Costa Rica and Argentina while contrasting them with our own challenges to preserve species in Southern California.

numbers and anticipate opportunities for students expanding. Pepperdine has long known, even before the empirical studies, that these experiences not only speak to the University’s mission, but also change students’ lives. In similar fashion the University has recognized the unique learning opportunities afforded by these types of high-impact practices. Provost Rick Marrs has recently funded a new program that supports and encourages faculty and students to engage with local communities on issues of importance to that specific community. These are win-win propositions, where students will problem-solve with a team of Pepperdine faculty members in a scholarly partnership, and local cities and

organizations will benefit from findings and results that will likely transform issues of importance. I look forward in a future piece to describing some of these partnerships and findings more specifically. The program is new and I anticipate the successes will be many. Pepperdine does many things well, but we excel in high-impact learning opportunities. Recently, when our regional accrediting agency reviewed Pepperdine as part of our re-accreditation process, they acknowledged what we already knew: students are exposed to excellent programs of study at Pepperdine, and they are afforded some of the most unique learning opportunities offered at any university in the country.

On these trips to remote places to study biology, I saw students who were uncertain about their careers quickly shift to dedicating their lives to education and improving society. Alumna Barbara Han (’02) experienced Costa Rica on more than one occasion as a Seaver student. She is now Dr. Barbara Han and is one of the premier disease ecologists in our country (read more about Barbara Han on page 14). Disease ecology is a topic that is of ever-growing concern around the world and is most recently illustrated by the spread of the Zika virus, one that Han has recently been investigating in mosquitos and primate species. Similarly, Ryan Ferrer (’00) and Anjel Helms (’09) learned ecology with me during these tropical visits. Dr. Ferrer now dedicates his life to Christian higher education at a university in the Pacific Northwest and Dr. Helms assists farmers by using chemistry to manipulate and manage insect crop pests.

High-impact practices don’t

High-impact practices also involve service-learning and international study. As I look across all five of our schools, I see these types of activities growing in

change faculty lives as well.

just impact students, but they enhance faculty learning and

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news Pepperdine Celebrates 2016 COMMENCEMENTS

Annual PEPPERDINE BIBLE LECTURES Returns to Malibu Campus for 73rd Year For the 73rd year thousands of visitors flocked to Pepperdine's Malibu campus to experience the powerful story of Christ's life, death, and resurrection at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures. From May 3 to 6 more than 300 guest speakers from around the world led over 75 inspiring daily sessions and unmatched moments of fellowship as they explored the deeper truths found in scripture.

Pepperdine recently hosted commencement ceremonies for the Graziadio School of Business and Management, School of Public Policy, Seaver College, School of Law, and Graduate School of Education and Psychology. At the Graziadio School of Business and Management commencement, which took place April 16, an honorary Doctor of Business degree was bestowed upon Raymond W. Smith, founding partner of Arlington Capital Partners and chair of Rothschild Continuation Investments and Verizon Ventures (formerly Bell Atlantic). Los Angeles County supervisor of the Fourth District Donald R. Knabe delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Public Policy degree at the School of Public Policy commencement on April 22. Michael K. Powell, former chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the Seaver College commencement ceremony on April 30. At the School of Law commencement ceremony, held May 20, the University bestowed an honorary Doctor of Laws degree on distinguished attorney Linda A. Klein.

N. T. Wright, an Anglican bishop and perhaps the leading New Testament scholar in the world, delivered the keynote address, “The Scandal of the Cross.” In his talk, Wright challenged structures and ideas from the Restoration heritage, interrogated some basic understandings of the Gospel entrenched in Protestant Evangelical circles today, and invited all to reimagine biblical concepts like resurrection, justification, and heaven. Attendees also heard from civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, a passionate advocate for Christian love and forgiveness, who discussed how a steadfast commitment to her faith in times of hatred, injustice, and loss enabled her to love and forgive others. Additional guest speakers included Greg Boyd, theologian, preacher, and author; Fr. Greg Boyle, founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries; David Kinnaman, president and majority owner of the Barna Group; and recognized trial lawyer Mark Lanier. The Pepperdine Chamber Choir filled Stauffer Chapel with sacred a cappella music from a variety of styles and time periods, and University staff and administrators presented a rousing performance of “PBL Unplugged Presents an Evening of Storytelling and Music.”

On May 21, Michelle King (MS ’92), the newly elected superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), delivered the commencement address and was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the education ceremony at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology commencement. At the psychology ceremony, Reverend Andrew J. Bales, CEO of the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row, delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. magazine.pepperdine.edu/2016-commencements

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N. T. Wright

Pepperdine Alumnae Receive Prestigious FULBRIGHT SCHOLARSHIPS Two recent Seaver College graduates have joined the elite rank of Fulbright Scholars—one of the most prestigious scholarly awards worldwide. Danielle Claypool (’16) and Lauren Haberstock (’16) will be using their Fulbright awards to travel internationally to begin their journey as English teaching assistants (ETA) in the fall. Claypool, who graduated this spring after majoring in English literature, will travel to Turkey as an ETA for the 2016-2017 school year. While researching the countries involved in the program, Claypool’s passion for fine arts inspired her to select Turkey. “A significant aspect of my excitement to live in Turkey actually originates in my love for art and, specifically, Islamic art. I am very much looking forward to exploring Turkey’s dynamic art culture and the various religiously significant locations within Turkey,” she shares. Haberstock, who spent her sophomore year at Pepperdine studying in Heidelberg, knew that returning to Germany as an ETA in Frankenberg was the right decision for her. “I selected Germany because of my experience with the language and the country,” she explains. “In my mind, it simply made sense to continue my language studies

Danielle Claypool (’16) and Lauren Haberstock (’16)

and to further engage with the German culture, sharing my own language and culture in the process.” In addition to the cultural and linguistic development that Haberstock expects to gain in Germany, she also hopes to help her students discover a passion for local community service. Learn more about this year’s Fulbright scholars: magazine.pepperdine.edu/fulbright-2016

ASSOCIATE DEAN ROBERT deMAYO Receives California Psychology Association Award The California Psychology Association (CPA) awarded Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) associate dean Robert deMayo with the 2016 Silver Psi Award, an honor given to psychologists who have made a significant and continued contribution to the CPA.

the way our psychology students and alumni positively impact diverse and underserved communities. I am very grateful for this recognition from the California Psychological Association, which has been tireless in advocating for the profession of psychology and those we serve.”

“I am deeply honored to receive this award from CPA and consider it a recognition of the outstanding collective work we do at Pepperdine in educating mental health professionals to serve the people of California,” said deMayo.

DeMayo was joined by other recipients who were recognized for their outstanding service to the CPA, those who have made exemplary contributions to the profession and field of psychology, and those who have contributed significantly to the CPA’s advocacy agenda.

“I have had the privilege of mentoring psychology students for the past 26 years at GSEP,” he continues. “Every day I draw inspiration from

magazine.pepperdine.edu/ robert-demayo

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news Graziadio School of Business and Management Hosts FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE SYMPOSIUM

Weisman Museum Hosts DAVID A. LEFFEL Art Exhibition

The Graziadio School of Business and Management presented its symposium, The Future of Healthcare, at the Concourse Hotel in Los Angeles on April 28. The Future of Healthcare, hosted annually by the Graziadio School, explored how advancements in policy and technology can reshape and improve healthcare. The event provided an opportunity to unite experts and professionals to expand the healthcare discussion with shared insights, experiences, and ideas. Keynote addresses were presented by innovation and education entrepreneur Jeanne Holm, as well as Optum executive vice president Amir Dan Rubin. An evangelist for Data.gov, Holm discussed a live case study that explored how data creates an empowered environment for healthcare transformation, and how this technology can be directly applied to all areas of healthcare and personal business. Rubin shared his background working to raise patient experience scores to the highest levels in the nation, advancing quality and clinical innovation, and deploying lean management approaches. This year’s panelists included Keith Stewart, president and CEO of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the Department of Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, and Davin Lundquist, vice president and chief medical information officer for physician integration at Dignity Health.

The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University had on display an art exhibition entitled David A. Leffel: The Mastery of Light—A Retrospective, from May 14 through August 7, with a special opening reception to meet the artist on May 14. The exhibition was the first major retrospective for the 84-year-old Leffel, who is regarded as a modern-day Rembrandt by art critics and collectors alike. Approximately 50 paintings from the past 50 years were featured, showcasing portraiture, still lifes, and landscapes of the revered artist, author, and teacher. “With David A. Leffel: The Mastery of Light, we had a rare opportunity to examine how David Leffel developed a powerful, personal style that explored the magic and mystery of light, as the exhibition chronicled his journey in becoming one of today’s great masters of traditional realist art,” explained Michael Zakian, director of the Weisman Museum. Zakian authored a 144-page, full-color, hardbound book with the same title to accompany the exhibition. The book illustrates in detail Leffel’s life and the development of his art, while a documentary film, screened during the exhibition, shared more about the artist’s life and art. magazine.pepperdine.edu/david-leffel

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Pepperdine University Hosts MOORE HAUS RENOVATION CELEBRATION in Germany Pepperdine faculty, staff, and alumni gathered on June 3 to celebrate the unveiling of the newly renovated Moore Haus facility, the University’s International Programs campus in Heidelberg, Germany. Built in 1906, Moore Haus facilities include a library, a computer lab, administrative offices, dorm rooms, a student center, and a faculty apartment. The new designs feature redefined and remodeled residential, study, and recreational spaces with improved traffic patterns and increased student capacity, as well as improved technologies for academic, residential, and personal use. The living space for the resident-faculty family was also expanded and relocated to the tower, which provides them with additional privacy and brings all students into the main house.

School of Public Policy Ranks in TOP 10 MPP PROGRAMS IN THE WEST in U.S. News & World Report Rankings The Pepperdine School of Public Policy ranked in the top 10 master of public policy (MPP) degree programs west of the Rockies, and top five in California in the latest edition of "Best Graduate Schools for Public Affairs" by U.S. News & World Report, released on March 16. Since the most recent rankings in 2012, Pepperdine jumped 19 spots, one of the largest improvements of the 272 policy programs evaluated in the United States. “These rankings tell us two things,” said Pete Peterson, dean of the School of Public Policy. “First, the dramatic leap proves the momentum we have been seeing here in our scholarship and teaching over the last several years. Second, it is an encouraging confirmation of our unique liberal arts approach to graduate policy education. The results also show room for improvement, which we have exciting plans to address in the coming years.” Learn more about the Master of Public Policy program: magazine.pepperdine.edu/mpp

“One of the real advantages is that this will allow more students to go to Heidelberg for their international program,” says Charles F. Hall, dean of international programs and associate professor of psychology. “The building could hold only 40 students before and can now hold 56. It also allows more common public student areas for studying and relaxing.” Pepperdine purchased Moore Haus in 1965, and the facility serves as the first and oldest of the University’s international properties. View photos of the renovated Moore Haus: magazine.pepperdine.edu/moore-haus

CRAIG DETWEILER Named Variety’s Education Mentor of the Year Craig Detweiler, professor of communication and creative director of the Institute for Entertainment, Media, and Culture at Pepperdine University, was selected as Variety’s Education Mentor of the Year in the magazine’s "2016 Education Impact Report." Both the nomination and win were a complete surprise to Detweiler, who credited the recognition to the dedicated film students he has worked with over the years. “I’ve been blessed to have some really sharp students who studied under me, who have done very well all across the industry,” he shared. “The award recognizes education and mentoring, and I’ve been honored to have some talented people to mentor.” Detweiler explained that working as a university professor is about legacy. The focus, he believes, is not so much on what professors accomplish, but rather on empowering students to do more and become more than they originally thought possible. He also expressed gratitude toward fellow Pepperdine faculty members, saying it’s “an honor to work alongside those who have been tracking with students for decades in film and media, with people like Don Shores, Susan Salas, and Joi Carr, who have been investing in students for decades.” magazine.pepperdine.edu/craig-detweiler-variety

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news School of Public Policy Launches WASHINGTON, D.C., SUMMER SEMINAR The School of Public Policy launched a new summer seminar, “The Roots of American Order: Thinking Historically About Public Policy,” which was held at Pepperdine’s Pennsylvania Avenue campus in Washington, D.C., from June 21 through July 16. The seminar, based on one of the School of Public Policy’s James Q. Wilson Core courses, offered students a foundation in America’s founding principles and how they have shaped the government/citizen relationship throughout history. It also enabled students, through a process of discovery, to develop the skills to think historically not only about past events, but about current public policy debates. The seminar aimed to serve as an introduction to the School of Public Policy’s distinguished approach to preparing public leaders who consider the full scope of factors that determine the success or failure of a public policy. It also offered fast-moving conversations about a series of crisis points in American history—each of which reshaped the relationship between citizens and their government as they reexamined America's founding principles. The seminar was cotaught by noted American historians Steven Hayward, Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine, and Ted McAllister, the Edward L. Gaylord Chair and associate professor of public policy at Pepperdine. magazine.pepperdine.edu/ washington-dc-summer-seminar

Al Sturgeon, Steven Schultz, and Selina Brandt

AL STURGEON, STEVEN SCHULTZ, SELINA BRANDT Assume New Roles in School of Law Administration School of Law dean Deanell Reece Tacha announced that Al Sturgeon, Steven Schultz, and Selina Brandt have assumed new roles in administration. “I am so privileged to be able to work with these three outstanding administrators and educators,” said Tacha. “Their responsibilities are among the highest priorities of the School of Law at this point in its history. All three distinguished lawyers will be dedicated to equipping our students for rewarding and productive lives in the profession.” As the dean of graduate studies, Sturgeon will help build the new non-JD graduate programs. He will work with the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution to design, market, and deliver new initiatives that are in the deliberation phase.

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Schultz has moved into the role of dean of students, in which he will be the general point of contact for all students, providing counseling, communications, and support in every facet of the law school experience. Responding directly to the need for more intentional work with academic success and employment outcomes, Brandt is now the associate dean for academic success and employer relations. She will be responsible for implementing programs for both bar examination preparedness and academic success. Learn more about the new School of Law administration team: magazine.pepperdine.edu/ sturgeon-schultz-brandt

Pepperdine Remembers LIFE REGENT JERVE JONES

SUKHSIMRANJIT SINGH Joins Straus Institute as Associate Director The School of Law announced Sukhsimranjit Singh as associate director of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and assistant professor of law and practice. Singh, who will serve as director of the LLM program, began his tenure in May. “I am honored to join the Straus Institute,” said Singh. “Straus is made up of a great team and I look forward to continuing the work initiated by professors [Peter] Robinson and [Tom] Stipanowich and contributing to Straus' long-term success.” Singh is a recognized expert in cross-cultural dispute resolution and has taught the subject at Pepperdine, the University of Southern California, Hamline University, Willamette University, University of Duesto in Spain, Catholic University of Paris, and National Law University in India. He has served as associate director of the Center for Dispute Resolution at Willamette University since 2008 and became the founding director of the LLM in dispute resolution in 2012. Singh has trained lawyers and law students in mediation in 17 countries and more than 30 U.S. states. His work has been published in the Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal, the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution at the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, and for the American Bar Association. He has also contributed to Hamline University’s Rethinking Negotiation Teaching books and volunteered his time to resolving church disputes and local government conflicts in Oregon. magazine.pepperdine.edu/sukhsimranjit-singh

Pepperdine University mourns the loss of Jerve Jones, a longtime member of the University community. Jones was elected to the Board of Regents at Pepperdine University in 1986 and elected to Life Regent status in 2002. “Jerve was a valued friend and trusted regent and advisor at Pepperdine,” says Pepperdine University president Andrew K. Benton. “He always thought carefully before he spoke, and what he said was so wise and eloquent in its simplicity. I will never forget the fact that despite his many successes in life, he never lost the common touch.” Jones graduated from the University of Southern California in 1939 with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering and soon after joined his father’s small construction company, Jones Brothers Construction. Through his dedication to grow the company’s clientele and projects, Jones Brothers Construction became one of the largest Los Angeles-based construction companies of the 1980s. He later joined forces with one of his sons to launch the construction management and general contracting company Jones and Jones. A founding member of the Construction Management Association of America, Jones was active on the boards of various industry organizations, schools, hospitals, charities, and universities, including Pepperdine. magazine.pepperdine.edu/jerve-jones

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snapshot

Keith Lancaster, a cappellamusicianary, founder of singing group Acappella, and lead trainer of Praise & Harmony Workshops, congregational singing workshops that equip churches to establish a solid training program to keep a cappellasinging alive

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Praising HYMN

Christians from around the world congregated at Stauffer Chapel in Malibu to participate in fellowship and worship by singing sacred hymns a cappella together during The Ascending Voice IV, a three-day choral festival dedicated to uniting an international community of believers through heartfelt music and engaging theological discussions.

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V feature

eered

Science

Caught between the choice to become a veterinarian or medical doctor, a scientist contributes to both worlds as a disease ecologist. By Sara Alamdar

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For Barbara Han (’02), growing up in a Korean family involved meeting certain expectations. One such expectation was that she become “successful,” a word unofficially synonymous with “doctor.” So, when a preteen Han told her parents she wanted to become a veterinarian, her parents instead encouraged her to pursue a more traditional medical career—one that treats humans.

Now a distinguished disease ecologist, Han uses her medical knowledge to conduct research on infectious zoonotic diseases— illnesses that are transmitted from animals to humans. Han’s journey began at Pepperdine, where she immediately declared the biology major and explored the different types of careers she could pursue with the degree. She interned at the UCLA Medical Center in a rotating position, where she experienced what life would be like as a medical doctor. Meanwhile, at Pepperdine she was invested in research projects under the leadership of biology professor Lee Kats. “It was really fortuitous that I got to have both opportunities at the same time, because there was a stark contrast between the type of thinking and the lifestyle that you have as a researcher versus one that you would have as a practitioner,” she recalls. “I think that combination of events was important for my decision-making.” In addition to the research she was doing in Malibu, Han traveled to Costa Rica in an international program led by Kats, where she studied the biological conditions

Green frog, Lithobates clamitans

of the country’s tropical environment. This trip proved especially fateful for Han, as one of the professors Kats invited to attend, Andrew Blaustein, would later become her PhD advisor at Oregon State University (OSU). During the trip Blaustein lectured on infectious diseases, including a discussion of amphibian population declines, which not only surprised Han, but also left her riveted. She experienced “a magical moment, when all of my worlds combined and I could see my future.” She soon determined that her career would combine the study of both infectious diseases and animals. “In many ways scientists have the same passion and enthusiasm for their studies as an artist does for their new painting or musical composition,” says Kats. “I saw Dr. Han get energized by discovering new things about the ecology of the small tropical [poison dart] frog, and she hasn't exhibited any reduction in that creative energy since those days as an undergraduate.” After graduating from Pepperdine, Han skipped the traditional step of getting a master’s degree and aimed straight for a PhD in zoology at OSU. As the youngest member of her cohort, she was especially intimidated in a particular seminar where she was surrounded by students who had graduated from some of the top universities in the country, but when the class discussion began, she realized that her Pepperdine education had undoubtedly prepared her for this exact setting.

Barbara Han collects native amphibians from a local wetland at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York.

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feature “Pepperdine really emphasizes primary research, so in all the classes, you have to read papers, think like a scientist, and dissect the problems that you encounter as a scientist in the real world. You learn how to think critically,” Han shares. While in the PhD program, she conducted field experiments related to infectious diseases, specifically amphibian chytrid fungus, a then-novel fungal pathogen responsible for causing worldwide amphibian population declines, and in some cases, extinctions. “Those experiments involved really controlled tests, collecting animals that were uninfected from the fields, splitting them up into experimental test and control groups, infecting them in the lab, and measuring their behavioral responses to see what the effects would be to this infection in the long term and in the short term,” Han explains. “A lot of our research has been trying to catch up to how fast it’s moving across the globe.” She was then awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the National Science Foundation to receive training in mathematical modeling, a type of research approach she had not previously explored. She worked within the realm of modeling and theoretical research for two years at the University of Georgia, when she realized she missed working more intimately with the type of data she obtained through the previous hands-on approaches. Han was later granted a second fellowship, this time by the National Institutes of Health, to continue her research on zoonotic infectious diseases. “I felt like it touched back to my original interests, from way back when I was a child,” she says. “There are people around the world who are racing to figure out the complexities of some of these diseases. We’re still reacting to them rather than preventing [them], and that’s the focus of my work now.” “Oftentimes, our approach is to put out the fires that pop up in the news,” she continues. “Once the fire

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Summer 2016

is out, we lose sight of the fact that we need basic information to be able to prevent the fires from happening in the first place. We can’t just go rushing around putting out fires for the rest of humanity. We have to do better, and I think the way to do better is to invest in preventative, predictive solutions rather than more fire extinguishers.” Han’s current research techniques utilize machine learning, a discipline developed out of artificial intelligence programmed to find patterns in large comparative datasets. She relies on these data to define the distinguishing traits possessed by the small fraction of species that carry zoonotic diseases potentially harmful to humans. Han also uses machine learning algorithms to predict the wild hosts and vectors that seed outbreaks of zoonotic diseases. She has previously relied on this approach to research which bat species carry the Ebola virus, and to also determine which rodents carry diseases. “Right now, we’re looking at Zika virus in mosquitos and primate species to understand what is it about the combination of traits across these different players in this disease game,” she explains. “What’s that magic combination of traits that allows something to be so terrible for humans?” Regarding Zika virus, Han mentions that the disease “doesn’t cause really terrible symptoms in humans, so it’s easy to ignore.” She credits its substantial media coverage to its link to microcephaly (a birth defect characterized by a very small head as a result of abnormal brain development), as well as to increased vigilance among scientists to learn more about its recent outbreaks. As she puts it, “The more you look for

something, the more you realize the extent of the problem.” One challenge Han has encountered in her scientific research is that even at the height of the information age, there exists a lack of available data on a global scale. “When you think about the information we use to draw inferences about what allows an animal to carry disease, that type of data is actually not available. Those data are very sparse and expensive to collect,” she shares.

There are people around the world who are racing to figure out the complexities of some of these diseases. We’re still reacting to them rather than preventing [them], and that’s the focus

to solve this problem will not be done alone, but rather as a collective effort between numerous scientists and across multiple disciplines.

Yet even amidst the most complex research topics, Han says she still applies and relies on some of the most fundamental biological principles she learned at Pepperdine. Something she especially appreciated about her education was its basis on the fundamentals of biology, rather than a focus on new scientific trends that emerge every few years.

of my work now.

This problem is two-fold. On the one hand, Han has noticed that every time she speaks at technology conferences and presents discussions in front of groups specializing in machine learning, robotics, and artificial intelligence, the primary question on everyone’s mind is: How do we develop the technology to analyze and categorize data faster? Han believes that more time and energy must be dedicated to data collection first rather than attempting to develop faster processing methods. She explains that this is a sign that many people, including those who work in the science space, are still unaware that a lot of potentially useful data has yet to be generated. The other problem is that scientists require substantial funding in order to conduct the appropriate studies to collect this type of data.

“The longer I’m in science, the more convinced I am that Pepperdine has it right,” she reveals. “In order to be creative and innovative in biology, you have to have the foundation right. You have to understand the basics, and you have to get trained in them really well. That’s what Pepperdine does.”

Ultimately, Han is interested in developing a system for forecasting diseases and quantifying the risk of a disease breaking out in a certain region. “With the increasing frequencies of outbreaks like Zika, Ebola, and dengue, I think the public is realizing more that this is a problem that’s not going to go away, but one that’s only going to get worse,” she says. Han believes that her mission

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Brought up in the very school system that she now leads, alumna Michelle King (MS â&#x20AC;&#x2122;92) is uniquely positioned to impact the same community that helped shape her career and decades-long passion for education. By Gareen Darakjian

Pepperdine Magazine

Summer 2016

On January 11 of this year, Michelle King was named superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the nation’s second-largest public school district, after an historically unanimous vote. The Graduate School of Education and Psychology alumna is committed to the idea that all students have access to the tools needed for college or career preparation. She has led reforms to increase graduation rates and her restorative justice program has successfully kept students in school and cultivated good citizenship at the nearly 1,000 schools in the district.

Here, Pepperdine Magazine shares 10 facts you need to know about new LAUSD superintendent Michelle King.

2 Photo: Samuel C. Gilstrap

She is the first African American woman, and the first woman in more than 80 years, to head LAUSD. “I believe that—as is the case for every superintendent—I have a responsibility to serve all students. I also believe that as someone representing multiple minorities, I can serve as a role model and as a source of inspiration for students of all backgrounds. When I was younger, you didn’t see a lot of young women of color pursuing the sciences. I refused to listen to anyone who believed there were limits to what I could do because of who I was. I moved forward and pursued what I was passionate about. I want every student to understand that no matter who you are or what your background is, you should dream big, work hard and study well, and you can achieve those dreams.”

She is a firm believer that the road to graduation begins in preschool. “Our graduation rates and percentages of students performing adequately in A-G courses [required of high school students for college admittance] are major concerns. We are addressing those concerns by expanding opportunities for families to access pre-kindergarten programs, taking a hard look at our approach to middle school education, and expanding programs such as Linked Learning— designed to combine academics, career prep, and real-world experience to prepare students for the world beyond the K-12 experience—that maximize the variety of pathways available to students.”

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4 Photo: Samuel C. Gilstrap

She is enlisting the help of the community to ensure that the goals of the district are met. “Community engagement and enrichment is key. I have assembled teams to develop comprehensive plans to engage community partners and determine the best way to invest our limited resources so that we are maximizing opportunities for all students. By strengthening partnerships with organizations and leaders within communities surrounding every student, we are tapping into those who know their communities best and the unique struggles young people in those communities face.”

She has made serving diverse populations a top priority. “Serving diverse populations pushes us to grow and adapt as communities rapidly evolve and as needs are constantly changing. It means we try what has never been tried before. It means we are always at the forefront of what’s happening in urban education, which is as exciting as it is impactful. There is nowhere else I would rather be than where I am right now doing what I do every day.”

Her ultimate goal as superintendent is ensuring that every student is ready for graduation, college, and their career.

She has always been passionate about success in the classroom.

“My vision is a district that gets every single student to graduation having successfully completed the course requirements needed to be college prepared and career ready. The key is to know where and how to invest to maximize the degree of support we provide. I am continuing to work with our Board of Education to take a deep look at recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Panel—a team of experts who carefully analyzed our financial situation and provided thoughtful recommendations—and follow through appropriately to balance our budget over the next three years. In doing so, we will help create the foundation necessary to provide the support we know our students need to stay on track to graduation.”

“I was always encouraged by my family to dream big and pursue what I was passionate about. Having been fascinated with life sciences from a young age, I decided to major in biology in college. Soon thereafter, I found that I truly loved the energy of a classroom and determined it would be my mission to become a teacher in the life sciences. Many years later, I could not be more pleased with the choices I have made and am optimistic that we can lead every one of our students on a similar path to success.”

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Summer 2016

She has always been empathetic to the needs of students, even as a student herself. “As a student, I noticed that we came from many different places with many different experiences and different challenges. I also developed an understanding that what mattered to all of us was coming to class every day, feeling a sense of belonging, and doing what is necessary to perform well in all our classes. As a superintendent, I work every day with our educators to promote high attendance, a culture of belonging for all students, and personalized instruction that builds on each student’s strengths while offering support where needed to overcome barriers to learning.”

The school system has changed dramatically in terms of diversity since she first started her career in education. “A wider range of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences [among students and educators] has increased the need for more personalized learning. What has also increased is the number of ideas about the best methods to use to achieve the best results. Thus, we now have a wider range of schooling models and options available to the families than ever before. I believe this to be a positive phenomenon, offering a great deal of opportunity to find the most effective means by which to provide the personalized learning experience every student needs.”

Pepperdine has deeply influenced her career and passion for service leadership.

She is the best woman for the job.

Pepperdine’s focus on preparing you to achieve great things so you are well positioned to help others in need is something that propelled me to where I am now: in a place where I can influence the lives of hundreds of thousands of students every day in a positive way.

“The University’s commitment to service has had a tremendous impact on the direction of my career. Pepperdine’s focus on preparing you to achieve great things so you are well positioned to help others in need is something that propelled me to where I am now: in a place where I can influence the lives of hundreds of thousands of students every day in a positive way.”

“I was selected by our board to serve as superintendent because I am an insider. It’s a badge I wear with honor. I know this district. I have been a student, I have been a parent, I have been a teacher, I have been an administrator, and I have been a district leader. I know and understand all of these perspectives because I have seen the world through these lenses. I know the challenges we face and where we’ve been, and I understand where we’re aiming to go and what we can expect on the road to getting there.”

Superintendent King addressed graduates and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology commencement ceremony held May 21.

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Singles and couples receive relationship and marriage insights from Christian therapists versed in science and scripture. By Sara Alamdar

Pepperdine Magazine

Summer 2016

college-age young adults are in a unique position. They move away and miss their old friends. Talking to their parents and siblings becomes a reminder of just how far they are from home. They want to develop friendships with their roommates and classmates, but there is no guarantee these efforts will be reciprocated. They often feel alone but are embarrassed about expressing it. Helping students understand how to tackle these anxieties and insecurities is the primary focus of Relationship IQ, a cocurricular program offered by Pepperdine's Boone Center for the Family that combines theology and social science to equip young adults with the tools to engage in healthy platonic, romantic, familial, and professional relationships. Approaching the topic from a psychoeducational perspective, the Boone Center utilizes educational materials based on psychological, sociological, and communications research. Scientific evidence is then uniquely blended with spiritual support, which, for students battling painful situations, is a powerful reminder of God’s grace, unconditional love, and power to forgive. “Part of the goal is to help them develop self-insight into how they do things, why they do things, and how it impacts their lives and the lives of those around them,” explains Hannah Parmelee, director of the Relationship IQ program.

sexual behavior), and vasopressin (the “monogamy molecule” that influences social and sexual behavior in men). These are also the same neurochemicals that help parents bond with their children, making their effects undeniably strong. These neurochemicals are naturally produced whether the activities that prompt them are good or bad. In other words, sexual activity leads to an emotional connection between partners, regardless of whether the relationship is healthy or harmful. “They are values-neutral, so whether you want to bond with this person or not, whether this person is good for you or not, those neurochemicals are going to be released,” she says. Another noteworthy characteristic of these neurochemicals is that they lose their effectiveness over multiple partners, which leads to reduced emotional connections each time.

Parmelee reveals that the most popular Relationship IQ topic is sex, which she discusses by illustrating what happens to the human brain when the body experiences physical intimacy.

Parmelee has noticed that at this point in the discussion, many students become overwhelmed with fear that their past relationship mistakes have ruined their lives forever. That is exactly where the reminder of God’s compassion and mercy comforts them.

During the one-hour sessions, she explains that three neurochemicals are released in the brain during sex: dopamine (induced by excitement), oxytocin (the “bonding hormone” that influences female social and

“The good news is that God is a god of grace and redemption and healing, and he knew how he made us, and he knew we would mess up,” she says, which allows her to segue into a discussion of neurochemical replenishing.

“The [synapse] connections that have developed can break down and die, and new ones can be formed. The neurochemicals can actually replenish. God has made our brain moldable.” While the program’s mission is based on Christian values, the sessions are open to members of all religious groups. In fact, it is often the non-religious students who demonstrate the most sincere interest in how to navigate friendships, love, and sex. More importantly, the program is only meant to educate students about the research and supporting biblical text, and does not offer or enforce specific advice on how the students should apply the lessons into their personal lives. “I want to give them some information that maybe will help them make better choices for their lives and will bless them. But it’s their decision. They’re going to figure out what to do,” Parmelee notes. “I don’t want to dictate somebody’s life for them—that’s doing them a disservice.” For some students, Parmelee’s teachings have made all the difference. Alumnus Daniel Chang (’15) admits that Relationship IQ has changed his life. “I remember going back to all of my ex-girlfriends and apologizing for the way I handled certain aspects of our relationships,” he confesses. “After learning about things such as clarity in relationships, I felt that it was important to not only apologize for the way I handled things, but also let them know why we broke up and clear the air.” But the Boone Center’s psycho-educational discussions don’t end there. For those who are beyond the dating phase of relationships, the center offers MarriageStrong, a program specifically designed to equip married couples with relationship skills to help them thrive.

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feature Part of the

is to help

them develop into how they do things, why they do things, and how it

their lives and

the lives of those around them.

– Hannah Parmelee

Hannah Parmelee conducts spiritual mentoring training.

Founded by Sharon Hargrave, executive director of the Boone Center and a licensed marriage and family therapist, MarriageStrong is a nine-week course that helps couples address conflict, conflict resolution, and personality differences, as well as learn to operate as a couple in a strong partnership. Ministers and church leaders can be trained to lead this during a two-day seminar. The program begins with participants discussing the early days of their relationships, considering what initially attracted them to their spouse, as well as what they learned about marriage within their family of origin. According to Hargrave, the most prevalent problem found between couples in these sessions is a lack of understanding of themselves. They often expect their partners to change so they can be happy, not realizing that it may be their own actions and attitudes that need adjusting. As she explains, “What we’re facing so much in society is this idea of people feeling like it’s the job of their boss, their spouse, or their church to make them happy, instead of learning the benefit of really investing in relationships.” The program also acknowledges the unique plight of couples who serve in leadership positions, always juggling their workload with their family life and feeling exhausted

Pepperdine Magazine

Summer 2016

and frustrated from the endless balancing act. Falling victim to the time and emotional demands of their stressful careers, they tend to isolate from God, deep friendships, and intimate relationships while on their path to higher levels of professional success. One growing contributing factor to this isolation is the use of technology. “Brain research will tell us that we’re more effective if our brain has times of rest. We’re more creative if we take breaks,” she notes. “Being constantly connected to technology can lead to a lack of intimacy and connection with others.” This lack of connection can lead to bad decisions, such as justifying physical attraction to a colleague because their indiscretions were occurring alongside periods of work productivity. If not properly addressed, “this leads to isolation and burnout, and the demise or breakdown of the family.” Yet, even when the damage seems beyond repair, Hargrave believes in the possibility of hope and healing if the person struggling with temptations is open to seeking treatment. “I believe there is healing through relationship,” she states. “I certainly don’t stand in judgment of anybody that decided to get out of a marriage because I’m a marriage and family therapist as well, and after 25 years in the therapy room, I know the pain of some people’s stories. But I also know

“When there is no vision for the relationship—for where you’re going together—you can get really caught up in the details: paying the bills, raising the children, going to work. You forget that there’s a bigger purpose for the relationship, the things that you dream about when you decide to marry each other,” she says. It’s also beneficial for couples to hear each other’s stories and goals, so that they understand they are not alone in their personal struggles. As one newly married participant puts it, “Paralleling our relationship beside others provided perspective. It reminded us that all couples experience conflict and that conflict is a normal part of being in a relationship. What MarriageStrong taught us is that we have a choice as to whether we handle that conflict in a constructive or destructive way.” This is an insight Hargrave hopes all couples embrace. “A lot of times when we have problems, especially in Christian communities, we think nobody else is having problems, so we isolate.” Her advice for people experiencing similar hardships is to not keep it hidden. “Find somebody that can help. Other people are struggling, too. You’re not alone.” there is a lot of hope, and our society doesn’t talk about that much. Many choose to solve marriage problems by getting out of them. We choose to give a different message.” On the last night of the program, the couples are invited to a potluck dinner, where they share their vision for their marriage. Hargrave quotes Proverbs 29:18 of the King James Bible, “Where there is no vision, the people will perish,” and emphasizes the importance of this concept within a healthy marriage.

What we’re facing so much in society is this idea of people feeling like it’s the job of their boss, their spouse, or their church to instead of learning the benefit of really

. – Sharon Hargrave magazine.pepperdine.edu

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U R BA N

LEGEND

A childhood curiosity about the world around him propelled School of Public Policy professor Wade Graham into a lifelong exploration of the landscapes that define our lives. By Gareen Darakjian

All photos of Wade Graham courtesy of Calvin Lim

Pepperdine Magazine

Summer 2016

“We are strangely well trained in our culture to not see what’s around us,” suggests Wade Graham, adjunct faculty at the School of Public Policy, landscape architect, historian of modern urban life, and author. In his latest book Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World, Graham laments that even the most educated individuals are unaware of and possibly apathetic to the structures that form the backdrops to their lives. Graham grew up 90 miles north of Los Angeles, up the coast of California in Santa Barbara, an idyllic destination that has historically beckoned artists and visionaries to the tony enclave tucked between lush green hillside and deep blue sea, a sort of Mediterranean utopia lined with red-tiled roofs. His childhood home was what he calls a “developer version” of a Case Study House, styled in a California mid-century modern design with glass walls, post-and-beam construction, and a Danish sensibility throughout. His mother, a professor, design enthusiast, and restaurateur, spent much of her time perfecting the abode and developing its garden in the style of Lawrence Halprin, a pioneer of modern landscape architecture. In a house soaking in postwar modernism, Graham was exposed to the ideologies of David Gebhard, an architectural historian and Santa Barbara architecture

preservationist, by way of his father, himself a revered historian and decorated academic. Graham’s foray into the study of urban landscapes was “osmotic,” as he explains, a product of growing up in a “very carefully constructed environment,” in which he became acutely aware of the surroundings that shaped his—and others’—everyday life. During a leave of absence from PhD studies in comparative literature at UCLA, Graham was introduced to notable landscape designer Nancy Goslee Power, who hired him as an apprentice after learning of his knowledge of the cultural history of California, architecture, and graduate work in environmental history. On the job, he discovered the euphoria of gardening he calls “garden

magic,” a feeling of wonder that hearkens to his childhood days of yard hopping through the bucolic properties that lined his Southern California neighborhood in the 1970s. In his first book, American Eden (2011), Graham gives a comprehensive history of how modern landscapes came to be and how gardens influenced the environments in which we now live. “There is no line drawn between environmental history and urban history,” Graham explains. “If you do an environmental focus, you’re engaging with urban issues, and in the U.S. in particular, you’re engaging with urban planning.” The idea for his latest tome, Dream Cities, came to him in 2009 after teaching his first course on the history of American cities at the School of Public Policy, which dives into U.S. urban and environmental policy and attempts to open the eyes of his students to the world around them. “We are knowledgeable about things that are portable, like cars or handbags, but not so much about nature or buildings,” he explains. “People are very unengaged with their physical environment. They structure our lives, but we’re blinded to it by training.” In his class Graham builds a narrative around the forgotten landscapes

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feature that we so often utilize but never engage with, monuments and structures that were built to disappear into the background of everyday life. Students are led on field trips to sewage plants and the bed of the Los Angeles River, and are encouraged to contemplate freeway diagrams, all while using Dream Cities as an historical as well as a field guide. “It’s a revelation to us, because we’re not trained to do it,” he explains. “A light bulb goes on when you realize you’ve looked at something your whole life and haven’t really seen it, and then you go ‘aha’ and understand the relationship behind it: who it serves, what it serves, what ideas it promotes, and what ideas it crushes,” Graham continues. “History, dynamism of environments … my hope is for people to stand in the middle of the street and be able to tell interesting stories about what they see. I’m trying to get people to see their mundane world in a new way.” Dream Cities is Graham’s personal quest for an explanation for the kind of patterning seen in all modern cities and

to shed light on the history of modern architecture, its intentions, its defining characteristics, and its power in shaping our lives. He discovered that, when you stop to look around or while traveling, many cities built in the modern era— which began in 1850—are constructed using the same pieces. The tower blocks, freeways, shopping malls, parks, and gated communities you may see in Los Angeles can also be seen in Minneapolis and Madrid. “That needed explaining,” says Graham, who was also curious about the overlaps between different structural groups. “You can find a gated community that is also a mall, you can find a city hall that’s also a tower block. I wanted to understand where they came from. They’re kind of like species. They’re incredibly successful. They are the invasive species of the modern urban world.” The book begins with an exploration of the pioneers who developed the modern world, how they promoted their ideas, and what assumptions

My hope is for people to stand in the middle of the street and be able to tell interesting stories about what they see. I’m trying to get people to see their mundane world in a new way.

Pepperdine Magazine

Summer 2016

their ideologies carry in society. “All of these things are an expression of some kind of idea about what will make life better,” Graham explains. “All of them are Utopian, or even prescriptive. Take the shopping mall: we think of it as a debased form, but the role of shopping architecture is as exalted as religious architecture. It’s the oldest one we have.”

In Dream Cities, Graham reveals that the origins of modernism led to the destruction of the traditional understanding of community and favored the restructuring of human life into segregated spatial zones. He explains that this allowed the modernists to organize society in mono-cultures. In other words, Graham posits that most of modern society’s social and ethical issues—religious divisiveness, childhood obesity, crime rates, incarcerations—are a direct result of the decisions of the original modernists. “Modernity segregated use by space, and that’s a vast shift of what the modern city is. If you start segregating use by place, you start segregating people,” he explains. “The primary downside of that is that it kills off interaction, it kills off pedestrian life, it kills off diversity, and it kills off the complexity of the human experience. The class and racial segregation was intentional, and it’s hard to reverse those decisions.” “The modernist project is toxic to community, and that was the point,” Graham continues. “If you want to reverse that, you’re going to have to reverse course on dividing space by use and by types of people and mix them back together. Modernism and community have had a complex relationship, and we’re paying for it now.”

Graham also suggests that one hazardous side effect of urbanization is population growth and the inability of cities to expand in response. His solution is an urban model that can “scale up,” but doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the modernist city. “In 1960, 250,000 people lived in Nairobi, Kenya, and it is now inhabited by nearly 3.5 million people, but they haven’t built anywhere near enough new roads or sewer lines or proper housing to handle the growth. The overwhelming fact is population growth, and that population growth is coming with urbanization,” Graham maintains. “You have a situation in almost every country where cities are not keeping pace, or cities are built on a model that doesn’t work when scaled up.” Graham explains that the challenge is returning a level of pre-modern function to modern cities—embracing new urbanism and community-based smart planning that has been emerging all

over the world, what he calls a “self-organizing urban organism.” “There’s this incredible urgency and creativity about how to rethink cities and how to reintegrate use and place,” he says. “That is the great riddle, the great success story. We are beginning to reinhabit our central cities and unsegregating our suburbs. It’s a positive, inspirational story, but also an aspirational one. As yet, it is a very small percentage of our footprint, but mostly we all live in the modernist dystopia of suburbs and shopping malls and parking lots. It’s a common experience, but it is part of a big long arc that we’ve gone through culturally.” Currently Graham is working on a book on the history of Los Angeles through the neighborhood of Echo Park, which will rely on interviews and a house-by-house timeline of how the city evolved into what it has become versus what it was conceived to be in the 1880s. The book will focus on a local perspective, which will offer an understanding of the larger journey of American cities through racial, economic, political, and cultural changes that have taken place since the late 19th century. Ultimately, Graham is fundamentally interested in Los Angeles and California. “It is so interesting, so complex, and continuously evolving and eluding simple solutions,” he says. “California is a complicated, interesting place. It’s quite a laboratory to be in to look at policy of all kinds.”

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alumni

The Pepperdine Perks® Program Cha-Ching! Pepperdine is helping you save money.

The Pepperdine Alumni Association is offering alumni the opportunity to join the new Pepperdine Perks program. Registering for the program will help you save money at thousands of local and national retailers on everyday purchases, such as movie tickets, video rentals, restaurants, toys, car repairs, and even professional services. You will also receive a discount on your special-occasion purchases, including gifts, travel, and entertainment. Your Pepperdine Perks® membership allows you to save six ways: 1. Show and save: Show select merchants your Pepperdine Perks® card or smartphone at the time of purchase to redeem the discount.

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

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

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

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

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Summer 2016

pepperdine.edu/alumni/perks

Talking GOALS

with LA Galaxy President Chris Klein

Save the Date:

September 10, 2016 STEP FORWARD DAY 2016 Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. “Do something” to make a difference this year at Step Forward Day 2016. Join thousands of Waves around the world in this 28-year-old tradition and connect with your local neighborhood, impact the lives of others, and celebrate the University’s mission. Partake in fun-filled volunteer projects, including gardening, sorting food donations, helping with muchneeded maintenance, and more, alongside fellow Waves. Invite your friends and family to save the date Saturday, September 10, 2016, and “step forward” with you to serve your local community.

Do you ever wonder what it's like running one of the top professional soccer teams in the nation? The Pepperdine Hispanic Alumni Council, along with fellow alumni, parents, family, and friends found out at a Pepperdineexclusive chalk talk with LA Galaxy president Chris Klein. Klein spoke to Waves about the ins and outs of the Major League Soccer team. After spotting Pepperdine alumnus Rob Boldt (MBA ’11) in a Seattle Sounders jersey in the crowd during the chalk talk, Klein gifted him a brand new LA Galaxy jersey to sport during the day’s game. The Pepperdine community showed up at the game ready to cheer the Galaxy to victory over the San Jose Earthquakes in a custom Pepperdine and LA Galaxy scarf they received at the pregame chalk talk. To top this experience all off, the first 15 registrants who signed up for this event had the exclusive opportunity to stand in the center circle of the field and proudly hold and wave the LA Galaxy banner. pepperdine.edu/alumni-events

pepperdine.edu/alumni/sfd

alumni@pepperdine.edu • pepperdine.edu/alumni

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community | scholarship

READING WRITING

andRELATIONSHIPS

A Pepperdine alumna combines her knowledge of psychology and therapy to train teachers in the science of relationships. By Sara Alamdar

In a moment of reflection oon after graduating with a prior to the first lecture, degree in psychology from Marcus thought about the University of California, the number of seasoned Berkeley, in 2008, Megan Marcus teachers who had (MA ’11) found herself at a threeflocked to the event day education conference focused seeking information about psychology, child on psychology, neuroscience, development, and how the and education hosted by brain learns—topics that organizers Learning and had been widely covered the Brain. She was there to during her undergraduate gain insights about child education. She wondered if, beyond subject matter, development and how teachers were properly the brain absorbs and and sufficiently trained for stores information. the relational components of student-teacher interaction.

“When the relational climate of the school is right, it can really transform the life outcomes for students,” says Marcus, who further explored this concept as the lead researcher on The Social Neuroscience of Education, a book that was being developed at the time by Graduate School of Education and Psychology professor Louis Cozolino. Marcus first met Cozolino, a notable psychologist and author, at the conference after his presentation on neuroscience, a topic that the recent graduate was eager to explore.

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Summer 2016

While researching psychology doctoral programs following the conference, Marcus reached out to Cozolino, who encouraged her to consider a master’s degree at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology and assist him in the research for his new book. The Social Neuroscience of Education explored the different ways in which teachers and school leaders thrive as a result of their competence in building relationships. “That was a huge, life-changing moment for me,” Marcus admits, who took Cozolino’s advice and enrolled at Pepperdine in the fall of 2009. Throughout her research, Marcus gained a wellrounded perspective on topics of psychology, neuroscience, and anthropology. Since her course work also required therapist training, she began noticing parallels between the therapeutic environment and the classroom. She discovered that while therapists are trained to build and leverage relationships with their clients, the same is not done for teachers. “We are training teachers to be technical instructors with content knowledge and pedagogy skills, but in reality we also put them in positions to be parent figures and counselor figures every day, and they’re really not prepared for that,” says Marcus. Through her research, Marcus discovered that this gap often results in high turnover rates, and that the skills instilled in therapists and psychologists could also be shared with educators.

Megan Marcus leads educators in Empathy School at Houston’s YES Prep Public Schools.

Upon graduation from GSEP in 2011, and after completing a master’s program in education policy and management at Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2012, Marcus launched FuelEd, an innovative company that trains teachers in the science of relationship building and communication skills, thus helping them connect better with their students on an emotional level. The mission of FuelEd is to improve teacher and student outcomes by developing educators’ social and emotional competencies, which will help reduce their turnover rates and better prepare them to influence the academic, social, and emotional outcomes of their students. “The program combines workshops and instructional content with therapeutic or counseling services that we provide to educators to help them grow socially and emotionally, and be prepared for those elements of their jobs,” she shares. The Community Workshop, for example, explores the ways in which strategic teacher-student relationships influence positive learning outcomes, whereas Empathy School seminars primarily focus on the art and science of effective listening. These lessons are also combined within the Leadership Institute, which offers training in areas such as interpersonal skills, emotional well-being, self-awareness, and relationships.

“We are training teachers to be technical instructors with content knowledge and pedagogy skills, but in reality we also put them in positions to be parent figures and counselor figures every day, and they’re really not prepared for that.”

After participating in any of the FuelEd programs, alumni educators can connect with one another for networking opportunities and additional support through local gatherings and one-on-one meetings. Cozolino, whom Marcus credits for the path her career has taken, is also proud of Marcus’ accomplishments. “Megan is a wonderful combination of heart, energy, and intellect, which she infuses into all of her work,” Cozolino notes, adding, “FuelEd provides a model of the integration of education and psychology, and the hope for the survival of our current system of education.” Marcus’ work at FuelEd earned her international recognition in February 2016, when she was elected as a member of the Ashoka Fellowship. Her election was based on her entrepreneurial development of a new, ethically sound, and socially impactful idea, which has been executed creatively in an effort to solve an ongoing problem. Despite her success, Marcus hopes that “eventually there won’t even be a need for FuelEd, because social and emotional training for educators will be the ‘new norm’ and secure attachments will be at the center of every classroom and every school.”

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community | scholarship

Psych Effects A neuropsychologist debunks a popular myth about substance abuse and explains how different personality types dictate certain drug addictions. By Sara Alamdar A case study from Boston tells of three high school girls who met each morning in their homeroom class before the first bell, when the seats were still empty, to take their daily hit. They were regular drug users who experimented with different illicit substances but always gathered in the same venue. Once these daily highs wore off, they moved on to something stronger and switched to the girls’ bathroom to be more discreet. The first time they injected heroin into their veins, they experienced a powerful rush like never before. Not only was the drug being introduced to their body chemistry for the first time, but the change in venue also contributed to the overwhelming reaction. And because there was no previous association between heroin and the new venue, this new high was exceptionally euphoric. After that initial exposure, the girls intended to replicate that first rush in the same environment. But, because their brains now knew what to expect, and now associated that high with that particular venue, their reactions became less intense and exciting. While home from school one day, one of the girls injected herself in her own bathroom with the same dose she usually took in the school bathroom. She died immediately of an overdose. This phenomenon is the primary focus of Seaver College psychology professor Jessica Cail’s work—that the mind-body connection influences the effects of drugs beyond mere chemical quantities. A familiar setting can signal the brain to protect the body, just as a brand new environment can overwhelm it—regardless of dosage levels.

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Summer 2016

“The original [belief about] addiction was that it was a matter of how much your body had been exposed to the chemicals you had taken, and that it was a complete dose-response relationship,” explains the experimental neuropsychologist and drug addiction expert, “but [research shows] that there is an environmental component. If you use [drugs] in a certain environment at all times, you become more tolerant and less sensitive to the drugs.” Before joining the Pepperdine faculty as an assistant visiting professor in 2009, Cail dedicated most of her time to researching the psychopharmacology of addiction. Her expertise in drug codependence developed out of a passion for the mind-body connection, as she explored whether the mind could be used to heal the body and improve the success of treatment without the side effects of medication.

For instance, a person with an outgoing, thrill-seeking personality is more likely to be attracted to stimulants, such as methamphetamine. On the other hand, a person with a depressive personality may appreciate ecstasy, because it produces the same happy chemicals as antidepressants. Furthermore, an anxious person who has trouble self-soothing is already stimulated enough and is more

I don’t think a lot of people give respect to the fact that we are

connection-making machines and that we

“I always thought opium is so inherently addictive that the person who tried it would be hopelessly hooked on it,” says Cail. “He said he could ‘take it or leave it,’ but he prefers marijuana, and that matches [his personality]. He is anxious, and marijuana soothes him. It calms him down.” Cail explains that most people are unaware of these external factors and continue to define addictions by the amount of exposure to certain pharmaceuticals. “I don’t think a lot of people give respect to the fact that we are connection-making machines and that we associate cues,” she notes. “People think it’s just the nature of the drug, but it’s not. It’s bio-psycho-social.”

For those battling substance abuse, Cail emphasizes the importance of understanding the nature of the drug, but it’s not. that addictions are chronic, relapsing conditions. “It’s not a It’s failure of someone’s willpower Cail also studied the association if they relapse,” she explains, between personality types and “the same way we don’t look at likely to rely on substances like alcohol, certain people’s attractions to certain somebody whose cancer comes back marijuana, and heroin to relax. drugs, such as stimulants, depressants, after 15 years and ask, ‘What did you and hallucinogens. “There are all these do wrong? Why did it come back?’” Cail has witnessed the validity of this different classes of drugs … and they’re “If we could break those associations, all very different flavors,” she says. “If they notion beyond the lab. She recalls a conversation with a friend who admitted we might make a dent in the relapse all have inherently addictive properties, to trying opium for the first time. rates, which for heroin is between why is it that this person is attracted to When asked for feedback, his nonchalant 86 and 98 percent. If we could make this but not to that? It seems more often response about its lackluster gratification a tiny little dent in that, we could than not that it has to match them in probably help [break the cycle].” shocked her. some underlying conditioned way.”

associate cues. People think it’s just

bio-psycho-social.

Cail’s expertise has become so vastly recognized that she also works as a scientific consultant for television and movies, including Marvel’s live-action show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Disney’s animated feature Zootopia. Additionally, thanks to a powerful combination of her decades-long athleticism and a stunt performer husband, Cail is a Hollywood stuntwoman who walks on stilts and cracks bullwhips like a true heroine. The neuropsychologist has most recently used her scientific knowledge and cinematic experiences to coauthor the third installment of the book Hollyweird Science, which uses popular movies to teach biology, chemistry, geology, and other sciences.

magazine.pepperdine.edu

community | spiritual life

The Power of

Silence A former investment banker finds purpose in a more creative pursuit with a higher calling. By Gareen Darakjian

ne year after leaving Beijing, China, and a career in global emerging markets investments to embark on a personal journey around the world, Tyler Zacharia (MBA ’16) found himself in Indonesia with his wife Katie (’07, JD ’11) after feeling a pull on his heart to defer business school to explore a more personal calling. The Zacharias had spent the last eight months backpacking around the globe and were one week away from returning to the U.S. when the Graziadio School of Business and Management alumnus received a phone call from Dale Brown (’64), one of the investors in his previous firm’s global activities. He had heard that Zacharia was returning and asked if he would be interested in managing a new film fund. “I said I don’t know a thing about investing in films, but I have always loved movies, so I’d give it a shot,” says Zacharia, who had spent the last six years of his career investing in small businesses around the world as vice president of Schulze Global Investments. Soon after, he found himself sitting in Martin Scorsese's living room discussing a film that was over 25 years in the making.

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Summer 2016

Just five months prior, Zacharia had moved to Los Angeles to meet with industry contacts and talk to everyone he could, trying his best to decipher the business side of film and build an investment platform that met the fund’s goals. When Zacharia first learned of the Silence project, he and Brown, a member of the Pepperdine Board of Regents and a leader in real estate, oil and gas, technology, and construction sectors, planned on only being financial participants in the film. As they proceeded, certain production issues called for them to take over the business side of production with another partner. “I went from being a financial participant to all of a sudden dealing with actors’ agents, distribution deals, and budget questions … that was a learning curve!” Zacharia says. “My prior investment experience certainly helped on the

Good art asks such engaging questions that it forces people to ponder and seek out answers for themselves, which is the beginning of any true spiritual journey. business side, and thankfully the creative side of the film was left in the hands of Scorsese and a team of the industry’s most accomplished professionals.” In Scorsese’s New York City home, Zacharia learned of the prolific director’s passion project that was threatened and derailed several times due to lingering legal issues. There he discovered a shared hunger for telling an important story in a powerful way. Based on a 1966 novel of the same name by Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, Silence examines 17th-century Japan, when Christianity was outlawed in the primarily Shinto and Buddhist country. The story follows two Portuguese Jesuit missionaries who travel to Japan to assist a local church in investigating an apostasy claim made against their mentor, a Jesuit priest. Once there they find that many Christians are being persecuted for refusing to renounce their faith to appease the religious majority,

Silence is based on Shusako Endo’s 1966 book of the same name.

and discover that a group of Christians are practicing their faith in secret so as to avoid torture and death. The novel tackles difficult issues of martyrdom and Christ’s apparent silence at moments of religious persecution. Themes of human frailty, faith, community, and society are prevalent in the book and echoed throughout the film, which stars Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield, and Adam Driver. “The film explores questions like ‘What is faith?’, ‘Where is God in the midst of suffering?’, and ‘Why is he silent?’, or more importantly ‘Is he actually silent?’” says Zacharia. “It’s an important dialogue for audiences to engage in.” What attracted Brown and Zacharia to the film was its potential to engage wider audiences in questions of spirituality and faith. He warns that certain Christian audiences may be surprised by some of the themes presented in the film. “There are nasty parts of human existence that are not easily explained, but it’s about exploring these troubling areas of life and trying to open people up to bigger ideas and questions through tackling difficult subject matter that could eventually point them to the divine, where we believe there is truth to be found,” Zacharia explains. How the film engages the cultural dialogue is just as important to Zacharia and Brown as its financial success. “What kinds of questions are being asked? What topics are being explored? Both financial and cultural feedback are equally as important for us.” Brown adds, “When professionals of the artistic stature of Martin Scorsese and other talent attached to Silence are involved, the work is sure to be noticed and have impact.”

Martin Scorsese's Silence stars Liam Neeson (top) and Andrew Garfield (bottom left).

Zacharia explains that a sense of purpose is vital to filmmaking. “If you don’t know why you’re there, it’s really tough to operate,” he explains. “Films in general can be messy to make, so beyond financial motivation, you have to have a connection to the story.” Zacharia and Brown have also been involved in several other films, including The Ticket, starring Dan Stevens, Malin Akerman, and Oliver Platt, which recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. “What we ultimately want to focus on is how do we as Christians engage culture through films in a way that first and foremost tell good stories that point to messages of redemption, of hope, of forgiveness, and maybe even engage deeper spiritual questions, but not necessarily give answers,” Zacharia maintains. “Good art asks such engaging questions that it forces people to ponder and seek out answers for themselves, which is the beginning of any true spiritual journey.”

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community | spiritual life

ince the Pepperdine University Christian Spiritual Research Institute first launched in 2003, Distinguished Professor of Psychology Cindy Miller-Perrin and Great Books and mathematics professor Don Thompson have been conducting research on Seaver College undergraduate students to examine how their faith, identity, and sense of vocational calling develop over time.

survey results that the institute has collected over the years, which outlines their peers’ religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, as well as how these aspects of faith evolve over time. “It’s revealing when students discover that the way they feel matches what many other students feel,” says Thompson, adding that students typically experience a “honeymoon period” during their freshman year, are disconnected from their life purpose during their sophomore year, and eventually feel settled during their junior and senior years.

After over a decade of study, the Christian Spiritual Research Institute at Pepperdine has discovered how students’ religious attitudes and behaviors evolve over time. By Sara Alamdar For the last 14 years Seaver undergraduates have annually taken a survey of 200 questions focusing on their spirituality, life purpose, and life journey. Of the nearly 3,000 students that receive the survey, about 1,200 submit their responses each spring. Students are then given an opportunity to attend a follow-up session to discuss their spiritual journeys with Miller-Perrin and Thompson. During these meetings, students are presented with all of the

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Summer 2016

During their most difficult year, sophomores typically disregard spiritual practices, according to the institute’s findings. “Undergraduates who come to Pepperdine are there because they are interested in a faithbased education, a school that has a Christian commitment,” he notes. “And yet, it’s interesting to see how when they are in their sophomore year particularly, some of them turn their backs on that. They stop going to church. They don’t really stay connected.”

One surprising, related discovery involves students’ faith attitudes (how strongly they believe in God and how important their faith is to them) versus their faith behaviors (how often they pray or attend church). Research shows that faith attitudes stay relatively high or increase over time, whereas faith behaviors decline during the college years. “College students are very busy, and they have a limited amount of time,” Miller-Perrin explains. “They have a strong sense of faith and are committed,

but the commitment often looks different over time. Their application of their faith is still there, but it’s toward more service activities rather than specific religious behaviors.” Pepperdine’s International Programs also seem to play a substantial role in shaping students’ connection to religion. According to Miller-Perrin, “Students who go abroad show greater increases over time in terms of their faith, their sense of vocational calling, their sense to know what they’re being called to do, and their commitment to service.” This data inspired the institute to think about the students who do not study abroad, and with support from the Board of Regents, the University launched the Year 2 Malibu program to promote the spiritual development of those who remain in Malibu their sophomore year. Much like their international peers who travel to cities like Rome and Paris on the weekends, students who participate in Year 2 Malibu travel to local destinations such as San Francisco and Catalina Island for personal and spiritual growth. As Thompson believes, “[Students] who go overseas have a deepening of their spiritual journey—more so than the ones who don’t go,” making this sophomore service experience “a good attempt at an alternative.” Miller-Perrin reveals that the research points to a correlation between religion and psychological well-being. “People who have a sense of faith in their life tend to score higher on measures of well-being than those who have a lesser sense of faith. And we know that in large part, the relationship between faith and well-being is the result of the sense of life purpose that faith provides,” she shares. “People who have a sense of life purpose are more likely to have a feeling of life satisfaction.”

As Seaver undergraduate students become alumni, the institute continues its research, hosting dinners and focus groups to build on the research previously generated, and to explore how these same people have maintained or developed their spirituality years after leaving Pepperdine. According to Miller-Perrin, “When you’re 18, 19, 20, or 21 years old, you may think you know what God is calling you to do, but of course that changes after you graduate and you’ve been out [of college] for many years.” In addition to its research with students and alumni, the institute also measures the spirituality of new professors through data collected at the University’s new faculty retreats. New faculty members are asked to write an autobiographical essay that depicts significant turning points in their vocational journeys, roadblocks they have encountered, or influential mentors. “By far, I think most new faculty see that as one of the most significant aspects of the retreat,” says MillerPerrin. “It’s really interesting and fun to see how people change over time and come to be where they are as faculty members who feel committed and called by God to be here to teach and to serve our students.” When it comes to the institute’s mission, Miller-Perrin and Thompson agree that the end goal is publishing their findings for a larger audience, and are continually working to analyze, present, and distribute their data. The topic of student spirituality is still growing as a new area of research and, as Thompson puts it, “We’re continuing the story that no one else is telling.”

Sample Survey Questions Students Evaluate the following statements: (Choose between Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree)

•

I depend on my faith in God for decision making.

•

Religion is not a very important part of my life right now.

•

I seek out opportunities to help me grow spiritually.

•

I am currently questioning the power of God.

Alumni •

Describe any major “turning points” along your life purpose journey.

•

Mention any moments of crisis or confusion, as well as moments of joy and clarity along your past lifepurpose journey. For example, experiences that have affirmed or shaken your sense of calling.

•

Recall any distractions, tensions, or barriers that have hindered your pursuit of your life purpose.

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community | athletics

A double legacy for Waves volleyball, Sarah Seiber has still managed to forge her own path. By Doug Gillett n more ways than one, rising Seaver College senior Sarah Seiber is following in her parents’ footsteps. The daughter of two 1984 Pepperdine graduates, who admits she “kind of grew up on the campus,” proudly represents the Waves on the volleyball court, just like her parents Steve (’84) and Cathy (’84) once did. But don’t assume that Seiber’s route is merely the path of least resistance. For starters, whereas her parents’ footsteps led to the indoor court at Firestone Fieldhouse, Seiber is leaving her own footprints in the Zuma Beach sand, as a member of Pepperdine’s beach volleyball team. Though she had a successful indoor volleyball career, including two state titles for Cathedral Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Fe, California, all she needed was a little taste of beach volleyball to know the sand was where she was meant to be. “It’s more different [from indoor] than people think,” she says. “The mechanics and timing … it’s definitely an adjustment, but I love being outside. I love being at the beach—the whole environment is really my style. Rather than being in a gym all day, I get to be right by the ocean.” It’s clear the setting suits her. Last year Seiber and her partner, redshirt senior Samantha Cash (‘15), notched a 21-4 record, defeating pairs from top-ranked USC and third-ranked Hawaii as the Waves rolled to their fifth straight appearance in a national championship tournament. Seiber’s path to Pepperdine didn’t follow a traditional trajectory. “Pepperdine is very competitive with beach

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Summer 2016

volleyball, and she got into it kind of late after her indoor career,” her mother Cathy explains. “We tried to get her in there in the beginning, but there wasn’t a spot for her at that time.” Instead, Seiber went to the University of Arizona as the very first player to sign with the Wildcats’ newly created beach volleyball program in 2013. “I wanted to try something different and move away from home,” she says. “Both my high school and grade school were private and really small, so I wanted to experience a big school.” After “growing up” on a campus of 8,000 students, in a beach town of 13,000 people, Seiber now found herself in Tucson, Arizona, population 520,000, on a

campus with more than 40,000 students. There was plenty of sand, but no beach. She continued to excel as an athlete— the Wildcats went 16-1 her sophomore year—but as a person, she felt lost in the shuffle. “When I got there, I thought, ‘There are so many people here. My teacher doesn’t even know who I am,’” Seiber remembers. “Pepperdine was how I’d been brought up. The values, the smaller classrooms … it was a better fit for me both academically and athletically.” When Seiber decided she wanted to come back to California to finish college, her parents, to no one’s surprise, were overjoyed. Still, they didn’t want her to feel like they were pushing her in any one direction, even if the direction was Pepperdine. “We, of course, wanted her to go there because she wanted to go there, not because we went there,” Cathy explains. “So we looked at Pepperdine, UCLA, Long Beach [State]—but she said, ‘Nope, Mom, I want to go to Pepperdine.’ I think she realized it after being away for two years. She figured out who she was, what she liked, what she didn’t like, and how much she missed the beach. She’s a Southern California girl. That’s just who she is.”

Seiber doesn’t dispute that characterization, or her mother’s description of Pepperdine as a place with a real “family feeling.” “It was an adjustment,” she says. “New school, new coaching, new training—but everything we’ve done training-wise and coaching-wise has helped me so much more, mentally and physically, than anything I ever did before.” While the coaching may be new to Seiber, it’s pleasantly familiar to her mother, who played under first-year head coach Nina Matthies in 1983. Matthies went on to turn the indoor volleyball team into a juggernaut, and after coaching both the indoor and beach squads in 2012 and 2013, she devoted herself full-time to the beach program starting in 2014. “To be able to have Nina—the same coach I had—it’s like a dream,” Cathy says. “I can’t even believe it’s happening.” Matthies says that having coached both a mother and a daughter doesn’t make her feel old—rather, she feels fortunate. At a time when coaching turnover is rapid at the college level, “it’s one of those things where I can just sit back and laugh. I’m still in the same place,” she says. “But it’s really, really fun to have that relationship with the parents and have them understand a little bit of what their daughter’s going through. I think they have a very good relationship, and I’m glad I get to be part of that.” Cathy and her husband both experienced plenty of success on the court. In 1982 the women’s team went to the NCAA championship tournament and finished in the top 25. Two years later Steve and the men’s team, led by head coach Marv

The 1983 Waves women’s volleyball team. Coach Nina Matthies, top, first from left. Cathy Houston Seiber (’84), top, third from right.

Steve Seiber (’84), top, third from right, with the 1984 Waves men’s volleyball team.

Dunphy (’74), went 23-7 and were the runner-ups in the NCAA tournament. Yet in some ways, Seiber’s parents are now tracing her footsteps, as they follow her from match to match. “They come to every match I play, even in South Carolina and Alabama,” she says. “And they like coming up to Zuma. They’re so excited they get to rep their Pepperdine gear again.” That is, when Seiber isn’t repping it herself. “My dad has kept a lot of his old Pepperdine stuff,” she says. “He gave some of it to me, and sometimes I’ll wear one of his shirts from the early ’80s, and the other players will ask, ‘Where did you get that shirt? It’s so cool!’”

Pepperdine was how I’d been brought up. The values, the smaller classrooms … it was a better fit for me both academically and athletically. – Sarah Seiber magazine.pepperdine.edu

community | athletics

the FIELD

At USA Track & Field, School of Law alumnus Norman Wain (JD ’96) is fueled by a passion for sports and a knack for the law. By Gareen Darakjian n Thursday, May 12, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Run Gum, a performance maximizing gum used by athletes to boost their energy with ingredients like caffeine, B-vitamins, and taurine. A few months prior Run Gum had declared war against USA Track & Field (USATF) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) for restricting athletes competing at the Olympic Team Trials from wearing attire emblazoned with their logo. Under current USOC rules, however, these athletes can only wear uniforms displaying logos of certain apparel or equipment companies approved by the USOC during the Olympic Team Trials, a restriction put in place to protect the value of the Olympic brand. School of Law alumnus Norman Wain, USATF general counsel and chief of business affairs, was at the helm of the defense team that successfully defeated the high-profile antitrust case that has caused a stir within both legal and athletics communities. “Judge McShane’s ruling confirmed that USATF was justified in complying with the USOC’s regulations,” explains Wain. “USATF will continue to support its athletes by honoring USOC rules and ensuring that its athletes have the opportunity to compete at the highest levels.” Wain’s current position draws upon his legal education and expertise, but also engages him in a business capacity where he is involved in all of the strategic initiatives and objectives of the organization. Beyond business, it enables Wain to be part of an organization that thrives on live attendance, TV, and a passionate fan base—things that he knows much about on a personal level.

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Summer 2016

“I am absolutely a sports guy interested in law,” enthuses the sports lawyer who determined in his first year at Pepperdine Law that if he was going to make a significant investment in his career by going to law school, he wanted it to be something he was truly passionate about.

While his classmates interviewed for legal jobs for the summer following their 1L year, Wain scoured sports-related opportunities, an area of the law that he believed bridged both interests. “I viewed the legal degree as a really practical key that could help me open doors in those pursuits.” While clerking for a small private practice firm that summer, Wain also volunteered for the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) team called the Los Angeles Salsa. When the APSL shuttered the following season and Major League Soccer (MLS) emerged, he was able to secure an internship with the budding organization and moved his way around to its legal department. After one year, and just before taking the bar exam, Wain knocked on the office door of MLS commissioner Doug Logan and asked, “What do I have to do to get a

membership with our events,” he says. “That’s the part I get most excited about: being engaged in more of a business role.” At USATF, Wain is responsible for overseeing all corporate transactional legal and intellectual property work, in which he monitors and enforces the rights of the organization, and also oversees the athlete representative program, helping shape it into one of the premier agent programs within the Olympic sports movement. He is involved with the USATF antidoping initiative, making sure that all protocols are followved and that athletes are well educated in all related matters, and was also integral in the launch of USATF.tv, the organization’s own digital media platform. This spring a group of Pepperdine Law students and alumni met with Wain at the 42nd annual Sports Lawyers

was the guy who sat at the back of the class and said nothing, and now all of a sudden here I am talking about how I broke into the industry. My message was all about persistence and staying focused on what it is you truly want to do. job here?” While there wasn’t a job lined up for Wain at the time, he worked his way up in the sports and entertainment industry and, after nearly 10 years as vice president of corporate legal affairs at Finish Line, where he gained the invaluable experience of being a corporate generalist, he reconnected with the former commissioner of the MLS, who had become the CEO of USATF. “Through all of the leadership changes [that took place at USATF], several core principles for the organization remained the same: develop a global presence, develop a true media property, and align merchandising and

Association Conference in Los Angeles, where he learned he was elected to serve on the organization’s board of directors. He had also returned to his alma mater earlier this year to speak to current students about his career path. “I was the guy who sat at the back of the class and said nothing. Now all of a sudden here I am talking about how I broke into the industry,” he recalls. “My message was all about persistence and staying focused on what you truly want to do.” This summer the School of Law will launch a certificate in entertainment, media, and sports law program, part of a larger University effort to expand

offerings and opportunities where those disciplines merge. “There is tremendous student interest in this area, and our location is the epicenter of entertainment and sports, especially now that we have a new professional sports team coming to L.A.,” explains Maureen Weston, professor of law and director of the Entertainment, Media, and Sports Dispute Resolution Project at the School of Law. The certificate program will offer a structured curriculum and an active industry-speaker series and will work closely with students to involve them in sports and entertainment advocacy, arbitration, and negotiation competitions. “We want to respond to the opportunities that we have here in L.A. and Malibu, but also be part of the global impact of media and sports,” Weston continues. Wain, whose career in sports and entertainment has been marked by successes and setbacks, explains that focusing on objectives rather than obstacles has allowed him to feel accomplished both professionally and personally. “You can look at different stages of my career and think I wasn’t going to get to where I ultimately landed,” he says. “There was graduating law school and not having a job lined up. There was moving to Indianapolis when I met my wife and not finding many sports and entertainment opportunities ...” He advises aspiring lawyers that a strong network and good communication skills, along with professional ethics, are important to leading a successful legal career. “But learn to become a really good lawyer first,” he recommends, “because that will impact the value you will have within your organization.”

magazine.pepperdine.edu

community | the arts

Word of

aRt

By Sara Alamdar

Musing Dante: Canto XII The Violent in the Plain of Fire (7th Circle)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but each year Great Books and fine arts students team up to find out how many words it takes to paint a picture. In the Divine Comedy, Italian poet Dante Alighieri unlocks the reader’s imagination with detailed descriptions of pain, warfare, deception, and punishment, drawing on medieval Christian theology and philosophy. Similarly, John Milton’s Paradise Lost explores supernatural themes through tales of creation, the fall of man, and redemption. In professor Jane Kelley Rodeheffer’s Great Books Colloquium seminar, students follow Dante’s journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven, and get a glimpse of how Milton justifies the will of God through the 12 books of his epic poem. In a rare collaboration between the Great Books and fine arts departments, Rodeheffer invites her students to explore how poets like Dante and Milton summon images through words. “These poems are intended to engage the reader’s visual imagination,” she explains. “They have been represented by artists for centuries, including Blake, Botticelli, Doré, and Dalì, and naturally lend themselves to illustration,” points out the Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books, whose students receive a unique opportunity to bring their readings to life. First launched in 2014, Rodeheffer approached associate art professor Gretchen Batcheller about a collaboration that would

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Summer 2016

Gretchen Batcheller

Jane Kelley Rodeheffer

enable both of their students to grow as communicators, as well as professionals. Rodeheffer’s Great Books students would choose cantos from the Inferno and write a description of the tale’s settings, and Batcheller’s painting students would work with them to illustrate the words using multiple mediums. “My students are participating not only in a tradition of reading these texts and interpreting them—which they do in papers—but also interpreting them visually,” says Rodeheffer. “I want them to see that the tradition they’re learning is multifaceted. It’s not just words on a page.” Students received another opportunity in 2015, when they collaborated to visually depict scenes from Milton’s Paradise Lost. In order for this collaboration to work effectively, both sets of students met once a week over the course of a month to further discuss their vision for the painting.

It was definitely more of an emotional investment than the typical essay, because we had to analyze the visceral impact the scene had on us, and then communicate how that scene might be visually represented, in order that it might have the same effect on the viewer as the author's words initially had on us. - Callaghan McDonough

Great Books and art students discuss their collaborative visions.

For history major Katherine Anderson, this experience taught her that while everyone read the same brief descriptions of a selected scene, they all imagined the designs differently in their minds. “I wrote what I envisioned the painting to look like, but the artist did not necessarily go by what I wrote. It was interesting to see how she made connections and interpreted things differently,” she says. With a ratio of one artist to five Great Books students, the artists sometimes felt overwhelmed in sufficiently and accurately meeting the group’s expectations. This is where Batcheller stepped in to teach the young painters how to form healthy professional boundaries when commissioned by clients to create art. “I encouraged my students to not suddenly become different art makers than they had already been in the context of the class,” she shares. “Yes, try new techniques, but don’t all of a sudden become this type of art-maker when you were always that kind of art-maker, just to suit the many requests from the group.” She also gave her students permission to be uniquely themselves, and to push forward with what they felt was most important as far as conveying each specific scene with visual imagery. “Navigating those interpersonal skills was huge. That’s something that we navigate in the workplace on a daily basis, so that was pretty important,” Batcheller says.

These techniques impressed Great Books student Kylie Owens, who was so astounded by the artist’s painting that she felt compelled to revisit Paradise Lost. “Sometimes with texts like that, it’s difficult to visualize things,” the theatre major admits. “It goes to show how the classics cross all borders with all disciplines and all studies—everyone can relate to them in some way,” she says. Such has certainly been the case for Great Books student Callaghan McDonough, who remembers the experience as intellectually challenging. “It was definitely more of an emotional investment than the typical essay, because we had to analyze the visceral impact the scene had on us, and then communicate how that scene might be visually represented, in order that it might have the same effect on the viewer as the author's words initially had on us,” he explains. Once the Great Books students and artists agreed on the final presentation of the paintings, Batcheller organized a pop-up exhibition in Payson library. She then photographed the artworks and Rodeheffer submitted them for publication in the third volume of the undergraduate Great Books journal Athena’s Gate. Rodeheffer believes that this collaborative project represents an appropriate and timely direction that humanities courses should consider. As she explains, “We need to move in the direction of collaborating with disciplines in the arts and sciences and showing the ways in which literature, history, and philosophy remain vital to this generation of students.”

Sarah Lindsley Divining Milton: Satan Gives Birth to Sin Paradise Lost II: 635-808

magazine.pepperdine.edu

community | the arts

An art historian’s passions merge in a Technicolor dream. By Gareen Darakjian

asquerading assassins, winged deities, and feuding houses have historically been the stuff

of medieval lore, in tales written long ago about lands far, far away. As groundbreaking series like Game of Thrones are giving modern audiences a taste of life in a dystopian Middle Ages

fantasy in more visually and emotionally captivating ways than ever before, curators at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles are harnessing the recent fascination with George R. R. Martin’s medieval-inspired masterpiece. Seaver College alumnus and art history adjunct faculty Bryan C. Keene ('06), an assistant curator of manuscripts at the Getty, has been exploring the parallels between the show and the museum’s collection of illuminated manuscripts by sharing his findings

with a vast online audience. Each season gives him a new opportunity to investigate different themes shared between medieval art and Game of Thrones on the Getty blog, as well as a Tumblr photo series that he curates in collaboration with the museum’s communications and social media teams. These initiatives also allow Keene to present never-before-seen images from the Getty manuscripts collection—with over 200 books, leaves, or cuttings featuring almost 7,000 images—that directly relate to the historical underpinnings of Game of Thrones. “As curators, we spend much of our time in deep scholarship, so being able to take a more creative look through all of the imagery in the collection—of dragons, knights, monks, and kings—fulfills that geeky, nerdy fascination that we medievalists often have with

Pepperdine Magazine

Summer 2016

the genre of fantasy literature,” says Keene. "Curators spend so much of our time in deep, serious scholarship, so to be able to look through all of the imagery in the collection—of dragons and knights and monks and kings— fulfills that geeky, nerdy fascination that we medievalists all have with that genre of literature." Besides glorious scenes depicting mythical creatures and battlefield victories, Keene has drawn connections between Game of Thrones and images of graphic violence, suffering, and the varying portrayals of women in manuscripts. “The themes of violence and the role of women in society as seen on Game of Thrones do very much relate to our collective imagined ideas about the Middle Ages, but also to the historical realities of that period,” he explains. In a past exhibition titled Images of Violence in the Medieval World, the Getty highlighted images of crusades, jousts, and the art of war prevalent in medieval art. An upcoming exhibit will focus on the many roles of women in the Middle Ages.

being able to take a more creative look through all of the imagery in the collection … fulfills that geeky, nerdy fascination that we medievalists often have with the genre of fantasy literature. “In Game of Thrones, women are sometimes presented as objects of love, lust, or brutal force, but most recently they appear as powerful figures who rise to lead through inspiring or horrific means,” Keene explains. “We find these same examples throughout history of all periods, but the Middle Ages linger in a particularly powerful way in the modern imagination, primarily through fantasy and film. With the blog and Tumblr series, I hope to encourage people everywhere to consider what the Middle Ages were for the people living during that vast period and in places beyond Europe.” The Getty blog has enabled Keene to reach a broad audience while maintaining his creativity. “With the blog we have a genuine goal to teach and to spark curiosity,” he explains. “If people look at the posts or social media featurettes and are intrigued or entertained, then that’s great. But for those who dig deeper and look more closely at the images, or think differently about medieval art the next time they’re in a museum or reading a book or watching a television show, then that is an amazing byproduct.” Beyond research and care for the preservation of museum collections, Keene explains that another one of a curator’s primary roles is to teach with the collection through each exhibition they organize, not only through the

Beyond the museum halls, Keene spends a considerable amount of time traveling, visiting other collections, gazing at objects under a microscope, physically holding and turning manuscript pages, and doing complex research to determine how the books relate to objects made in other media.

Unknown, A Massacre of Family Members, approx. 1460-1470, tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint, and ink on parchment, 6 15/16 x 4 1/2 in. J. Paul Getty Museum.

display itself, but also through public tours, lectures, conferences, and published works. “It is always encouraging to learn what engages or excites our audiences,” Keene notes. “Because the manuscript collection at the Getty is really one of the only global collections that bridges vast geographies from Armenia, Tunisia, Italy, Ethiopia, and beyond, it does allow us to engage with so many different communities in Los Angeles and to bring an interconnected and cross-cultural historical past to life in those galleries.”

“There is something incredibly moving, intoxicating, and humbling about being in the presence of artworks,” Keene enthuses. “When you’re around them every day and talking to people about them and getting to see them up close and out of their cases, it has a powerful effect on you. In some instances, you’re looking at objects that only a handful of people have been able to behold throughout history. I can’t imagine not being able to think about, hold, and marvel at these works of art.” “It’s one of those things that you always dream about as an art history student, becoming a curator at a great institution,” continues Keene, who credits Seaver College art history professor Cynthia Colburn as the single greatest influence on his career path. “The Getty is one of the greatest institutions in the world. It’s a place that I never want to leave.” image of artwork courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program.

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in focus

Evolution of a Mascot 1945 to 1950

1951

Roland appeared first in print in the Graphic in 1945. His name is derived from the classic Pepperdine cheer, “Roll on, you Waves!”

Students proposed that Joe the Pelican become the University mascot in an article printed in the Graphic in 1951.

1952 to 1972 "Willie the Wave" made his official debut at a George Pepperdine College sporting event.

1972 to 1992 The second iteration of Willie was nicknamed “the Fur Ball,” “the Hairy Smurf,” and “Old Carpethead.”

1992 to 1996 The third iteration of Willie was sometimes referred to as “Mac Tonight.”

1996 to 2003 King Neptune was first introduced at Midnight Madness in October 1996.

Pepperdine Magazine

Summer 2016

Following three mascot-less years, Willie the Wave returned to Pepperdine on October 21, 2006, at “Madness Entourage” at Firestone Fieldhouse. Present-day Willie is bedecked in a blue-and-white floral shirt, orange shorts, a pair of orange flip-flop sandals, and a tidal wave of school spirit.

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