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Jay Brewster, professor of biology and divisional dean of the Natural Science Division at Seaver College, was named provost and chief academic officer of Pepperdine University. Brewster, who has served at Pepperdine for 24 years in various capacities, began his new role on August 1, 2021.
“Jay Brewster is a person of impeccable character and has demonstrated his gentle yet profound wisdom in each of the leadership positions he has occupied,” said Pepperdine president Jim Gash (JD ’93). “He is also a reputable research scientist who embodies Pepperdine’s commitment to transforming lives through rigorous academics, spiritual exploration, and the significance of a life of purpose.”
Brewster was selected following a rigorous nationwide search led by search committee co-chairs April Marshall, professor of Hispanic studies at Seaver College, and Tim Perrin, senior vice president for strategic implementation.
“We are most grateful to our colleagues on the Provost Search Committee for their extraordinary investment of time and energy over the course of the last six months and to the many members of the Pepperdine community who thoughtfully participated in the search process,” said Marshall and Perrin in a joint statement.
Since joining Pepperdine in 1997 as assistant professor of biology, Brewster has been an active member of the University community. He has held several appointments on various University committees, including the Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence Selection Committee; the Pepperdine Accreditation Committee for High Impact Practices; and the Rank, Tenure, and Promotions Committee.
Brewster’s dedication to students and their academic growth has been recognized at the University for many years. He is a 2006 recipient of the Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2010, in recognition of his nationally acclaimed scholarship, he was named the Frank R. Seaver Professor in Natural Science. Beyond guiding students in the classroom, Brewster has demonstrated a commitment to students’ spiritual development as an elder of the University Church of Christ for the past four years.
In his new role, Brewster oversees the academic development and integrity of Pepperdine University and its five schools. He is primarily responsible for directing the University’s academic programs and strategic initiatives while also recruiting exceptional faculty and encouraging critical scholarship and teaching.
“[Pepperdine University] is a special place that partners the sincere care for each student with a faculty of accomplished scholars,” shared Brewster. “I have loved my time at Pepperdine and look forward to the work that is to come. I look forward to partnering with President Gash and the deans of each school in support of this premier Christian university.”
Pepperdine Waves Win 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship
For the second time in program history, the Pepperdine University men’s golf team won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championship following a 3–2 victory over the University of Oklahoma on June 2, 2021. The Waves earned their 2021 trophy after playing a seventh round of competitive golf in six days at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“I would have never thought that I would be called a national champion,” said senior Joey Vrzich. “I can’t believe how many Pepperdine fans came to watch. To have my dad here . . . I don’t even have a word for it. It makes me tear up every time.”
Teammates Joe Highsmith and William Mouw won the first two points, while fifth-year senior Clay Feagler secured the victory on the 18th green amid a large crowd of Pepperdine fans. Feagler and Highsmith won all three of their match-play rounds at the NCAA Championship.
“It was surreal to come down to the 18th hole and basically have the last point on my shoulders,” said Feagler. “It was nerve-racking but it was exciting. I didn’t think I was going to be the final point here. It was kind of crazy.”
This victory is the men’s golf program’s first national title since 1997. This year the Waves were competing at the NCAA finals for the 11th time in program history and for the third time in the last four tournaments. This win, which featured Pepperdine’s first-ever appearance in NCAA Championships match play, marks the 10th NCAA Division I team title in Pepperdine Athletics history and the first since men’s tennis in 2006.
“When I played at Pepperdine, I always felt like we could be the best team in the country,” said Michael Beard (’02), head coach of the Pepperdine men’s golf team. “To be able to come back as coach, I still felt that way. Everyone that has worked with us and every player that we’ve had come through believes in that as well. I’m just so proud of these guys.”
Dylan Menante
Clay Feagler (’20)
Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Dungy Defines the Values of a Mission-Driven Team During 45th Annual Pepperdine Associates Dinner
On May 15, 2021, members of the Pepperdine community gathered virtually to celebrate the 45th annual Pepperdine Associates dinner. Featured speaker Tony Dungy, former head coach of the 2007 Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts, football analyst for NBC Sports, and author of several books including The Soul of a Team: A Modern-Day Fable for Winning Teamwork, explored the theme “The Soul of a Team” in a prerecorded interview with president Jim Gash (JD ’93). Hosted by TV personality and former national news correspondent Adam Housley (’94), the event also featured exclusive moments with Pepperdine’s record-breaking student-athletes and the coaches guiding their teams to success both on and off the field with their exemplary leadership.
In a candid discussion with President Gash, Dungy referenced the four key elements that comprise the acronym SOUL: selflessness, ownership, unity, and larger purpose.
“Selflessness is putting the team above yourself, and that doesn’t mean not having individual goals and not being motivated individually . . . Ownership is about owning your role [because] everybody can’t be the star . . . Unity is being together without being the same,” explained Dungy. “[And a] larger purpose is the most important part because it’s not human nature to be selfless, own your role, or be unified . . . We have to have a bigger purpose, and to me, that’s making a difference in the community.”
At the conclusion of the interview, Dungy shared that he hopes his legacy would be associated with his purpose in life. “I would hope that [people] would say it was fun to go to work, we all had a larger purpose, we all had to work together, and that he was a guy I could trust and he helped me be a better person.”
L-R: Colbey Ross (’21), Jim Gash (JD ’93), and Ashley Lahey (’21)
Pepperdine University Introduces New Hub for Spiritual Life
On May 3, 2021, president Jim Gash (JD ’93) announced the launch of the Hub for Spiritual Life at Pepperdine—a new initiative to reimagine and enhance students’ experience of spiritual growth at the University. Central to the hub’s mission and programming is the emphasis on developing students as leaders throughout their faith journeys with the community support of fellow students along with faculty and staff spiritual mentors.
“On our team, we recognize and celebrate that we do not provide the whole spiritual experience but are part of a greater whole,” said Sara Barton, who will lead the Hub for Spiritual Life in her new role as associate vice president for spiritual life alongside associate chaplain Rachel Collins. “Collaboration is my leadership style, which is one that aims to bring people out of silos to work together, and that’s inherent in the language of a hub.”
The team’s new approach will connect students to every spiritual life opportunity whether in their residence halls, on athletic teams, or while studying abroad. With this holistic focus, collaboration with University partners is key to incorporating spiritual growth at each level of students’ undergraduate careers.
One of the first changes resulting from the new initiative includes the restructuring of Seaver College’s Convocation Series, which will henceforth be known as Seaver 200. The program creates gatherings for first- and second-year undergraduate students to explore faith and feel welcomed into the community. Seaver 200 will also allow third- and fourth-year students to take an active role in their spiritual growth by choosing their level of involvement in spiritual leadership opportunities.
Pepperdine University Celebrates Classes of 2020 and 2021 with Commencement Ceremonies
Throughout May 2021, Pepperdine University celebrated its graduating Classes of 2020 and 2021 with in-person ceremonies at the Caruso School of Law, Seaver College, and the School of Public Policy. The celebrations were held more than a year after the University postponed 2020 commencement ceremonies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The School of Public Policy (SPP) kicked off the commencement season on Friday, May 14, 2021, in Alumni Park celebrating graduates in both the Class of 2020 and the Class of 2021. Abigail Scott (’21) gave the Class of 2021 student address before Matt Cutler, director of development at SPP, presented Vianey Lopez (MPP ’12) with the Distinguished Alumnus Award for her exceptional public service as a government official for more than 10 years.
The Caruso School of Law celebrated the Class of 2021 on May 21, 2021, and the Class of 2020 on May 22, 2021. At the first ceremony, Zachary Carstens (JD ’21) delivered the student address to his fellow graduates. President Jim Gash (JD ’93) presented the Distinguished Alumnus Award to Angela M. Powell (JD ’97). Luke Manzo (’20) gave the student address to the Class of 2020, and Pepperdine Board of Regents member Virginia F. Milstead (JD ’04) received the Distinguished Alumnus Award for her dedication to public service. The honorable Consuelo Callahan, who serves as a circuit court judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, gave the commencement address at both ceremonies.
Seaver College hosted the Class of 2020 and their guests on the afternoon of May 21, 2021. Class of 2020 graduate and Caruso Law student Payton Silket (’20) delivered the student address before Pepperdine Board of Regents member Alan Beard (’94, MPP ’99) gave the commencement speech. The following day, Cameron Lowenfield (’21) delivered the student address to fellow Class of 2021 graduates, which was followed by Board of Regents member Brett Biggs’ encouragement to students.
With more than 800 graduates in the Class of 2020 and 900 graduates in the Class of 2021, the ceremonies were the largest class celebrations ever held by the University, made possible by expert planning and care from University staff and faculty.
The Seaver College Fine Arts Division and Flora L. Thornton Opera Program Present Spring 2021 Lineup of Virtual Student Performances
Throughout April and May 2021, Seaver College students in the Fine Arts Division and the Flora L. Thornton Opera Program presented a variety of virtual performances through the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts website.
From April 9 to April 11, 2021, the website debuted the virtual production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Hollace Starr, associate professor of theatre at Pepperdine, directed the student cast and shared that the group was guided by the power of human connection as they explored new facets of the classic play. “As our department continues to adapt to this new method of doing theatre, I am grateful to be able to provide learning opportunities for our actors who are hungry to play characters, for our designers who desire to build worlds, and for our audience to connect with engaging stories, all within a unique medium,” shared Starr. From April 22 to April 24, 2021, students in the Flora L. Thornton Opera Program performed Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon in a digital performance. Long-Tao “Pierre” Tang, assistant professor of music and director of instrumental ensembles at Seaver College, conducted the French opera.
“The logistics of rehearsing this complicated music over the internet required extra innovation and planning on the part of the cast and production team,” shared Keith Colclough (’08), assistant professor of music and director of opera. “I am extremely proud of our cast’s resilience and cannot wait to share their work with a live audience.” On May 6 and May 7, 2021, the Fine Arts Division presented its production of Ugly Lies the Bone by playwright Lindsey Ferrentino. Cathy Thomas-Grant, professor of theatre and divisional dean of the Seaver College Fine Arts Division, directed the student cast.
“This is a beautiful play about the struggle to stay resilient while pushing against physical and emotional pain, something so many of us can relate to having experienced the effects of this pandemic on our lives,” said Thomas-Grant. “Things will never be as they once were, but with the support of family and loved ones, we are closer than ever to pulling through. It is through this love for each other that we will recover. The courage of the characters in this story is inspirational, and the message was delivered powerfully because of the dedication and love that the actors and the entire creative team have for the theatre.”
Dance in Flight Debuts Documentary Film
During the first weekend in May, Dance in Flight, Pepperdine University’s resident dance company featuring students from a variety of performing arts backgrounds, interests, and fields of study, debuted its first-ever documentary film, RAW.
The documentary, which was developed during the coronavirus pandemic, served as a replacement for the student-led dance company’s annual spring performance at Smothers Theatre in Malibu. To maintain quality production standards, the University provided costumes and lights to all dancers, who recorded their routines individually after rehearsing the choreography either synchronously via Zoom or asynchronously by following along to pre-uploaded videos.
“As with any art form, we want people to feel connected and understood by our work and experience the impact and the importance of our community,” explained Erinn Heffes (’21), who codirected this year’s performance in her senior year. “Our goal was to create a show that uses dance as the medium to express what words cannot and to highlight the human experience.”
Harbor 2021 Explores Resilient Faith During Virtual Event
On May 26, 2021, Pepperdine University presented Harbor 2021, a five-hour virtual event designed for spiritual community leaders, ministers, and the Pepperdine community. The event opened with Mike Cope, director of ministry outreach, who introduced this year’s theme, “Resilient Faith: A Day of Renewal for Church Leaders.” Each of the speakers of the day acknowledged the unique challenges of the past year and encouraged the audience with the purpose of ministry. Cope described faith as inherently resilient in its ability to accept reality, find meaning amid struggles, and adapt and improvise in the face of such challenges.
“While we longed to host our Harbor audience on campus, we are grateful for those who participated in this virtual event,” shared Cope. “It was especially good to see groups of church leaders gathered to watch together on social media. From an opening review of what Christian leaders reported through the pandemic by Barna president David Kinnaman to inspiration from N. T. Wright at the end, there was plenty to challenge and encourage leaders.”
Pepperdine Celebrates Diversity and Inclusive Excellence at 11th Annual Loqui Ceremony
On May 20, 2021, Pepperdine hosted the 11th annual Loqui: A Celebration of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence to recognize Seaver College students and faculty who foster a collective sense of diversity, inclusion, and belonging within the Pepperdine community. Sierra Bell and Juan Carlos Hugues received the 2021 Bowers, Davis, and Todd Award for Leadership in Diversity and Inclusive Excellence, an honor that recognizes one male and one female graduating senior who demonstrate an active commitment to advancing institutional diversity and inclusive excellence at Pepperdine as part of their faith. Rebecca Y. Kim, Frank R. Seaver Chair in Social Science and professor of sociology at Pepperdine, received the Distinction in Diversity and Inclusive Excellence award.
“Loqui highlights the voices of students on the margins,” says Rebecca Campos (MPP ’15), director of intercultural affairs. “Everyone wants to belong and to feel a sense of kinship. During my time at Pepperdine, I have noticed that we have more and more students of color and a growing desire for students to be a part of clubs on campus. Many institutes of higher education in the United States are predominantly white spaces. Through Loqui, I hope our students get to see their culture represented on stage, hear their language, and feel a sense of pride about their own identity and about being a part of an inclusive community.”
As part of the Augustus and Patricia Tagliaferri Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series, the School of Public Policy hosted “Preserving the American Project: The Bias Narrative vs. the Development Narrative” at Elkins Auditorium on June 5, 2021.
Economist Glenn Loury, a leading national expert on social capital, explored the components that lead to greater economic opportunity and broader societal flourishing while analyzing those that do not result in such favorable outcomes.
Pepperdine Libraries Hosts Inaugural Alumni Author Lecture Series Event Featuring Catherine Meeks (’70)
On April 27, 2021, Pepperdine Libraries presented the first-ever Pepperdine Alumni Author Lecture Series event featuring George Pepperdine College alumna Catherine Meeks (’70), the founding executive director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing and retired Clara Carter Acree Distinguished Professor of Socio-cultural Studies and Sociology at Wesleyan College.
In her discussion, Meeks examined the activism and advocacy of journalist Ida B. Wells, as discussed in her coauthored 2019 book, Passionate for Justice: Ida B. Wells as Prophet for Our Time. She also shared insights about her time as a student at Pepperdine and how her college education informed her future as an author of several books.
“Young people in the 21st century need to interrogate themselves about what matters to them, and Ida B. Wells can be a good guide in that interrogation process,” said Meeks. “I want to encourage you to dig into life and find out the things that matter [to you], the ways in which people have interacted with you, the ways you have treated people, [and] find out what’s at the core of yourself. Ida B. Wells is a great role model for that work and that journey.”
Undergraduate Students Display Academic Excellence at Virtual Research and Scholarly Achievement Symposium
The Pepperdine community gathered virtually on April 23, 2021, to celebrate student research accomplishments at the Seaver College Research and Scholarly Achievement Symposium. Hosted by the Office of the Vice Provost, the event featured more than 120 student presenters representing research and scholarly work across all eight divisions at Seaver College. This year’s event marked the conclusion of Undergraduate Research Week, a national celebration of students’ achievements and their mentors.
During each session—which covered a diverse range of topics including performing arts, studio arts, political science, psychology, and biology—students’ commitment to academic excellence was evident through their engaging presentations, perfection of technique, and passion for their work.
“Opportunities for our students to perform and showcase their scholarly work are both an essential component of their research experience and a way for those in our academic community to experience and engage with the work of our student scholars,” shared Katy Carr (MA ’11), assistant provost for research at Pepperdine University.
By the time this article goes to print, hundreds if not thousands of headlines will likely be written at lightning speed about a new breakthrough in blockchain technology. Or a glitch in the latest cryptocurrency trading platform. Or the recordbreaking sale of a non-fungible token (NFT) of a one-of-a-kind digital cat on something called Ethereum. Is your head spinning yet? Consider yourself in good company.
It has become almost a cliche to admit you have no idea what any of these words— seemingly coined by a community of elite tech insiders who regularly convene in some alternate universe—mean. But, the era of ignorance is over. Blockchain technology— and the masterminds behind its meteoric rise over the last decade—is in the process of disrupting, dismantling, reimagining, and reconfiguring everything we know about, well, everything. And Pepperdine is jumping into the fray with an innovative academic initiative to propel the University into leadership in the space. So, what is blockchain, who is behind it, and why should we care about the trillion-dollar industry nobody can quite wrap their heads around?
BLOCKCHAIN 101
At its core, the blockchain can be simplified as a digital platform that maintains a ledger of transactions shared across a decentralized network. This ledger holds an immutable history of digital transactions—most notably of cryptocurrencies or encrypted digital assets such as Bitcoin—that are legitimized by peer-to-peer consensus. Blockchains are built on open source software, which allows developers to ensure the safety and security of transactions by avoiding third-party governance and interference by a central authority. The blockchain operates on a network of computers that contains a universal data set that is displayed to all users, making all activity, especially the transaction history of digital assets, transparent and unalterable.
One publication compares blockchain to Google Docs, living documents that are created and owned by one party and distributed (not copied or transferred) to any number of people who all have access to the document. Users are able to make changes at their convenience without restriction, and all changes are recorded and visible to all users, making it an entirely transparent process.
Blockchains are made up of multiple individual blocks (think of them as links in a chain) that contain all of the data related to a digital transaction. Each block also contains a 32-bit number called a nonce—an abbreviation for “number only used once”—that is randomly generated when a block is created and a cryptographic hash, a 256-bit number that acts as the block’s digital signature or fingerprint. As blocks—which are stored chronologically—are added to the blockchain, they create unbreakable bonds that are difficult and almost impossible to manipulate.
“No individual party can change the rules or take over the database structure and alter it,” says Thomas Lombardi (MBA ’07), adjunct professor of digital asset finance at the Graziadio Business School and managing director of 3iQ Corp, an investment fund manager offering digital asset investment products such as the Bitcoin Fund. “It would require nation states to invest potentially hundreds of billions of dollars to burn it down. No other party in the world could do anything to these structures.”
BIT BY BIT
For a culture so accustomed to relying on major institutions to manage our most valuable assets, it’s no wonder decentralized systems are taking time to catch on. However, the promise of cryptocurrencies and their ability to enable the transfer of funds directly between two parties without the need for a financial institution is appealing to many. It is also the biggest threat to the financial sector, which is heavily regulated by the government.
The strongest thesis within the blockchain and Bitcoin conversation, says Lombardi, is financial inclusion as it relates to currency transactions.
“The privileged few that live in well-to-do areas have access to Venmo and PayPal and the most trusted financial institutions in the world,” he explains. “But that is not the case for 4 billion other people. This technology enables financial inclusion for those who don’t have trust in their government and financial institutions.”
Lombardi cites Etsy, a web marketplace where designers and creators sell handmade or curated items to users anywhere in the world, as an environment that limits the availability and equality of opportunities for merchants to access financial services.
“The reality is that many international sellers have to go through a lot to get the money from their sale,” he says. “They are either making the transaction through their local Western Union that’s connected to a local bank or they have to go through governmentcontrolled banks. Etsy also takes a cut of their profits. You don’t realize how many layers these sellers in different parts of the world have to go through to access their finances.”
By having this database—this open financial platform that no one can manipulate— IT UNLOCKS SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY for people
who would have never had that access.
THOMAS LOMBARDI (MBA ’07)
Blockchain technology and digital assets such as Bitcoin enable financial inclusion between someone in one of the world’s biggest metropolises and someone operating a business from the most remote, rural region on the other side of the world. But, with the current structure of international banks and tariffs, the possibilities are slim.
So, what does the future of open financial systems look like and what does it enable? So much, says Lombardi. “We use so many intimate products and services in our daily lives such as email, social media, and payments that we have no control over,” he says. “By having this secure database—this open financial platform that no one can manipulate—blockchains unlock so much opportunity for personal rights, free speech, and entrepreneurship.”
Blockchain is the foundation of cryptocurrency, digital assets that can be traded for goods or services through secure online transactions across the blockchain network. Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency and the longest-running blockchain, was created in direct response to the Great Recession in 2008.
“Bitcoin proved for the first time that you could have an asset that is purely digital in nature,” says Lexy Prodromos (’16), who has been immersed in the world of blockchain professionally since graduating from Pepperdine. Prodromos is currently a product manager for blockchain and digital currency for Discover Financial Services based in Chicago. “Bitcoin is composed of several lines of code and has real value that isn’t backed by gold or currency, and the price is market determined. It was the first proof that you can have something fully digital like this that can be scarce.”
Bitcoin, like gold, is “mined” and exists in finite supply. But unlike gold’s physical extraction from the earth, the digital currency is sourced through a computer. With only 21 million Bitcoin in circulation, a figure determined by its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, its scarcity model ensures that it remains valuable for an indefinite period of time.
“The way the blockchain is designed for Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies is that there are more efforts to secure mining than there are to duplicate these bitcoins,” Prodromos continues. “That was a game changer in allowing you to not only transact these cryptocurrencies peer-to-peer online, but to use blockchain technology to transact purely digital items that have value with people you know and don’t know across the world.”
BLOCKCHAIN BASICS
A user requestsa transaction. The request is broadcast to a peer-to-peer network of computers. The network validates the transaction and the user’s status using advanced algorithms.
The transaction is combined with other transactions, creating a new block. The new block is added to the existing blockchain. The transaction is complete.
POLICY INNOVATION
Around 2015 cryptocurrency companies were required to obtain a license to operate virtual currency business activities in their respective cities, an effort to legitimize the elusive nature of the digital transactions. The now-infamous New York-based BitLicense was the only state-recognized business license for virtual currency activities at the time. Prodromos had heard former governor Jack Markell debut the Delaware blockchain initiative at the Consensus conference in New York City. Believing that there might be room for Illinois to form a blockchain initiative of its own, she approached the executives at the newly formed Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology, where they were working on a broader technology initiative and hadn’t fully considered blockchain’s potential in their plans.
Prodromos, who became curious about cryptocurrency and explored it seriously as a career path shortly before graduating from Pepperdine, proposed a plan to the department to develop Chicago and Illinois into national blockchain leaders. This effort helped shape discussions of how to advance blockchain technology in the public sector, which evolved into the Illinois Blockchain Initiative (IBI). At the IBI, Prodromos led education initiatives to raise awareness about blockchain technology; inspire legislation to help Illinois become more welcoming to cryptocurrency entrepreneurs; create a physical convening space where entrepreneurs, students, private businesses, and venture capitalists could build an in-person community to network together; and launch a pilot program to implement blockchain technology within the state government. She is currently the executive director of the Chicago Blockchain Center, a nonprofit organization devoted to the education, promotion, and adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. She also supports efforts at the federal level with the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a Washington, DC-based advocacy firm for blockchain and digital currencies.
“Emerging technology and government often give rise to a push and pull between trying to allow innovation to flourish while also protecting citizens from bad actors trying to take advantage of that technology,” Prodromos says. “Especially at the time, there had been several very large Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange hacks that had resulted in the loss of millions of dollars. One of the interesting things about cryptocurrency is that, while it inspires personal financial freedom, it also places much more responsibility on the individual to manage their funds.”
Prodromos cites data from a few years ago that estimates that, of the 18 million Bitcoin that have been minted and are in circulation, 4 million to 6 million are missing and permanently inaccessible because of misplaced or forgotten private wallets, unique keys that are used to validate Bitcoin transactions and specifically designed to prevent third parties from using or altering transactions on the blockchain.
“There were reasons at first for governments to be skeptical of Bitcoin technology,” Prodromos says. “At that point in time, Bitcoin was famous for being traded for illicit materials and used in ransomware attacks. What we wanted to do at the Chicago Blockchain Center and Illinois Blockchain Initiative was shine a light on other, noncriminal uses of this technology.”
While the technology is still nascent, Prodromos says that it has the potential to alleviate pain points in many different industries ranging from healthcare, finance, real estate, media, and the arts. One of the pilot programs Prodromos initiated at the IBI was with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds Office in an effort to use a Bitcoin equivalent called colored coins to ascribe land titles and deeds, using blockchain technology to enable traceability and transparency in verifying ownership of land parcels and other forms of property and making the transfer of land ownership easier.
“We have much more clarity now about how this technology can be leveraged and how to keep citizens safe from bad actors,” she says. “Blockchain turns a lot of models on their heads. The technology poses the question: ‘What if we didn’t need third-party intermediaries for digital transactions anywhere?’ Some people say decentralizing isn’t the way to go. In the future, we’re going to approach a world where there’s a mix of certain centralized and decentralized processes that increase security while maintaining the speed and ease of use that certain centralized protocols have right now. Blockchain technology accelerated that and is moving us in the right direction of having much more transparency in a trustless world.”
FROM BAIT TO PLATE
Much of the mystery surrounding blockchain is related to its inherently concealed nature and distinctive and often puzzling language, which not only intimidates tech novices but also creates confusion and, ultimately, skepticism among the general public. Many wonder how the technology will play a part in their daily lives and processes. While major institutions such as healthcare and higher education have adopted the technology to give individuals access to their own medical records and academic transcripts, blockchain has and will continue to show up in more ways than anyone can imagine.
Throughout the Pacific region, overfishing and illegally harvested fish have resulted in a massive decline in revenue across fisheries. Hundreds of thousands of tons of fish that were procured through unreported and unethical fishing practices cost the industry more than $600 million over a five-year period in the last decade. Beyond patrolling waters and implementing stricter fishtrafficking laws, the World Wildlife Federation has partnered with a blockchain venture to create transparency around fish sourcing all the way through the supply chain.
“Through blockchain technology, you can track a piece of tuna from the moment the catch comes in to when it lands on your plate,” Lombardi says. “The tuna fillet delivered to your house even comes with a picture of the fish it came from.”
Specific data-collecting processes, often referred to as data provenance, essentially an audit of how data was collected and used, tags and tracks each fish as it travels from the fisherman, to the processing plant, to the packaging and distribution facility, to the retail establishment, and, finally, to the consumer. The consumer can then scan a QR code and see every step of the process using a blockchain database.
The benefits to the supplier are a deeper analysis of their supply chain and more precise quality control. To the consumer, this level of transparency affirms their purchasing choices and their confidence in buying from ethical and sustainable producers. Most importantly, tracking the origins of responsibly sourced products is a major factor in combating and eliminating greenwashing across industries that manipulates and misleads consumers into believing a product is more environmentally friendly than it is.
“In the case of product labeling, we have to trust someone to tell us that the product was responsibly sourced. A third party sits in the middle and claims a product’s validity,” says Lombardi. “Let’s actually just use data. Let’s hold people and companies responsible. We don’t need anyone to tell us what we’re consuming is responsibly sourced. We can find out where things actually came from and make the best decisions for ourselves based on actual data.”
BY THE SAME TOKEN
Beyond the impact of blockchain technology on the industries that shape the world around us, many individuals—especially artists and content creators— have found greater opportunities to permanently secure their ownership and the authenticity of their work. Artists and musicians across mediums are using blockchain technology to expand their creative opportunities with NFTs, unique and irreplaceable collectible tokens ascribed to their digital art that live on the blockchain. An NFT’s value is determined by its popularity, and it can be sold by the individual through the exchange of cryptocurrencies. In March 2021, the auction house Christie’s made history with the $69 million sale of the first NFT based on a digital work of art.
In the music industry, artists associate NFT technology with two functional areas: the sale of a collectible audio clip and the authenticity of ownership and copyright. While anyone can copy and listen to the audio, music NFTs, in essence collectible editions of music, can attribute initial ownership to an individual and offer owners provenance—the digital verification of ownership.
NFTs of digital art and music are generally owned by one person who is listed on the blockchain ledger as the owner, but most people can still access the content. The sale of ownership and copyright is what raises legal concerns about owners’ rights. For example, if an owner sells 10 percent of a copyright, does that mean the purchaser is entitled to future income as well?
To combat these concerns, creators can build separate income streams into a smart contract—a transaction protocol stored on the blockchain that is automatically executed or documented when the terms of an agreement between parties are met—but the question remains if purchasers are entitled to profits from subsequent sales of the NFT.
One challenge that music industry insiders predict is the possibility of an NFT owner infringing on a creator’s original work. In some cases, the person minting a musical work does not own the song to mint it in the first place, and if the creator does not catch the minting of the NFT in time, it can be difficult to prevent and correct it. Another challenge is the currently undetermined extent of an NFT owner’s right to grant derivative licenses, such as to allow a major television network the right to use the music in the NFT.
While these practical concerns are emergent, their legal implications are not novel. The successful adoption of blockchain technology in the world of art, music, and collectibles depends on the industry’s efforts to develop norms to help govern and guide these processes, especially as they relate to the sale of a copyright and the attachment of contractual rights with the blockchain. As more artists use NFTs to connect with audiences directly, manage their identities, and simplify transactions of their work, industry professionals remain optimistic about the emergence and prominence of NFTs and are equipped with a general understanding of blockchain technology and the challenges and opportunities it brings—a good sign for the overall health of the industry.
IN THE CLASSROOM
In 2017 Lene Martin (EdD ’16, PhD ’21) became interested in the applications of blockchain in higher education. The founder and CEO of Coastline Consultancy Inc., a firm that offers consulting services in media and emerging technologies, Martin was advising in the field of organizational development for one of the first public blockchain companies. At the same time, she was working as the information security communication lead at Amgen running the biotechnology company’s global cybersecurity communications, including efforts to educate on blockchain for healthcare.
She began thinking of ways blockchain could contribute to autonomy and accountability in the world of healthcare and considered the ways the technology could put more resources and opportunities in the hands of individuals. “It can certainly do that through cryptocurrencies, but it can also do that just by giving people access to their own healthcare records,” Martin says. “That’s when I fell in love with it. I kept thinking about all of the possibilities blockchain could bring to people around the world.”
An alumna of the organizational leadership doctoral program at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology and at the time a current student in the school’s global leadership and change doctoral program, Martin considered the value of bringing blockchain to Pepperdine. She applied for and won a Waves of Innovation grant in 2019 to create Blockchain at Pepperdine, an interdisciplinary and inclusive initiative designed to advance blockchain technology and innovation at the University. Blockchain at Pepperdine comprises a sophisticated team of academic and industry advisors and serves as a resource for blockchain conferences, curricula, certificates, collaboratories, and consulting for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the community. To date, Blockchain at Pepperdine has developed three Universitywide events, including multiple workshops and seminars, five master’s-level courses with blockchain concentrations, professional executive certificates with technical and nontechnical tracks, countless presentations and consultations both internal and external to the University, and more than 16 solution-design papers with several in progress.
In Martin’s blockchain business applications and analytics course at the Graziadio Business School, students learn about blockchain foundations before jumping into a deeper study of blockchain applications and analytics over a seven-week period. The course encourages students to determine a real-world issue and takes them through the lifecycle of a blockchain project focusing on decentralized applications such as smart contracts or NFTs as part of that solution.
Students also have the opportunity to partner with existing companies in the industry as they engage in discovery analysis, design mapping, and creating userjourney flows that go through layers of functional and technical requirements. By the end of the seven-week course, students have developed the wireframe of an actual application for their smartphone. Martin shares that if the course were spread over 14 weeks, students would, by the end of it, be able to develop a minimum viable product—the early form of a product that contains enough features to deliver a usable experience to customers.
“Students often complete the course wondering what they can do next,” Martin says. “They’re wildly excited about it. Some of them have wanted to transition careers after taking the course. Some of them have established themselves as blockchain experts at work. And, for many, it’s become their favorite class. We’ve been thrilled with that response.”
A NEW DIGITAL GENERATION
As blockchain technology finds its legs in the mainstream, graduating students are entering the workforce and discovering career opportunities in an emerging field with great promise. While more seasoned professionals are having to pivot and reimagine existing and deeply established processes, this new crop of graduates is blazing into blockchain with an energy—and opportunities—rarely seen before.
Zayi Reyes (’17), who graduated with a degree in integrated marketing communication from Seaver College, was pursuing marketing and advertising opportunities when a friend recommended her for a role at a company called MetaX in Santa Monica, California. The startup that, at the time, employed just a handful of people, was an advertising technology company staffed with developers who were considering the ways blockchain technology could remedy the digital advertising industry’s fundamental flaws, namely fraudulent transactions during the exchange of billions of dollars. Reyes became deeply involved in the burgeoning company’s operations and admits to being thrown into a master class in blockchain’s opportunities in advertising.
When MetaX partnered with Consensus, one of the biggest blockchain incubator companies at the time, Reyes took a deeper dive into the technology. She was hired a few weeks before the company launched their own token, then one of the first American-based tokens, and raised $10 million in 23 seconds. Reyes was hired to manage the marketing strategy in the tech markets.
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I’m so glad I did,” says Reyes. “That experience completely changed my life.”
Reyes currently works for Unstoppable Domains, the leading blockchain domain registry, that enables users to build decentralized websites that simplify cryptocurrency payments. The company offers users domain names (for example, pepperdine.crypto) that act as cryptocurrency wallet addresses that can be used to send and receive hundreds of cryptocurrencies across more than 50 wallets, exchanges, and applications around the world. This product solves incorrect cryptocurrency transfers that are common within the crypto industry due to long, complex addresses that are necessary to use for crypto payments. These mistakes can result in a permanent loss of funds. Reyes is involved in partnerships and marketing and works with the biggest crypto content creators in the world to share the value of Unstoppable Domains with their massive social media communities.
“When I first started doing this, nobody had really thought about content creators in the crypto space because it was so new,” says Reyes. “And there’s also a kind of unwritten rule in crypto that you don’t market it. Now, you’re seeing companies hire performance marketing teams to run ads and secure sponsorships. As projects learn to accept marketing, I’m seeing a rise in companies being invited to podcasts and creating large amounts of educational content, especially on social media platforms like TikTok.”
Blockchain, while it has been around in various formats since the early 2000s, is still in its infancy as far as larger industries are concerned. Because of its nascency, blockchain has provided professionals who entered the field just a year or two ago with opportunities to grow significantly in their careers in a short period of time.
“Regardless of your age or background, you can make a name for yourself in the industry and become an expert because it’s just so new,” says Reyes, who is a dedicated advocate for women and Latinas in tech. She and her colleague presented at South by Southwest 2021 on how decentralized autonomous organizations are built on the blockchain and operate in a self-governed manner. Reyes was also recently named a delegate of the National Briefing of Women of Color in Blockchain. “If I had gotten my start in any other industry, I would have been starting in entry-level positions and spending years working my way up. Because I entered the blockchain industry when I did, I’m running my own department. I’m getting opportunities to represent my company in front of major audiences. It’s so exciting how much opportunity there is.”
BLOCKCHAIN TURNS A LOT OF MODELS ON THEIR HEADS.
LEXY PRODROMOS (’16)
While the full potential of blockchain technology and its impact on the world remains to be seen, many corporations have adopted its practices to quietly drive some of the most recognizable processes we use in our daily lives, despite the skepticism and confusion that still exists.
“Consider the internet,” Lombardi says. “When it emerged in the late ’80s, it was heavily doubted. It enabled nefarious behavior, and it wasn’t mature enough to be mainstream. That was a phase we were in at the time. For blockchain and cryptocurrency in general, we are currently in that skeptical phase. There are instances of fraud, theft, and manipulation of information and investments. But that’s a growing pain to the maturation of the space. Once blockchain technology is embraced by major institutions, it will resonate down to the users and open up a whole new world of possibilities. And that’s very exciting.”
Collective Impact By Abigail Ramsey
From agriculture to corporate strategy and policy advocacy, Pepperdine University alumni make significant contributions to sustainability efforts for a more just world
Sustainability, or the ability to avoid depleting natural resources for the protection of the environment and future generations, seems to be at the forefront of public discussion, especially as leading corporations across the globe commit to decreasing carbon emissions drastically in the coming decades. With seemingly even more green and sustainable initiatives kicking off in all business sectors, careers in sustainability are in high demand.
Through their work in education, policy advocacy, and corporate sustainability strategy,
Pepperdine University alumni are making impacts both large and small on sustainability initiatives at every level and in every sector. These five alumni—Avery Davis Lamb (’16),
Bonnie Nixon (MA ’16), Kacie
Scherler (’13, MA ’16), Petra
Sikorski (’19), and Sara Train (MBA ’19)—share how their lives, dedicated to purpose and service, contribute to the collective efforts toward a sustainable future.
When Avery Davis Lamb first took a sustainability course at Pepperdine, he felt a strong calling toward ecological conservation and environmental work while also unlocking the unique ability faith communities could have to make lasting and positive impacts on the climate.
“There was a powerful way that [professors] Steve Davis, Chris Doran (’98, MDiv ’02), and Lee Kats spoke about their care and love for the planet and how their faith informed their science,” reflects Davis Lamb.
Inspired by his Pepperdine faculty mentors, Davis Lamb received a bachelor of arts in biology and became one of the first alumni to graduate with a sustainability minor. He quickly set off for Washington, DC, where he worked with Sojourners, a magazine and social justice nonprofit focused on connecting faith to social change, and Interfaith Power & Light, an organization dedicated to inspire communities of faith to take action to protect God’s creation and to advocate for climate policy on Capitol Hill. For three years, he was an active voice in environmental organizing and advocacy at the grassroots level and in emboldening faith communities to support both federal and local climate initiatives through education and communication campaigns. He played an integral role in the organization of the 2017 People’s Climate March and testified before the Environmental Protection Agency in 2018 to advocate for clean energy.
Now Davis Lamb serves as the co-executive director of Creation Justice Ministries and is pursuing a master of theological studies and master of environmental management at the Duke Divinity School and the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment. He reflects that at times this work is tough and exhausting, especially as the injustices of climate crises lay bare issues of racism and classism. In another way, however, he finds courage as he sees a more unified effort in policy decision-making to effect greater change on the federal level and as faith communities seek to emulate hospitable Christianity to address the issues of the world.
“I am endlessly encouraged by my faith to keep going through this work,” shares Davis Lamb. “I hope, collectively, we can build a better, more beautiful world for everyone.”
Avery Davis Lamb
Kacie Scherler with her husband Zachary Abney on their sustainable farm in Oklahoma.
With more than 40 years of experience in Bonnie Nixon sustainability, Bonnie Nixon has been a devoted leader in sustainable supply chains and corporate responsibility. Beginning her career in water safety, hazardous waste disposal, and other environmental cleanup projects, she worked as the director of public relations for the Boston Harbor cleanup beginning in the late 1980s before joining HewlettPackard as the director of global sustainability and ethical sourcing. “I see sustainability as a human rights issue,” shares Nixon. “The people who have the least are often the ones to face the dire consequences of irresponsible strategies.”
As a primary sustainability leader for multiple corporations, Nixon visited global factories and distribution centers to audit each location’s compliance with ethical standards. She witnessed people working in unhealthy and dangerous conditions across the globe—what Nixon described as the painful truth of too many corporate supply chains today. At every step, Nixon works to eradicate such conditions, which are especially prominent in diverse and Indigenous communities. She believes that each corporation should act responsibly and accept the costs of ethical sourcing for the sake of future generations.
Between each of her monumental and influential years of service for sustainable corporate strategy, Nixon has remained an active consultant, public speaker, and educator advocating for sustainable solutions driven by human rights. Her work also highlights the role technology can play not only in helping organizations adopt more humane strategies but also helping young people learn the critical importance of environmental work at an early age. To build upon her broad industry knowledge, she received a master’s degree in learning technologies at the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) and is currently completing a PhD in global leadership and change at the school.
“At times this work is excruciating, especially when you are telling CEOs what they don’t want to hear,” reflects Nixon. “When it feels particularly hard, I turn to my faith to bolster me for this service to the world.”
—Kacie Scherler (’13, MA ’16)
When Kacie Scherler was first introduced to the subject of sustainability during her undergraduate journey at Pepperdine, she felt a noticeable shift in her mindset and was empowered to apply everything she learned to become a positive change maker for a better world.
“Pepperdine cultivates a remarkable community of people who care deeply about our world,” shares Scherler. “That community made me feel like we could do anything.”
After receiving a bachelor of arts in intercultural communication, Scherler pursued a master of arts in social entrepreneurship at GSEP, where she built her knowledge of sustainable agriculture and supplychain management before moving to San Francisco to work for Fair Trade USA, the leading third-party certifier of fair trade products, and Village Enterprise, a community-based organization focused on ending extreme poverty in African villages.
In 2019, when an autoimmune disease prompted her exploration of food free of pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics, Scherler and her husband made the decision to return to her family’s farm in rural Oklahoma and raise the food to meet her dietary needs themselves. Once settled, they founded RE:Farm, a small, local farm practicing regenerative farming informed by Indigenous ecological philosophies, including rotational grazing to keep enough plant matter on the soil for the plants to grow deep and healthy root systems.
“Working with Fair Trade I saw how large and convoluted supply chains are and kept asking myself, ‘Are these really sustainable?’” Scherler says. “When we were thinking about our own farm, we wanted to make it truly regenerative from plant diversity to soil management.”
The couple continues to grow their farm to provide ethically sourced food that is accessible and convenient for their community while also encouraging fellow farmers to convert small percentages of their land to regenerative farming as a first step. Scherler is also eager for their launch of RE:Supply, a waste-free shopping experience, the first of its kind in their community.
“At Pepperdine I had such a desire to make big changes to the world,” reflects Scherler. “I know what may seem like small impacts now will make big impacts on this community.”
—Petra Sikorski (’19)
Petra Sikorski knew she would work in sustainability after spending one summer before college on the Svalbard Islands in Norway, one of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas. While there, Sikorski witnessed glaciers and frozen tundra, the stars of the rough landscape, diminishing. Upon her return to the US and on her journey to Pepperdine, she joined Doran, professor of religion at Seaver College, in his first-year seminar course centered on climate change.
“I had never seen climate justice and Christianity blend so perfectly together before that class,” Sikorski shares. “We were able to get to the ‘why’ in each discussion to compel us deeper into the topics.”
After studying abroad in Switzerland, where she saw the idyllic small-scale farms practice regenerative and sustainable farming successfully, she was doubly motivated to continue this work. After receiving a bachelor of arts in political science with a minor in sustainability in 2019, she joined sustainable tech startup Cloud Agronomics. As the director of business development, she is bringing powerful technology to largescale farmers to help them efficiently and accurately track carbon and other micronutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the soil.
“We need to bring convenience and offer incentives while also communicating the long-term benefits of sustainable farming so large-scale farmers can take the risk in adopting these practices,” says Sikorski.
Most large-scale farmers practice monocropping, which involves growing only one crop in one field, and lack the resources to use high-quality fertilizer, compost, crop rotation, and cover cropping. As a result, more resources are used to harvest enough crops to keep the farm in business.
“Despite the challenges of this industry, from advocating for policy change to educating partners, we are seeing a lot of progress,” Sikorski says. “It’s very rewarding to work alongside farmers and nonprofits to effect positive change.”
Only 9 percent of plastic is recycled, a statistic that has encouraged grocery stores to commit to reduce plastic packaging.
Glaciers are the sources of most of the earth’s fresh water and are critical indicators of a warming climate. Micronutrients contribute to healthier crops and a cleaner atmosphere.
Sustainable practices reduce the environmental impacts of large-scale farmers.
After several years Sara Train serving in the field of suicide prevention, Sara Train felt a desire to make broader institutional change to more fully support those affected by inhumane systems. Through her pursuit of a master of business administration at the Graziadio Business School, she found a powerful community of students and faculty that, regardless of their sector or industry, were committed to change making.
“Pepperdine offered so many opportunities for me to challenge myself,” shares Train. “I was endlessly encouraged in my belief that change can happen. We just need to do the work.”
After completing her degree, an opportunity opened for her to serve as the sustainability manager at Trader Joe’s, one of the most widely known fresh format grocery stores in the US. As the grocery chain’s sustainability manager, she has helped develop food waste-management strategies such as waste diversion, significantly reducing the amount of plastic used for packaging, and decreasing carbon emissions at each stage of the supply chain.
Train is eager to see the future initiatives in the sustainability and social responsibility fields and how they will emphasize diverse collaboration to creatively approach solutions. She also hopes that schools, policy makers, and institutions will incorporate sustainable initiatives in their practices and approach solutions with the whole ecosystem, from people to businesses, in mind. For her exceptional guidance in the field, Train was recognized in 2019 by Pepperdine’s Outstanding Alumni | Women in Leadership initiative.
“My hope is to promote sustainability from a human resource perspective,” Train explains. “If we invest in our people with deep care for their physical, mental, and economic health, they will have more resources and energy to participate in sustainable living at every level while also influencing change in their own communities.”
