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Pepperdine University Mourns the Loss of Former Caruso School of Law Dean Ken Starr
Pepperdine University mourns the passing of Kenneth W. Starr, who served as the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and professor of law of the Caruso School of Law from 2004 to 2010.
“I had the privilege of serving on the faculty and in the administration of the law school during Ken’s tenure as dean,” said president Jim Gash (JD ’93). “In that period, I witnessed firsthand Ken’s deep love for our students and his commitment to advancing Caruso Law as one of the preeminent Christian legal education programs in the US and around the globe. I am profoundly grateful for Ken’s friendship, mentorship, counseling, guidance, and encouragement through the years.” In the six years under Starr’s leadership, Caruso Law made significant academic and reputational strides as the school began its ascent into the top tier of law schools. While serving as dean at Caruso Law, Starr devoted himself to the academic enterprise and brought his considerable legal knowledge to the classroom. He regularly taught courses in his areas of expertise, including current constitutional issues, religion and the constitution, advanced constitutional law, and appellate advocacy.
During his deanship, Starr modeled the servant leadership he hoped to inspire in future lawyers by taking on pro bono cases and volunteering at local humanitarian organizations. He was the law school’s greatest advocate and established the Dean Ken Starr Excellence Fund in order to support important initiatives. As an academic mentor and leader, Starr is warmly remembered by his former students and colleagues for taking a personal interest in their endeavors and encouraging them to pursue academic and scholarly excellence along with generosity of spirit.
In 2007 Starr oversaw the establishment of the annual William French Smith Memorial Lectures on Law and the Judiciary, a lecture series designed to bring judges, attorneys, and law professors to Caruso Law to speak on judicial issues. A gala held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum to introduce the series was attended by former attorney general Edwin Meese, former governor of California Pete Wilson, and former first lady Nancy Reagan. Starr continued to raise the visibility of the law school by inviting Supreme Court justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito, and chief justice John A. Roberts to speak at events such as the William French Smith lecture series and the annual School of Law dinner.
Prior to his deanship at Caruso Law, Starr served as solicitor general of the United States and argued 36 cases before the Supreme Court. He also served as United States circuit judge for the District of Columbia, counselor to United States attorney general William French Smith, and law clerk to chief justice Warren E. Burger and Fifth Circuit judge David W. Dyer. Starr served as independent counsel for five investigations. Following these appointments, Starr worked as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and as a visiting professor at New York University, Chapman University School of Law, George Mason School of Law, and Caruso Law. In recent years he authored a book on religious liberty and practiced appellate law at the Lanier Law Firm based in Houston.
Pepperdine Worship Summit 2022 Unites Community in Praise and Fellowship
On Saturday, September 10, 2022, Firestone Fieldhouse on the Malibu campus was filled to capacity for the 2022 Pepperdine Worship Summit, a powerful evening of worship and fellowship that brought attendees together in a shared experience to lift unified voices in praise. “As members of a Christian university community, we are blessed to be able to share precious moments together in worship and fellowship,” said president Jim Gash (JD ’93). “The Pepperdine Worship Summit united our friends, family, and colleagues in praising God and celebrating our cherished, faith-filled community.”
The event featured return appearances by Dante Bowe of Bethel Music and Maverick City Music and author and international speaker Christine Caine. Bowe’s 2021 album Circles debuted at number seven on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart in the United States and earned him nominations for New Artist of the Year, Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year, and Gospel Worship Recorded Song of the Year at the 2021 GMA Dove Awards. Caine is an international speaker and activist and the host of the Equip & Empower podcast.
Joining last year’s headliners were Aaron Moses of Maverick City Music and music ministry United Voice Worship. Attendees also enjoyed remarks from President Gash and dinner from local food trucks.
Photos: Matt Benton
Deborah Crown Named Dean of the Graziadio Business School
On November 1, 2022, Deborah Crown began her tenure as the 10th dean of the Pepperdine University Graziadio Business School. David Smith, associate provost for online programs and professor of economics at the Graziadio School, served as interim dean throughout the dean search.
Since 2016 Crown served as professor of management and dean of the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College. In that role Crummer increased overall fundraising by nearly 150 percent and secured critical grant funding for the school’s Centers of Excellence. Crown’s prior administrative positions include service as dean of the College of Business and professor of strategic leadership at Hawai‘i Pacific University and associate dean of the Lucas Graduate School of Business and Lucas Endowed Professor of Strategic Leadership at San José State University. Throughout her career, Crown has been devoted to elevating academic programs and enhancing student learning technologies for in-person, hybrid, and online programs.
Crown began her career in education as a teacher at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. She has received many awards for her teaching, research, mentoring, and service, and she has been recognized for her influential leadership in the business community and for incorporating social responsibility into her teaching and research. She earned a bachelor of science in psychology from North Central College, a master of science in business administration from the University of Colorado at Denver, and a PhD in business administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
“I am excited to welcome Dr. Crown to the Pepperdine community,” said Pepperdine provost Jay Brewster. “She brings an earnest excitement for Christian higher education partnered with proven success as an academic leader.”
Art historian and curator Andrea Gyorody was named the director of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art in August 2022. Gyorody served as interim director since October 2021, succeeding longtime director Michael R. Zakian, who passed away in January 2020.
“Andrea Gyorody is a dedicated, passionate leader committed to thought-provoking and inspiring exhibitions,” said Rebecca Carson, managing director of the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine. “The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art is in excellent hands under her thoughtful guidance.”
Gyorody brings more than a decade of expertise in 20th- and 21st-century European and American art to the Weisman Museum. As interim director, she oversaw the installation of The Cultivators: Highlights from the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection, one of the country’s most significant collections showcasing African American history. She curated the summer 2022 exhibition Gwynn Murrill: Animal Nature, which was initiated by the late Zakian and featured elegant sculptures from the breadth of Murrill’s career, and she partnered with Bridge Projects in the recent restaging of their exhibition To Bough and To Bend at the Weisman this fall. Gyorody is also overseeing the speaker series Thought Partners featuring conversations about art and religion, which began in August, and is organizing the first West Coast solo exhibition of paintings by Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson for fall 2023.
School of Public Policy Receives $10 Million Endowment to Launch the Edwin Meese III Institute for Liberty and the American Project
In May 2022 the School of Public Policy announced the founding of the Edwin Meese III Institute for Liberty and the American Project. Endowed with a $10 million gift from Pepperdine alumni Chandra (’99, JD ’02) and Adam (’99) Melton, the Meese Institute will be led by the Melton Chair, a leading scholar in American history and politics. The Melton Chair will teach, organize events, and engage the media on current political and policy debates from the school’s unique perspective.
“With its longstanding commitment to grounding public leadership education in civic virtue and America’s founding principles, the School of Public Policy is the perfect home for this new institute,” said the Meltons in a joint statement. “We all must act to protect the constitutional rights that have made America what it is today. The Meese legacy acts as a compass—a true north—for all of us.”
Meese was United States attorney general from 1985 to 1988 during president Ronald Reagan’s second term. “I’m extremely pleased to have my name adorn this new institute at Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy, which is committed to making relevant the nation’s founding principles to today’s public policy challenges,” said Meese. He served Reagan during his tenure as California governor in 1966 and traveled with him to the White House in 1981 before leaving for the Department of Justice four years later. Meese received an honorary doctorate from the School of Public Policy in 2007 and has made many trips to campus for lectures and events over the years.
Pepperdine Annual Giving Day Raises More Than $1 Million
Waves gave in record numbers at Pepperdine Gives, the University’s annual day of giving, which kicked off at midnight on Wednesday, October 19, 2022.
Nearly 3,000 gifts totaling more than $1 million were raised on one remarkable day when Waves were invited to give to a Pepperdine school, program, or passion of their choice. The community celebrated throughout the day with festivities across Pepperdine’s four campuses that featured games, giveaways, phone-a-thons, and opportunities to come together with the shared purpose of advancing University initiatives. “I continue to be amazed at the spirit and generosity of our Pepperdine family,” said Pepperdine president Jim Gash (JD ’93). “This spirit shined brightly once again as our community rose to the challenge to propel Pepperdine and its students forward into our increasingly bright future.”
Pepperdine’s athletic programs, the Sudreau Global Justice Institute at the Caruso School of Law, the Youth Leadership Initiative, and various initiatives at Pepperdine’s five schools led the charge with total dollars raised. Beyond the community’s deep desire to give back to the place that prepared them for lives of purpose, the success of Pepperdine Gives was bolstered by impactful messaging that reinforced Pepperdine’s culture of giving, commitments from the University’s leadership boards, and a phone-a-thon that connected hundreds of student, administrator, and executive leadership volunteers with community members throughout the day.
“Our community gives because of a culture of giving that is driven by the purpose-driven mission that is cultivated and nurtured at Pepperdine,” said David Johnson (’92, MA ’94), vice chancellor of engagement and mass appeal. “George Pepperdine didn’t just create a college that delivers a superior academic experience. He created a Christian college where its students, faculty, staff, and alumni become servant leaders in the image of Christ, and that has been the driving force behind the success of Pepperdine Gives.”
Women’s Swimming and Diving Team Wins First-Ever Conference Title
In a record-breaking meet, the Pepperdine women’s swimming and diving team claimed the first team title in program history after winning the 2022 Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference (PCSC) championships by more than 100 points. This year was the team’s 36th in the conference, having finished as a runner-up for the past three years in a row.
“We showed a lot of grit, and I couldn’t be happier to celebrate this well-deserved win,” said head coach Ellie Monobe, who was named PCSC Championships Swim Coach of the Meet for the second consecutive season. “This wouldn’t be possible without the support of our parents and staff. Everyone had a role and delivered. This is how championships are won, and it’s good to say we finally did it.”
President’s Speaker Series Welcomes Social Psychologist and Author Jonathan Haidt
On September 21, 2022, Jonathan Haidt, professor of ethical leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business and author of New York Times best-seller The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, led a discussion on the topic of free speech and the academy, the first event in this academic year’s President’s Speaker Series. Haidt, one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of morality, uses research on moral psychology to further understanding in interpersonal relationships and to help social institutions be more effective. Haidt shared his belief that America’s universities have been struggling for the past decade with a failure to serve as venues of open-minded, civil discourse, which should be the hallmark of the academy. One of the most impactful sources of these limits to expression, he said, derived from the changes to social media in the mid-2010s, when hostile and derogatory speech of anonymous posters was shared and rewarded, incentivizing complaint and harassment, rather than the courteous exchange of ideas.
Haidt noted that in this time in which open communication in higher education has fallen out of the norm, Pepperdine’s active efforts to ensure viewpoint diversity and civil discourse on the campus were exceptional. “We get smarter,” he said, “by the opposition, by coming together in civil ways and improving each other’s thought.”
Pepperdine Begins Collaborative Investigations on the Impact of Religion on Human Flourishing at the Center for Faith and the Common Good
Pepperdine has initiated a series of collaborative research projects through the University’s Center for Faith and the Common Good, a research-focused, collaborative enterprise that encourages the scholarly investigation of faith structures that influence positive social action and improve outcomes of social and behavioral services. Byron Johnson, Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences at Baylor University and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Religious Studies and the Common Good at the School of Public Policy, will lead these initiatives guided by his expertise in the scientific study of religion, the efficacy of faith-based organizations, and criminal justice. The center aims to integrate key components of Johnson’s work while contributing to further studies and wider societal impact. Johnson and president Jim Gash (JD ’93), united in their shared interest in and passion for improving prison conditions and recidivism, serve as the center’s executive directors. “Our vision for the Center for Faith and the Common Good reflects the very heart and mission of Pepperdine—to see our Christian faith bring new life to a broken world through research, scholarship, and personal engagement,” says Gash.
Cameron McCollum, director of the Caruso School of Law Sudreau Global Justice Institute, serves as the center’s administrative director, and vice provost Lee Kats leads the center as academic director. Kats has also invited Grant Duwe from the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Michael Hallett from the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of North Florida, and Andrew Johnson from the School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota, to serve as research partners in an effort to better inform the institute’s work in the area of faith-related questions and their intersection with the fields of psychology, social and behavioral services, and prison reform.
Pepperdine University Unveils New Dining and Catering Experiences through Bon Appétit Management Company
On August 1, 2022, Bon Appétit Management Company began its service as the University’s new dining services provider. The restaurant company succeeded Sodexo, a Pepperdine partner that has provided exceptional hospitality services to the University for more than four decades.
The new campus dining and catering experiences are focused on Bon Appétit’s foundational values—cooking from scratch using locally produced, seasonal ingredients; an innovative approach to menu development and a dedication to using whole foods as the foundation of a healthful diet; diverse menu offerings that accommodate a variety of dining restrictions and allergen concerns; and a commitment to sustainability and responsible food sourcing whenever possible.
“Pepperdine’s best partners have historically been those who share in our pursuit of excellence through a values-driven approach to work and community,” said Pepperdine vice president and chief business officer Nicolle Taylor (’98, JD ’02). “Bon Appétit is just that kind of partner, and I couldn’t be more excited for the delicious food, commitment to integrity, and exceptional customer service it will bring to our shared life together at Pepperdine.”
Farzin Madjidi (MBA ’88, EdD ’91) Appointed Interim Dean of Graduate School of Education and Psychology
Upon the conclusion of Helen Easterling Williams’ eight years as dean of the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology on July 31, 2022, associate dean of education and professor of leadership Farzin Madjidi assumed the role of interim dean. He will serve in the interim position while a national search for Williams’ successor is conducted. Madjidi has served at GSEP as an educator and as a scholar in the areas of management, leadership structure in educational organizations, and technology in teaching practice.
“Dr. Madjidi is an exceptional scholar in the GSEP community who has displayed strong leadership skills, a heart for our students, and strong support for the Christian mission of Pepperdine,” said provost Jay Brewster. “I look forward to working closely with him in this transitional season.”
Madjidi earned a master of business administration in management from the Graziadio Business School and served on the business school’s faculty for three years in the mid-1990s. He also earned a doctor of education in institutional management from GSEP and began his tenure as a GSEP faculty member in 1997. Madjidi holds a bachelor of science in engineering and a master of science in structural engineering and applied dynamics from California State University, Northridge.
Jonathan Winder (’08) Named Men’s Volleyball Head Coach
Jonathan Winder, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion and former national player of the year as a student-athlete at Pepperdine, began his tenure as the ninth head coach of Pepperdine men’s volleyball in June 2022. Winder previously served as volleyball head coach at California State University, Fresno, and as an assistant coach and head coach at the University of Washington.
“Jonathan is one of the best and most decorated student-athletes ever in our program,” said Steve Potts (JD ’82), Pepperdine’s director of athletics. “We are very excited about his return to lead our team as the head coach. He so completely embodies the commitment to our institution’s Christian faith, to the academic success of our student-athletes, and to maintaining our championship-caliber men’s volleyball program at the highest level.”
As a Wave, Winder was a four-time All-American, a 2005 NCAA champion, and the 2007 AVCA National Player of the Year. Following several years as a professional player, Winder returned to Malibu as an assistant to head coach Marv Dunphy in 2014. He left Pepperdine the following year to accept the position at the University of Washington.
Pepperdine Honors Professor Stephen Davis with Endowment for Undergraduate Research
In honor of the retirement of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology Stephen D. Davis in May, the University established the Stephen D. Davis Endowment for Undergraduate Research, which has raised more than $166,000 to date. Reflecting on Davis’ service to the Pepperdine community and his commitment to empowering students in the field, provost Jay Brewster said, “Steve’s legacy is a legacy of love, of care, and of spirit that will carry on for many years with this endowment.”
For 46 years Davis served as a highly regarded faculty member and mentor at Pepperdine. He is best known for his work in Pepperdine’s backyard as one of the most prolific researchers of chaparral, the native vegetation of the Santa Monica Mountains surrounding the Malibu campus. He also studied the impact of climate change on increased fire frequency and on the fire-resilient and adaptive chaparral. Davis and his wife, Janet, a former professor and longtime staff member at Seaver College, regularly invited students to their home, providing encouragement and friendship in students’ spiritual and personal growth.
TECH and the CITY
Pepperdine experts offer their thoughts on how technology can— and can’t—improve the urban experience
BY AMANDA PISANI
As we increasingly rely on technology to manage so much of our daily lives, it’s easier than ever to imagine our hometown as a smart e-topia. The smart city movement—a metropolis’s efforts to improve operational efficiency, share information, and achieve strategic outcomes through information and communication technology— is in full swing. It touches upon every aspect of urban living, including healthcare, education, entertainment, recreation, industry, jobs, climate, transit, housing, and open space, to name a few.
Jonathan Reichental, author of Smart Cities for Dummies and adjunct faculty member and designer of the Leading Smart Communities program at the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Leadership, notes that every city has its own culture and priorities. Thus, the efforts of one city may not be appropriate for another. Common threads, however, are fast and reliable internet service and effective telecommunications at the municipal level. “What’s important to São Paulo, Brazil, is different from what’s important to Melbourne, Australia,” he says. “Probably the most important aspect of building a smart city for every community in the world is connectivity— ensuring that everybody can have access to goodquality internet.” As the chief information officer for the City of Palo Alto from 2011 to 2018, Reichental elevated the city’s technological services to a new level. He oversaw more than 250 technology projects, implementing a website that allowed citizens to file complaints, creating an open database displaying city finances and building permits, and establishing free WiFi at all public facilities. During his tenure, Palo Alto was heralded as one of the country’s top five digital cities for four consecutive years.
The need for the strong digital infrastructure and reliable internet service that Reichental fulfilled became all the more crucial during the pandemic as cities’ internet deserts became an apparent inequity earning the attention of service providers and city leaders. “No one realized how important being connected was to getting an education and to accessing healthcare,” Reichental says.
For example, the City of Los Angeles partnered with a public benefit foundation, a nonprofit organization, and the Los Angeles Unified School District to ensure that city residents could locate affordable internet service and access computers. Activists seeking to enhance internet access citywide in Cleveland, Ohio, obtained city funding for community internet projects. The local government in Austin, Texas, furthered its work of providing internet access to those living in low-income areas.
The pandemic also gave rise to a significant upgrade to the digital environment in Henderson, Nevada. Leading a community made up largely of seniors, Joseph Chidiac (MPP ’19), Henderson’s long-range planner for community development, and his colleagues were particularly wary of moving away from analog interactions. Online services have refined much of the city’s transactions, but city employees do not insist that citizens use online tools.
“That’s a catch-22 for us,” Chidiac says, “as many in our community aren’t as knowledgeable or proficient in certain technologies. They have the option of doing things on paper if that is more comfortable for them.”
If they want, however, residents seeking to build an addition to their home can file their request online and obtain approval for it much more rapidly. A new portal to the city’s updated development code allows developers and other individuals to quickly identify all the specifications for a particular building project, such as how many parking spaces they need to provide for their commercial enterprise. The upgrades have made a marked difference in how residents interact with and feel about their local government.
“We’ve had nothing but positive comments about the changes we’ve made,” says Chidiac. “They’re very user friendly, and you can quickly search almost anything.”
This type of good customer service goes far in creating brand loyalty for businesses but also works for local governments, notes Charla Griffy-Brown, Graziadio’s senior associate dean of executive and part-time programs and professor of information systems technology management.
“Thinking through digital processes in terms of ‘customer’ engagement is what we like to experience as citizens,” she says.
CHARLA GRIFFY-BROWN
Joseph Chidiac (MPP ’19)
Fast and reliable connectivity doesn’t just benefit a metropolis’s transactions. Reichental relates that Chattanooga, Tennessee, had found itself a city adrift. At one time a manufacturing hub, the city’s economy floundered with the loss of factories and jobs. Partnering with the local city-owned utility, the city invested in the expansion of its network to offer the fastest internet service in the country in 2010. As the only utility in the area, the provider serves every home and business in Chattanooga, and a few years ago, it had created America’s most comprehensive fiber network. Along with a low cost of living compared with other US cities, the high-speed internet has attracted new industry, new tech companies, and conferences and conventions.
“Over the past decade, people have started moving to Chattanooga for the quality of life and the new career opportunities,” says Reichental. “Chattanooga demonstrates the relationship between very fast, low-cost internet and economic advancement. It has been a game changer.”
Connectivity is also critically important to people experiencing homelessness, advises GriffyBrown, who has worked with the unhoused community in Seattle, Washington. With a charged cell phone and access to WiFi, a person who is homeless is better able to locate essential services such as the address and hours of food banks and shelters. They can find local transit routes and stops, which makes it possible to get to healthcare clinics and libraries, the latter of which provides them with computers to assist in job hunting, completing forms for government services, and the like.
“The information and internet access public libraries provide are a huge part of the life of a homeless person who’s really trying to escape homelessness,” notes Griffy-Brown, “But you’re not going to solve homelessness with digital architecture.”
Americans generally agree that homelessness is an urgent problem, and Reichental cites the creation of innovation districts in some US cities as efforts to mitigate it through revitalization. Often developed in areas that were once the home of industry, innovation districts seek to attract new businesses, startups, universities, and hotels, thereby creating new economic opportunities.
He points to the dramatic efforts initiated in Aurora, Illinois, where the city’s chief information officer decided to turn the entirety of the city into an innovation district. The project includes expansion of the city’s fiber network, which has attracted skillful business partners and, perhaps most importantly, the trust and support of the entire city government.
“Aurora is a great example of a smart American city that is working to bring more prosperity to more people and reduce homelessness,” Reichental says.
Cities around the world report record numbers of unhoused residents, and some urban areas outside the US have taken the dramatic steps needed to alleviate it. An uplifting example Reichental offered was the prioritization of eliminating homelessness in Helsinki, Finland. Beginning in 2008, the government adopted a “housing first” policy, which, rather than providing short-term shelter for people experiencing homelessness, placed them in permanent housing. The government provides housing by supporting an NGO that buys and builds it and hires social workers to assist the residents with financial and other issues. In Helsinki, the number of unhoused individuals dropped substantially. What we seem to find an unsolvable problem is actually solvable. “The city took an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Reichental points out. “Leadership made it a priority.” As noted earlier, what is most important to each city will differ, and solutions to a given concern will vary from one city to the next. Fast, convenient, and sustainable transportation is a need that most of today’s cities share. In Henderson, Chidiac and his office are using GIS technology to locate areas where transportation services are lacking. The specificity of the data is invaluable. “It’s useful in addressing both particular issues and in making broader policy changes,” he says. Many readers of this magazine will know that the journey from one place to the next in Los Angeles falls outside its “great place to live” factors. Los Angeles actually takes fifth place in the worst traffic competition in the US, and the occasional added lane on the freeway seems unlikely to move the city into the sixth-place slot.
“Over the last 100 years, we have built our cities for cars with parking lots with thousands of spaces,” says Reichental. But today’s smart city is reevaluating the value of the auto to both the individual and the larger community. As of January 1, 2023, developers in California cities no longer have to provide a minimum number of parking spaces for residential buildings situated within one-half mile of public transit. The law was designed to encourage increases in housing, but it speaks to a broader rethinking of cars as the primary form of transportation. One rather low-tech answer to the traffic problem being adopted by many smart cities—New York City, San Francisco, even Riyadh—is the bicycle. While many Europeans have been cycling their way around town for the past century, Paris, France, was an outlier. Reichental relates that Paris’ residents expressed little interest; queries from the government were met with “It just isn’t Parisian.”
But the city leaders gave it a try, launching a pilot project in 2007 by placing a number of trackable bicycles around the city. The response was overwhelming. Now Vélib’, the Parisian bike-share program, offers 20,000 bicycles, both manual and electric, to its 400,000 subscribers. Using the company’s app, you can find station locations and how many bikes are available at each. “Every photo of Paris today shows people cycling,” says Reichental. “People are outdoors, it’s healthy for the person cycling, it diminishes carbon emissions, and it creates community,” he adds.
Reichental predicts that transportation in the city of tomorrow will be very unlike it is today. Contemporary city planners are focused on strengthening public transit, building bicycle lanes, and making cities walkable—closing some areas to cars altogether. Electric, self-driving cars will have a great impact on traffic congestion, noise pollution, and urban air quality. And they’ll remove a significant volume of the gas emissions responsible for climate change. He’s eager for this shift in the way we design our urban areas. “I see a future city that is less about cars and more about people,” he says.
As our metropolitan areas evolve and technology matures, what goes into our vision of an e-topia will undoubtedly shift. In venturing forward wisely, we should surely follow Griffy-Brown’s advice to think about the larger, long-term consequences of urban living technology, particularly in terms of data collection and use. “We should be proactive,” she says, “in terms of thinking—not just about how we do things, but why we do things and about how we help all members of a community while preserving their privacy and dignity.”
Managing the small city that is Pepperdine’s Malibu campus includes providing housing, power, water, transit, and waste treatment services to its 2,800 residents and regular visitors. Much of campus planning is the brainchild of, and is overseen by, the University’s Planning, Operations, and Construction (POC) office led by its associate vice president, Ben Veenendaal (’02). The POC team is constantly searching for ways to make daily life as safe and comfortable as possible for everyone on campus, and with that end in mind, it has implemented some very smart technology. For example, Veenendaal and his office have installed and operate a state-of-theart energy management system that allows them to remotely monitor and control the temperature inside every building on campus. The system is finely tuned, permitting the team to regulate the largest air conditioning and heating units down to their smallest component, a variable air volume system. It is both precise and financially sound. “We can set every single thermostat,” says Veenendaal. “By doing so, we can not only maximize our efficiency, but also maximize comfort for each of the occupants.” When buildings are unoccupied, POC can remotely shut down the system—a particularly useful ability that proved to be a cost-effective tool during the pandemic.
An added layer to the energy management system will be its connection to the 25Live Pro space reservation system. When the integration of the two systems is complete, POC will be able to provide precise temperature control for a particular space when it is in use. For example, a conference room reservation is automatically communicated to the energy system, which will respond by bringing the room to a comfortable temperature at the time the meeting begins and will return it to the correct energy-efficient midpoint after it ends. “The automation of the energy use is a great way to conserve power and is leaps and bounds above controlling it manually,” says Veenendaal.
Yet another layer of the smart technologies employed on the Malibu campus is an ultramodern access-control network. It interfaces with the currently used dual-authentication program, whereby a community member’s ID card and four-digit code provide them with building or room access. With this network, a POC manager or Department of Public Safety staff member is enabled to remotely lock or open any space on campus—a high-tech, immediate safety measure. Additionally, the access-control network provides data that helps POC optimize use of the limited space in Malibu.
Veenendaal stresses that he and his team are always monitoring industry breakthroughs and evaluating them for their sustainability and feasibility. It’s important that any new innovation employed is sound and a good fit for the campus. “We don’t want to just jump into new technology before it is proven,” Veenendaal says, “and we then want to incorporate it in a seamless way.” The office’s professional goal is to always improve the buildings and infrastructure in ways that go unnoticed. But layered over that goal is a desire to simply make the campus more user friendly. Veenendaal emphasized that this is made possible through the leadership of University administration and the dedication of the entire team across POC. “For all of us,” he concludes, “the student experience—and that of the entire community—is at the heart of all the decisions that we make.”
Across industries, founders are innovating in extraordinary ways simply by asking, “What’s the problem?”
BY GAREEN DARAKJIAN
ALBERT EINSTEIN FAMOUSLY QUIPPED, “IF I HAD AN HOUR TO SOLVE A PROBLEM, I’D SPEND 55 MINUTES THINKING ABOUT THE PROBLEM AND FIVE MINUTES THINKING ABOUT SOLUTIONS.”
As humans of typical intellectual ability, our natural instincts for solution finding are a bit different and much harder to quiet. Whether at work, home, or play, our brains are wired to constantly seek easy, convenient, and accessible explanations for our everyday quandaries both big and small. But while we generally focus on problem solving, we are significantly less adept at problem finding—a skill that founders, who are seemingly born with an above-average capacity for identifying inconsistencies and inefficiencies across industries, have apparently mastered.
Larry Cox, associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Graziadio Business School and lead faculty of Graziadio’s entrepreneurship programs, distills the delicate dance of reframing our thinking down to a practice rooted in a person’s commitment to curiosity. “Curiosity is about recognizing your interest in something and then making a commitment to explore it to the fullest extent possible,” Cox says. “Curiosity is volitional. It’s an act of the will.”
A professor of entrepreneurship for more than 30 years, Cox has been developing future founders by teaching them how to find a gap in the market—essentially, how to find a problem to solve in the world around them. He believes, with proven results, that thinking problem-first and guiding aspiring entrepreneurs through mindful creative solution-finding processes reaps the most rewards both personally and professionally.
Now in its 12th year of programming, the entrepreneurship program is ranked number seven in the country by Bloomberg—due in no small part to Cox’s own discovery of a problem that was keeping him from imparting the tools he knew would benefit his students on their own professional paths. As he refined the process of becoming an entrepreneur and homed in on the critical steps required to launch a product or service, the results spoke—and continue to speak— for themselves.
“If you could hear the ideas that are pitched in my class each term, you’d be amazed,” he says. “Students always comment on the variety and uniqueness of the ideas their peers come up with. If you look at the businesses started by Graziadio students, you’ll see that they are novel, compelling, and life changing, all because our students know how to use curiosity to unlock their creativity.”
Cox remembers former students Michael Lucarelli (MBA ’16) and Paul Sirisuphang (MBA ’16), the founders of RentSpree, who discovered inefficiencies in the apartment-finding process on both the renters’ and real estate agents’ sides and developed and pitched their idea for the online rental application and tenant screening platform in Cox’s entrepreneurship class. They just closed a $17 million Series B round this summer and employ more than 150 employees. Or Fouzia Babar (MBA ’17), who helped launch a technology company that develops life-saving solutions designed to allow individuals to immediately respond to sudden cardiac arrest emergencies. As head of finance, Babar just helped Avive Solutions close a $22 million Series A round, and Avive’s product is scheduled to launch this fall. Or Jerry Lee (MBA ’12), founder of Project Wonder and a self-described art entrepreneur, who will tell you he uses what he learned in his entrepreneurship class every day as he trains other artists to think beyond creating and channel their talents into a business that makes large-format art installations at major events and festivals. “That’s the essence of the Graziadio entrepreneurship program,” says Cox. “That’s what we aspire to do. To have students use what they have learned in our classes not only for themselves
but for others. It’s remarkable. I could not have taught Jerry about doing art installations, for example. He embraced the creative problem-solving process and said ‘This is where I’m going to apply it.’ Entrepreneurship is a discipline that helps people use creative skills to build incredible new businesses—from scratch.”
Cox maintains that creativity is not a lightning strike, but a process that uses tools, principles, and skills that can be taught. He shares that the trick is not to become more creative but to lean into a process that uses curiosity to uncover and understand compelling problems. Cox says this type of commitment to curiosity is tremendously productive and necessary for the kind of innovation founders seek in their businesses.
“Innovation and entrepreneurship are just subsets of creativity,” he says. “Creativity generates things that are novel and useful. Innovation produces improvements that are novel and have market value. Entrepreneurship develops concepts that are novel and foster new businesses. In sum, you can’t get entrepreneurship or innovation without creativity. So, when we teach people how to unleash their creativity—this muscle that has been dormant—they’re much more likely to launch a new venture.”
Cox admits, however, that he got the formula wrong in his early years at the head of the classroom. His focus, he says, was misguided.
“My transition to this new approach for teaching entrepreneurship occurred when I noticed that every venture capitalist I knew was bemoaning a lack of deal flow,” he explains. “It dawned on me that in order to create deal flow for these downstream investors, some needed to focus on the very beginning of the startup process. I had always thought that the beginning was the creation of a business plan. But as it turns out, the business plan is step six.”
The series of steps Cox mentions refers to the eight phases he says are common to every entrepreneur’s journey. These steps sequence a founder’s linear problemsolving process from finding a problem, to discovering the circumstances of the problem, to launching the business or service that will help solve that problem. Between the problem and the solution are six other steps that encourage entrepreneurs to reframe the problem; develop a variety of solutions by thinking through different processes to solve the problem; identify the good ideas and the bad; create a model or plan that outlines how the idea works as a business; gain support and resources through funding, personal contributions, or technology; and, finally, take action.
“It was a big revelation for me when I discovered this creative problem-solving methodology for the first time,” he says. “Once I incorporated it into my teaching, everything changed. Suddenly we were launching businesses.”
CURIOSITY is volitional. It’s an act of the WILL.
LARRY COX
Like many founders, Gajaba Hewamadduma (MBA ’04) discovered a problem in the corporate world that ignited in him a desire to create greater efficiency for companies on their way to becoming midsize. An accountant by trade with an education in software engineering supplemented with a deep interest in business management, in 2015 he became curious about companies that were advancing to the next step in their business and finding themselves still operating on smallscale accounting processes as they scaled up. “When that happens, these companies realize they have to spend a whole lot of money to set up the proper systems and processes, often overnight, while at the same time cleaning up the processes they were operating with for a long time,” he says. “They receive life-changing funding, and all of sudden they have a different set of needs.”
Hewamadduma is the founder and CEO of CFOPlans, a company that provides the third-party operational accounting, CFO services, finance tools, and HR payroll services needed to manage back-office tasks and roles. He advises small business owners that CFOPlans’ services guarantee that their company’s accounting will be managed seamlessly from the day they launch until the moment they go public with a customized team of accountants organized to address their particular needs. While many companies seek third-party accounting services for temporary assistance such as tax services or external audits or consulting assignments, Hewamadduma discovered that no one was doing full-scale operational accounting for back offices at the time.
“We had some convincing to do with potential clientele,” he recalls. “Most companies don’t know what they don’t know or what they need and don’t need. They don’t always know the differences between what an accountant does and what a CFO does, so they immediately think about hiring a CFO. We tell them they don’t actually need one. They know everything about their specific product, but when people start a business, they shouldn’t focus on the back-office operations. They should focus on their growth and their product.”
Subscription services for businesses such as CFOPlans, Hewamadduma shares, are becoming the norm in various industries. “It’s the future,” he says. “Paying by the hour is abstract and creates a lot of unknowns for our clients. With CFOPlans, they know they are getting a customized package for a set price with a suite of services designed exactly for their needs.”
Hewamadduma, as it turns out, is a founder who developed a way to help other founders become successful by avoiding the common pitfalls of startup enterprises. As he was building his own business, he discovered that focusing on building back-end services such as legal, marketing, accounting, and IT often takes attention away from bringing a product to market.
“Not knowing what we didn’t know was very unsettling,” he admits. “Once you go through the steps, you realize where you made mistakes and where you were successful. But if we can help companies minimize mistakes in their early days, it would help them save money and speed up the product development process. It’s very fun for me to see these businesses grow and become successful. It’s fulfilling to know we are part of their journey.”
Problem finding—and solving—is a family affair for Hewamadduma, whose wife, Sue Weerasinghe (MBA ’04), founded her own entrepreneurial venture that serves the operational needs of small to midsize businesses. It was a risky endeavor. Weerasinghe left a successful and secure corporate job managing a team of up to 50 employees as the chief accounting officer and co-chief operating officer for a leading real estate investment trust company. After witnessing her husband take a risk and find success as a founder, Weerasinghe was inspired by the idea of building something from the ground up for a different community of business owners, this time in healthcare.
Invoisync, which launched in 2020 in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, is structured similarly to CFOPlans and provides back-office solutions for medical offices such as billing, revenue cycle management, collections, and accounting services, including payroll.
“We know that doctors are best at doing what they do, which is patient care,” Weerasinghe says. “If they have to worry about managing their back office and being up-to-date on billing, their quality of care diminishes. Our vision was to free them of that administrative burden and at the same time help them secure their financial future.”
However, the vision that launched in 2020 was blurred by the massive shakeups experienced by the medical community due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Anybody would think that a pandemic would be a good thing for the medical industry,” Weerasinghe says. “But a lot of doctors’ offices
closed. Many doctors we worked with got sick. Some of our providers and their staff passed away. It was a very chaotic situation.” While Invoisync had a physical office space, staff could not start working on site due to mandatory closures. The circumstances were ripe for another pivot, and Weerasinghe once again considered deeply the greatest problems facing the healthcare field. She determined the areas with the most pressing need: urgent care and medical testing and research facilities that were working on the front lines of the pandemic.
“These places were functioning at high rates despite COVID,” she says. “But while we were able to provide support in critical ways for their businesses to continue functioning during a time of crisis, it took a herculean effort to find those businesses and retain them in the chaos. We were motivated by knowing we were helping the situation somewhat by providing our services.”
The pandemic also created challenges that made launching a business difficult. Marketing efforts such as pitch meetings or trade show and panel appearances were limited by local mandates. Weerasinghe and her team relied on online marketing efforts and word-of-mouth recommendations to get the business off the ground. Despite the challenges, Invoisync grew beyond expectations and continues to thrive due to Weerasinghe’s sharp problem-finding and diligent problem-solving instincts. She maintains that the founder’s mentality can be cultivated regardless of a person’s position at an organization and encourages Invoisync staff at all levels to think like an entrepreneur even while working for somebody else.
“Entering the workforce with an employee mindset is a hindrance to personal and professional growth,” she says. “Think as if you own these accounts you’re handling. Look for ways to make the business more profitable. Think of how you can add value to an organization. Find the problems and explore the solutions.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles to a college track star father and ballet dancer mother, Trae Smith (MBA ’20) was destined to become an athlete. A quarterback at Birmingham High School in the San Fernando Valley, Smith was a standout player who earned a walk-on spot on the University of California, Los Angeles, football team after transferring in 2016 from Santa Monica College. But he quickly realized his experience as a college student-athlete would differ significantly from his high school glory days on the field.
“I wasn’t getting the treatment I was used to, but I was still grateful to be surrounded by premier athletes,” Smith recalls. “That part of my career was different for me, but it helped me cultivate and maintain my competitive nature.” Though Smith didn’t explore a career as a professional athlete after college, he pursued an MBA at the Graziadio School and was enjoying a career in wealth management when he found himself at a commercial shoot for Therabody, the manufacturer of a popular percussive muscular therapy device. Of the five football players on set, Anthony Arnou, a quarterback from California State University, Fresno, approached Smith about the NCAA’s latest ruling that allowed college athletes to enter into
TRAE SMITH (MBA ’20)
endorsement deals pertaining to their name, image, and likeness. After spending three 12-hour days on set, they developed a rapport, and a few months later, Smith agreed to represent Arnou as he transitioned to the National Football League. Less than one year later, Smith’s PowerHaus Agency has signed nearly 40 athletes—including their first professional tennis player, Dennis Novikov, and first National Football League athlete, De’Anthony Thomas—and employs seven staff members, including an NFLPA-certified agent.
“The problem I’ve seen is that a lot of agencies are similar to universities,” Smith says. “They’re going to call you while you’re putting fans in the stands. But as soon as you hang up your cleats, you’re left hanging. Having played the sport, I understand what the players go through. My experience helps me evaluate talent and determine which players should be signed. I can look at statistics and film footage and really gauge whether we should sign an athlete. But I can also relate to the athletes in a lot of subtle ways.”
Beyond statistics, Smith is passionate about signing athletes of superior character with strong communication skills and the ability to represent themselves and their team with integrity. He favors athletes who give back to their community at both the collegiate and professional levels and can leverage their professional status, income, and celebrity to create foundations that benefit local youth.
“Part of the responsibility of the agency is securing marketing and endorsement opportunities,” says Smith. “We have to make sure the athletes interview well and are charismatic, but it’s also important to me to sign good people who care about their families and their communities. These are the qualities the NFL looks for beyond physical skill and talent.”
Smith’s founding vision was to support young men while they are thriving in their professional careers while ensuring they are set up for success on and off the field for years to come. He shares that 72 percent of retired NFL athletes face financial difficulty due to their early retirement age. Smith’s knowledge of, experience in, and enthusiasm for wealth management has played an integral part in PowerHaus’ plan for its athletes to make diversified investments and strategic financial moves to develop their portfolios.
“When an athlete retires at 27 years old and is not making an income until they are 65, it makes sense that they would lose a significant amount of their earnings,” Smith says. “While athletes are making a substantially high income during their careers, they should be investing and creating businesses that generate income for them year to year so they don’t have to be part of that 72 percent. Our goal is to build them up as athletes and entrepreneurs as well as valued members of their community.”
Smith relates that close attention and genuine care for student-athletes during their Division I days is critical to their success following graduation. “Many college athletes don’t know where to begin after college,” he says. “That’s where our agency comes in—to connect the players to different fields outside of sports. We can try to get you to the NFL, but if that doesn’t work out, you can still connect to other worlds such as sports management, coaching, business, or law.” One of PowerHaus’ quarterbacks—a biochemistry major—will graduate college with a 4.2 grade point average. If football doesn’t pan out, PowerHaus will set him up to pursue his alternate goal of going to medical school. “A lot of kids who come from lower-income backgrounds think they can only make it if they become professional athletes,” Smith says. “But PowerHaus exposes them to other industries and other avenues for success. Our relationship doesn’t only end with football.” Beyond training students to think problemfirst in the classroom, the Graziadio Business School is also committed to helping founders bridge gaps in their pursuit of securing funding for their startup businesses. Since 2018 the Graziadio School has invited US-based startups with less than $10 million dollars in annual revenue to compete for a space on the Most Fundable Companies List. Now in its fifth year, the program promotes startup business development by providing pathways for startup funding and inspiring entrepreneurial spirit across the nation. Each year, more than 4,000 companies across all 50 states apply for the program, which is supported by the Singleton Foundation for Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship. Winners have raised more than $125 million since the program’s launch. “We’re not a pitch competition,” says Craig Everett, executive director of Most Fundable Companies and assistant professor of finance at the Graziadio School. “Even though we pick fewer than 20 winners, our primary purpose is educational to all participating entrepreneurs— the benefits are not just for the winners.” Not limited to Pepperdine student and alumni startups, Most Fundable Companies provides objective feedback on how a business will be viewed by potential investors beyond the introductory pitch and aims to help founders think about how to structure their business and position their service or product so that they are seen as a worthy investment. “Our proprietary methodology focuses downstream on the diligence process of angel and VC investors,” Everett continues. “Whether they make the list or not, every company
Whether they make the list or not, that goes through our Most Fundable Companies process receives free
EVERY COMPANY that goes through feedback. Our goal is to help all startups who participate to be better prepared to receive funding.” our Most Fundable Companies process As a platinum sponsor of Most Fundable Companies, Hewamadduma receives FREE FEEDBACK. Our goal is to prizes the mentorship and guidance offered by the opportunity and HELP ALL STARTUPS who participate to incorporates it into his own entrepreneurial ventures on a daily basis. He shares that laying be better PREPARED to receive funding.” the foundation of CFOPlans was a two-year process, no doubt due to his commitment to personally CRAIG EVERETT training talent to understand deeply the company’s systems, strategies, and mission—essentially coaching them to think like a founder. He says building a collaborative learning culture that prioritizes relationships and customer service is paramount to the success of any business owner and entrepreneur. He also ensures that the talent on his teams remains marketable because he hopes they will eventually take what they’ve learned from his experiences and leadership and start their own businesses. “I tell them, ‘At some point, you may take over this company,’” he says. “If you have thoughts and ideas about your own entrepreneurial journey, bring them up. We will help you. You don’t have to be an employee for the rest of your life. Every leader in the company encourages their staff to be more qualified and more marketable so they may pursue their own thing. I tell them, ‘Your job is to do that, and my job is to try and keep you.’”
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TURNERS
While students explored the fascinating and foundational books that were assigned to them this fall, PEPPERDINE FACULTY MEMBERS enriched their minds and expanded their knowledge in various disciplines outside the classroom. From self-improvement to historical nonfiction, find out what the University’s faculty members at all five schools were poring over beyond their office hours.
– KWANGJIN LEE
KWANGJIN LEE
Assistant Professor of Accounting
GRAZIADIO BUSINESS SCHOOL
Grow the Pie By Alex Edmans
As a Christian business faculty member, finding practical and feasible ways to earn a profit and serve a purpose at the same time has been my personal, decade-long aspiration. During a conversation with one of my colleagues, Woo-Jong Lee at Seoul National University, this book was recommended to me to learn about how purpose-driven businesses are consistently more successful in the long term.
Grow the Pie shows that earning profits or serving purposes is not an either-or choice and provides an actionable roadmap for company leaders to put purpose into practice. This book also highlights the crucial role that citizens can play as employees, customers, and investors in reshaping business to improve our world.
As educating and developing Best for the World Leaders is the vision of the Graziadio Business School, reading this book would inspire our students to be moral and compassionate leaders at the top of their fields, encouraging them to be cognizant of the impact their business decisions hold on their local and global communities.
STEWART DAVENPORT
Professor of American History
SEAVER COLLEGE
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery By Eric Foner
The central message of The Fiery Trial, a Pulitzer Prize–winning book by one of America’s foremost historians, is that people do and can change as they confront seemingly intractable social problems. By reading this book I was hoping to better understand exactly what the subtitle advertises: what Lincoln, throughout his life and presidency, thought about the institution of American slavery and how those thoughts changed over time. Lincoln was always opposed to slavery, but he had to change—and move beyond some of his own racism—to develop into the heroic figure we revere. This book tells that story beautifully (and accurately), offering readers a model about how they, too, can change and move beyond some of their own limitations when it comes to understanding the pain that systemic racism has inflicted on people of color in America. I definitely understand Lincoln better: his limitations, his failings, and his strengths. I know his flaws better now and still revere him for his accomplishments and character.
RICHARD CUPP (’83)
John W. Wade Professor of Law
CARUSO SCHOOL OF LAW
Cognitive Disability and Its Challenge to Moral Philosophy By Eva Feder Kittay and Licia Carlson
In this collection of essays, I was particularly focused on the book’s chapters addressing justice and the personhood status of humans with severe intellectual disabilities. In addition to being a prominent academic philosopher, Eva Feder Kittay is also the mother of, in her words, “a severely cognitively impaired child.” In the book chapter she authored, Kittay makes herself quite vulnerable by combining her scholarly analysis with reflections about her experiences and emotions regarding her child and arguments related to the personhood status of humans like her child.
Some prominent philosophers have questioned whether it is just to recognize personhood in humans with severe intellectual disabilities while denying personhood to highly intelligent animals. Academic philosophy is often far removed from the necessarily pragmatic nature of our legal system. Reading this book is helping me as a legal scholar to contemplate academic philosophy’s potential contributions and limitations regarding the question of how courts should address legal personhood’s parameters.
JAVIER MONZÓN
Associate Professor of Biology
SEAVER COLLEGE
Good Enough Parenting: A Christian Perspective on Meeting Core Emotional Needs and Avoiding Exasperation By John Philip Louis and Karen McDonald Louis
I started reading Good Enough Parenting when it first came out in 2012 and my daughter was 2 years old. I remember enjoying it but didn’t get past the first few chapters before getting distracted. Now my daughter is almost 12 years old, and I need a good, scripture- and evidence-based book to prepare for the challenges of parenting an adolescent.
The book’s central message is that all children have “four plus one” core emotional needs: connection and acceptance, healthy autonomy and performance, reasonable limits, realistic expectations, and spiritual values and community. When those core needs are not met, children feel exasperated and are likely to develop “lifetraps,” which are negative patterns of thinking and behaving that distort the ways children view themselves and others. Fortunately, unhealthy lifetraps can be corrected if we reconnect with our children and tap into the power of a functional, spiritual community.
In Ephesians, the Bible instructs fathers to avoid exasperating their children and to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. However, that is easier said than done! I was hoping to learn practical ways to connect with my daughter and avoid what the authors call the Vortex of Conflict Escalation. Lifetraps can carry over into adulthood, marriage, and even one’s parenting. Thus, I have been reflecting on and addressing my own lifetraps, while simultaneously identifying ways to prevent their formation in my daughter. As someone who is not overtly emotional and who has downplayed emotions for most of my life, the book convinced me of the reality of my own emotional needs and the importance of parents meeting their children’s emotional needs to help them grow into healthy adults.
STEVE BAUER
Assistant Instructor of Teaching of Marketing
SEAVER COLLEGE
Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage the Multicultural World By David A. Livermore
Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage the Multicultural World was recommended to me by Daniel Rodriguez (’78, MA ’81), dean of the Religion and Philosophy Division at Seaver College, during a discussion we were engaged in about cultural sensitivity. This topic is a critical one in my international marketing course, as one of the key themes in the class focuses on the importance of understanding and adapting to foreign cultures during international business transactions.
The book describes a cultural intelligence quotient as the ability to address cultural differences in ways that are loving and respectful. It approaches the topic from knowledge/interpretive, motivational, and behavioral perspectives and shares that understanding yourself and your own culture is a critical first step in becoming more culturally sensitive. In addition, the whole process of understanding the nuances of other cultures requires much reflection and mentorship from people knowledgeable in the cultures. I intend to drive these points home in my classes and also develop group exercises to help teach them more effectively. I was surprised to find out how much CULTURAL MYTHS INFLUENCED SCIENCE in the analysis of archaeological, historical, and genetic information over time.
– SHELLEY ROSS SAXER (’80)
SHELLEY ROSS SAXER (’80)
Laure Sudreau Endowed Professor of Law
CARUSO SCHOOL OF LAW
Origin By Jennifer Raff
I was compelled to read Origin to increase my knowledge of the early migration of humans to the Americas before colonization. I was surprised to find out how much cultural myths influenced science in the analysis of archaeological, historical, and genetic information over time. When I teach property law and the concept of what constitutes property, I will be more knowledgeable about the existence of Indigenous peoples and how their property interests were treated by the colonizers.
– PETE PETERSON (MPP ’07)
COLIN STORM
Assistant Professor of Communication
SEAVER COLLEGE
Empire of the Scalpel: The History of Surgery By Ira M. Rutkow
Rutkow knits together his experiences as a surgeon with highlights (and lowlights) of the road to modern medicine to create a compelling examination of the history of surgery. From barber-surgeons and Galen to Semmelweis and Lister, Rutkow’s work explores the innovation within the field of medicine and argues the success of modern-day surgery is based on four key pillars: understanding human anatomy, controlling bleeding, anesthesia, and antisepsis. Along the way, you encounter the quirky, brilliant, and bizarre ways the science community reached those four pillars. This is an extremely accessible book for anyone interested in the fields of history, science, and/or medicine, and it will challenge your views of human behavior and society.
REYNA GARCÍA RAMOS
Professor of Education, MAT Director, and CABE Pepperdine Faculty Liaison
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY
Of Love and Papers: How Immigration Policy Affects Romance and Family By Laura E. Enriquez
As a member of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education, I was asked to read several books this year for consideration for the annual book award. Part of my attraction and attention to Of Love and Papers were the stories of lives made, shattered, and put on hold because of the immigration status of one or both partners in a relationship, including the author.
The central message of the book is to put a human face to the immigration debate. Regardless of where you are on the immigrant debate, 11 million-plus persons are already part of our society, in our schools and universities, and working alongside us in some cases. Remember that DACA recipients were brought to this country as young children and have only known this country and see themselves as Americans like you and me.
What I learned from reading some of the stories is that even if DACA students complete their educational careers, especially at private institutes of higher education, they face uncertain futures, as their status can change at any moment, and their investment in education may not allow them to pursue the American dream.
PETE PETERSON (MPP ’07)
Dean and Braun Family Dean’s Chair
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY
We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy By Robert Tracy McKenzie
McKenzie argues that America’s founders viewed human nature as being fallen, but that this view changed during the Jacksonian era in the 1830s when Americans were seen as inherently good. The author, a historian at Wheaton College, does an excellent job of introducing the subject of irony, which has run throughout human and American history.
The book has expanded my appreciation of the Christian understanding of irony in American history. Churchill famously quipped that “democracy is the worst form of government there is except for all the others that have been tried.” America’s founders through its critics (including Christians like Reinhold Niebuhr) have understood that majority rule doesn’t always produce moral outcomes, but the freedom offered by our constitutional system combined with humble, informed citizens can propel us toward a “more perfect union.”
As someone who trains local government officials to improve their public engagement procedures, McKenzie’s book is an important reminder that democratic processes alone—even the most inclusive— won’t necessarily reach moral policy conclusions. Process must be combined with humility and a love of community—by citizens and political leaders—to do this.
CHRISTINE CHAMBERS GOODMAN
Professor of Law
CARUSO SCHOOL OF LAW
The Lost Apothecary By Sarah Penner
Exploring The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner was emotionally and intellectually satisfying. The book alternates between the perspectives of the apothecary, an unmarried woman living in the late 1700s in London, and a married woman in modern times on a wedding anniversary vacation without her spouse. On the emotional front, we engaged the stories of women and girls living without status or recognition in jolly England. I found myself rooting for the underdogs, but also came to sympathize with the housewives and society ladies who sought out the apothecary’s services for similar reasons as other women.
On the intellectual front, the modern protagonist has given up her dreams of studying at Oxford or Cambridge because of a marriage proposal, and on vacation knowing that her marriage was on shaky ground, she pursued her dream of doing historical and anthropological research based on an item she found while trekking through the mud on the banks of the river. She reapplies to university and turns this research into a thesis and obtains the advanced degree that had been put on hold while she tended to her husband and his career.
So many lessons in this book apply to our current world. Back then, women were subordinated based solely on their sex, and power eluded most of them. The apothecary garnered power by providing a means for women to avoid unjust oppression by mixing poisons that the women could distribute to their male oppressors. The apothecary’s courage— protecting the names of the women she had aided—in the face of accusations provides hope for those who fear that the subjugation of women’s bodies to the will of state legislators is one large step toward complete subjugation.
LYNDA PALMER (MBA ’91)
E2B Program Director/ Practitioner Faculty of Marketing
GRAZIADIO BUSINESS SCHOOL
Horse Brain, Human Brain: The Neuroscience of Horsemanship By Janet L. Jones
I had the opportunity to organize a riding clinic this year with an iconic equestrian named Hilda Gurney, who won a bronze medal in team dressage at the 1976 Summer Olympics. At 79, she still rides 10 horses a day, competes, and trains riders. She highly recommended this book on the similarities and differences between human and horse brains and how we negotiate the world. As a competitive equestrian, I speak to my horse in nonverbal, tactile language, asking her to perform a number of complex movements. The more I can understand how horses think and negotiate the world, the better I can communicate with her on her terms.
My focus in riding and competing has always been on my mental discipline and other traditional training methods. I did not always consider how a horse’s brain works when I was asking the horse to do something. It helps me to think about seeing things from a different perspective (the students’) and not always focus on how I am viewing a situation.
STEPHANIE WILLIAMS
Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing
CARUSO SCHOOL OF LAW
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration By Isabel Wilkerson
Based on more than 1,000 interviews and a deep inspection of historical data, The Warmth of Other Suns tells the story of the Great Migration of Black Americans from the South to northern cities and Los Angeles from 1915 to 1970. Wilkerson takes the time to show how many of the migrants were fleeing violence and not just leaving the South for economic reasons. She also draws compelling parallels between these internal migrants, who were already US citizens, and the immigrant Europeans who came to America in earlier generations.
While I believe Wilkerson’s overall conclusion is one of hope, I was struck by the way many Black migrants leaving the South only traded a terrible situation for a bad one. The three people she chronicled moved to their new homes during the decades my mother-in-law and her family members arrived in the US, but their opportunities were so different. I am married to a first-generation American whose mother was born in a Nazi camp. The United States was very good to his family. Of course, his mother had the usual immigrant struggles, but she succeeded here. I wish I could say Wilkerson showed me this American dream is equally accessible to everyone. It helps me to think about seeing things from a different PERSPECTIVE (the students’) and not always focus on HOW I AM VIEWING a situation.
– LYNDA PALMER (MBA ’91)
