SPECIAL COMMUNITY PROGRAMS OFFERED BY GSEP

Sacred Centering

Sacred Centering is a monthly devotional gathering of GSEP faculty, staff, students, and alumni who join together to pause, focus on God’s sanctity, and allow for the renewal of their collective spirits. With its hybrid format, Sacred Centering connects community members from across campuses, regions, and modalities. During 2021–2022, offerings included:

• The Spiritual Practice of Slowing, led by Vanesa Jahn (’99), GSEP cultural attaché

• Lectio Divina, led by Zac Luben (’05, MDiv ’14), associate chaplain and Parker King, graduate student minister

• God’s Ultimate Gift: The Birth of Jesus, the Christ Child, led by Weina Chen (MA ’14, PhD ’21), GSEP visiting instructor

• Prayer: Connecting to God’s Success, led by Parsa Pekar, adjunct psychology faculty

• Irish Prayer, Karen Magner (MA ’00, EdD ’10), manager of admission and enrollment for the online psychology programs

• The Suffering Son, led by Mirtha Eckles, GSEP client technologies analyst

Remembering Your Faith, led by Michael Eagle (EdD ’20), alumnus

• Embracing Interruptions, led by Charles Gross, (MA ’07, PhD ’19), alumnus

Pepp Pray Guideposts

On a monthly basis throughout the academic year, members of the GSEP community contributed to the school’s PeppPray service, offering an encouraging email, called GSEP Guideposts, to the GSEP community. These posts focus on a Bible passage and point to God’s love, promises, and truth. Past guideposts can be viewed at: gsep.pepperdine.edu/studentlife/spiritual/sacred-centering/guidepost/

• Trusting God’s Plan and Purpose, written by Lonnie McNamee (MA ’13, EdD ’17), assistant dean of faculty development and administrative affairs and visiting professor of education

• A Heart of Gratitude, written by Terrance Cao, senior certification manager, Teacher Preparation Program

• In This Season: Celebrate with One Another, Think of Others, and Praise the Lord, written by Renee Dorn (EdD ’13), director of alumni relations

• Love Thy Neighbor, written by Natasha Thapar-Olmos, associate professor of psychology

• The Lord Is My Shepherd; I Shall Not Want, written by Aimee Gregory, education student. She included an original art piece with her Guidepost

• Seeking Wisdom, Bo Waltz, financial-aid advisor

• A Prayer for Perseverance, Erika Kercheval, executive assistant to the dean

• Practice Your Patience Quotient, Christina Krespis, psychology student

• Seek Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk in Humility, Mirtha Eckles, client technologies analyst

• Childlike Faith: Confidence, Assurance, and Hope, Keven Wong, assistant professor of education

Urban Initiative 2.0 Community Gathering

GSEP’s Urban Initiative 2.0 seeks to link community partners committed to understanding and addressing the mental health and educational issues of the underserved in Los Angeles and around the world. On March 11, 2022, our community gathered and were inspired by the keynote speaker, Cornel West, and celebrated GSEP’s own Thema Bryant’s election as president of the American Psychological Association under the age of 50, and the fourth Black woman to hold the position.

At the event, GSEP also honored two GSEP alumni trailblazers from the original 79th and Vermont Pepperdine campus who exemplify the GSEP Urban Initiative mission, Pat Bankhead (MS ’75) and Earl McDowell (MA ’79). The program also highlighted the 6,953 persons of color from current and legacy programs to receive degrees from Pepperdine since its inception.

Foster Grandparent Program

On July 15, 2022, the Foster Grandparent Program at Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) held the Golden Gala to celebrate the program’s 50 years of service to students, community organizations, and more in the Los Angeles area. The event was emceed by actress and voice-over artist Janora McDuffie and featured a keynote from Dean Williams and a performance from Broadway actress and singer Kuper Walker.

For the 2021–2022 program year, the program supported 153 volunteers who served 156,496 hours at 19 schools and community-based organizations located across Los Angeles County. Through the volunteers’ commitment to service, more than 5,800 youth and their families were positively impacted

Over the last several years, the program has grown substantially through expanded grant funding, community partnerships, and volunteer participation. Shanetta Weatherspoon (EdD ’13), who is the third executive director in the program’s history, quickly mobilized at the start of the pandemic to equip grandparent volunteers with technology skills to continue to serve students safely through virtual environments. The program provided volunteers with 131 laptops and more than 215 hours of IT training sessions through partnerships with the CTA Foundation, RevComm Consulting, and the GSEP IT support staff. The program continues to provide IT support in order to implement hybrid service to the community.