Critically-acclaimed country music artist Kellie Picker, legendary jazz musicians Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, Grammy Award winner Shawn Colvin, and two Legendary Ladies of Motown, Mary Wilson of The Supremes and Martha Wilson and The Vandellas, are just a few of the artists set to appear at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University during its 2017-2018 season.

“We are thrilled to announce our 2017-2018 season of performances and exhibitions at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine. Each year, we bring a wide range of performances to Pepperdine to delight and engage our community,” says Center for the Arts managing director, Rebecca Carson. “I look forward to connecting these amazing artists with our enthusiastic audience.” 

Among the musicians and bands coming to Pepperdine’s Malibu campus are recent America's Got Talent contestant and jazz singer-songwriter Mandy Harvey; founder of The Byrds Roger McGuinn; virtuoso guitarist Tommy Emmanuel; the dynamic bluegrass ensemble Steep Canyon Rangers; influential folk artist Carrie Newcomer; renowned vocal group The Four Freshmen; the category-shattering trio Time for Three; gypsy jazz and Latin swing quintet Velvet Carvan; and one of America's most beloved pianists Robin Spielberg.

The season will also feature a live concert journey based on the documentary film Take Me to the River. Take Me to the River Memphis Soul and Rhythm & Blues Revue brings together Memphis music giants William Bell, Charlie Musselwhite, and Bobby Rush, performing alongside Frayser Boy, Al Kapone, The Hi Rhythm Section, and the Stax Academy Alumni Band with music director Boo Mitchell.

In a special cine-concert, composer Benoit Charest brings his Le Terrible Orchestre de Belleville to Malibu, where they will recreate the original score and live foley of the award-winning animated French feature The Triplets of Belleville.

The thrilling Martial Artists and Acrobats of Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, kicks of the season’s dance and spectacle offerings, which includes the visually striking Ezralow Dance Company, the whimsical Pilobolus Dance Theater, and the Los Angeles-based TAIKOPROJECT with their contemporary blend of taiko, music, storytelling, and choreography.

The Gregg G. Juarez Stars of Stage and Screen series includes the sharp wit of comedian Rita Rudner and Tony nominee Jarrod Spector, who graced Broadway as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys and Barry Mann in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

This season, the Center for the Arts will once again present the Family Arts Fest, a day of face painting, museum tours, art projects, and two public performances by Sonia De Los Santos, a soulful and important new voice in family music. Other family shows throughout the year include Childplay’s Go, Dog, Go! and The Passing Zone Saves the World.

The Recital Series, featuring the talents of young classical musicians, includes performances by the pianist Ko-Eun Yi, violinist Tessa Lark, trumpeter Brandon Ridenour, and cellist Sang-Eun Lee.

The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art features an exhibition of artist Alexis Smith who explores how the media shapes our self-image. Two separate exhibitions will explore the storied history of California art, one through the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation collection and the other through paintings by the California Art Club. This marks the museum’s 25^th anniversary season, as it was dedicated on September 12, 1992. The museum is open from 11 AM to 5 PM, Tuesday through Sunday, and admission is free.

The Pepperdine Fine Arts Division presents Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta The Pirates of Penzance; theatre productions of Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation; the new musical based on the John August film Big Fish – 12 Chair Version; Andrew Upton's version of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabbler; Ben Power's version of Euripides' Medea; and a series of performances by Pepperdine student music ensembles throughout the fall and spring semesters.

Additionally, Pepperdine Student Activities will present its popular Dance in Flight and Songfest.

Tickets for all performances are available beginning June 26 by calling 310-506-4522 from noon to 5 PM, Monday through Friday, and two hours prior to curtain time. Tickets to all events are also available through the Center for the Arts website.

Season subscribers (those who purchase tickets to four or more shows) are entitled to a 10 percent discount on select ticket prices.

Longtime assistant David Hunt has been promoted to head coach of the Pepperdine men’s volleyball program. Hunt will be the eighth head coach in the program’s history.

“I want to thank everyone in the Pepperdine community for their support through this transition,” said Hunt. “I am excited to continue the tradition and live up to the standard Marv [Dunphy] has set as the men's volleyball coach at Pepperdine. I look forward to sustaining the culture of excellence that has been set by those who have come before me.” 

Hunt has served with the Waves’ coaching staff for the past 10 seasons. Since December 2007, Hunt has assisted the program in a multitude of facets, including as video coordinator and volunteer assistant. He was elevated to the role of assistant coach in 2010 and promoted to associate head coach in 2014.

“I am very excited that David has accepted our men's volleyball head coach position,” said Athletic Director Steve Potts (JD ’82). “He is one of the most talented coaches in the sport, with extensive collegiate, national, and international volleyball experience. Having served Pepperdine men's volleyball for 10 years under the direction and guidance of Marv Dunphy, David is uniquely positioned and prepared to lead our team. I expect that David will enjoy a long and successful career as our head coach.”

While Hunt has been at Pepperdine, the Waves have produced a 160-104 overall record for a .606 winning percentage. In his first season with the squad, the team finished ranked number 2 nationally after an appearance in the NCAA Championship match against Penn State. In the past 10 seasons, Pepperdine has finished in the AVCA final rankings top 10 on nine occasions and in the top five six times.

Throughout his time with the Waves, Hunt has been honored with the American Volleyball Coaches Association Thirty Under 30 Award on three occasions: 2010, 2016, and 2017.

“I am happy for the players, program, and University,” said former head coach Marv Dunphy. “David knows how to teach the sport and produce young men of character.”

Hunt has also worked with Team USA’s Women’s National Team under legendary coach Karch Kiraly since 2014. In 2016 he served as the team’s consultant coach in the bronze medal finish at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2014 as a consultant coach, he helped the team to a gold medal run at the FIVB World Championships in Italy, the team’s first-ever gold medal at any major tournament. Also in 2014 Hunt was chosen as head coach for the US Women’s National Team at the NORCECA World Championship Qualification Tournament. He was again given the reins to the national team in 2015 when selected to coach Team USA at the Pan American Cup in Lima, Peru.

"We loved having David so involved coaching the USA women the last few years,” said Kiraly. “He did stellar work for us right through the Rio Olympics. We're thrilled for the Pepperdine men's program and for David."

For a brief period from 2013 to 2014, Hunt worked as an assistant coach for the Japanese Men’s National Team. He helped lead the squad to their first FIVB World League win in over two years.

Prior to helping with the US women’s team, Hunt traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, in 2012 as an assistant coach for the US Boys’ Youth National Team where the squad won the bronze medal at the NORCECA Boys’ Youth Continental Championship and qualified for the 2013 FIVB Youth World Championships. He worked as an assistant coach for the US Men’s Junior National Team in 2011, leading the team to its highest-ever finish with a fourth-place showing at the FIVB World Championships in Brazil. He also was selected to travel with the US Men’s National Team as the technical coordinator to the Pan American Cup in Cuiabá, Brazil.

Before Pepperdine, Hunt worked at Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles as an assistant to former Pepperdine assistant coach Adam Black, whose team was en route to a state championship in 2007. He has also coached at the Marv Dunphy Volleyball Camp and has participated in Gold Medal Squared coaching clinics across the United States since 2007.

Hunt graduated from UCLA in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in history. A native of Glendale, California, he earned his master’s degree in coaching and athletic administration from Concordia-Irvine in 2011.

The Pepperdine University Libraries hosted the 2017 Library Research Award at Thornton Administrative Center at the Malibu campus on April 18.

Below are this year’s winners:

Lionel Ong

Best Undergraduate Student Project

Project: “Measuring Support for Multiethnic Parties in Zambia”

Ong is a political science and economics major at Seaver College. His research interests include ethnic politics, governance in developing countries, foreign aid, agricultural economics, and behavioral science in public policy. His future plans involve development research and consulting, political consulting, and government advising in developing countries.

Colleen Brazill-Murray

Honorable Mention

Project: “Professional Development: Steering, Badges, and a Hub”

Brazill-Murray is pursuing an education doctorate in learning technologies at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Her research interests include adolescent development and learning technologies. She plans to move from teaching into administration, and to write a book that synthesizes learning science and mental health research. Her intention is to shift thinking about teaching, learning, and our approach to adolescent mental health.

Now in its fourth year, the Library Research Award demonstrates the deep and varied ways Pepperdine University students make use of library resources. This award is given for the best scholarly or creative projects submitted by students of any of the five Pepperdine schools that utilize library resources, collections, and services in order to recognize the importance of effective library research in academics.

Masters of the acoustic, Julian Lage, Chris Eldridge, and Aoife O'Donovan will join forces for a virtuosic performance at Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Wednesday, April 26, at 8 PM.

A night of intrepid songwriting and acoustic innovation, the show will begin with O'Donovan, whose performance will draw from her catalogue of songs, played as she wrote them—with just her acoustic guitar and voice. Lage and Eldridge will follow with their virtuosic duo performance, known for pushing the envelope of folk, bluegrass, and jazz. The evening will conclude with all three on stage together in an aural-hootenanny. 

Lage has, since childhood, been highly regarded in jazz and new music circles for his own work as well as for his collaborations with such artists as Gary Burton, Nels Cline, Fred Hersch, and Jim Hall, among many others. Eldridge is equally noted in the progressive bluegrass world for his stints with The Seldom Scene and The Infamous Stringdusters, which led to his joining Chris Thile's adventurous, Grammy-nominated quintet, Punch Brothers.

Their duo collaboration took off in 2013 when they self-released a four-song EP, Close To Picture. They were venturing into uncharted territory, beyond genre, reaching for a language of their own through the on-the-spot interplay of their guitars.

“The whole point was to explore sounds and textures that are uniquely possible on a flat-top steel-string guitar,” says Eldridge. “There hasn't been a lot of exploration of what they're uniquely capable of, their particular rich tonal palate, what they have to offer to the world that other instruments don't.”

Avalon, the first full-length album from Lage and Eldridge, is a vivid snapshot of this duo's repertoire, circa 2014—a portrait of a burgeoning friendship between two virtuosic players.

O’Donovan’s sophomore album, In the Magic Hour—produced by Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Neko Case)—is a 10-song album full of the singer’s honeyed vocals, mixed with gauzy, frictionless sounds: splashing cymbals, airy harmonies, and the leisurely baritone musings of an electric guitar. 

Previously, she's wielded her instrument with tensile strength as the captivating lead singer through a myriad of collaborations: on the Grammy-winning album by Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile The Goat Rodeo Sessions; for a decade in the progressive string band Crooked Still; and most recently as one-third of I’m With Her, a trio with singers Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz.

O’Donovan has also made regular appearances as a featured vocalist on A Prairie Home Companion and collaborated with some of the most eminent names in music, across a wide variety of genres from Alison Krauss to Dave Douglas.

Ticket prices range between $10 and $35, and are required for attendance. For additional information, and to purchase tickets, visit the Center for the Arts website.

The Intercultural Affairs office at Seaver College will host Loqui: A Celebration of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence at Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Friday, April 28, at 1 PM.

The annual event, held one day before the Seaver College commencement ceremony, honors the soon-to-be graduates as well as distinct cultures that shape the Pepperdine experience and deepen the community's collective sense of belonging.

“Loqui brings us together in a spirit of unity through diversity. Therefore, it is our prayer that through this sacred time of reflection, celebration, and acknowledgement, faculty, staff, students, and their families experience not [only] fellowship but kinship. In doing so, Pepperdine embodies diversity and inclusion in its most authentic form,” said Kari E. Bolen, director of Intercultural Affairs.

This year’s celebration will feature the first-ever non-Seaver College faculty speaker, Thema Bryant-Davis (MDiv ’16), associate professor of psychology at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Pepperdine University President Andrew K. Benton will deliver the welcoming remarks, and the closing tribute will include a performance by student-led dance and choreography company, Dance in Flight.

Additionally, the Bowers, Davis, and Todd Award for Leadership in Diversity and Inclusive Excellence will be presented to two graduating seniors who have demonstrated an active commitment to advancing institutional diversity and inclusive excellence as part of their spiritual journey.

For more information about Loqui, visit the Seaver College website.

Pepperdine University has announced that a revival of the hit ABC television series Battle of the Network Stars will be filmed on the Malibu campus from late May through June 10. 

Host network ABC decided to return to the show's original location at Pepperdine where filming took place during the show's original run from 1976 to 1985. Produced by Glassman Media and IMG, the nostalgic 10-episode throwback show will once again assemble teams consisting of current and classic celebrities who will compete against one another in an array of physical challenges.

“Battle of the Network Stars was a summertime fixture on our Malibu campus for many years and one that many alumni and members of our campus community remember fondly,” says Nate Ethell, director of communications and brand development. “We're delighted that ABC is bringing the games home and look forward to Pepperdine helping set the stage for the newest edition of friendly celeb-on-celeb combat.”

For 13 seasons, the original version of the program featured television personalities from the three broadcast networks at that time, ABC, CBS, and NBC, as they participated in a variety of athletic events, including three-on-three football, tug of war, kayaking, miniature golf, and swimming. The late sports commentator Howard Cosell hosted all but one of the show's original 18 seasons as well as the show's first reboot in 1988. The show was last rebooted in 2003 by NBC.

Like the original series, numerous celebrities from a variety of television networks will participate in friendly competition to raise money for charity. The show will not include an invited audience, but ABC will encourage the Pepperdine campus community to view filming from the sidelines of these competitive summer games and events. Filming times and locations will be announced for community members at a later date.  

Battle of the Network Stars is scheduled to premiere on June 29, 2017.

Nearly 300 students have been named to the Seaver College Dean’s List for the Spring 2017 semester. In order to earn Dean’s List honors, students must be in the upper 10 percent of their class and maintain a 3.5 or higher grade point average.

The purpose of the Dean’s List is to provide recognition for the positive academic achievements of students at the Seaver College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences and to serve as an additional incentive for academic excellence to all students.

Congratulations to the following students:

Bob Gilliam, Seaver College professor emeritus of psychology and academic computing and chair of the Social Science Division, passed away on August 3 at his home in Little Rock, Arkansas.

After completing a bachelor’s degree in Bible and psychology and a master’s degree in teaching, Gilliam earned a doctorate in education and returned to Harding University as professor and chair of the psychology department from 1960 to 1969. In 1970 he and his family moved to Malibu where Gilliam joined Pepperdine University as professor and chair of the Social Science Division, retiring in 1993. He received an Outstanding Teaching Award at both Harding and Pepperdine University and cofounded the Pepperdine University Faculty/Staff Scholarship Fund, encouraging faculty and staff to support outstanding students who needed financial assistance. When the Pepperdine men’s golf program was reinstituted in 1981, Gilliam served as the Waves’ head coach for three seasons before Bob Yokoi assumed duties in the 1984-1985 season.

Gilliam was known for his passion for life and sharing the love of Christ. At Pepperdine he was among the pioneers of the University Church of Christ fellowship, which in 1970 was established as a local presence prior to the construction of the new Seaver College campus.

Gilliam’s life will be celebrated on Saturday, October 7, at 2 PM at the Pleasant Valley Church of Christ in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Gilliam and his wife, Dorothy have been active members for nine years.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Dorothy Gilliam; children and their spouses, Priscilla ('78) and Holden MacRae, David and Vanessa Gilliam, and daughter-in-law Lisette Osborne and her husband Earney Osborne; grandchildren and their spouses, Micala and Dan Clark, Manali MacRae, Cameron Gilliam, Whitney Gilliam, Tricia and Carl Schulze, Nathan and Jaime Gilliam, Zachary and Destiny Osborne; and great-grandchildren, CJ Schulze, Caleb, Rachael, Asa and Seth Gilliam, and Ellie Osborne. His son Roy Gilliam preceded him in death. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Gilliam's memory to the Pepperdine University Faculty/Staff Scholarship Fund.

The Pepperdine University Student Activities Office at Seaver College will host The Mountain 2017, a live worship celebration led this year by contemporary Christian music band I Am They at Alumni Park in Malibu on Sunday, April 9, at 5 PM.

Formed in 2011 in Carson City, Nevada, I Am They began performing in 2008 as a worship ministry called Solomon's Porch for what was intended to be a one-night gathering at Calvary Chapel Carson City. After a positive reception from the church congregation, the six-member group began holding regular worship gatherings in the local community.

In early 2009, after receiving an invitation to open for Christian singer-songwriter Matthew West, the band began producing original music and changed its name to I Am They in an effort to distinguish its national presence from its local church performances.

I Am They released its self-titled debut album in January 2015. The band spent that winter and spring on the national Rock & Worship Roadshow tour alongside MercyMe, Crowder, and Group 1 Crew, followed by a tour with Matt Maher on the Saints and Sinners tour. In August 2015 I Am They earned a Dove Award nomination for New Artist of the Year.

The Mountain is a student-led ministry that provides a time of worship, prayer, and community, as students, faculty, staff, alumni, local churches, and Los Angeles residents are united under the common banner of worshipping Jesus Christ. Each year, a well-known worship artist is invited to lead over 1,500 attendees in a night of worship, strategically hosted in mid-April to celebrate the ending of the academic year.

Tickets are free for Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff, $8 for alumni, and $15 for the general public. For additional information about this event, and to register for tickets, visit The Mountain’s page on the Eventbrite website.

Pepperdine University and the Malibu Public Library Speaker Series will cohost the fourth annual three-day Climate Calling conference at the Pepperdine campus in Malibu, from Wednesday, April 12, to Friday, April 14.

Climate Calling: Student and Community Responses to Climate Change aims to encourage participants to work toward stopping climate change and to foster a more sustainable future.

National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence Sylvia A. Earle will deliver the keynote address at Elkins Auditorium on Wednesday, April 12, at 7 PM. Earle is an oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer who has been called “Her Deepness” by The New Yorker and the New York Times, “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress, and first “Hero for the Planet” by Time magazine.

Former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Earle is the founder of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, Inc., founder of Mission Blue and SEAlliance, chair of the Advisory Council of the Harte Research Institute, and leader of the National Geographic Society Sustainable Seas Expeditions. Her special focus is on developing a global network of areas on land and in the ocean to safeguard the living systems that provide the underpinnings of global processes, from maintaining biodiversity and yielding basic life support services to providing stability and resiliency in response to accelerating climate change.

The second day of the conference will feature the Climate Calling Media Festival, at Elkins Auditorium at 7 PM. This multimedia festival challenges students to share experiences in which they witnessed climate change in their everyday lives, events that encouraged them to care about climate change, and how their faith has inspired them to help the planet.

The final day of the conference is dedicated to student research presentations given at Juarez Courtyard and Weisman Museum at 2 PM. Student researchers will discuss their research topics during an academic poster session. Their presentations are part of a spring semester course that includes a climate change component.

The conference will also include the seventh Earth Day Fair on Wednesday, April 12, from 11 AM to 2 PM at Mullin Town Square. Guests can enjoy free food from local vendors, compete for prizes, and see farm animals. They can also learn about what Pepperdine and organizations within the local community are doing to further environmental and social causes. While Earth Day worldwide is April 22, Pepperdine celebrates early to ensure that students are not impacted as they prepare for finals.

All events are free to attend. For additional information about this year’s conference, visit the Climate Calling website.

Graduating seniors enrolled in the Seaver College studio art program will showcase their unique artwork at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art in Malibu from Thursday, April 13, through Saturday, April 29, with a public opening reception on April 13, from 5 to 8 PM.

The 2017 theme, “Absolute Mad Freedom,” will consider an overarching desire to examine the norm. As each artist investigates ideas of limitation and liberation, creative responses are all at once meditative yet exuberant, reductive yet abrasive.

Student artist Yena Kim, whose artwork portrays gender, race, and other humanitarian issues, shares that the displayed pieces will encapsulate honesty and sincerity while challenging viewers to think critically about the subject matter.

“Each student has a distinct voice that has been shaped by [his or her] experiences and backgrounds. And no two people can have the perfectly same experiences, thus creating diverse perspectives unique to the individual,” she explains.

“In life and art, always take a closer look because you will always see more,” advises fellow student artist Mary Lum, whose work utilizes mixed-media and sculptural approaches to create portraits focusing on women. 

“My thesis addresses the idea that tragedy and oppression occur within the bounds of normality,” she says. “Through my art I seek to explore the identities and portraits of people—specifically those struck by pain or cultural hardships that choose to fight on and to keep living.”

The displayed artwork will range from installation to drawing, to textiles and sculpture, as artists explore issues that address identity, story, and the passing of time.

This year’s student artists include:

• KayKay Blaisdell
• Sharon Carl
• Susie Scribner Cervantes
• Ashley Ekstrum
• Sarah Gilchrist
• Yena Kim
• Mary Kensey Lum
• Leanna Schroeder
• Alexandra Springer
• Sarah Jane Souther
• Jacob Yeroshek
• Beatrice Young

The Weisman Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 11 AM to 5 PM. For additional information about this free art exhibition, visit the Center for the Arts website.

Tony Award-winning singer and actress Lea Salonga will bring her powerful voice to Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Tuesday, April 18, at 8 PM.

As part of her residency at Pepperdine University, Salonga will also teach a master class with Pepperdine musical theatre students.

Praised around the world for her powerful voice and perfect pitch, Salonga is best known for her Tony Award-winning role in Miss Saigon. Also an Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World Award winner, she was the first actress of Asian descent to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway and returned to the beloved show as Fantine in the 2006 revival.

Most Recently, Salonga starred in the Broadway musical Allegiance, alongside legendary actor George Takei and Telly Leung. Allegiance tells the story of a Japanese-American family forced into an internment camp during World War II. The production was brought to Broadway following a successful run at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, and Salonga garnered a Craig Noel nomination for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical for her work.

Salonga is also well-known as the singing voice of Princess Jasmine from Disney’s Aladdin and Fa Mulan from Mulan and Mulan II. For her portrayal of the beloved princesses, the Walt Disney Company bestowed her with the honor of “Disney Legend” in August of 2011 along such luminaries as Regis Philbin, Jim Henson (posthumously), and Anika Noni Rose.

In 2010 she participated in the 25^th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables to sold-out crowds at the UK’s O2 arena. She also dazzled as the hauntingly tragic Grizabella in a limited run of CATS in her hometown of Manila, Philippines, where she has also appeared in God of Carnage.

Salonga has toured the world performing in sold out concerts in such locations as the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Singapore’s Esplanade, Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, Hong Kong Cultural Center, Bangkok Convention Center, Carnegie Hall in New York City, numerous venues in Manila, and in cities such as Edmonton, Indianapolis, Ottawa, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. She was also the first artist to sell out two shows at de Jong Concert Hall at Brigham Young University since The Kings Singers in 2009.

When not on tour, Salonga is a coach on the Philippine version of the hit television show, The Voice.

Salonga began her career as a child star in the Philippines, making her professional debut in 1978 at the age of seven in the musical The King and I. She went on to star in productions of Annie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Fiddler on the Roof, The Rose Tattoo, The Sound of Music, The Goodbye Girl, Paper Moon, and The Fantasticks.

Tickets for this recital are currently sold out. To be added to a waiting list, call the box office at 310-506-4522. For additional information about the performance, visit the Center for the Arts website.

The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University will celebrate its 25^th anniversary through the new exhibition, California Dreaming: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation from August 29 through December 10. To mark the occasion, a preview opening reception will be held on Sunday, August 27, from 4 to 6 PM. A 25^th anniversary party will be hosted on Tuesday, September 26, from noon to 8 PM.

The selected pieces will focus on California art from the 1960s to the present, with an emphasis of the historic period of the 60s through the 80s. Businessman and art collector Frederick Weisman believed in supporting the art in his own city, and during this time became an important patron to many of the region’s up and coming artists. The work on view reflects his deep personal relationships with many of the painters and chronicles the period when Los Angeles emerged to become one of the nation’s leading art centers.

The exhibition title is taken from the 1965 hit pop song first made famous by The Mamas & the Papas, and later covered by the Beach Boys, which came to epitomize the California Sound. It reflects the optimism of Los Angeles in the early 1960s and the newly emerging beach culture, filled with sunny skies, sand, surfing, and fast cars. Artists responded to this cultural dynamic by using bright, shiny materials and colorful, optimistic imagery to create a new aesthetic that celebrated a direct sensory experience. 

This heady mix of powerful inspirations spawned a number of related art movements that established the look of the time. Some artists—such as Billy Al Bengston, Tony Berlant, Joe Goode, and Ed Ruscha—responded to the popular imagery of the emerging beach culture and created a new type of California Pop Art.

Surfboards and hotrods became the new cultural icons of the era. Inspired by their slick, polished surfaces, artists began making art using resin and fiberglass, creating the Fetish Finish movement. Ron Davis, Craig Kaufman, and John McCracken crafted perfectly smooth minimal sculptures with glowing, vibrant colors and shiny, reflective surfaces that captured the nonchalant attitude of the alternative culture.

California became celebrated for its brilliant light and wide-open spaces. Artists began to explore these qualities, using real light and actual space, creating the Light and Space movement. Artists such as Lita Albuquerque, Larry Bell, Mary Corse, Laddie John Dill, Helen Pashgian, and De Wain Valentine crafted art using translucent, transparent, or reflective materials that capture and incorporate natural or artificial light into the fabric of the work.

Many of these artists were referred to as The Cool School, because of their casual, nonchalant approach to both art and life. The new California art of the 60s was reductive and dispassionate, with a slick and sophisticated look. This work was championed by The Ferus Gallery, which operated for less than a decade—from 1957 to 1966—but exhibited the most challenging and experimental art. The California look soon began to influence art and culture across the nation, and even had an international impact.

Although the exhibition emphasizes historic work from the 60s through the 80s, it also includes younger artists such as Andy Moses, Gary Lang, Joel Morrison, Evan Nesbit, and Ruth Pastine who continue a dialogue with their elder colleagues. Together this exhibition offers a fascinating overview of the powerful currents in the art of our time.

California Dreaming was curated by Billie Milam Weisman and is supported by the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation and an anonymous donor.

The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 11 AM to 5 PM, and admission is free.

For additional information about this exhibition, visit the Weisman Museum website.

From September 9 through September 25, Pepperdine’s Alumni Park will have on display the 10^th annual Waves of Flags installation to commemorate the lives lost in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

Each year Waves of Flags features 2,977 full-size flags—2,887 American flags for each American life lost and 90 international flags representing the home countries of individuals from abroad who died in the 9/11 attacks.

The installation became a Pepperdine tradition in 2008 when the school’s College Republicans group organized to bring the tribute to the campus. Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff are invited to participate in the installation of the flags on Saturday, September 9, between 12:30 and 1 PM. Registration is not required and all community members are welcome to participate.

In addition to the Waves of Flags installation, Pepperdine is the permanent home of the Thomas E. Burnett, Jr., Heroes Garden, a public space for visitors to reflect and honor all those who live heroic lives, including namesake and Pepperdine alumnus Thomas Burnett (MBA ’95), a passenger on United Flight 93 who lost his life in the 9/11 attacks.

Pepperdine University continues to climb the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings as one of America’s “Best National Universities.” In the newly released numbers for 2018, Pepperdine is ranked 46 out of 310 national institutions of higher learning, advancing four spots higher than its 2017 ranking of number 50.

According to the publication, “The National Universities category consists of the 310 institutions—189 public, 114 private, and seven for-profit—based on the categories that the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education established.”

Advancing from number 48 to number 45, Pepperdine’s Seaver College was recognized as maintaining one of the country’s “Best Undergraduate Business Programs,” a ranking that is determined solely by surveys of business school deans and senior faculty.

Pepperdine also advanced a full 11 spots, from number 29 to number 18, as one of America’s “Best Colleges for Veterans.” Pepperdine is an active participant in the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program, which enables 72 percent of the University’s current student veterans to attend tuition free.

For the second consecutive year, Pepperdine’s International Programs—which provides students with life-changing experiences designed for intellectual, social, personal, and spiritual transformation—was included on the publication’s list of “Best Programs to Look For.”

For additional information about the 2018 rankings, visit the U.S. News & World Report website.

Pepperdine faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends will gather together to celebrate the University’s annual Founder’s Day event at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu on Wednesday, September 20, at 10 AM.

Declaring the opening of the 2017-2018 academic year, Founder’s Day commemorates the University's early beginnings and honors the vision of its founder, George Pepperdine.

The ceremony will commence with an alumni processional and an invocation from Daniel A. Rodriguez, dean of the Seaver College Religion and Philosophy Division. Helen Easterling Williams, dean of the Graduate School of Education and Psychology, will deliver George Pepperdine’s 1937 Dedicatory Address, followed by a special message from Pepperdine University president Andrew K. Benton.

The Pepperdine Symphony Orchestra and University Concert Choir will perform several musical selections, including the National Anthem and the University’s fight song.

All Founder’s Day guests are invited to a reception in the Firestone Fieldhouse courtyard following the ceremony.

For those unable to attend, this event will be broadcast live via Livestream.

The Pepperdine University Libraries hosted the 2017 Library Research Award at Thornton Administrative Center at the Malibu campus on April 18.

Below are this year’s winners:

Lionel Ong

Best Undergraduate Student Project

Project: “Measuring Support for Multiethnic Parties in Zambia”

Ong is a political science and economics major at Seaver College. His research interests include ethnic politics, governance in developing countries, foreign aid, agricultural economics, and behavioral science in public policy. His future plans involve development research and consulting, political consulting, and government advising in developing countries.

Colleen Brazill-Murray

Honorable Mention

Project: “Professional Development: Steering, Badges, and a Hub”

Brazill-Murray is pursuing an education doctorate in learning technologies at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Her research interests include adolescent development and learning technologies. She plans to move from teaching into administration, and to write a book that synthesizes learning science and mental health research. Her intention is to shift thinking about teaching, learning, and our approach to adolescent mental health.

Now in its fourth year, the Library Research Award demonstrates the deep and varied ways Pepperdine University students make use of library resources. This award is given for the best scholarly or creative projects submitted by students of any of the five Pepperdine schools that utilize library resources, collections, and services in order to recognize the importance of effective library research in academics.

The Pepperdine University Frank R. Seaver College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences spring 2017 commencement ceremony will take place at Alumni Park in Malibu on Saturday, April 29, at 10:30 AM. The event will bestow an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree upon Dan Beckerman, and honor Jared N. Hankins (’01) and Natalie C. Hankins (’01) as this year’s Distinguished Alumnus.

Beckerman is president and chief executive officer of AEG, one of the world's leading presenters of sports and entertainment programming. Beckerman oversees AEG's many divisions as well as long-range planning, acquisitions, financial oversight, and corporate governance.

Previously he was AEG's chief operating officer and chief financial officer, leading its operations and fiscal planning for its subsidiaries, including Staples Center, the Los Angeles Kings, the company's Major League Soccer franchises, two minor league hockey franchises, international holdings, and AEG Live, the live entertainment division.

Beckerman joined the organization in 1997 as chief financial officer of the Los Angeles Kings. He played a key role in investment of over 5 billion dollars to develop facilities, such as Staples Center, LA Live, O2 in London, and O2 World in Berlin; operations of sports franchises worldwide; and the creation of AEG Live.

Earlier he was vice president, finance, for the Los Angeles Clippers. Before his stint with the Clippers, Beckerman was a senior accountant at Arthur Anderson in Los Angeles where he specialized in corporate taxation.

He holds an undergraduate degree in economics and a master of business administration degree from University of California, Los Angeles.

Jared is a producer and director with Kombine Media, a multimedia production company with locations in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Burbank, California. With a rich background in directing various platforms of production, his primary responsibility at Kombine is to produce original content. Jared also fills the role of director for a variety of shoots for both promotional use and entertainment purposes and has worked on numerous award-winning ad campaigns. He has worked in the media production industry for the last 13 years, working on projects of all sizes for a wide variety of clients.

Jared’s signature media accomplishment to date is creating an animated series that was the first of its kind, Iesodo, which focuses on the Gospel and on the life and person of Jesus. The series has been distributed and shown in several major retail outlets and by many entertainment production companies.

In addition to his work at Kombine, Jared is also the founder of Rizon Media and the cofounder of Zaya Toonz, the production company behind Iesodo. He proudly notes that a majority of his companies’ employees are Pepperdine alumni like himself.

Jared received his bachelor of arts in communication from Seaver College in 2001.

Natalie is a full-time mother of three, community volunteer, life-advice mentor, and college preparatory school board member from Little Rock, Arkansas. She spent her early professional career at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in the clinical skills department and as an investigator of nonprofit organizations on behalf of a corporation. She also trained as a doula (a certified labor and birth coach) under the care of midwives.

Natalie discovered early in her adult life that her greatest passion and calling was to work at home and to be present for her children while they were very young, striving to maintain a balanced home during the very formative season of life when children grow and develop quickly.

Although her family is always the first priority in her day, Natalie also volunteers at her children’s school, as well as local outreach programs. She serves with the Lessons for Life mentoring program at an urban middle school in Little Rock, meeting one-on-one with sixth-grade to eight-grade girls, encouraging them to make positive life choices and to create a vision for their future. She serves as a member on the Board of Trust of Little Rock Christian Academy.

Natalie received her bachelor of arts in religion from Seaver College in 2001.

For additional information, visit the Seaver College Graduation website. 

Masters of the acoustic, Julian Lage, Chris Eldridge, and Aoife O'Donovan will join forces for a virtuosic performance at Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Wednesday, April 26, at 8 PM.

A night of intrepid songwriting and acoustic innovation, the show will begin with O'Donovan, whose performance will draw from her catalogue of songs, played as she wrote them—with just her acoustic guitar and voice. Lage and Eldridge will follow with their virtuosic duo performance, known for pushing the envelope of folk, bluegrass, and jazz. The evening will conclude with all three on stage together in an aural-hootenanny. 

Lage has, since childhood, been highly regarded in jazz and new music circles for his own work as well as for his collaborations with such artists as Gary Burton, Nels Cline, Fred Hersch, and Jim Hall, among many others. Eldridge is equally noted in the progressive bluegrass world for his stints with The Seldom Scene and The Infamous Stringdusters, which led to his joining Chris Thile's adventurous, Grammy-nominated quintet, Punch Brothers.

Their duo collaboration took off in 2013 when they self-released a four-song EP, Close To Picture. They were venturing into uncharted territory, beyond genre, reaching for a language of their own through the on-the-spot interplay of their guitars.

“The whole point was to explore sounds and textures that are uniquely possible on a flat-top steel-string guitar,” says Eldridge. “There hasn't been a lot of exploration of what they're uniquely capable of, their particular rich tonal palate, what they have to offer to the world that other instruments don't.”

Avalon, the first full-length album from Lage and Eldridge, is a vivid snapshot of this duo's repertoire, circa 2014—a portrait of a burgeoning friendship between two virtuosic players.

O’Donovan’s sophomore album, In the Magic Hour—produced by Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Neko Case)—is a 10-song album full of the singer’s honeyed vocals, mixed with gauzy, frictionless sounds: splashing cymbals, airy harmonies, and the leisurely baritone musings of an electric guitar. 

Previously, she's wielded her instrument with tensile strength as the captivating lead singer through a myriad of collaborations: on the Grammy-winning album by Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile The Goat Rodeo Sessions; for a decade in the progressive string band Crooked Still; and most recently as one-third of I’m With Her, a trio with singers Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz.

O’Donovan has also made regular appearances as a featured vocalist on A Prairie Home Companion and collaborated with some of the most eminent names in music, across a wide variety of genres from Alison Krauss to Dave Douglas.

Ticket prices range between $10 and $35, and are required for attendance. For additional information, and to purchase tickets, visit the Center for the Arts website.

The Intercultural Affairs office at Seaver College will host Loqui: A Celebration of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence at Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Friday, April 28, at 1 PM.

The annual event, held one day before the Seaver College commencement ceremony, honors the soon-to-be graduates as well as distinct cultures that shape the Pepperdine experience and deepen the community's collective sense of belonging.

“Loqui brings us together in a spirit of unity through diversity. Therefore, it is our prayer that through this sacred time of reflection, celebration, and acknowledgement, faculty, staff, students, and their families experience not [only] fellowship but kinship. In doing so, Pepperdine embodies diversity and inclusion in its most authentic form,” said Kari E. Bolen, director of Intercultural Affairs.

This year’s celebration will feature the first-ever non-Seaver College faculty speaker, Thema Bryant-Davis (MDiv ’16), associate professor of psychology at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Pepperdine University President Andrew K. Benton will deliver the welcoming remarks, and the closing tribute will include a performance by student-led dance and choreography company, Dance in Flight.

Additionally, the Bowers, Davis, and Todd Award for Leadership in Diversity and Inclusive Excellence will be presented to two graduating seniors who have demonstrated an active commitment to advancing institutional diversity and inclusive excellence as part of their spiritual journey.

For more information about Loqui, visit the Seaver College website.