Pepperdine University

06/22/2026

In a recent National Review op-ed, Pepperdine President Jim Gash (JD '93) and Jeremy Tate, founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test, challenge a mantra of modern educators: "We teach students how to think, not what to think." The authors argue that while this sentiment is widely accepted and often applauded, it is fundamentally flawed.

Gash and Tate contend that education is never truly neutral. They argue that when educators claim to be completely neutral, they often inadvertently allow unexamined ideologies to influence their classrooms, leading to a loss of moral integrity. Drawing on C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man, they warn that focusing solely on intellectual training without a moral foundation risks creating "men without chests"—graduates equipped with knowledge and technical skill but lacking the moral grounding necessary to use those abilities wisely and responsibly.

For Gash and Tate, education goes beyond cultivating capable thinkers; they support an educational model that forms the whole person. "The mission of education should be to create good citizens: young men and women of wisdom and virtue who love the good, true, and beautiful."

In a recent National Review op-ed, Pepperdine President Jim Gash (JD '93) and Jeremy Wayne Tate, founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test, challenge a mantra of modern educators: "We teach students how to think, not what to think."

06/19/2026

For most Pepperdine seniors, graduation weekend means blue and orange regalia, turning the tassel, and a photo with the family on the Alumni Park lawn beside the vast Pacific coast. But golf teammates and recent graduates Mahanth Chirravuri ('26) and Brady Siravo ('26), were busy fulfilling a different tradition.

Instead of crossing the graduation stage this May, the two were helping the men’s golf program reach its 24th West Coast Conference (WCC) crown. In the weeks that followed, the team won the NCAA Regionals, securing a spot at the NCAA Men's Golf Championships in what would be Chirravuri and Siravo’s final rounds as collegiate golfers.

“I wouldn't ever pass up an opportunity to compete with my teammates and do what I love," says Siravo. "Though it was hard for my parents to not see their son graduate and cross the stage, they know that I'd much rather be playing golf with my teammates."

And their hard work has paid off. Crediting team camaraderie for their drive to excel, Chirravuri and Siravo earned Top 25 PGA tour rankings and have gone pro this June.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4vhiWN7

06/18/2026

The Palibu Chamber Active Professionals Committee hosted a low-tide hike, providing a hospitable environment for members of the Malibu and Pacific Palisades community to meet and forge real connections. Along the Malibu coastline, locals in vocations from hospitality to architecture and finance to entertainment, joined members of Pepperdine University on an excursion, with the University’s first lady, Joline Gash (’92) named the honorary guest hiker.

Chris Wizner, Chair of the Active Professionals Committee, Palibu Chamber board member & Past President & Chair, and Founder & CEO of the marketing agency Vivid Candi, advised the convening crowd to “[p]ut your business cards and LinkedIn’s away until after the hike; I want you all to just get to know each other.”

As a former marine biology teacher at Oaks Christian School, Gash helped elevate the time into an informed nature excursion. In sandals, ball caps, and board shorts, hikers stepped deeper into the low tide to take a closer look at the hidden life within, while Gash identified marine creatures in the crevices of rocks. She explained that the abundance of life within the ocean has always been a point of wonder and passion.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3SPXBMh

06/15/2026

06/11/2026

We are proud to announce the launch of For Greater Purpose: The Campaign for Pepperdine, the most ambitious fundraising initiative in our University's history. Rooted in our foundational mission of rigorous academic excellence and Christian faith, this $1 billion campaign will strengthen student formation, support world-class faculty, and expand our global impact. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of early supporters, we have already raised more than $520 million toward this historic goal. We invite our entire Pepperdine family to learn more about this vision and join us as we steward our legacy into a new chapter. bit.ly/3SBJMRu

06/09/2026

Pepperdine University launched its comprehensive campaign—For Greater Purpose—at a gala on Saturday, June 6, 2026, marking the next ambitious chapter in Pepperdine's 89-year story. The $1 billion campaign will mobilize a movement that values students as whole persons and equips them to uncover their God-given callings so they are fully prepared to make lasting impacts in their lives thereafter.

“We are gathered here tonight at an inflection point,” said Jim Gash (JD ’93), president of Pepperdine University. “What an incredible privilege we’ve been given to write a new chapter—a catalytic, transformative chapter that will shape the future of higher education and steepen the already vertical trajectory of Pepperdine’s global moral leadership. . . . The world needs Pepperdine, and we stand ready to lead. We’ve been called, prepared, and equipped for such a time as this.”

Community members, alumni, benefactors, faculty, and friends of the University gathered in Firestone Fieldhouse—completely reimagined as a setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where Pepperdine leaders presented a compelling vision for the future of Christian higher education. It is Pepperdine’s responsibility, they said, to invest resources into cultivating deep thinkers and moral leaders—recognizing each student as carrying infinite worth, stewarding their greater purpose.

https://bit.ly/4ebMkgB

06/08/2026

Across the United States, classical K–12 schools are reviving an education rooted in forming whole persons of virtue who seek the true, the good, and the beautiful.

Recognizing a shared mission with liberal arts higher education, Pepperdine supported this movement by welcoming the Society for Classical Learning (SCL) Alumni Summit to our Malibu campus for a three-day weekend of fellowship. Daily activities were hosted by Coby Dolloff, executive writer for Pepperdine’s integrated marketing communications office and instructor of humanities at Seaver College.

A hallmark of alumni’s discussion was how to strengthen a sense of community within the Christian classical movement, while also sharing methods to communicate its accessibility to those who did not go to a classical school, namely that the Great Conversation is open for all. The event also ushered discussions of lifelong virtue formation through sessions led by artist and author Josh Nadeau.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4ebWr4O

06/05/2026

Everybody has a story, uniquely crafted the moment we open our eyes. At Pepperdine, those individual stories become something bigger 🧡

We are a community bound by shared dreams, where faith and perseverance push us past our limits. Together, our voices harmonize into a grander design—a narrative of unity and impact far beyond what the eye can see. This is our story. This is our calling.

06/04/2026

get in Waves, we’re going on a ride 🏗️⛰️

06/03/2026

Proud to see alumna Mahvish Zaman and the RISE Institute working together to advance well-being and resilience in the workplace.