Letter From the Editor

In a video commemorating the close of the Campaign for Pepperdine, University regent and Seaver College parent John Pleuger explains that the size of an institution is not directly related to the size of the dreams that are born within it. Here at Pepperdine, we dream big and, in 2005, a small idea sparked a powerful movement to keep the University vision alive for generations to come.

This issue of Pepperdine Magazine celebrates the dreamers and the aspirations that the University is helping them live out.

We celebrate Microenterprise Program mentee Greg Williams who, while lying in a jail cell in 2009, imagined the day when he could once again bake his mother’s special sweet potato pie, and the Seaver College freshman who is now helping him realize that dream with the launch of a baked goods microbusiness.

We are inspired by Ehsan Zaffar (JD ’07), a School of Law alumnus who envisions a world where all people have access to religious freedom and basic human rights.

We are motivated by the budding dreams that are being realized in spectacular ways by a group of Seaver College physics students who witnessed, in wide-eyed wonder, the majesty of the aurora borealis for the first time.

We invite you to explore the comprehensive Campaign Final Report (insert following page 16) for a glimpse into the transformational ways the endeavor is making dreams come true at the University.

It’s stories like these that inspire a new editor to write her first letter to a readership of 90,000 and counting. Thank you for supporting all of the dreams that Pepperdine University makes possible for every member of its family.

Gareen Darakjian
Editor