2024 Year in Review: Excellence and Growth Grounded in Faith

Each calendar year offers a fresh opportunity, a 12-month window filled with distinct moments for a university to advance, achieve, and grow. As a new year beckons, Pepperdine University reflects on the milestones of 2024, shining a spotlight on the institution's enduring mission to develop students for lives of purpose-driven leadership.

This article highlights six key themes—Pursuing Excellence, Faith in Action, Scholarly Achievement, Global Presence, a Culture of Community, and a Growing Team—that showcase how the Pepperdine community has lived out the core values of the University in the past year. 

While 2024 was a year of significant accomplishment, the highlights below do more than demonstrate success. They offer a glimpse of a bright future coming soon in 2025 and beyond.

Pursuing Excellence

Palmer Luckey and president Jim Gash during a 2024 President's Speaker Series event.

 

In 2024 Pepperdine University continued its pursuit of excellence, as students, faculty members, and University initiatives flourished throughout the calendar year. Across all six schools—this year including the newly established College of Health Science—Pepperdine demonstrated its commitment to encouraging and pursuing transformative achievement. 

From groundbreaking research, community advancements, and thought-provoking campus events, Pepperdine remained committed to its foundational values of academic rigor and spiritual development. Each of these exciting advancements exemplify the words of the school’s founder, George Pepperdine, who claimed the institution would, “help young men and women to prepare themselves for a life of usefulness in this competitive world and help them build a foundation of Christian character and faith which will survive the storms of life.”

Discover how Pepperdine pursued excellence in 2024:

• Seaver College Student Sean Wu Receives Pepperdine University’s First Rhodes Scholarship
• Palmer Luckey Receives President’s Award for Excellence in Freedom During President’s Speaker Series Event
• Mountain at Mullin Park Parking Structure Takes Shape on Pepperdine Malibu Campus
• Kiron Skinner Named Inaugural Taube Family Chair of International Relations and Politics at Pepperdine School of Public Policy
• Divergent Artists Makoto Fujimura and Jeni Spota C. Open Weisman Museum Spring Season
• The Graphic Student Newspaper Earns Three National Pacemaker Awards
• Four Pepperdine Graziadio Alumni Named 2024 Most Influential Executives in Corporate America by Savoy Magazine
• SPP Professor Luisa Blanco Awarded 2024 Stephen D. Davis Award for Scholarly Achievement

 

Faith in Action

 

Pepperdine students serve the local community on Step Forward Day

 

Pepperdine’s Christian mission continued to guide the institution in 2024. With faith as its foundation, the University found innovative ways to advance community engagement both on the Malibu campus and throughout the local community. By emphasizing different forms of service-driven leadership, the University inspired faculty members and students to find their own unique ways to live out their Christ-centered beliefs.

Located just 30 miles outside the city of Los Angeles, Pepperdine is poised to act as a good neighbor to the second largest city in the United States. From a pilot program aimed at addressing educational inequality in an underserved school district or an art class designed to support middle and high school students as they mourned the loss of their beloved Bible teacher and coach, Pepperdine faculty and students developed innovative ways to offer their God-given abilities to others during the calendar year. 

Explore the different ways the University led with faith during 2024:

• Step Forward Day Unites Pepperdine Community Through Local and National Service Projects
• Pepperdine Worship Summit 2024 Draws Thousands for a Powerful Celebration of Faith
• Pepperdine’s Hub for Spiritual Life Hosts Community Events in Honor of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
• Pepperdine University Announces Launch of Ken Starr Institute for Faith, Law, and Public Service at the Caruso School of Law
• Center for Faith and the Common Good Explores the Impact of Spiritual Practice on Inmates in Mississippi’s Parchman Prison

 

Scholarly Achievement

 

Pepperdine University students collect plant data in the Santa Monica Mountains

 

As students and faculty engaged in academic inquiry, the pursuit of truth remained Pepperdine’s focus in 2024. This year the institution furthered this commitment by developing research projects with the potential to positively impact the world. 

Pepperdine has increased its volume of research publications over the last decade by 90 percent. This trend continued throughout the year, as the University earned significant research grants to study topics like drought-resistant plants and the Great Books, which will create new opportunities for students to learn and develop their passions. Faculty members also demonstrated their commitment to research and scholarship by publishing influential texts on current topics. 

Read about Pepperdine’s scholarly achievements:

• Seaver College Hosts Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Achievement Symposium
• Jessica Hooten-Wilson Receives Grant to Expand Pepperdine University’s Great Books Program
• Pepperdine Libraries Launches New Project Preserving the History of South Los Angeles
• Seaver College Professor Jason Blakely Explores Political Ideology in New Book
• Pepperdine GSEP Professor Dr. Erlanger A. Turner Appointed as Associate Editor for Psychology of Men and Masculinities Journal
• New Study Reveals Surprising Trends in Green Building Standards: CALGreen Outperforms LEED in Reducing Emissions
• Public Policy Expert and Scholar Steven Harris to Discuss Secular and Biblical Perspectives on Justice at Veritas Forum

 

Global Presence

 

Two Seaver College students at Pepperdine's Château d'Hauteville campus in Switzerland

 

Pepperdine’s mission of developing students for lives of purpose, service, and leadership extended beyond campus in 2024 as the University expanded its global footprint. From Pepperdine’s six international campuses and respective study-abroad programs to distinctive international experiences designed to cultivate cultural competencies, students received invaluable opportunities to study and serve beyond Malibu. 

Learn about Pepperdine’s global impact in 2024:

• Pepperdine’s Sudreau Global Justice Institute Summer Internship Program Provides African Supreme Court Clerkship and Legal Aid Opportunities
• Seaver College International Studies and Languages Division Celebrates 20^th Anniversary with International Education Week
• Ned Colletti’s London-Based Globalization of Sport Course Meets Students at the Intersection of Sports and Vocation
• Pepperdine International Student Simon Khorani Finds Home Abroad
• Pepperdine London Program Director Heather Pardee (’08) Guides Students as They Navigate a New Country and Culture
• Alumnus George Cooper ('66) Reflects on Finding Love and Perspective in Pepperdine's Heidelberg International Program
• Pepperdine Sudreau Global Justice Institute Leadership Attend Training Conference in Rwanda to Discuss Plea-Bargaining Pilot Program and Program Expansion

 

A Culture of Community

 

Pepperdine students and Willie the Wave at Waves Weekend

 

Community engagement opportunities were abundant at Pepperdine University throughout the year for the campus community and alumni alike. From institutional measures that enhanced campus accessibility to festive gatherings that reminded fellow Waves what made their time at Pepperdine special, Pepperdine promoted a sense of belonging in myriad meaningful ways. 

Find out how Pepperdine cultivated community in 2024:

• Pepperdine's Annual Waves of Flags Display Honors 9/11 Victims and Heroes, Continuing a Tradition of Remembrance
• Pepperdine Alumni From All Five Schools Find Connection and Community at Topgolf Event
• Seaver College Introduces Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society Chapter
• Alumnus Ryan Sawtelle ('09), Creator of Pepperdine’s Waves of Flags, Continues to Give Back to the Veteran Community
• Pepperdine Libraries Cultivates a Community of Belonging Through Cultural Exhibitions and Programming
• Pepperdine Veterans Day Luncheon Draws Record Attendance in Tribute to Service and Sacrifice

 

A Growing Team

 

Pepperdine students cheer on the Waves at a men's basketball game

Growth and expansion were distinctive themes of Pepperdine’s year as key hires were made across the University, especially in Pepperdine Athletics and at the College of Health Science.

Tanner Gardner was named director of athletics in March, kicking off a series of critical appointments in baseball and men’s and women’s basketball. With a new roster of world-class administrators and coaches, Pepperdine Athletics is poised to develop champions of both character and competition. 

In similar fashion, the College of Health Science named the inaugural deans of its School of Nursing, Angel Coaston, and Speech-Language Pathology, Leah Fullman. Alongside founding dean Michael Feltner, the two new additions to Pepperdine’s sixth and latest school will help distinguish the program nationwide. 

Learn about Pepperdine newest appointees: 

• Pepperdine University Appoints Tanner Gardner as Director of Athletics
• Leah Fullman Named Inaugural Dean of the School of Speech-Language Pathology in the Pepperdine University College of Health Science
• Angel Coaston Named Inaugural Dean of the School of Nursing in the Pepperdine University College of Health Science
• Tyler LaTorre Named Pepperdine Baseball Head Coach
• Ed Schilling Named Pepperdine Men’s Basketball Head Coach
• Katie Faulkner Named Pepperdine Women’s Basketball Head Coach