Dean’s Update Newsletter – December 2013
DAVID SMITH
It seems like “only yesterday” we welcomed in the new century, while the calendar tells us we are about to commemorate year 14 in that new century. Why does time seem to fly faster when we age?
Neuroscientists tell us our brain is configured to catalogue new experiences. When we are young, most experiences are new. However, when we age, we have fewer new experiences, and our brain tends to
“group” similar experiences, and we end up remembering fewer original experiences.
So is there a takeaway from this? If you would like to slow the sense of time flying by, do something new. Traditions are important, and can serve a key role in knitting family and friends together. But they can also make time fly by! So, if watching It’s a Wonderful Life is a holiday tradition for your family, by all means, break out the popcorn. But also try something new this holiday season, and you might not only slow the sensed passing of time, you might find a new tradition.
I wish you a blessed holiday, filled with peace, joy, and hope.
2 Corinthians 9: 15 Thank God for this Gift too wonderful for words!
UPCOMING EVENTS
January 16, 2014
Richard Cordova, Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Dean's Executive Leadership Series
February 1, 2014
Black Alumni Council Telethon
March 13, 2013
Liam McGee, The Hartford Financial Services Group
Dean's Executive Leadership Series
March 13, 2013
Rob Moore, Paramount Pictures
Dean's Executive Leadership Series
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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ONLINE MBA

CENTER OF LEARNING AND TEACHING EXCELLENCE

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT RETREAT
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ONLINE FRIDAYS

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CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH

DIGITAL INNOVATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS CONFERENCE

WINTER COMMENCEMENT
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E2B PROGRAM

GRAZIADIO BUSINESS REVIEW
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ACADEMIC AWARD RECIPIENTS
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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DEAN LIVINGSTONE HONORED: Dean Linda Livingstone has been inducted into the the Spears School
of Business Hall of Fame and honored by her alma mater Oklahoma State University as its first-ever recipient of the Outstanding Ph.D. Award. Click image above to watch a tribute video .
ENRICH STUDENT LEARNING
ONLINE MBA: The spring '13 cohort is halfway through being the first graduating class of the online MBA program. They will graduate in December 2014.
The Admissions Committee has implemented a pilot program to consider applicants who have a quantitative undergraduate degree with good grades in quantitative courses and at least five years of work experience, as an alternative to the GMAT. To date, 22 waiver requests have been submitted with nine waivers granted. Additionally, the online program has seen a boost in enrollments from the new merit scholarship program that has increased potential scholarship amounts and extended their availability from three to six trimesters if the recipient maintains at least a 3.3 GPA or higher across each trimester. The GMAT and scholarship programs align with the on-ground FEMBA program.
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CENTER OF LEARNING AND TEACHING EXCELLENCE: Faculty Development Resources: The Center for
Teaching and Learning Excellence aims to help faculty members develop their teaching expertise and offers a variety of programs and services to this end. If you haven’t already, check-out
CTLE newsletters which distills resources and highlights trends in areas such as new teaching methodologies and evaluations. The most recent issue also offers a “Click for Education” where clicks on articles through
December 14 will equate to automatic donations for World Vision’s education programs. Fill out the survey and even more children will benefit from donations!
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FACULTY DEVELOPMENT RETREAT: The Annual Graziadio Faculty Retreat will be held at the Westin
Pasadena Hotel on Friday, February 21 and Saturday, February 22, 2014. The theme this year will focus on the future of higher education and ask, "Where will the Graziadio School be in this new landscape?"
Faculty will tackle hot topics such as annual evaluations, enrollment, the student experience and

connecting to the marketplace. The guest speaker for this occasion will be Dr. Jeanne Ross , director and principal research scientist at the Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) at the MIT Sloan
School of Management. Dr. Ross directs and conducts academic research that targets the challenges of senior level executives. She also studies how firms develop competitive advantage through the implementation of digitized platforms .
ONLINE FRIDAYS: This fall an assortment of topics were presented for faculty teaching blended or online classes. Examples included evaluating participation and developing and monitoring virtual teams. If you have some time during the break, we encourage you to catch up on sessions you may have missed. All
Online Friday’s sessions can be viewed here . The 2014 schedule for Online Fridays will be announced in the coming weeks.
ENHANCE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
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CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH: CAR hosted the quarterly Academic Forum with Pepperdine’s
Corporate and Foundation Relations and the Research & Sponsored Programs. Faculty and staff teams engaged in a fun exercise aimed at encouraging brainstorming and generating new research projects.
The Corporate and Foundation Relations and the Research & Sponsored Programs also provided information on how to best identify internal and external sources to fund the research. For additional assistance on finding research funding, please contact Ms. Sheila King (Corporate and Foundation
Relations) or Ms. Alex Roosa (Research & Sponsored Programs).
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DIGITAL INNOVATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS CONFERENCE: CAR partnered with the
Information Systems Discipline to host the inaugural Graziadio 2013 DIIS (Digital Innovation and
Information Systems) conference on October 18, 2013. CIOs and executives from SpaceX, Data.gov,
Disney, Sears, Toyota and Blue Cross presented at the conference. Industry executives, faculty, students, and alumni engaged in networking opportunities and discussed multiple topics for how digital innovators are transforming business strategy and practice. Attendees learned about the latest developments, best practices and business outcomes of digital innovation and the approaches needed to take advantage of the opportunities digital technology can provide. #diginpepp.
CULTIVATE COMMUNITY
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WINTER COMMENCEMENT: On Saturday, December 7, 2013, students, family, friends, faculty, and staff braved the cold rainy weather to celebrate the accomplishments of 230 graduates who received their degrees at the Firestone Fieldhouse on the Malibu campus. The Winter 2013 commencement featured
Zack Hicks (BSM ’97), chief information officer of Toyota operations in North America and group vice president for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. as the Distinguished Alumni; Fully Employed MBA graduate and 2013 George Award winner, Maggie Stonestreet , delivered the student address; and Stevan Cavillo , chairman of the Graziadio School’s Board of Visitors and son-in-law of school benefactor George L.
Graziadio presented the commencement address. A big thank you to all the commencement hosts who

participated and help brighten the rainy day for the graduates, their families, and friends. Thank you to the Graziadio faculty, along with all the staff volunteers, for your help in making the day memorable for our graduates.
BUILD PARTNERSHIPS
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E2B PROGRAM: Over the past term full-time and fully employed graduate students engaged in real-time client E2B class case projects tackling business challenges ranging from customer retention, software commercialization and market penetration, identifying technology solutions for increasing business effectiveness and applying advanced statistical analysis to identify customer segments. Clients this term included: Review, Inc., Precision Dynamics, SportStocks, MarketShare, Registration Control Systems,
GTS Medical, JustFoodForDogs, VSolvIT and Teleflora. “The students were able to get a handle on our business, recommending technology to gain efficiency and competitive advantage. I have no doubt that we will be implementing many of the team recommendations,” commented Gary Palmer, executive vice president for Registration Control Systems. In the upcoming spring term students will work with over two dozen US based companies ranging from early stage to multi-billion dollar global enterprises.
Clients in the upcoming term will include: Netwin Solutions, Vosges Haut Chocolat, Upland Logic,
HealthyVending, Kelton, Adobe and Symantec.
ADVANCE REPUTATION
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GRAZIADIO BUSINESS REVIEW: For those interested in submitting articles for the first 2014 issue of the
Graziadio Business Review, the deadline is December 31. The last issue of the GBR for 2013 will appear online in the next couple of weeks. GBR is in the process of selecting new editorial review board members and welcome recommendations of both academics and business leaders. Please submit recommendations to nancy.dodd@pepperdine.edu
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ACADEMIC AWARD RECIPIENTS: Congratulations to the following Graziadio faculty for their recent academic research awards:
Julian Virtue Professorship: This award supports faculty doing values-centered research that is aligned with the mission of Pepperdine University and the Graziadio School. The 2013-2014 award recipients are:
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Darren Good for his research on mindfulness
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Abraham Park for his research on the performance impact of corporate real estate ownership for franchise companies.
Denney Academic Chair: Kevin Groves was awarded the Denney Chair Professorship for 2013-15.
Established in 2007 with a gift from Corwin Denney, a former chairman of the board and president of

Venus Oil Company, this research award supports faculty research that is aligned with the mission of the
Graziadio School. This award will provide Dr. Groves with the resources to extend his research on talent management best practices in national healthcare organizations.
Rothschild Applied Research Fellow: Owen Hall, Jr. and Roger “Dave” McMahon were recognized with the Rothschild Applied Research Fellow Award for 2013-2014. The honor is awarded to faculty with a record of outstanding scholarship that demonstrates prestige, influence and rigor.