MICHELLE McKINLEY
Staff Writer
Walk into Professor David Holmes office and you will be greeted with a wide smile. Holmes is a highly educated professor, an experienced preacher, and loving husband, but this professor’s greatest contribution to Pepperdine is his voice.
According to Holmes, “There are many voices at Pepperdine and having another voice is helpful.” He said that there is a lot he shares with Pepperdine as a Christian and Southern Californian, but there are some differences as well. He attributes those differences to the fact that he grew up in South Central Los Angeles.
Being an African American professor at Pepperdine might be culturally challenging.. There are only a handful of tenured African American professors at Seaver College. This wasn’t an issue for Holmes, who had a close relationship with the University from an early age. Holmes participated in youth festivals at Pepperdine and had friends who taught there as well, which he said helped him prepare for the lack of diversity.
Holmes also spoke of the difficulties of being an African American within his field of study. He has attended many conferences where he says there are “small numbers of people who look like [me].” This would be an issue for many, but not Holmes. He attributes his confidence to his ability to go home to a culturally diverse neighborhood every day.
Professor Holmes was born in 1962 and graduated from high school in the early 1980s. After high school Holmes attended Oklahoma Christian University where he received his B.A. Holmes then went on to California State University Dominguez Hills where he received his M.A. and then to the University of Southern California for his Ph. D.
Although Holmes seemed to enjoy his time at Oklahoma Christian University, he did express some regret for not attending Pepperdine. He knew he wanted to attend a Christian University but wasn’t sure he could afford Pepperdine’s “price tag.”
Preaching is something that Professor Holmes has been doing since he was 15 years old and still enjoys doing today. Upon his graduation from OCU in 1986, Holmes received an award for preaching. He says this was a poignant moment in his life because it was an unexpected honor.
Among his many responsibilities Holmes is also a husband. Holmes described his marriage with a smile on his face and a loving tone in his voice. When asked about his personal life, Holmes immediately brought up his wife and their relationship. “My biggest fan and critic is my wife, a very intelligent woman who is rather lukewarm about academics but is supportive of her husband’s decision to be one,” Holmes said.
Holmes is passionate about the subjects he teaches. Currently his academic interests are Civil Rights Rhetoric, Black Preaching, Carl Vanvechten, The History of Racism as Intellectual Discourse and The Culture Literacy debate.
Professor Victoria Myers, also a member of the Humanities Division at Pepperdine, is quick to comment about her colleague. “It gives me pleasure to say good things about Professor Holmes–perhaps because it gives his students so much pleasure to say good things about him.
“His courses are much in demand, not because he is an easy teacher, but because he brings his students to new worlds of literature and culture,” Professor Myers added.
Holmes will be teaching Literature of the Civil Rights Movement next fall among other courses.
04-16-2007