The Pepperdine Washington D.C. Program has selected Richard Gathro, a 35-year D.C. resident, who was previously the assistant to the president and dean of the Nyack College campus in D.C., as the program’s new director.
The new director has had a notable career in education, having served as vice president for Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and having received his doctorate in education and theology from the University of Oxford.
Gathro heard about the position opening for Pepperdine’s Washington D.C. Program through a friend who had sent him an email and told him, “this looks like you.” Gathro looks to streamline the focus of the program and tailor it to career development, and he wants to make sure that all students, no matter their majors, can attend the program.
“I want to see it more career-development oriented. I want to see it relevant regardless of what your major or area of study is. And I want it to have some global flair to it,” Gathro said. “And what I mean by that is, I want to help students understand how all that they’re experiencing fits in with the globalizing world that we’re in.”
Through the D.C. program, Gathro hopes to assist students in not only discovering the world, but also in learning about themselves through internships, career-development and classes that connect to both focuses.
“When a student walks out of here at the end of the semester, I want to help them write their own personal mission statements and a personal strategic plan for the rest of their lives,” Gathro said. “Students are going to learn a lot about themselves through the internship and through the classes I’ve developed with the internship. When they’re done, I want them to say, ‘I understand much more about how I’m made.’”
Gathro emphasizes that reshaping the program wouldn’t cause it to lose any of the aspects students love about the D.C. program. Rather, he wants to supplement the program by creating a central focus: career development and student internships. For Gathro, cross-cultural learning is vital for the future and the development of Pepperdine students.
“I’m most excited about Pepperdine students because of the quality of the students and the potential that I see in [them] to make a difference,” Gathro said. “And I see this program and the International Programs as a tool to help students make a difference. The more we can understand our sense of calling and identity, the more we have a focus of where we have to go from here. I’m here to help students understand what it means to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.”
Charles Hall, the dean of International Programs, sees the new director as chance for the D.C. Program to flourish.
“With his leadership skills and passion for students, I predict that the Washington Program will soon be one of our most popular programs.”