Editor’s Note: The co-president of Pepperdine Fashion Association goes by their first name Mason, with no identified last name.
Global Learning Week (GLW) celebrates global citizenry and promotes cross-cultural understanding with awareness of the social, ethical and spiritual responsibilities of an interconnected world locally and globally, according to the Pepperdine website.
Started in 2014, Greg Muger, director of student experience of International Programs (IP), said he wanted GLW to go beyond international education and holistically integrate what it means to be a global citizen to prepare Pepperdine students to be leaders after graduation.
“For us to have a significant impact in our lives, we need to learn about the world that we live in and our responsibility in it,” Muger said. “This is a way where you can have that experience on campus.”
Programming and Planning
In the beginning, different offices gathered together, such as International Student Services, Intercultural Affairs (ICA), chapel programs and the Community Engagement and Service office, to create a week of different programming through collaboration that tailors around the theme of global citizenry, Muger said.
Over time, programming has become open invitation by connecting with different on-campus departments and food services to share different cultural events and experiences with students, Muger said. All of these opportunities bring people together to meet, connect and bring in speakers to share about different topics of religion, society and how to respond with relevance.
“Whether they’re dipping their toe in the water for the first time or they’re an Olympic swimmer with global citizenry, we want to provide opportunities for everybody to be able to take a step forward,” Muger said.
This year, Taniah Orr, GLW intern and junior Psychology major, under the IP office, has been coordinating the event since August, Muger said.
It started with brainstorming, to compare and build off of previous years of highlighting “how to connect with your world,” Orr said. Each year, the GLW intern has the ability to choose a theme to center around global citizenship.
“I really wanted to focus on groups that aren’t as represented, and I created the theme ‘Shift Your Lens,’ just of different perspectives,” Orr said. “You could take that in many, many ways, but just bringing the light to areas on campus and groups and parts of style that we don’t always think about.”
Orr said she added fashion, style and first-generation student experiences to highlight the different groups of people that bring different backgrounds and experiences to the diverse culture on campus.
“If you shift your lens, it’s a part of being curious and allowing yourself to see something different and experience something new,” Orr said.
Students listen at the Global Citizen Debrief at the Fireside Room on Jan. 26. In collaboration with Model UN, students learn about the structure and current agendas of the United Nations. Photo courtesy of Taniah Orr
Monday: Global Citizen Debrief
The first event of the week was in collaboration with Model United Nations (Model UN) to educate Pepperdine students on the current UN 2026 agenda topics and model and discuss solutions. Through a case-study review activity, participating students were able to shift their lens by adopting various global countries’ perspectives in a mock Model UN.
“There’s a huge political climate right now that is very talked about, but you have to look at how it influences all these other people and the UN specifically,” Orr said. “I thought they could bring a new perspective to the week.”
Felicity Vabulas, Model UN faculty advisor and a professor of International Studies, led the presentation on an overview of the United Nations and the current agenda issues it is facing, including the appointment of a new UN Secretary-General. Addressing the possible appointment of a female candidate to a male, peers were divided into groups of countries to represent and delegate for.
The purpose of the event encouraged people to feel curious about what’s happening in the world and how to unpack some global institutions while underscoring the differing geopolitical tensions that exist, Vabulas said.
“It’s easy to be here in Malibu and lose touch with what’s happening in the rest of the world,” Vabulas said. “It’s easy to think that these big institutions are what you can keep at arm’s length, but demystifying the process and understanding just how important it is, is key for students.”
Magazine cutouts lay in a spread in Black Plaza Classroom 190 on Jan. 27. One of the activities at “The World Wears What” was vision board making, where students created boards of favorite styles and aesthetics. Photo courtesy of Taniah Orr
Tuesday: The World Wears What
Centered around student engagement, the Pepperdine Fashion Association highlighted global roots of fashion style with interactive vision board making and a Kahoot for students to learn facts about global fashion brands and traditional clothing, said junior Mason [no last name], co-president of Pepperdine Fashion Association.
As many students engaged with the Kahoot, they learned the global roots of brands they use and are familiar with, Orr said. For instance, Alo is a clothing brand we see often on campus, but you might not know it’s from Los Angeles.
“Essentially, we’re trying to highlight different cultures and different traditional wears and things like that,” Mason said.
Students should realize the ties in those roots and realize we have it here on Malibu, but it might not be from here, Orr said.
Another GLW event on Tuesday was the “Post-Grad International Fellow Opportunity” Zoom meeting. Dana Dudley, associate dean of Special Academic Programs, hosted about a dozen attendees who were able to learn about study abroad post-graduation.
A Pepperdine student poses for headshots by a student photographer at Thornton Administration Center on Jan. 28. Headshots were one of the services Career Services offered. Photo courtesy of Taniah Orr
Wednesday: Resume Rush
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Career Services hosted one-on-one meetings with a Career Center staff member to advise on résumés, LinkedIn profiles and personal stories that reflect cross-cultural experiences, according to the GLW events calendar.
“They saw over fifty students today, helping them with resumes and how to incorporate their abroad experiences into their career and developed free headshot photos,” Orr said.
The First-Generation Student Panel answers questions in a live discussion at the Lighthouse on Jan. 29. The topics centered around the first-generation college experience and also included navigating study abroad opportunities for the first time. Photo courtesy of Taniah Orr
Thursday: First-Generation Student Panel
On Thursday night, the First-Generation club provided a live discussion that consisted of a panel of first-gen students and a professor that shared their experiences around culture shock and applying to go abroad when many of them are navigating college for the first time, Orr said.
“It’s a chance for other first-generation students that may be a little bit nervous to hear from other students and know they belong in this environment and education is for everyone,” Orr said.
Junior Mason and junior Taniah Orr serve mochi to students during Global Fusion Night at the Lighthouse on Jan. 30. Other cultural foods, such as kalua pork, tanghulu, tacos and more were present at the event. Photo courtesy of Delaney Dickey
Friday: Global Fusion Night
The final culminating event to pull it all together, Global Fusion Night, took place at the Lighthouse on Jan. 30. In collaboration with ICA, Late Night Lineup and Community Service and Engagement, the event featured various cultural foods, a student performance and service projects as part of the experience, Orr said.
Community Engagement Service made a service activity available, making hygiene kits for refugee camps between here and Mexico, Orr said.
Alongside taco carts and the Chinese dessert tanghulu, various ICA clubs were present to hand out different cultural foods. The Latino Student Alliance (LSA) handed out a Mexican dish called esquites.
“We were invited to serve a favorite local dish back home, and we chose kalua pork, ‘cause that’s usually at our luaus and our family gatherings,” said junior Camille Tesoro, president of Hawaii Club.
Why GLW Matters
It’s important for Pepperdine students to engage in GLW each year, as it brings together the community through different perspectives of students you might not be able to talk to and learn a little bit about each other, Orr said. It is important to engage in global efforts and make a conscious effort to think about how what’s going on around you impacts the world.
“Being conscious is a big, important part,” Orr said. “We’re all so busy and from different places, but sometimes when you just stop and interact with people around you, it makes the world kinder.”
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Contact Christine Park via email: christine.park@pepperdine.edu