MEREDITH RODRIGUEZ
Assistant News Editor
Pepperdine extends far beyond the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking the Malibu coastline. Its graduate schools sprinkle across the southland in corporate buildings designed to meet the convenience of Los Angeles professionals.
“There are six regional campuses in Southern California to meet the needs of working professionals,” Dean of Pepperdine’s Graduate School of Business and Management Linda Livingstone said. “The various locations provide them access to our educational programs that are convenient to their work and/or home.”
Pepperdine President Dr. Andrew K. Benton agreed.
“The graduate campuses allow students access to Pepperdine professors without requiring them to drive to Malibu,” Benton said. “Situating them nearer to the primary student population just makes good business sense.”
The West Los Angeles campus near the Howard Hughes shopping center is the headquarters for both the Graziadio School of Business and Management and Graduate School of Education and Psychology.
The business school is at all six campuses, while the school of education and psychology has programs at four.
The graduate facilities look like office buildings outside and are often surrounded by corporate offices. Inside, however, they look like a school as much as any office building can, according to Lauren Desjardins a first-year student at the Irvine campus.
“While these classes are provided in very, very nice office buildings, the teaching and learning environment is traditional,” Benton added.
In addition to classrooms at each location, there are also staff offices, some faculty offices, lounge facilities and depending on the campus, some library and academic computing space.
Sizes of the schools vary, from five floors at the West Los Angeles campus to one floor at the Westlake Village campus.
“We just have a suite and then we have a classroom down the hall and a kitchen,” said Flora Hall, administrative campus coordinator of one of the smaller sites, the Pasadena campus. “All together we have three classrooms.”
The Pasadena campus, which inhabits the eighth floor of a corporate building is only a couple of years old. Its size would also inhibit it from being autonomous. That is why all schools coordinate with each other and with GSBM and GSEP headquarters in West Los Angeles, according to Desjardins.
“(The six schools) all have the same processes, attend the same conferences, and the deans are actively involved in University planning and development efforts,” Benton said.
Desjardins said she may attend classes at other schools although she was accepted to the Irvine campus.
“I might take classes in Encino or West L.A.” she said.
There are certain benefits for a Seaver graduate to attend a graduate school at Pepperdine, according to Benton.
“I think the similarity in educational approach and the ethos of the programs are attractive,” Benton said. “I would also point out that the instruction is good and the programs enjoy growing reputations.”
Livingstone agreed and she encourages Seaver graduates to apply to Pepperdine graduate programs.
“The student will receive a high quality educational experience from a great university and, unlike at many universities, will have a different set of faculty teaching in their graduate program than they had in their undergraduate program,” Livingstone said.
“Thus giving the student a very rich learning experience.”
Benton estimates that each year a few Seaver students transfer to the graduate schools – about three to four law students, three to five business students, two to three public policy students and, perhaps, as many as a dozen Seaver grads in the education and psychology.
11-10-2005