ANNA KING
Assistant News Editor
Many students, while flipping through the channels on any given night, have happened upon the familiar testimonials from happy couples as part of the eHarmony campaign. However, few students may realize that the recognizable founder from these commercials, Dr. Neil Clark Warren, is also a George Pepperdine College alumnus of the class of 1956.
Following his experiences and undergraduate work at Pepperdine, Warren is now in charge of the popular online relationship service.
While he acts as the executive founder, chairman of the board and spokesperson for eHarmony, Warren is not just responsible for the business side of his enterprise, but also for what the company is working toward in the lives of many people.
“We are trying to reduce the divorce rate in the world,” Warren said. “Every time you reduce the divorce rate by 1 percent, just in our country, it will affect a million people in one generation.”
According to Warren, in the past year, the efforts of eHarmony resulted in 16,630 marriages, and it is estimated that within three years, if the results continue, the company will see 100,000 marriages in a year.
“We set out to try to understand successful marriages more clearly so that our children could have successful marriages,” Warren said.
After graduation from GPC with a degree in what was known at that time as a social science group major, Warren went on to study at the Princeton theological seminary. Following his work there, he continued on to the University of Chicago to get his doctorate in psychology and taught at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology for 15 years, where he eventually became the dean. Warren and his wife, GPC alumna Marylyn, have three children and nine grandchildren.
After working in his own counseling practice, he founded eHarmony in the summer of 2002. Warren said the goals of eHarmony is to provide people with two essential “products” for life.
“We currently have just two products,” Warren said. “We help single people find the right person to marry, and we also help married people keep their marriages strong through our marriage wellness program that we just launched on February 6.”
The Internet, as the basis of the eHarmony function, has been a huge benefit to the field of psychology in its potential for change in people’s lives, according to Warren.
“We now have an office in every home in the world that has a computer,” Warren said. “We can take material distribute it to millions of homes with just the click of a key. This is truly the fullness of time for a psychologist to have a simple, but profound way to make people’s relationships better.”
Through eHarmony, Warren said his company has received countless inspiring stories from some 90 people a day who get married through their services.
“Some are young, some are old, some are able and some are disabled,” Warren said. “They are all regular people, but they are all persons who have deep feelings and want to marry well and want their marriages to stay well over time.”
The Social Science Division offers majors in economics, political science, psychology, social work and sociology. The division offers specialized minors in non-profit management and pre-law. The many social science majors participate in the Washington D.C. internship program, which offers the opportunity to intern with political and non-profit organizations in preparation for work outside of the university.
“For all of my psychology classes besides the introduction class there is a research requirement where you have to participate in a study,” said freshman psychology major Michelle Howell.
For students who are interested in pursing a path in the social sciences, Warren said the best thing a student can do is to get as much broad-based practical experience that is possible while still working as an undergraduate.
“You will ultimately get as much assistance in growing as a professional from practical experience then you will from the classroom,” Warren said. “Psychology allows you to work in so many fields, whether it is in a business like me, in your own private practice, or as something like a writer. You can do a lot of different things. Find what you are really good at, what you really enjoy and find something that other people say ‘that really helps my life too.’ When you find that, you’ve probably found your destiny.”
Warren also said one of the reasons that Pepperdine has been so successful through the years, from everything up to the most beautiful campus in the nation, is the result of the many decisions that were made by the leadership of the university.
“I think that the leadership at Pepperdine has always been extraordinary,” Warren said.
Through his interest and pride of Pepperdine, Warren and his wife Marylyn have known past university presidents such as Earl V. Pullias and David Davenport.
“David Davenport said he wanted to have a school at Pepperdine as good as Stanford, but that was still able to foster spiritual growth,” Warren said. “We have also met President Andy Benton and became good friends with him. Since the time that we were at Pepperdine until today, they have consistently chosen great leadership, and are successful as the result of a million great decisions.”
03-29-2006