Chris Segal
News Assistant
The Honor Wall, located between the bookstore and the Waves Cafe, was dedicated Tuesday afternoon to honor former students who received a high level scholarship while attending Pepperdine. The wall honors students from over the past 10 years.
“The Honor Wall is to honor our students and to encourage our current students,” Seaver College Dean David Baird said.
Baird appropriated the idea from the Oklahoma State University atrium, which is a room dedicated to honor scholars and their mentors. Pepperdine’s Honor Wall contains pictures of 9 honorees along with pictures of who they believed to be their greatest influences, or mentors.
Dr. David Dowdey of the International Studies and Language division appears on the wall three times. One of the award-winning students who choose Dowdey as a mentor was his daughter, Ruth Dowdey, class of 1998.
“Being a mentor to your own daughter is rather easy,” Dowdey said. “It starts at birth. I am very humbled that three former students chose me as their mentor.”
The wall was funded from the Seaver Dean’s budget, said Budget Director for Seaver College Jody Semerau.
Avery Falkner of the Fine Arts division designed the art used for the wall. He said his inspiration came from different types of waves, such as sonar, radio waves, sound waves and microwaves. Falkner’s acrylic painting was started in May on a wood medium. The focus starts in the center and moves out in the form of “waves.” The blue waves and texture contribute to what Falkner described as an allusion of space.
A piece of wood is mounted on the wall, which is covered in acrylic paint and different types of waves. Etched glass containing color pictures of the honoree and their mentors hovers a few inches from the background.
“I actually love it,” senior art student Maz Ameli said. “I am going to look at it more closely later. I was laughing when (Falkner) was describing the actual painting, moving around across the piece. You can see Avery dancing around in his studio. I think it gets across the point that the waves of these lives and the ripple effect they have on (other) people’s lives.”
Alumnus Seth Gamradt from the class of 1996 was honored for receiving the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.
He is currently a five-year orthopedic resident in rotation at UCLA. Gamradt was unable to attend the dedication ceremony but his wife, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece were present.
Holly Tallon, class of 2002, works in the dean’s office and came down for the ceremony.
“I think it is neat to see what other people that I have graduated with, or graduated before or after me, what they have accomplished,” Tallon said.
09-16-2004