Photo courtesy Robin Springer

Robin Springer, a 1988 Seaver alumna and founder of Computer Talk, a distributor of voice-activation software.

By Laurie Babinski

     One platinum BMW Z8 roadster identical to James Bond’s car in “The World is not Enough.”
     Two matching sets of diamond and platinum garland necklaces and earrings from Tiffany and Co.
     That’s what $125,360, the current price of a four-year Pepperdine undergraduate education, can buy in material goods.
     The skyrocketing cost of higher education in America has left students with an increasing stack of bills upon graduation. Sixty-three percent of Pepperdine students are handed their diplomas with an average of $24,117 of debt, the fifth highest in the country. Such daunting statistics often leave students wondering: what advantages will their Pepperdine degree provide for them after graduation?
     “Other than instant wealth?” joked Chris L. Sangster, director of Advancement and Alumni Relations and Seaver ‘75 alumnus.
Sangster, who organizes the vast network of Seaver alumni, believes that prestige is the first benefit for graduates.
     “When I graduated from Pepperdine, it wasn’t the school it is now,” Sangster said. “You mentioned the name Pepperdine, and people’s reaction was ‘Pepperwhat? Pepperwhere?’” The reaction, Sangster notes, has changed in the twenty-five years since his graduation.
     The 2000 U.S. News and World Report ranking that listed Pepperdine as 49th in the country reflects the increasing recognition of the Pepperdine name. With name recognition comes prestige, Sangster believes, and the benefit for graduates of having graduate schools and employers familiar with the name and eager to hire Pep alumni.
     “As the reputation of Pepperdine is growing, [a Pepperdine degree] is more valuable every year, opening more doors to graduates,” Sangster said.
     Reputation and a diploma alone, however, are not a formula for success. “You will leave college with two important pieces of paper: your diploma and your resume,” said Kathie Kieran-Johnson, director and career counselor in the Center for Career and Academic Advising. “And the diploma is not the first thing employers look at.”
     Kieran-Johnson, a former entry-level recruiter for a Fortune 500 company and a small advertising agency, often noticed that the highest quality and highest caliber students interviewed came from small, private Christian universities.
   “A 4.0 with nothing else was not very attractive,” Kieran-Johnson said. “The best prospects not only had the grades, their answers to my questions were always thorough and thoughtful in the right way,” Kieran-Johnson said. “That definitely reflected back on their education. I felt like I was talking to almost a peer rather than a college kid, leaving me rarely, if ever, disappointed.”
     Kieran-Johnson attributes “more mature, more whole and more complete” students to the environment provided at schools like Pepperdine. The Christian environment and atmosphere, according to Kieran-Johnson, leaves students with a greater ability to speak thoughtfully about everything from ethics to basic human respect.
Kieran-Johnson left the private sector because she wanted to work with the best of the best. “I work with the best students here,” she said.
    As a career counselor, Kieran-Johnson encourages students to start their career search early and gain experience through internships and on- and off-campus jobs.
      Involved in SGA and the Psi Upsilon fraternity, sophomore Political Science major Lee Diaz believes that the majority of his education comes from outside the classroom.
     “A Pep degree can take you as far as you’re willing to have it take you,” Diaz said. “The simple fact is that no matter what you accomplish here at school or how much your degree costs, unless you utilize what you’ve learned the best way possible, it won’t do you any good.”
     “You absolutely get out of your Pepperdine degree what you put into it, which means you’ve got to put into it,” Kieran-Johnson said. Her goal is to encourage involvement as well as help with the development of resumes, cover letters and interviewing skills, starting in the freshman year. “A Pepperdine degree alone can’t get you a job, fame or success, but it can give you everything up until that point,” she said.
     Once a student graduates, however, their comprehensive Pepperdine education can yield career connections and support. With nearly 60,000 alumni, Sangster believes that it is the comparatively small size of the school that provides the students part of what they are paying for - connections.
     “It’s not like UCLA where you meet a person once and never see them again,” Sangster said. “The majority of the friends you make here will be your friends for life and will help you get where you want to go professionally.”
     Sangster maintains a database of thousands of Seaver alumni, facilitating alumni networking. At Reunion Zero, the first reunion of Seaver alumni immediately after graduation, students are presented with license plate frames and alumni packets explaining the resources available to them.
     Included in the benefits are lifetime e-mail at [username]@pepalum.edu, discounts, a copy of the Pepperdine University Career & Business Journal and a database form.
The database form, the most crucial part of the package, allows graduates to enter their personal information as well as future employment. Sangster and his staff then compile the information into a complete database that can be searched by geographical location, career field, major or year at any time by a Seaver alumnus looking for connections.
     The array of fields in which alumni have excelled is broad. Recently, popular attention has focused on Dain Blanton, ‘94 Seaver alumnus and 2000 beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist, and Ezola Foster, ‘73 MBA graduate and Patrick Buchanan’s 2000 Reform Party presidential running mate.
     Attention has also been drawn in recent years to Graziadio alumnus Christos M. Cotsakos, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of E*TRADE Group, Inc. and Seaver alumna Jami Miscik, CIA associate deputy director for intelligence.
     The database connecting alumni, according to Sangster, is only the first step.
     Once connected, many alumni choose to stay active through regular alumni activities. “Pepperdine Voice,” a newspaper that highlights alumni activities, features, sports and class notes from across the country, is distributed quarterly. Pepperdine alumni chapters in most major metropolitan areas offer opportunities for networking and advancement. Each chapter has at least 400 alumni within a 30-mile radius.
     Chapter activities include softball games, picnics and annual reunions at the Hollywood Bowl and Concerts in the Park as well as the alumni bleachers at the Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade.
     “The bottom line is that when someone graduates from here, we know who they are and want to stay in touch with them,” Sangster said. “You’re getting more than you pay for, and we hope you appreciate that.”