Graduate School of Education & Psychology to Celebrate 2016 Commencement Ceremony

The Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology 2016 education and psychology division commencement ceremonies will take place at Alumni Park on the Malibu campus on Saturday, May 21. The education division ceremony will take place at 10 AM, followed by the psychology division ceremony at 2:30 PM.

2016 Commencement Speakers

Michelle King, superintendent of schools of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second-largest district in the nation, will deliver the Education Division commencement address to the 2016 education graduates and will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Additionally, Andrew Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission, will be presented with an honorary Doctor of Psychology degree at the psychology division ceremony.

Dedicating 30 years to her career in education and to the students of L.A. Unified, King is a veteran having worked as a teacher, coordinator, assistant principal, principal, chief administrator of secondary instruction, local district superintendent, chief of staff to the superintendent, senior deputy superintendent, and chief deputy superintendent – all of which led to her current role as the superintendent of schools of LAUSD.

King was recently named Woman of the Year by the non-profit organization, Women On Target, an advocacy group supporting leaders in Southern California’s African-American community.

As CEO of Union Rescue Mission, Bales had a pivotal role in reshaping hospital and governmental policies related to “dumping” of homeless patients from hospitals on to the streets of Skid Row, as well as assisting in the development of transitional housing for mothers and their children living in the Mission’s downtown facility and in neighboring SRO hotels in and around Skid Row. Bales’s present focus is organizing and working with community partners to make a commitment to ending homelessness in Los Angeles by a significant number within the next 7 – 10 years.

Bales has many awards and honors for his community service, including: being named as the 930^th Point of Light by President George Bush in 1992, receiving the 1999 Des Moines NAACP Community Service Award, and receiving the 2004 Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Pasadena. He has been featured in Leadership Journal’s article “Great to Good Churches”, CBS’s 60 Minutes, NBC’s Dateline, CNN and social media, and is a frequent guest speaker at conferences, schools, and clubs. Rev.