Faculty Retreats
The Center for Faith and Learning sponsors retreats for incoming and established faculty at Pepperdine to have in-depth discussion of the integration of faith and learning.
New Faculty Retreat
Established in 2002, approximately 200 faculty and administrators from all five Pepperdine schools have participated in this program. Participating faculty and staff travel to an International Program site for an intensive workshop; participants explore their roles as Christian teachers and scholars and learn more fully about Pepperdine's vocation as a Christian university. Workshop participants regularly highlight this as a profoundly formative early career experience that shapes their vocational identity, provides a strong sense of community, and fosters a deep resonance with Pepperdine's Christian mission.
“The new faculty retreat was a career-changing experience for me. It allowed me to fuse the ideas of career, teaching, faith, and vocation in a way that I had never done before. In the year since returning from the retreat, I view my role as a Christian professor differently than before – I see myself not as a Christian and also a professor; rather, as a professor whose Christianity permeates everything I do in my career.”
- Participating Faculty Member
Mid-Career Faculty Retreat
Inaugurated in 2013, the "mid-career" retreat is for tenured faculty who did not have the opportunity to participate in the new faculty retreat.
Our goal is to integrate increased numbers of the Pepperdine community into a robust discussion of the spiritual dimension of the university. Such a retreat will empower a significantly larger portion of the university community to articulate and embrace the Christian mission of the school.