Kyoto
Program Staff
For any questions regarding Faculty and Staff please reach out to the Associate Dean of International Programs, Fiona Stewart.
Faculty-in-Residence 2026-2027
Fall 2026
Dr. Stella Erbes
Divisional Dean of Humanities and Teacher Education at Seaver College
Dr. Stella Erbes is a Professor of Teacher Education and the Divisional Dean of Humanities and Teacher Education at Seaver College. Since joining Pepperdine in 2002, she has taught first-year seminars and a range of education courses, including Instructional Design, Educational Technology, and Advanced Teaching Methods. Dr. Erbes earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and her master’s degrees in Education and Spanish from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and holds a B.A. in Spanish and K–12 teaching credentials from Seaver College. Deeply committed to high-quality teaching and mentorship, Dr. Erbes received the Howard A. White Teaching Award for Excellence in 2019 and Pepperdine’s IMPACT Service Award in 2021–2022. Dr. Erbes lives in Moorpark with her husband, Richard, and they have two adult sons—Josh (PGBS & Seaver ’19) and Jacob (Seaver ’22)—both of whom participated in Seaver’s international programs in Heidelberg and Buenos Aires. In fall 2018, Dr. Erbes and her husband served as the faculty family in Shanghai, where she taught COM 180 and EDUC 461, and in summer 2024, she taught COM 180 while serving as the Faculty-in-Residence in Buenos Aires. Her research includes investigating the impact of study abroad experiences upon college students. A lifelong language learner, Dr. Erbes speaks English, Spanish, Italian, and Korean, and is currently adding Japanese to her repertoire. She looks forward to expanding her language skills in Japan—and discovering new “stellar stops” to feature on her food and travel blog (@stellarstops).
Spring 2027
Cynthia Colburn
cynthia.colburn@pepperdine.edu
Blanche E. Seaver Chair of Fine Arts and Professor of Art History
Cynthia Colburn is the Blanche E. Seaver Chair of Fine Arts and Professor of Art History at Pepperdine University where she has received two awards for excellence in teaching. She earned her doctorate in Art History from UCLA. Her research focuses on the art and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean world, especially connections between the Aegean, West Asia, and Egypt, and the role of dress and ritual performance in identity construction and social cohesion. She has also published on global art history, and gender violence and art history. Her current research focuses on the art of grieving and mourning. Her publications include, with Ellen Caldwell and (Pepperdine art history alumna) Ella Gonzalez (eds.) Gender Violence, Art, and the Viewer: An Intervention (2024), with Maura K. Heyn (eds.), Reading a Dynamic Canvas: Adornment in the Ancient Mediterranean World, several articles, book chapters, and essays in conference proceedings, and a co-authored survey textbook, Art History: A Global View. Professor Colburn has received numerous grants, including from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Archaeological Institute of America, and the Packard Humanities Institute. Perhaps most importantly, Professor Colburn discovered her passion for art history and archaeology while studying abroad during her sophomore year of college. Since then, she has lived in Paris, Florence, Rome, Athens, and Lausanne, and she's traveled extensively throughout Europe, parts of West Asia, and S. Korea. She has also worked on archaeological excavations in Turkey, Greece, and Italy. Professor Colburn loves to explore art and architecture with students and teach about it in its original context, and she is thrilled to have the opportunity to explore Kyoto and its 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites with her students in Spring 2027.