W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series

Pepperdine University's Seaver College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences is proud to present the W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series. When available, videos of past events are available online in the archives below.

The Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible through the support of Melanie and Richard Flamminio, the Seaver College Board of Visitors, and the Seaver Parents Association.

Event Schedule 2026 - 2027

“Pursuit of Happiness and America at 250”
Jeffrey Rosen
Tuesday, November 17, 2026 | 5:00 PM | Elkins Auditorium

For America 250, bestselling author and CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center, Jeffrey Rosen, explores the principles at the core of the American Idea. In his book, The Pursuit of Happiness, he shows how the Founders embraced the classical definition of happiness as being good rather than feeling good, the pursuit of long term virtue rather than short term pleasure. In The Pursuit of Liberty, Rosen shows how the clashing visions of Hamilton and Jefferson balance liberty and power in a debate that continues to define—and divide—our country: Jefferson championed states’ rights and individual liberties, while Hamilton pushed for a strong Federal government and a powerful executive. Drawing on both books, Rosen will explore how Americans of different perspectives have continued to embrace the core principles of the American Idea – liberty, equality, government by consent, and the pursuit of happiness – even as they have disagreed about how to balance those principles throughout American history.

"On the Possibility of Business as an Object of Study in Christian Ethics"
Dr. Jooho Lee
Wednesday, January 27, 2027 | Noon | Payson Library, Surfboard Room
Partnership with Pepperdine Libraries and the W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series

Business can be distinguished from other forms of human activity by the centrality of profit-seeking, which refers to any set of activities that are undertaken for the sake of engaging in the market process to buy inputs and sell outputs to realize economic gains that exceed their costs. Although Christian ethicists have been reflecting on subjects such as work, capitalism, and markets for a long time, the centrality of profit-seeking in business merits further scholarly attention because there are no obvious solutions to the ethical issues that it raises. Business apologists tend to ignore or underestimate the ethical problems; whereas its critics tend to conflate them with other concerns that do not necessarily attach to it. One possible way forward may be to pay closer attention to the role that the price mechanism plays in coordinating knowledge and to ask if profits can be pursued for the sake of inviting others to join in the Missio Dei. Explore this topic further with Seaver College professor Jooho Lee at his W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture entitled "On the possibility of business as an object of study in Christian ethics."

“Homegrown National Park: Conversation at Home”
Doug Tallamay
Tuesday, March 9, 2027 | Noon | Payson Library, Surfboard Room
Partnership with Pepperdine Libraries and the W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series

Our parks, preserves, and remaining wildlands – no matter how grand in scale – are too small and separated from one another to sustain the native trees, plants, insects, and animals on which our ecosystems depend. In his W. David Baird Distinugished Lecture entitled,“Homegrown National Park: Conversation at Home,” Doug Tallamay will address this very issue. Tallamy specifically claims that, "We can fix this problem by practicing conservation outside of wildlands, where we live, work, shop, farm, and ranch. Thus, the concept for Homegrown National Park (HNP): a national challenge to create diverse ecosystems in our yards, communities, farms, and surrounding lands by reducing lawn, planting native, and removing invasives. The goal of HNP is to create a national movement to restore 20 million acres with natives, an area representing half of what is now in lawn, as well as millions more acres in agriculture and woodlots. We are at a critical point where we are losing so many native plant and animal species that our life support systems are in jeopardy. However, if many people make small changes, we can restore healthy ecological networks and weather the changes ahead."