W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series

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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 2025 - 2026

Exit from International Organizations
Dr. Felicity Vabulas
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | 11:30am | Payson Library, Surfboard Room

Dr. Felicity Vabulas is the Blanche E. Seaver Associate Professor of International Studies at Pepperdine University. Vabulas' research focuses on the political economy of international cooperation. She recently coauthored Exit from International Organizations, which discusses states' departures from multinational groups and the effects they have for the exiting state. A thought leader in the field of international relations, Vabulas has contributed to numerous academic journals and books. She earned a PhD in public policy from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

"The Meaning of 1776"
Dr. Ed Larson
Wednesday, January 28, 2026 | 11:30 AM | Payson Library, Surfboard Room
Partnership with Pepperdine Libraries and the W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series
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Pepperdine Libraries is pleased to partner with Seaver College's W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series for a talk by Edward J. Larson on his latest book, Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters. At the beginning of 1776, virtually no one in the colonies was advocating independence: Americans based their grievances against Parliament on their rights as British subjects. By the end of 1776, independence was on every patriot’s lips. The many tyrannies of a king had made an independent republic necessary. In Declaring Independence, Larson gives us a compact, insightful history of that pivotal year.

Minding Justice: Mental Health and Criminal Law
Dr. Kate Bonnici
Wednesday, February 11, 2026 | 11:30am | Surfboard Room | In Partnership with Pepperdine Libraries
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Dr. Kate Bolton Bonnici is an assistant professor of English at Pepperdine University, where she directs the Social Action and Justice Colloquium. Bonnici is an interdisciplinary scholar who recently published A True & Just Record, about the English witch trials; her debut poetry collection, Night Burial, won the 2020 Colorado Prize for Poetry. She previously worked as a litigator in Alabama and California. Bonnici earned a JD at New York University, followed by an MFA in poetry at the University of California, Riverside, and a PhD in English from the University of California, Los Angeles.

In “Minding Justice: Mental Health and Criminal Law,” Dr. Bonnici incorporates insights from her work in rhetorics, early modern studies, and criminal defense to introduce Mental Health in Criminal Justice: A Practical Guide for Legal and Clinical Professionals, a book she is co-editing with Dr. Diomaris Safi (UCLA) and that will be published by the American Bar Association. Mental Health in Criminal Justice brings together experts in forensic psychology, neuropsychology, and law. The book provides crucial, accessible resources to improve representation of individuals with mental health concerns who are involved in the criminal legal system. The result will be more just outcomes.

"Always November" is a two-part event featuring the W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series and the RISE Summit, highlighting Arik Housley (’96) and his book Always November: Lessons in Loss, Love, and Resilience. The event honors the memory of Alaina Housley, Pepperdine student and Arik’s daughter, who tragically lost her life in the 2018 mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California. Through Arik Housley’s story, the event emphasizes themes of resilience, hope, and purpose, fostering reflection and connection through storytelling, dialogue, and community engagement.

The Science of Loving Our Neighbors: Equity in Real Life
Dr. Emily Smith
Tuesday, March 10, 2026 | 5 PM | Smothers Theatre
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Dr. Emily Smith is an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine/Surgery at Duke University and an associate professor of global health at the Duke Global Health Institute. She researches global pediatric cancer and health economics, studying such concerns in Africa and Latin America. Smith recently published The Science of the Good Samaritan: Thinking Bigger about Loving Our Neighbors, and is known for her Substack, Friendly Neighbor Epidemiologist. She earned a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and the Great Environmental Awakening
Dr. Douglas Brinkley
Tuesday, March 31, 2026 | 11:30am | Payson Library, Surfboard Room
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Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, presidential historian for the New-York Historical Society and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Archives Foundation, the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress, and both the Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Libraries. The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “America’s New Past Master”. He is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates in American studies Brinkley has written/edited three New York Times bestselling books on Ronald Reagan: The Boys of Point du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion (2005); The Reagan Diaries (2007); and The Notes (2011). More recently, his two-volume, annotated Nixon Tapes (2014-15) won the Arthur S. Link–Warren F. Kuehl Prize. Brinkley has also written on World War II, the Vietnam War, the National Parks system, John F. Kennedy, Rosa Parks, Gerald R. Ford, Bob Dylan, Hurricane Katrina, Henry Ford and Walter Cronkite which all received critical acclaim. Six of his nonfiction books have been chosen as New York Times’s “Notable Books of the Year”. Brinkley has also won two Grammy Awards in the jazz category for the albums Presidential Suite and Fandango at the Wall. He lives in Austin, Texas with his family.

View Past Lectures