Pepperdine University Mourns the Passing of Seaver College Professor Emeritus Dan Caldwell
Pepperdine University is saddened to announce the passing of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science Dan Caldwell, who died on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, at the age of 76. For 43 years Caldwell taught courses on international politics, international security, and US foreign policy at Seaver College.
“Early in my career at Pepperdine, I looked for role models to emulate who exhibited great teaching, meaningful scholarship, and commitment to Pepperdine’s Christian mission. It was easy to identify Dan as one of the leaders at Seaver College in all three of those areas,” says Lee Kats, interim dean of Seaver College. “His commitment to students, student-veterans, and academic excellence at Seaver was always paramount throughout his career. We are a better place because of Dan’s dedication to Pepperdine.”
Born on May 12, 1948, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Caldwell first came to California when his father’s service in the US Navy brought the family to San Diego. He attended San Marino High School, where he served as class president and co-captain of the varsity tennis team. Caldwell then earned his bachelor’s degree at Stanford University. While studying abroad in Vienna, Austria, he met his wife, Lora Jean Ferguson. Wedded in Honolulu, Hawaii, Lora’s hometown, the two were married for 54 years.
Caldwell received a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Upon graduation, he followed in his father’s footsteps and entered active duty in the US Navy. When he was assigned to teach national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, he instructed—and assigned grades to—officers who outranked him. During his service in the navy, Caldwell was also a staff assistant in the Office of Emergency Preparedness, Executive Office of the President, in Washington, DC.
Caldwell then returned to Stanford, where he earned an MA and PhD in political science, studying under one of the nation’s preeminent foreign policy scholars, Alexander L. George. He began his career at Pepperdine in 1978 and made an immediate impact on both colleagues and students.
Distinguished Professor of Economics Bob Sexton, who arrived at Pepperdine a year after Caldwell, said of his social science peer, “I was the recipient of many of his practical jokes, which meant he liked me. We immediately became great friends, meeting for lunch to discuss our futures almost every Friday for the next 45 years. Personally, Dan was a mentor, a source of true inspiration, and a great friend.”
Caldwell twice served as president of the Seaver College faculty. He played significant roles in growing and enhancing the political science program and launching the international studies program. Caldwell was a strong and persistent advocate for high academic standards for students and greater research opportunities for faculty. He was integral in establishing the Scholarship Initiatives Office on campus, which continues to help Pepperdine students become viable candidates for competitive fellowships.
Caldwell was also a tireless advocate for Pepperdine’s many student-veterans. He founded the Pepperdine Committee on Student-Veterans, which ultimately led to the creation of the Office of Student-Veteran Affairs in 2020. Through this initiative and other similar efforts, Caldwell has helped veterans at Seaver College access resources to enrich their educational experience. In 2023 he was present as the University opened its inaugural on-campus resource for student-veterans—the PeppVet Center, which now supports more than 500 students.
Caldwell was an award-winning teacher and an internationally recognized scholar on topics related to US foreign policy and international security. He had visiting appointments at the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and Brown University, where he helped to establish the Center for Foreign Policy Development (now the Watson Center). Caldwell was also a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and, for many years, the chair of its academic outreach initiative.
"Dan stood out to me as an inspirational teacher for Pepperdine's best students, and he always made them better,” says Ed Larson, Pepperdine University’s Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law and University Professor of History. “So many of the Seaver students who took classes from both of us would tell me how much Dan meant to them. In the classroom, Dan changed lives through his teaching."
Caldwell maintained an active research agenda and authored five books, edited another five, and published more than 60 academic papers on international relations, US foreign policy, and Soviet and Russian politics. During the height of the Cold War, he organized and led joint teams of US and Soviet students and professionals on visits to both countries to promote cultural and political understanding.
“Professor Caldwell will live on through the many students he inspired over his decades of teaching,” says Amelia Dal Pra (’17), a former student. “He had a special talent for igniting intellectual curiosity, affirming the gifts and passions of students, and encouraging the pursuit of impactful careers. He was present, kind, considerate, and will forever be remembered as shaping the personal and professional journeys of hundreds of Pepperdine graduates.”
Caldwell is survived by his wife, Lora; children, Beth and her husband, Joel Medina, Ellen, and John (’06) and his wife, Nadya Tolokonnikova; and grandchildren, Evelyn (Evie) and Emiliano.
Pepperdine University will host a memorial service and reception on Saturday, February 22, at 2 PM at Gulls Way Courtyard on the Drescher Graduate Campus.