Reflections on Fall 2010
Women in Public Policy held the final meeting of the semester on Monday November 22, 2010. We gathered feedback on the events from the fall semester, as well as discussed upcoming and prospective events for next semester.
For the fall semester 2010, Women in Public Policy was successful in bringing a number of distinguished speakers to campus, such as Gerald Steinberg from NGO Monitor and Nigel Ashford from the Institute for Humane Studies. These speakers provided their expert insight on international issues, such as the role of NGOs in the international community and neo-liberalism in the global economy.
In addition, WPP was active in operations of the Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies Annual Conference held at the beginning of November. The conference provided the opportunity for scholars, experts, and students to present their perspectives and research on a number of important issues facing the Latin American community, such as immigration, drug trafficking and other illicit activity, culture and demographics, gender issues and politics, just to name a few.
Women in Public Policy also hosted a few social events for Fall 2010. In August, WPP hosted “Mingle on Main St” as a way to inspire social interaction among first and second year SPP students. We also hosted the “Annual Pumpkin Carving” at Drescher Apartments Commons, where we cooked hotdogs and craved pumpkins to get into the Halloween spirit. These events were a lot of fun and helped to build relationships within the SPP student body.
In addition to these events, WPP was also a registered group for “Step Forward Day 2011,” where we embarked on a local service project to document the location and condition coastal access passages in the city of Malibu. The project was a great success and students and faculty came out in record numbers to engage in the day of service.
We plan to continue this trend the next semester by staying true to our mission to inspire academic enrichment on Pepperdine Campus as well as motivating the SPP student body. With that being said, we plan to invite a variety of speakers to campus to discuss the various roles of public service, as well as topics pertaining to international security.
WPP is also in the process of sponsoring a deployed United States soldier through the non-profit HeroBox.Org. If anyone is interested in donating or receiving more information in general, feel free to contact any WPP Executive Board member.
As always, Women in Public Policy is interested in any suggestions for possible speaker topics or contacts, as well as recommendations on service projects. It has been a great semester, and we look forward to the Spring semester!
