Alan R Email Address

Senior Director, Information Technology Client Services

Pepperdine University is an independent, medium-sized university enrolling approximately 7,300 students in five colleges and schools. The University is located on 830-acre campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu. The University was founded in 1937 by George Pepperdine, a Christian businessman who founded the Western Auto Supply Company. For the first 30 years of its life, the institution was a small, mostly undergraduate college. University status was achieved in 1970 as the institution added graduate and professional schools. In 1972, the University opened its new campus in Malibu. The purpose of Pepperdine University is to pursue the very highest academic standards within a context that celebrates and extends the spiritual and ethical ideals of the Christian faith.

A mix of creativity with an analytical mind, I strive to understand goals and pain points, then seek to offer solutions while creating goodwill within organizations. I'm a leader, educator, writer, breathwork meditation teacher, technology enthusiast, and world traveler. I currently serve as the Senior Director of Client Services at Pepperdine University, with an emphasis on faculty and staff development operations. Helping the academic community use technology to create efficiencies, address challenges, and meet teaching and learning objectives is a passion of mine. I regularly lead major strategic technology initiatives, guide teams to deliver excellent professional development programs and self-help pathways, and seek efficiencies to help my university community learn, teach, and work effectively. Some of my recent accomplishments include a division-wide position description audit and standardization project (2022), our amazing COVID-19 response for emergency remote instruction (2020-2021), the development and delivery of new faculty web accessibility resources and workshops (2021-present), assisting with the launch of Coursera@Pepperdine (2021), and contributing to major IT website redesign projects (2020-present). Past accomplishments include the development of a new IT Emergency Handbook and update processes (2020), Next Generation Support (2015-present), Technology and Learning Faculty Conferences (2013-present), IT Grants for Faculty (2012-2015), Sakai CLE Implementation (2009-2010), Blackboard Academic Suite Implementation (2006-2007), and more. When my schedule permits, I am blessed to teach undergrads the fundamentals of business computing. The class focuses on using spreadsheets (to collect, analyze, and organize data) and leveraging advanced word processing features (to summarize and communicate data analysis effectively). I am an advocate for open-source technologies in education. I have served as Program Chair for the joint 2012 Jasig-Sakai conference and the 2013-2014 Open Apereo conferences. I participated in the planning committees for the Open Apereo conference as either chair, co-chair, or committee member (2017-present). In addition to my technology accomplishments, I enjoyed working in the film and video game industries in the past. I have also led breathwork meditation classes at yoga studios in Los Angeles and love to break out my gongs and singing bowls to contribute to sound healing events ("sound baths"). I recently took up the ukelele and I'm always on the hunt for good books to read.