Philosopher and Legal Scholar Robert P. George Joins Faculty at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law and School of Public Policy.
Princeton University professor Robert George has been named the inaugural Nootbaar Honorary Distinguished Professor of Law at the Caruso School of Law and the Ronald Reagan Honorary Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. George will commence his new roles at Pepperdine in fall 2021 and serve a five-year term. He will continue to serve as McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University where he is a full-time faculty member. As an honorary distinguished professor at both schools, he will be invited to give academic lectures, lead student colloquia, and participate in other speaking engagements with members of the Pepperdine community.
“I am delighted that Dr. George has accepted our invitation to affiliate with our schools of public policy and law as an honorary distinguished professor. His national platform and influential voice will elevate the conversation of respectful discourse and intellectual freedom at Pepperdine,” said Jim Gash (JD ’93), president of Pepperdine University. “Dr. George brings to Pepperdine his passion to invest in the leadership development of students, which is one of our most cherished core values.”
George was introduced to the University community at the inaugural President’s Speaker Series event in January 2021, where he joined fellow professor and political scholar Cornel West for a discussion about honesty, civility and courage through the lens of faith. During the event George expressed that universities have a sacred mission to open students’ minds to the truth and to encourage the pursuit of information from opposing sides in order to better understand and defend the truth.
“Pepperdine is one of the world’s truly great Christian universities—an institution that embodies the conviction that faith and reason are the ‘two wings on which the human spirit ascends to contemplation of truth,’” said George. “Some years ago I was delighted to speak at Pepperdine’s Commencement and become an honorary alumnus. I’m thrilled now to deepen my relationship with the University’s exceptional faculty and student body by becoming an honorary distinguished professor of law and public policy.”
The Ronald Reagan Honorary Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, which is the most distinguished of the School of Public Policy’s visiting professorships, was launched in the program’s first years and approved by Nancy Reagan. As the school’s first-ever visiting professorship, and the only professorship in the president’s name at any policy program in the United States, the position was initially endowed and facilitated by University supporter Flora L. Thornton.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Swarthmore College, George holds degrees from Harvard University and Oxford University, in addition to 22 honorary degrees. He is a recipient of the US Presidential Citizens Medal, the Honorific Medal for the Defense of Human Rights of the Republic of Poland, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. The University of Dallas and the American Enterprise Institute host the Robert P. George Initiative in Faith, Ethics, and Public Policy in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is Conscience and Its Enemies.
To learn more about Dr. Robert George visit the Pepperdine Newsroom.
