In an email sent to faculty and staff on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Pepperdine University President Jim Gash (JD ’93) announced “Courage” as the University’s annual theme for the 2026–2027 academic year.
Each year of my presidency, I have had the honor of selecting a theme to guide our reflections as we learn and grow across the life of this thriving university. From “Together” in 2019 to “Purpose” this past year, these themes invite us to consider the fundamental values that shape our community and animate our shared calling.
This year’s theme is “Courage.”
Courage does not mean never being afraid. It means taking action despite the presence of fear; following the call, even when it is difficult; doing the right thing, even when it costs. It means neither being paralyzed by fear nor acting rashly, but possessing both the wisdom to know the proper path and the spiritual fortitude to choose it.
This is a challenging idea — one that, when applied, often costs us something: our comfort, our popularity, sometimes even our safety. We are called to speak hard truths, to defend the defenseless, to walk with integrity, and to stand up in the face of injustice.
C. S. Lewis says that courage is “every virtue at a testing point.” We cannot be just, honest, or loving in any deep sense without also being courageous — because truly practicing these virtues means practicing them even when doing so is not easy. Whenever our sense of justice, our commitment to truth, and our love for our neighbor are tested, courage is what enables us to remain steadfast. Yet our courage is not ultimately based on our own abilities or our own moral fiber. It is rooted in our unshakable confidence that we have a God who is ever present, sovereign over our lives, and greater than the things we fear.
This year’s theme verse, Joshua 1:9 [NIV], captures this kind of courage vividly: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua received these words as he prepared to lead the people of Israel after God’s call, into a new land and an unknown future. His courage did not come from a certainty about what lay ahead, but from a certainty about the God who would go with them. The same assurance sustains us today: the God who calls us toward Greater Purpose also walks alongside us as we follow that call.
What does courage look like at Pepperdine?
It shows up in classrooms where difficult ideas are engaged rather than avoided — where truth has nothing to fear from investigation. It inhabits the community of faculty and staff as they strive for excellence in their disciplines and give of themselves to form their students into people of wisdom and virtue. It travels with students and alumni as they go boldly into the world both to learn and to serve — freely giving what they have freely received.
As we begin this academic year, I invite each of us to consider: Where is God calling me to be courageous? What truth must I pursue, what neighbor should I serve, and what worthy calling might I follow? How might God be seeking to shape me into a person of greater courage?
Pepperdine continues to be a place of courage because we are a community bold and unwavering in the pursuit of our mission. May we courageously pursue our Greater Purpose, knowing that the God who called us is with us wherever we go.
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