Skip to Content

Straus Institute

Recognizing the “Rabble-Rouser for Peace”: Going to South Africa to Bestow the Straus Institute’s Inaugural Peacemaker Award on Desmond Tutu

Thomas Stipanowich travels to South Africa to bestow the Straus Institute's inaugural Peacemaker Award on Desmond Tutu.

“You could have knocked me down with a feather . . . [I]t was almost mindboggling, that a white man could doff his hat to my mother, a black woman, really a nonentity in South Africa’s terms.” In the world of South African apartheid, a world in which racial heritage and skin color determined as a matter of law where and with whom you could live, your education and job prospects, and who you could marry, an Anglican priest’s small, instinctive act of courtesy to his mother made a huge impression on young Desmond Tutu.


Straus Institute Celebrates 25th Anniversary

Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and distinguished counsel members of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution celebrated the program’s 25th anniversary with a social gathering on June 22 at the Jonathan Club in Santa Monica, California.


Straus Institute Hosts Three International Scholars

Pepperdine School of Law’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution has a history of drawing students and professionals from throughout the world to study the program’s unique curriculum. In its 25 years of existence, and with its eight-year stint at the top of the U.S. News & World Report rankings for dispute resolution programs, Straus has hosted nine academic scholars associated with either the Fulbright or Muskie Fellowship programs. These scholars stem from diverse backgrounds in Germany, El Salvador, Egypt, Panama, Tunisia, the Czech Republic, and Moldova.


Straus Institute Ranked Number One

For Seventh Consecutive Year

The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution was recently ranked the number one dispute resolution program by U.S. News and World Report for the seventh consecutive year.


Robinson Trains Law Professors in Mediation in China

Peter Robinson, managing director of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, and associate professor of law, represented Straus in a partnership with the Beijing Arbitration Commission.