Big Honor for Pepperdine Professor

Joseph Wolpe, a psychology professor at the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology, has been awarded the Psi Chi National Distinguished Member Award. He is one of only 11 individuals to have received the national honor in the society’s 64-year history. Psi Chi is a national organization with chapters at more than 700 universities and is affiliated with the American Psychological Assn. and the American Psychological Society. The award was presented to the Westwood resident during Pepperdine University’s chapter dinner in Long Beach.

Wolpe was recognized for his pioneering work in therapeutic methods for treating depression and anxiety disorders.

“I am very pleased (about the award),” the 78-year-old professor said. “This is a noteworthy one.”

Born and reared in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wolpe discovered a passion for science as a young student. At the age of 18, he enrolled in a medical training course sponsored by the British Commonwealth and later volunteered in the South African Medical Corps.

Wolpe was posted at a base that received a large number of war neurosis cases. His work with those patients sparked his interest in delving deeper into the human psyche.

After his discharge from the army, Wolpe began work on a doctorate degree in psychiatry at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he conducted research on neurosis in cats. His research indicated that an anxiety disorder could be significantly reduced by behavior therapy.

Wolpe opened a private practice and wanted to apply his findings to humans but found it difficult to attract patients. He also found a lack of support from the local psychiatric community because they thought that his findings went against established psychological practices.

“I had all the facts on my side,” he said. “It made no sense to give up because I knew that I was right (about my findings).” The determined psychologist continued his research and, in 1954, his first article was published in a psychiatric journal. The next year brought a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

Wolpe returned to South Africa but found that it did not offer the intellectual stimulation that the United States had. He accepted a professorship in the department of psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine before he moving on to the Temple University School of Medicine a few years later.

During the next two decades, his career flourished at the Philadelphia university and resulted in the establishment of a behavior therapy unit as well as the publication of numerous articles and clinical manuals. He retired from his duties in 1982 and moved to Southern California to be closer to his two sons.

However, Wolpe’s retirement was not permanent. In 1989, he returned to the classroom to teach part time at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology and UCLA.

And for the future, he says he plans to continue working as long as possible.

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The La Jolla Playhouse has appointed Anna Stramese director of the La Jolla Playhouse Conservatory Program.

The Santa Monica resident will oversee the intensive training program that runs from June 28 through Aug. 20.

Stramese, an actress and director, holds degrees from Smith College and USC School of Cinema. She is a member of the USC faculty and teaches acting and text analysis in the conservatory program in the School of Theatre.

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Cathy McElwain has received an $89,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue studies on genetic research.

McElwain, an assistant professor of biology at Loyola Marymount University, is studying the mechanisms by which genes are regulated within the eyes of fruit flies and how a regulatory sequence can affect neighboring genes.

The Westchester resident was one of 36 recipients selected from a field of 119 applicants.

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Santa Monica College Academic Senate President Elmer Bugg has been elected South Region representative of the Academic Senate of California Community Colleges.

Bugg, of Mar Vista, will represent more than 50 campuses throughout Southern California. The business professor’s two-year term will begin July 1.

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Attorney Daniel Mayeda has been named president of the Asian Pacific Alumni of UCLA, a 300-member support organization of the UCLA Alumni Assn.

Mayeda, a resident of Culver City, earned his bachelor’s in 1979 and graduated from the UCLA School of Law in 1982. He is a partner with the Los Angeles law firm of Leopold, Petrich & Smith.

He is also a member of “Direction 21,” a citizen task force appointed by the City Council of Culver City to engage in long-range planning and policy formation.

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The Airport Marina Counseling Service has named five new members to its board of directors.

The new members are Robert Reiss, Pierre Basbous, Maxine Junge, Pat Russell and Mary Beth Padberg.

The Airport Counseling Service is a nonprofit, outpatient mental health clinic that serves the Los Angeles area.

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