Chef Jim Douglas   In the mid–1960s when Jim Douglas stood on tiptoe at the kitchen counter and pinched perogies for his Grandma Helen, she thought she was simply keeping the five–year–old busy making the dumplings from her homeland in Poland. Little did she know that her... Read More →

Dr. William Hall   At the age of 3, Dr. William Hall, Dean of Chapman University's College of Performing Arts, decided that he wanted to be a concert pianist. With that goal in mind, he practiced for hours a day until he auditioned with the famed Fanchon... Read More →

Dr. Vernon Smith & Dr. Stephen Rassenti   One of Vernon Smith’s earliest memories involves fixing a broken clock. “I was under the age of six at the time, and I vividly remember the thrill of taking apart the clock, putting it back together and seeing it work... Read More →

Dr. Esmael Adibi   In the early 1970s, when Esmael Adibi took a college entrance exam in his native Iran and the results determined he would major in economics, Chapman’s Director of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research had only a vague notion of what his... Read More →

Dean Bob Bassett   Today if Bob Bassett were to grade the first film he created, the professor and dean of Chapman University’s renowned Dodge College of Film and Media Arts would have probably given himself a poor mark. “Though at the time I thought the movie was the... Read More →

Dr. James Doti Listen to James Doti speak and you’ll be surprised to find that he once struggled with a serious speech impediment. “It wasn’t until I was 7 or 8 years old that I began communicating clearly enough to be understood by others,” says Chapman University’s president,... Read More →

Dr. John C. Eastman   When Dr. John C. Eastman joined Chapman University in 1999 as a professor of law, he had no intenions of becoming Dean of the University’s School of Law. After the former dean retired and a replacement search began, though, Eastman... Read More →