Dan E. Caldwell

Pepperdine University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science Dan Caldwell, who died on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, at the age of 76. For 43 years Caldwell taught courses on international politics, international security, and US foreign policy at Seaver College. Born on May 12, 1948, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Caldwell first came to California when his father’s service in the US Navy brought the family to San Diego. Caldwell then earned his bachelor’s degree at Stanford University. While studying abroad in Vienna, Austria, he met his wife, Lora Jean Ferguson. Wedded in Honolulu, Hawaii, Lora’s hometown, the two were married for 54 years. Caldwell received a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Upon graduation, he followed in his father’s footsteps and entered active duty in the US Navy. During his service in the navy, Caldwell was also a staff assistant in the Office of Emergency Preparedness, Executive Office of the President, in Washington, DC. Caldwell then returned to Stanford, where he earned an MA and PhD in political science, studying under one of the nation’s preeminent foreign policy scholars, Alexander L. George. He began his career at Pepperdine in 1978. Caldwell is survived by his wife, Lora; children, Beth and her husband, Joel Medina, Ellen, and John (’06) and his wife, Nadya Tolokonnikova; and grandchildren, Evelyn (Evie) and Emiliano.