IEMS Leadership
We live in a time of pervasive media and persistent entertainment, waking up to our smartphones and falling asleep to social media. In between, we are texting, browsing, listening, posting, and streaming using individually owned, permanently connected mobile, interactive digital devices. Behind those devices, other technologies have significantly lowered the barriers and costs of media and entertainment production, while the internet has disrupted traditional distribution channels and players. For digitally savvy creative artists, entertainment entrepreneurs, lawyers, and executives, this is a time of attractive alternative paths and unprecedented opportunity.
At Pepperdine, we immerse ourselves in the digital disruption of entertainment and media while reflecting on the next waves that we envision for these fields. We explore the kinds of stories we want to tell, what impact we have on society, and how we can enable successful careers in the creative economy. Lastly, we conduct forward-thinking industry research that drives our programming and curriculum.
Join us at IEMS as we help shape enriching educational experiences that will cultivate creative artists, mentor media makers and managers, educate entertainment entrepreneurs, lawyers and executives, and enrich culture and society.
We look forward to your participation and engagement and are excited to meet you!
We became a part of the Graziadio Business School in 2022 and can’t wait to engage
in all the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. Explore the 2020-2021 annual IEMSC Report to see what we got up to last year.
Leadership Team
Nelson Granados, PhD
Graziadio Business School
Nelson Granados is a Professor of Information Systems and Technology Management at the Graziadio Business School. He actively combines academia with practice as a member of the Board of Advisors for technology start-ups. He is a frequent contributor to the Media & Entertainment section of Forbes and his broad research interests are related to the strategic and economic consequences of digital innovation. His current focus is on the impact of digital technologies in the travel, media, and entertainment industries.
Joi Carr, PhD
Professor of English and Film
Film Program Director
Academic Director, Institute for Entertainment‚ Media‚ and Sports
Seaver College
Joi Carr is a Professor of English and Film Studies and the director of the film studies program at Seaver College. She also serves as the creative/program director of the Multicultural Theatre Project (MTP) and the annual Engage Symposium at the American Film Market (AFM). Carr frames literature and history as theatrical experiences to provide a creative space for students to explore the multidimensionality of diversity: intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. She is also known for her publication Boyz N the Hood: Shifting Hollywood Terrain (2018), which is a seminal monograph in John Singleton and his history-making film.
Maureen Weston
Professor of Law
Academic Director, Institute for Entertainment‚ Media‚ and Sports
Caruso School of Law
Maureen Weston is a Professor of Law at the Caruso School of Law and teaches courses on arbitration, mediation, negotiation, international dispute resolution, legal ethics, and US and international sports law. She serves as faculty advisor to the Sports & Entertainment Law Society and Dispute Resolution Journal, and as a coach for ICC Mediation Advocacy and Sports & Entertainment Law Negotiation competitions. A frequent speaker at conferences, Professor Weston is also a coauthor of casebooks on sports law and arbitration and has written numerous articles in the area of Olympic and International Sports Arbitration, disability law, sports law, and dispute resolution.
Amy Zwagerman (MBA, '18)
Program Manager, Institute for Entertainment, Media, and Sports
Amy Zwagerman(MBA, ‘18) is an entertainment industry insider with extensive experience overseeing the marketing and distribution of film and television properties at global media companies including 20th Century Fox, ESPN and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. With a passion for sports and entertainment, pop culture, and technology, Amy is a brand champion for the new millennium. Amy received her MBA from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School and MS in marketing from the University of Arizona and has been running her own marketing services and advisory firm, the Launch Box, since 2016. She considers it a privilege to help students access valuable real-world experiences and learning opportunities through the IEMS and is co-author of The MEDIA Report: Media & Entertainment Data in America with Dr. Nelson Granados. Amy also regularly serves as a marketing advisor and host through CoFoundersLab and is an active mentor in the PeppConnect and University of Arizona Alumni networks.