| ts first nine-figure capital campaign, the “Wave of Excellence” campaign. The Wave of Excellence ultimately raised $137.8 million (far exceeding its $100 million goal) and its most visible benefit to the University was the construction of the five-story Charles B. Thornton Administration Center, the first building visitors encounter when entering the campus from the main gate. For a University to seriously ask itself what and how to build, and to recruit the generosity of others to share in that program, as it did in this period, presupposes the existence of a well-articulated vision and a dream about the school’s first principles. It is no mere coincidence that at this time President White deftly engaged the Pepperdine community in reconsidering its academic and spiritual purposes, which resulted in a formal reaffirmation of its connections to the Christian faith tradition and a succinct statement of its mission. In 1985 White effectively resigned from his appointment and worked with the Pepperdine regents (formerly trustees) in the year prior to eventually name successor David Davenport as sixth president of the University. In 1981 the Psychology Division from the Los Angeles Campus was merged into the School of Education now located at Pepperdine University Plaza, and one year later the school was renamed the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (“GSEP” as it is known for short in the Pepperdine community). In 1986 several major academic changes occurred: GSEP made its first offering of the doctor of psychology (Psy.D.) degree; the School of Business and Management initiated a residential MBA program on the Malibu campus, and the School of Law inaugurated the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. Within Pepperdine’s international programs, experimental London study abroad programs at Seaver and at the law school were proving successful, and the Florence summer study program for Seaver was gearing up for full-year operation in Fall 1987.
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