Howard A. White

In 1972, Howard Ashley White was Pepperdine's executive vice president. He was largely responsible for the day-to-day operation of the university while chancellor Norvel Young and president William Banowsky raised money for the new Malibu campus.¹ White was among the earliest Pepperdiners to move to Malibu, moving to a home near Trancas in December 1971.²

White had been a student (and later a professor) at sister-school David Lipscomb College in Nashville. He followed Norvel Young to Pepperdine after Young became president in 1957.³

White went on to succeed Banowsky in the presidency, serving in that role from 1978 to 1985.⁴ A professor of history before his administrative turn, White was the last president of Pepperdine to hold a PhD. Both the HAWC student center and the university's teaching award are named for White. Dorm 6 (White house) is named in honor of his wife, Maxcine Feltman White, who died in 1973.