Graziadio Business School
The mission of the Graziadio Business School flows from the heart of University's founder, George Pepperdine. He was himself a Christian businessman and entrepreneur, who advocated that business education be coupled with the development of Christian character.
The chief aim of a graduate business education at the Graziadio School is to produce more than competent business professionals who pursue profit and shareholder return; in addition, the school seeks to produce business leaders who are ethical, entrepreneurial, and globally aware, and who work for collective good.
Since its establishment in 1969, the Graziadio School has made the pursuit of an advanced business degree as convenient and as practical as possible for working professionals, emphasizing programs that apply theory and employ experiential learning in small groups. Instruction is highly collaborative and team oriented. Certain elite MBA programs are cohort-based, whereby small, highly connected executive-student groups progress as a cohesive unit throughout the degree program. Graduates of the Graziadio School also take advantage of an alumni network of over 30,000. Alumni enjoy a robust schedule of ongoing workshops, lectures, and special events to keep skills up-to-date and to renew networking contacts long after graduation.
In 1996 Pepperdine's graduate business school was honored to take on the name of its principal benefactor, Mr. George L. Graziadio (1919-2002), who enjoyed a long and supportive relationship with the University. Mr. Graziadio was a Southern California entrepreneur who enjoyed a remarkable and successful career in commercial real estate development and who cofounded Imperial Bank.
With an annual enrollment of approximately 2,000, the Graziadio School offers a full-time MBA residency program on the Malibu campus, and part-time graduate study (evenings or mornings) at four graduate campuses throughout Southern California, as well as at one learning center in Santa Clara and a campus in Silicon Valley. In addition to the MBA, the business school offers a part-time bachelor's completion program (Bachelor of Science in Management), the specialized International Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Organization Development degrees, and three new master's degree offerings: the Master of Science in Global Business, the Online Master of Science in Management and Leadership, and the Master of Science in Applied Finance. In addition, the Graziadio School is accredited by AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.