earned the Research 2 (R2): High Research Activity designation from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. This classification is awarded to institutions with high levels of research activity, requiring annual research and development expenditures exceeding $5 million and the awarding of at least 20 research doctorates per year.
== Athletics ==
Pepperdine University competes in NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics. Most teams play in the West Coast Conference, but men's volleyball plays in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and men's water polo plays in the Golden Coast Conference. Pepperdine's teams are known as the Waves.
Pepperdine University is often ranked by the NACDA Director's Cup as having one of the most successful athletic programs for non-football Division I schools, ranking first on three occasions (most recently in 2011–12) and finishing in the top three eight times in the last fifteen years. Pepperdine University sponsors seventeen NCAA Division I intercollegiate …
