Gary L. Moore Research Materials on the Associated Women for Pepperdine

Gary L. Moore was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1930. Moore obtained his Bachelor of Arts in English from Abilene Christian University in 1953, and a Master's in Journalism from the University of Missouri, in 1954. Upon graduation, Moore was commissioned in the U.S. Navy as a Public Relations Officer and left active duty in 1958 as a Lieutenant.

In May 1958, Moore was appointed the Publicity and Publications Director at Pepperdine University. In 1961, he left Pepperdine for a career in the life insurance industry. In 1984, Moore returned to Pepperdine as the Director of Educational Centers. Pepperdine recognized the need for educational facilities where fully employed individuals could pursue college educations without giving up their jobs. At the time, Pepperdine had five off-campus centers throughout the Los Angeles basin for this purpose.

In the early 2000s, Moore decided to return to school to pursue a Doctorate through the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine. Due to Moore's early history with the Associated Women for Pepperdine (AWP), Moore chose to write his his dissertation titled A Phenomenological Study of Leadership of the Associated Women of Pepperdine, 1958-2003, on the organization. On a June morning in 1958, Moore, Gloria Sanders, and Helen and Norvel Young were driving to an event in Los Feliz. During that drive, Helen and Gloria discussed the formation of a new women's organization at Pepperdine called the Associated Women for Pepperdine. The group would include women united in their belief of the importance of Christian education. Moore's wife Sandra, would later go on to be president of the organization for two terms from 1985 to 1987. Moore was awarded an Ed.D. in 2005.