“The demand in our area and throughout the state is unmistakable, given its growth and success. Very quickly, flag football will be ubiquitous throughout the college athletics landscape,” Davis said. “I’m proud that Cal Lutheran is an early adopter and excited to add what I believe will be another elite athletic program for us.”
“It’s an exciting time to be at Cal Lutheran as we begin this academic year,” said Cal Lutheran Interim President John A. Nunes, Ph.D., who joined the university June 1. “I am animated by two things: the Cal Lutheran student body and our mission. Ours is a multiethnic student body, a significant percentage of whom are the first in their families to attend college. We are providing all our students with the tools they need for a rewarding career and a life of meaning.”
THOUSAND OAKS — The wildly popular Angel City Football Club (ACFC) has extended its contract with California Lutheran University as the team’s training site for the National Women’s Soccer League team.
The Angel City Football Club has practiced at Cal Lutheran since 2022, when the team was founded. The new two-year agreement, with a possible one-year extension, enables ACFC to continue training at North Field and use the facilities within William Rolland Stadium and Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center.
“The Angel City football team includes athletes who are top in their sport. As such, the entire club serves as a role model for our own student-athletes and all others who strive to be and do the very best in their life and their career,” said Cal Lutheran President Lori E. Varlotta. “We are proud to have a continued partnership with the team and appreciate being able to support professional women’s soccer.”
We are now taking applications for Dorfman Incubator Grants. Startups can apply for $5,000 to $50,00 in grant funding. Ideal candidates have a connection to Cal Lutheran as a student, alum, employee or employer of Cal Lutheran students.
California Lutheran University’s School of Management continues to provide a stimulating environment for our learners and the community around us, even in these unusual times. Today, we are once again happy to share a selection of exciting news, updates, and upcoming events with our communities in Southern California and beyond.
We encourage you to stay current on what’s going on at the School of Management by following our Showcase page on LinkedIn.
“The addition of our new data science program allows us to address student demand and meet workforce needs,” said Lori E. Varlotta, president of Cal Lutheran. “Our faculty have designed the curriculum to ensure that students will not only develop their technical skills but the ethical orientation of being good data stewards — professionals who will understand and seek to protect the sensitive data we all seek to safeguard.”
THOUSAND OAKS — In recognition of her noteworthy research and exemplary teaching record, Megan K. Fung, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at California Lutheran University, has been selected for the Cal Lutheran Faculty Fellowship Program.
THOUSAND OAKS — Undocumented immigrants contribute more than $151 billion to California’s economy, according to the 2023 study “Demographic Profile and Economic Impact of Undocumented Immigrants in California: Separating Myths from Realities” by Jamshid Damooei, Ph.D., of California Lutheran University School of Management’s Center for Economics of Social Issues (CESI). To discuss and explore the findings, Cal Lutheran is holding the timely conference, “Separating Myths from Realities: Challenges Undocumented Immigrants Face and Their Economic Impact in California.” The conference will be held from 8 a.m. – noon on Feb. 22 in the Lundring Events Center on the Cal Lutheran campus.
OXNARD — California Lutheran University has received grant funding for City of Oxnard residents via Community Counseling Services and invites you to come in for free therapy sessions.
To find out if you are eligible for free services, please contact the clinic nearest to you. Low-fee therapy sessions are also available for those who do not qualify for the grant.
THOUSAND OAKS — Temple Grandin, Ph.D., a multi-hyphenate, celebrated advocate for autistic communities, will present “Great Minds Are Not All The Same” as part of the California Lutheran University Dean’s Lecture Series. The event is at 7 p.m. on Feb. 21 in Samuelson Chapel on the Cal Lutheran campus and brings awareness to the start of Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in March.
THOUSAND OAKS — When people think of professional sports, they envision the competition: the games and matches that happen on the field of play. But there is a vast network of behind-the-scenes leadership and staff who manage the players, control the finances and promote the games. At California Lutheran University’s Business of Sports Event, Angel City Football Club (ACFC) executives for the professional women’s soccer team will sit down with Mark Orlando, director of the sports management program at Cal Lutheran’s School of Management, for an in-depth discussion of the business side of sports. The free event for students and the community will be from 5:45 – 7:30 p.m. on April 17 at the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center on the California Lutheran University campus.
THOUSAND OAKS — What began as a golf game conversation in the early 1970s, has become the largest Nordic festival in Southern California. The Scandinavian Festival — the legacy of the late Professor Armour Nelson and the late John Nordberg — will celebrate its 50th anniversary on May 18 and 19. Held at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, the family-fun festival honors the founding of the university and the history of the Conejo Valley, which Norwegians settled in the 1890s.
NOVEMBER | 2023
California Lutheran University’s School of Management continues to provide a stimulating environment for our learners and the community around us, even in these unusual times. Today, we are once again happy to share a selection of exciting news, updates, and upcoming events with our communities in Southern California and beyond.
We encourage you to stay current on what’s going on at the School of Management by following our Showcase page on LinkedIn.
THOUSAND OAKS — Events occur on the California Lutheran University campus in Thousand Oaks and are free to the public.
Performances
Nov. 9-18 at 8 p.m.; Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. All performances in Preus-Brandt Forum: “Radium Girls,” directed by professor of drama Kenneth Gardner, tells the story of Marie Curie. For more information, visit the website. Free.
Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Samuelson Chapel: An Evening of Symphonic Music, conducted by Michael Hart and Breanna Thornton, and performed by the CLU Wind Ensemble and University String Symphony. Free.
THOUSAND OAKS — The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Cal Lutheran a $1,241,679 grant to support the Graduate School of Education’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Credential Program.
The five-year grant will fund Access Teach: Closing the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Educator Gap, a project to support 60 graduate-level students who will leave the program as credentialed teachers of high-need deaf and hard-of-hearing students in public schools. In addition to tuition, financial aid, textbooks and instructional materials, the project will provide mentoring and other support to recruit and retain students.
The grant also allows the program to be restructured to a hybrid format by summer 2024. Classes will be synchronous with some in-person classes on Saturdays. This change will enable the university to accommodate the needs of working professionals across Southern California.
Upcoming Latinx Heritage Month Events
Oct. 5 at 11:30 a.m. in Swenson Science Center, Room 101: “Untold Legacies: Re-Envisioning Ventura Country through an Ethnic Studies Lens.” Jose M. Alamillo, PhD, professor of Chicana/o studies at CSU Channel Islands, talks about the untold stories of resistance and the hidden legacies of racialized communities in Ventura County.
Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. in Preus-Brandt Forum: Ballet Folklórico Mestizo is a dance troupe that celebrates the culture and dance traditions of Mexico; featuring students and faculty from Cal Lutheran’s Oxnard campus. (Photo attached courtesy of Oxnard College.)
Oct. 12 at 12:30 p.m. in Lundring Events Center: Latinx Heritage Month Lecture Lunch, hosted by the Office of Campus Ministry. Resources will be available to attendees regarding real-world learning opportunities and creating community. Reservations are required.
Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. in Ullman Conference Center, 100/101: ASCENSO Hispanic Fellowship Poster Presentations. Undergraduate fellows present projects that showcase their growing knowledge of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.
Oct. 17 at 12 p.m. in Ullman Conference Center, 100/101: “What Does it Mean to Be a Hispanic-Serving Institution at Cal Lutheran?” This event is an educational lunch that explores how a Hispanic-Serving Institution is more than a Hispanic-enrolling one.
At California Lutheran University, 356 storage boxes, in view behind glass walls, are filled with the archived papers of Ventura County’s longest-serving congressman, Elton W. Gallegly, a member of the House of Representatives from 1987 to 2013. The Gallegly Center Archive and Collection, housed within Cal Lutheran’s Pearson Library, is now open.
California Lutheran University will hold separate 2023 commencement ceremonies for 1,217 undergraduate and graduate students on Friday, May 12, in William Rolland Stadium on the Thousand Oaks campus.
The 60th annual Undergraduate Commencement at 8:30 a.m. will honor 773 students in the Class of 2023, including 707 traditional undergraduates and 66 in the Bachelor’s Degree for Professionals program. Graduate Commencement at 2 p.m. will honor 444 students, including 413 earning master’s degrees and 31 receiving doctorates.
The Center for Economic Research and Forecasting (CERF) at California Lutheran University will provide an in-depth analysis of the county’s economic performance through COVID-19 and into the post-pandemic environment at 8:30 .m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 at the Janet & Ray Scherr Forum Theatre, Thousand Oaks.
Meet the founders, hear their pitches, learn about their startups, and network with the startup community. Attend virtually or in person at Hub101.
THOUSAND OAKS — The Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival (KSF) concludes its 26th season with “King Lear,” running Fridays through Sundays from July 21 through Aug. 6 on the California Lutheran University campus. A novel twist on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, which is set in a pre-Christian, pagan time and place, the Kingsmen production takes place in the near future, in an abandoned shopping mall after an apocalyptic event.
“We don’t know what this apocalyptic event is, or when it takes place,” said KSF co-founder and Artistic Director Michael J. Arndt, who is directing the play, “but there’s a sense of this person trying to maintain power in his ‘kingdom.’”
THOUSAND OAKS — California Lutheran University will present “Untold Legacies: Re-Envisioning Ventura County Through an Ethnic Studies Lens” with José M. Alamillo, PhD at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5 at Swenson 101, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks.
Alamillo, a professor at California State University Channel Islands, will present hidden legacies of racialized communities in Ventura County through a lens that challenges Eurocentric romantic narratives of the past centered on Spanish missions and white pioneers.
THOUSAND OAKS — California Lutheran University’s Sports Management program, part of the School of Management, is governed by an overarching commitment: Make a better world while providing innovative solutions to problems facing the sports and entertainment industry. The Cal Lutheran Sports Management Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Competition 2023 showcases the students’ application of these humanistic and business-related goals. The competition will be 5-7 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Lundring Events Center on the Cal Lutheran campus, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. The public is invited to attend to witness the evolution of innovation through the minds of the next wave of change agents.
THOUSAND OAKS — Nov. 6, 2023) California Lutheran University will present its annual performances and events on the Thousand Oaks campus this holiday season.
California Lutheran University welcomes the Rev. Scott Hamilton Adams as its new university pastor, a significant campus leader who provides spiritual support, care and counseling to students, faculty, staff and administrators. Adams, the university’s first Black pastor, is passionate about social justice, diversity, openness, and an interfaith, multicultural approach to ministry.
“I want to create spaces of belonging and safety for people to be who they are, whatever their faith tradition, as well as for nonbelievers and those with individual and group identities who are marginalized in society,” Adams said.
California Lutheran University was awarded $2,967,668 in grants from the U.S. Department of Education to help students with career pathways and professional development.
A five-year grant worth $2,807,976 for the Vocational Identity and Talent in Academic Learning (VITAL) program, will help to increase retention and completion rates among Hispanic and low-income students, and help prepare them for careers. As part of the university’s mission as a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), the grant “will bring us nearer to closing equity gaps at Cal Lutheran,” said Maria Thayer, the school’s director of HSI and DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion and justice) initiatives.
The grant was funded through the Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (DHSI) Program, which provides grants to assist HSIs to expand educational opportunities for, and improve the attainment of, Hispanic students. Cal Lutheran is one of only 171 private, four-year HSIs in the country.
California Lutheran University’s Public Price Promise program is now guaranteed for new students from California high schools and colleges who meet GPA requirements. The nearly $30,000 scholarships, which award first-year and transfer students the difference in average cost of attendance between Cal Lutheran and UC undergraduate campuses, offer a private education at a public price.
“We want to become accessible to as many California students as possible,” said Falone Serna, Cal Lutheran dean of admission and outreach. “This scholarship makes us a great option for California students and families who have budgeted for in-state tuition but want the benefits of a private education such as smaller classes and lower faculty-to-student ratios.”
California Lutheran University has awarded its first Dorfman Incubator Grants — a total of $180,000 that will provide hands-on educational opportunities for students while helping four alumni and a professor launch their startups.
Unlike other university-sponsored grants aimed at serving students and faculty, those affiliated with Cal Lutheran’s Steven Dorfman Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship program are deliberately further reaching. These grants are designed to simultaneously provide educational benefits to students and local resources to the community as they connect early-stage startups to the entrepreneurial program at Cal Lutheran.
California Lutheran University has jumped two spots to its highest position ever in the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings — sixth among 130 ranked regional universities throughout 15 Western states.
The overall U.S. News rankings consider student outcomes, faculty resources, academic reputation, per-student spending, admissions selectivity and alumni giving. The 2022-2023 list, released Sept. 12, includes universities in the West that provide a full range of undergraduate majors and master’s degrees, and a few doctoral programs.
The university jumped seven spots from 14th to seventh on the Best Value Schools list, which factors in academic quality and cost after accounting for total expenses and financial aid. At Cal Lutheran, 97% of full-time undergraduate students receive need-based financial aid.
THOUSAND OAKS — As the 2022-23 fall semester gets underway at California Lutheran University, new student enrollment numbers have nearly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. About 844 undergraduate students are scheduled to enter Cal Lutheran for the first time this fall.…
The largest Nordic festival in Southern California will return to California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks on June 4 and 5 after a two-year absence caused by the pandemic.
“It’s been challenging to resurrect a large-scale community event like this post-pandemic, from reengaging volunteers to finding alternatives for performing groups and vendors that didn’t survive COVID-19–related challenges, but theScandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation has worked incredibly hard for nine months to make it happen,” said festival director Mindy Miller. “We are thrilled to be back with a mix of popular longtime activities, new offerings and extended hours.”
California Lutheran University’s School of Management continues to provide a stimulating environment for our learners and the community around us, even in these unusual times. Today, we are once again happy to share a selection of exciting news, updates, and upcoming events with our communities in Southern California and beyond.
We encourage you to stay current on what’s going on at the School of Management by following our Showcase page on LinkedIn.
California Lutheran University received its largest National Science Foundation grant to date — $307,486 for a biologist and her students to study sexual selection in tiny Brazilian squirrel monkeys.
Assistant professor Anita Stone, the lead principal investigator, and 12 undergraduate students will spend four summers studying sexually selected traits and behaviors in the Saimiri collinsi species living in the eastern Amazonia forest. The Thousand Oaks resident wants to determine whether the females actively choose their mates, or passively accept the winners of male-male competitions.
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) this week announced that California Lutheran University will serve as the inaugural training site for the National Women’s Soccer League team.
Angel City, which is bringing women’s professional soccer back to Southern California, will begin practicing today at Cal Lutheran’s Thousand Oaks campus as it prepares for the 2022 season kicking off this spring.
California Lutheran University is hosting an exhibit of eye-catching rock posters created by Zoltron, who started as a street artist and developed a worldwide fan base that includes rock stars and museum curators.
“Zoltron: The Art of Rock ‘n’ Roll” opened Feb. 14 in the William Rolland Art Center on the university’s Thousand Oaks campus and will continue through April 1.
Indigenous traditional cultural educators will lead Community Land-Intention Ceremonies Thursday and Friday on California Lutheran University’s Thousand Oaks campus.
At 12:10 p.m. Thursday, Kathy Ann Willcuts and Steven Jon Garcia will offer a sacred tobacco blessing and the Eagle Dance in Kingsmen Park to set the intention for the land and invite its ancestors to be a part of the healing offered.
At 10 a.m. Friday, they will offer another relationship-building opportunity bridging south campus, which includes Kingsmen Park, and north campus, which contains the athletic facilities. The ceremony will begin at the Enormous Luther statue in front of Pearson Library, and participants will walk across the Olsen Road bridge to north campus for a land blessing.
Alumna Holly Roepke has been named director of athletics at California Lutheran University.
A former soccer standout and member of the Alumni Association Athletic Hall of Fame, the Thousand Oaks resident had returned to her alma mater in July as senior associate director of athletics after serving in leadership roles at other colleges. She began serving as interim director of athletics at Cal Lutheran in October.
“What a thrill it is to see our very own Hall of Famer come full circle to lead athletics,” said Matthew Ward, vice president for enrollment management and student success. “Holly is an inspirational leader with a wealth of experience in Division III athletics. Moreover, she brings a champion mindset and will push us to elevate the student-athlete experience.”
California Lutheran University’s largest-ever exhibit features two centuries of international psychedelic art ranging from famous album covers to religious paintings.
“The Otherworld,” curated by Cal Lutheran art professor Michael Pearce of Thousand Oaks, is on display in the William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art through Feb. 3.
All of the art depicts alternative visions of the world. Some of the visions were brought on by drugs like peyote, marijuana and LSD; others were spiritual or religious visualizations.
Included are a Japanese woodblock print from the 1800s, hallucinogenic-influenced art from the mid-20th century, and digital prints representing a new frontier for contemporary artists. While links to drugs once stifled appreciation for psychedelic art, changing laws and societal norms have increased interest today.
A recital of cello and piano music at California Lutheran University will consist entirely of works written by female composers.
Cellist Yoshika Masuda, director of string studies at Cal Lutheran, and guest pianist HyeJin Kim will present the faculty recital at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 3, in Samuelson Chapel.
They will perform works for cello and piano written by female composers over a 250-year span. The concert will help Masuda prepare to record his first CD, which is being funded in part by a Cal Lutheran Faculty Research and Creative Work Award.
“My goal with this recital and CD is not just to highlight these underappreciated female composers, but to bring to light their talent and skill as simply great composers,” Masuda said.
Shakespeare meets Green Day in an original musical parody of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that will be performed April 28 through May 1 at California Lutheran University.
“A Midsemester Prom Night’s Dream” will begin at 8 p.m. April 28, 29 and 30 in Preus-Brandt Forum on the Thousand Oaks campus. A 2 p.m. matinee will be presented on May 1.
Check out the student startups, and vote for your favorite ideas
In person on Cal Lutheran’s campus – May 4
Cal Lutheran’s New Venture Fair (NVF) is back in person! The NVF 2022 showcases 60 student-led startup projects, including those from Cal Lutheran’s undergraduate, graduate, and Executive MBA in Europe programs, in addition to high school teams from Oaks Christian School, Thousand Oaks High School, Bakersfield Christian High School, and primary school teams from Start-Up Kids and One Spark Academy.
The NVF is an expo-style event where each team furnishes its booth and demos its product. The community is invited to circulate the room, meet the teams, learn about their startup ideas, and vote for their favorites. Awards will be presented at the end of the evening.
California Lutheran University will hold its 2022 Traditional Undergraduate Commencement at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14. It will take place in William Rolland Stadium on the Thousand Oaks campus for the first time since 2019 because the pandemic necessitated a virtual ceremony in 2020 and an off-campus drive-in event in 2021.
California Lutheran University will hold its 2022 Graduate and Professionals Commencement at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 14. It will take place in William Rolland Stadium on the Thousand Oaks campus for the first time since 2019 because the pandemic necessitated a virtual ceremony in 2020 and an off-campus drive-in event in 2021.
The 59th annual ceremony will honor 79 students in the Bachelor’s Degree for Professionals program, 428 earning master’s degrees and 32 receiving doctorates. A separate ceremony will be held later in the day for traditional undergraduate students receiving bachelor’s degrees.
Twenty-five years after the first Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival was held, and following a two-year pandemic-caused hiatus, the event kicks off its joyous return to California Lutheran University’s Kingsmen Park with performances of one of the Bard’s most popular comedies.
The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company will perform “As You Like It” at 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through July 17 on the Thousand Oaks campus.
Warren C. Bowles, who has decades of experience in Shakespearean and contemporary theater throughout the country, presents the play as the festival’s first Black director. He has spent many years working with Mixed Blood Theatre Company in Minneapolis as a director, actor, playwright, stage manager and fight choreographer. Mixed Blood uses theater to disrupt injustices, advance equity, build community and inspire people to create ripple effects of social change.
The Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival is closing its 2022 season with one of the most performed tragedies in theater history, but under the guiding hand of a veteran director seeing the play in a new way.
“I grew up with productions of `Macbeth’ that felt like the tale of a coldhearted murderer who reaps what he sows,” said director Brett Elliott. “This production will present the Scottish king and his lady differently. I see him as a decent man who talks himself into doing the unthinkable. Once he crosses that line, he regrets it instantly, but of course, it’s already too late.”
The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company, the professional theater company of California Lutheran University, will present “Macbeth” at 8 p.m. Aug. 5-7 in Kingsmen Park on the Thousand Oaks campus.
The original version of Lisa Loomer’s 2016 play “Roe” ended with the words, “As of today, Roe v. Wade still stands.” In June 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned a woman’s right to abortion, the play’s final statement was no longer true. So students at California University Lutheran, who are staging “Roe” in October, had to wait for a rewrite from Loomer.
Cal Lutheran’s Theatre Arts and Dance Department will present a staged version of “Roe” (the updated version), directed by Red Patterson and Bianca Akbiyik, at 8 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Preus-Brandt Forum on the Thousand Oaks campus.
Even in these unusual times, California Lutheran University’s School of Management continues to provide a stimulating environment for our learners and the community around us. Today, we are once again happy to share a selection of exciting news, updates, and upcoming events to our communities in Southern California and beyond.
If you want to stay current on what is going on at the School of Management, please follow our Showcase page on LinkedIn.
Even in these unusual times, California Lutheran University’s School of Management continues to provide a stimulating environment for our learners and the community around us. Today, we are once again happy to share a selection of exciting news, updates and upcoming events to our communities in Southern California and beyond.
If you want to stay current on things going on at the School of Management, please follow our brand-new page on LinkedIn.
FEBRUARY | 2020 California Lutheran University’s School of Management is happy to share a selection of exciting news, updates and upcoming events to our communities in Southern California and beyond. Please reach out to us if you are interested in…
History has shown that crisis creates opportunity for innovation. In this session, Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning Larry Clark and Mary Anne Amato will share insights into four key shifts that occur in times of crisis that foster the conditions for new thinking and doing. They will also share Harvard’s research on key ways that leaders can maintain the effect of these shifts beyond a crisis so an innovation mindset becomes embedded in the culture of their organizations. The session will have a brief 25-minute presentation followed by open Q&A.
