The romantic comedy by John Cariani will be staged at 8 p.m. March 1, 2 and 3, and at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 4, in the Black Box Studio Theatre on the Thousand Oaks campus.

On a cold, clear, moonless Friday night in the middle of winter, all is not quite what it seems in the remote, mythical town of Almost, Maine. As the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, residents of Almost find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Knees are bruised; hearts are broken. Love is lost, found, and confounded. But the bruises heal and the hearts mend - almost. In nine charming vignettes, "Almost, Maine" inventively explores the mysteries of the human heart, touching audiences with laughter, heartbreak and hope.

Advanced theatre arts students are producing and directing the production with department chair Michael Arndt advising. The production crew includes director Jeremy Hanna, a junior theatre arts major from Newbury Park; lighting director Shaun Hara, a senior theatre arts major from Honolulu; scenic director Seth Kamenow, a senior theatre arts major from Simi Valley; stage manager Sarah McKee, a freshman theatre arts and mathematics major from Sunnyvale; and assistant stage manager Erik Groth, a junior music major from Newbury Park. Ally Crocker, a junior theatre arts major from San Diego, is in charge of costumes.

Cast members include Jessica Butenshon, a junior theatre arts major from Astoria, Ore.; Lara Emery, a freshman from Cedar Park, Texas; Berlin Galvan, a freshman business economics major from Palmdale; Kelsey Goeres, a junior communication major from Santa Maria; Martin Gonzalez, a junior theatre arts major from Hesperia; Patty Jaramillo, a freshman theatre arts and psychology major from Van Nuys; Aubrey Kaye, a freshman computer and theatre arts major from Camarillo; Erik Klein, a sophomore theatre arts major from Newhall; Brenden MacDonald, a junior theatre arts major from Simi Valley; Chris Malison, a sophomore theatre arts major from Visalia; Will Cowles Meyer, a freshman theatre arts major from Spokane, Wash.; Michelle Miller, a freshman theatre arts major from Ukiah; Nolan Monsibay, a freshman music major from Burbank; Emma Peterson, a freshman communication major from Kansas City; Tommy Schofield, a junior theatre arts major from Edmonds, Wash.; Cooper Smith, a freshman English major from Trabuco Canyon; Alyssa Soto, a senior theatre arts major from Moorpark; and Stephen Wardle, a junior communication major from Reno, Nev.

Admission is free. The Black Box Studio Theatre is located in the Theatre Arts Building on the north side of Memorial Parkway. For more information, call the Theatre Arts Department at 805-493-3416.

The talk at 7 p.m. in Lundring Events Center will draw on a 10-year longitudinal study that included 150 interviews with self-injurers from all over the world and analysis of more than 30,000 Internet posts in chat rooms and other communiqués. Self-injury, or the deliberate destruction of one's own body tissue, includes cutting, burning, branding and bone-breaking.

Patricia Adler, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Peter Adler, a sociology and criminology professor at the University of Denver, published their findings in August in "The Tender Cut: Inside the Hidden World of Self-Injury." Their research follows self-injury from its early days, when people engaged in it alone, to the present, where a subculture has formed via cyberspace. The practice emerged from obscurity in the 1990s and spread dramatically as a typical behavior among adolescents. The Adlers argue that self-injury is not a suicidal gesture, as long considered, but instead a coping mechanism, a form of teenage angst, an expression of group membership, and a type of rebellion. It's a way of converting unbearable emotional pain into manageable physical pain.

The husband-and-wife team has written and taught about deviance, drugs and society, and the sociology of gender, children, work, sport and leisure. They are the co-authors and co-editors of many books including "Peer Power," "Paradise Laborers" and "Constructions of Deviance." They also have edited the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Together, they served as co-presidents of the Midwest Sociological Society and received the 2010 George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

The free lecture is the second in an annual series established by the estate of Paul and Eleanora Culver of Lake Sherwood. CLU's Center for Equality and Justice, Pearson Library and departments of communication, criminal justice, political science, psychology and sociology are sponsoring the event.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center on the north side of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard. For more information, contact Adina Nack at nack@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3438.

With the theme of "Loving God When We're Well & Loving God When We or Someone We Love Is Ill," the event will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Thousand Oaks university. Senior Fest brings Lutherans together for learning, devotions and fellowship to enhance their physical, spiritual, social and intellectual lives.

Keynote speaker Marva J. Dawn, an internationally renowned theologian and author, will make presentations at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. in Samuelson Chapel. Dawn leads the nonprofit Christians Equipped for Ministry in its mission to prepare professionals and lay people for deeper Bible study and more active involvement in Christian life and ministry. A popular speaker for people of all ages, the Washington resident has preached and taught at seminaries, clergy conferences, churches, assemblies and universities throughout the world. She continues despite severe health issues, including a leg amputation that she discusses as a way to share her faith and convictions. Dawn has written more than 20 books, several of which have won awards and been translated into languages including Chinese, Korean and Portuguese. She is a teaching fellow in spiritual theology at Regent College in Vancouver and holds four master's degrees and a doctorate.

Senior Fest also will include lunch and workshops on Lutheran theology, charitable giving and "Faith, Justice and the Politics of Empire." Presenters include CLU religion faculty members R. Guy Erwin and Julia Fogg and administrators Sue Bauer, Rich Holmes, Shannon Yasman and Howie Wennes.

The Association of Lutheran Older Adults, an inter-Lutheran movement based in Baltimore, started the Senior Fest events. A group of church leaders formed the organization in the early 1990s to help prepare for the "age wave."

Registration is $25 until Feb. 20 and $30 after that date. To register, go to http://www.callutheran.edu/seniorfest. For more information, contact Linda LeBlanc in the Church Relations Office at 805-493-3936 or leblanc@callutheran.edu.

"An Evening with Nina Revoyr" will be held in Lundring Events Center on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Revoyr was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and white American father and grew up in Tokyo, Wisconsin and Los Angeles. She spent much of her childhood with her paternal grandparents in Wisconsin. Her latest novel, "Wingshooters," is a fictionalized account of her experiences as a child. Set in a small town in Wisconsin in the 1940s, the story revolves around the inability of the townspeople to accept anyone who is different.

Published last March, "Wingshooters" was one of Booklist's Books of the Year, an O: Oprah Magazine's "Books to Watch For" and winner of an Indie Booksellers' Choice Award and Midwest Booksellers Choice Award.

Her previous novels, "The Necessary Hunger," "Southland" and "The Age of Dreaming," focus on racial tensions in Los Angeles, interracial couples, the Watts riots and racial discrimination in silent films. "Southland" was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and "Best Book of 2003," a Book Sense 76 pick, an Edgar Award finalist, and winner of the Ferro Grumley Award and the Lambda Literary Award. "The Age of Dreaming" was a finalist for the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Revoyr is the executive vice president of Children's Institute Inc., a child and family service agency in Los Angeles. She has also been an associate faculty member at Antioch University and a visiting professor at Cornell University, Occidental College and Pitzer College. She is co-editor of the college textbook "Literature for Life: A Thematic Introduction to Reading and Writing."

CLU's Center for Equality and Justice, Pearson Library and Multicultural Programs and International Student Services are sponsoring the free event.

Lundring Events Center is in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is on the north side of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard. For more information, contact Yen Tran at nttran@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3092.

The Theatre Arts Department will present Tennessee Williams' "Suddenly Last Summer" twice on Feb. 8 at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Only the 10 finest productions from Southern California, Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah were chosen for the honor. This is the third time a CLU production has been selected. Last year, CLU presented "The Cherry Orchard" at the festival.

National judges will select four to six of the best and most diverse productions from the eight regional conferences to be showcased at the national festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The 43-year-old program is designed to encourage, recognize and celebrate works produced in university and college theater programs.

CLU's Theatre Department staged "Suddenly Last Summer" in November under the direction of Nate Sinnott, an assistant professor who also designed the set and lighting. It was the second of two Williams plays presented in fall to honor the centennial of the playwright's birth.

The unconventional production incorporated live video, interpretive movement and a chorus in the tradition of Greek drama. It was dominated by dream imagery, highlighting the powerful themes and language of the play. CLU's Multimedia Department assisted with the production.

The cast features Martha Sadie Griffin, a senior theatre arts major from Alexandria, Minn., as Mrs. Venable; Brent Ramirez, a senior theatre arts major from Simi Valley, as Dr. Cukrowicz; Shannon Dempsey, a senior communication major from Stratford, Conn., as Catharine Holly; Taylor Lampela, a senior theatre arts major from Bakersfield, as Mrs. Holly; Jordan Parrott, a junior theatre arts major from Antioch, as George Holly; Sarah McKee, a freshman math major from Sunnyvale, as Sister Felicity; and Kelsey Goeres, a junior communication major from Santa Maria, as Miss Foxhill.

The chorus members are Ally Crocker, a junior theatre arts major from San Diego; Erik Groth, a junior music major from Newbury Park; Jeremy Hanna, a junior theatre arts major from Thousand Oaks; Ben Michaels, a freshman theatre arts major from Redlands; and Alison Waxman, a freshman theatre arts major from Simi Valley.

Senior theatre arts major Seth Kamenow of Simi Valley is the assistant director, senior theatre arts major Alyssa Soto of Moorpark is the stage manager, sophomore theatre arts major Sarah de la Garrigue of Agoura Hills is assistant stage manager and senior multimedia major Stephen Shirk of Denver is the video designer.

Chris Hoag composed the original music, Val Miller designed the costumes and Barbara Wegher-Thompson is the movement consultant.

Otto K. Olesen, who died in 1964, will be honored at an 11:30 a.m. ceremony in Preus-Brandt Forum at California Lutheran University as part of the two-day symposium. The Hall of Fame is a project of the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation, which is associated with the Scandinavian Center at the Thousand Oaks university. Past honorees include baseball coach Sparky Anderson, pianist and humorist Victor Borge, and explorer Leif Erikson.

Olesen emigrated from Denmark to California in 1911 as a 20-year-old college graduate. Starting with two abandoned military searchlights, he developed his lighting technique and within a few years launched the use of lighting for premieres. He was the first to provide lights for shooting motion pictures inside a studio.

He went on to become the first lighting engineer for the Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Coliseum. He provided the lighting for the 1927 grand opening of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood and the 1937 opening ceremony of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, which utilized 500 searchlights fed by 30 miles of cable. He also lit expositions, parades, sporting events and parades.

It wasn't all premieres and festivities. His mobile equipment was the first on the scene in the disastrous 1933 Long Beach earthquake. He earned several medals of honor for supplying power for hospitals and lights in the stricken city.

Olesen was an important part of the growth of Hollywood, where he created the annual Santa Claus Lane spectacle, and was active in several community organizations.

After selling his company in the 1950s, Olesen became the postmaster of Los Angeles. Olesen Lighting is now part of Hollywood Rentals, a leading feature film equipment supplier based in Sylmar.

For information on symposium tickets, schedules and registration, call 805-778-0162.

The award-winning "Which Way Home" will be shown at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in the college's Performing Arts Center. A reception will begin at 6 p.m.

At 8 p.m., experts will discuss the experiences and needs of undocumented immigrants, particularly children. The panelists are Alicia Flores, executive director of La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth and Family Center in Oxnard, immigration attorney Vanessa Frank-Garcia, CLU political science professor José Marichal, and Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios, director for California State Assembly District 35.

The presentation will be in Spanish. English translation headsets will be available.

The free event is designed to bring attention to the challenges faced by young immigrants and to provide an opportunity for community members, local leaders and experts to share their experiences with immigration issues.

Presented by CLU's Center for Equality and Justice, the film series examines the themes of equality and social justice. "Which Way Home" was featured on the CLU campus in November. The Oxnard screening is co-sponsored by the McCune Foundation and the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy.

"Which Way Home" shows the personal side of immigration through the eyes of children who face harrowing dangers with enormous courage and resourcefulness as they endeavor to cross the border.

The film follows several unaccompanied child migrants as they journey through Mexico en route to the U.S. on a freight train they call "The Beast." Director Rebecca Cammisa tracks the stories of children like Olga and Freddy, 9-year-old Hondurans desperately trying to reach their families in Minnesota; Jose, a 10-year-old Salvadoran who has been abandoned by smugglers and ends up alone in a Mexican detention center; and Kevin, a canny, streetwise 14-year-old Honduran whose mother hopes that he will reach New York City and send money back to his family.

"Which Way Home" received the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award Grand Prize and a nomination for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

Oxnard College is located at 4000 S. Rose Ave.

For more information, contact Sam Thomas at sthomas@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3693.

The free event will be held in the Lundring Events Center on the Thousand Oaks campus. It is the last in the Silver Anniversary Distinguished Speaker Series celebrating the formation of CLU's Graduate School of Education and School of Management.

Networking will begin at 6 p.m. and the discussion will follow at 6:30 p.m.

The speakers will be Robert T. Parry, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Henning Bohn, an economics professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. Bill Watkins, executive director of the CLU Center for Economic Research and Forecasting, will moderate.

Parry retired from the Federal Reserve in 2004 after more than 18 years at the helm in San Francisco. He is a board member of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works. He is also on the board of directors of PACCAR Inc. and Janus Capital Group Inc. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Bohn's research and teaching focus on macroeconomics, public economics and international finance. He has published scholarly articles on topics including government debt, public debt management and international capital flows. He received a doctorate in economics from Stanford University in 1986 under the guidance of Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Watkins helped launch CLU CERF in 2009. He has provided unflinching forecasts for more than a decade and has been widely published and quoted in academic journals and the media. He formerly served as the executive director of UCSB's Economic Forecast Project and an economist with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. He has a doctorate in economics from UCSB.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is north of Olsen Road near Mounclef Boulevard on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Reservations are requested by Feb. 11 to Lauren Amundson at lamundso@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3445.

The California Wellness Foundation awarded the two-year grant for two professors and selected student researchers to assess farmworkers' exposure to pesticides, their knowledge of related health risks, and their ability to advocate for themselves. Based on the findings, the researchers will develop policy recommendations for promoting social justice in low-income communities of Ventura County.

Grady Hanrahan, the John Stauffer Endowed Professor of Analytical Chemistry, and Haco Hoang, an associate professor of political science, are the lead researchers. Students will assist with the project in the summer. Kaitlyn Noli, a Thousand Oaks resident who graduated with a degree in global studies in 2011, and Huong (Ivy) Nguyen, a sophomore chemistry major from Vietnam, will work on the project full time this summer. Both were members of a team of students that conducted initial research for the project last summer.

By testing water, soil and urine samples, the researchers are monitoring exposure to pesticides and comparing the results for farmworkers and others who don't work or live near farms. They are also looking for correlations between pesticide exposure and household income. Initial findings have shown significant concentrations of pesticides in a small area of agricultural land and higher than normal levels of pesticide exposure among the farmworkers.

Team members are conducting community meetings to gather input, educate people and encourage action on environmental health issues in areas with high rates of pesticide exposure. They will present the project to farmworkers at a Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project meeting in February and return in March to measure the pesticide exposure levels of volunteers.

Hanrahan and Hoang hope to increase public awareness about pesticide exposure, environmental health and channels for community input and action. As part of the project, they are assessing the effectiveness of media, such as Spanish-language radio, in communicating environmental health information.

The project is designed to promote community activism based on scientific findings and principles and to help the student researchers develop the skills to become agents of social change.

The faculty and student researchers plan to present preliminary findings at the International Making Cities Livable Conference to be held May 20 through 24 in Portland, Ore.

News Director Lance Orozco picked up six of the coveted awards for his stories at the 62nd annual awards ceremony held Saturday at the Universal Hilton Hotel. The nonprofit RTNA of Southern California represents broadcast newsrooms stretching from San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield to the Mexican border. KCLU competes in Division B for radio stations with five or fewer news staff members.

KCLU won Best News Special for "Election 2010 Preview," a series of in-depth reports on key races and issues in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and Best Individual Writing for "A Fish Tale," a story about a University of California, Santa Barbara, marine biologist who wrote a coffee table book. The station was honored for Best Sports Reporting for "Race for Survival," a story about a world-class triathlete making a comeback after being hit by a car in Ventura County, and for Best Business and Consumer Reporting for "Four-Legged Landscapers," a report on the use of goats for environmentally friendly landscaping in Ventura County. "The Sounds of Peace," which profiled a refugee from war-torn Uganda bringing his music to Ventura County schools, received the top award for Best Entertainment Reporting and Best Use Of Sound.

Also during the ceremony, TV journalist Tom Brokaw received the chapter's first Broadcast Legend Award and radio and television anchor Warren Olney won a Lifetime Achievement Award.

KCLU provides NPR and local news programming in Ventura County at
88.3 FM, Santa Barbara County at 102.3 FM and 1340 AM, and online at http://www.kclu.org. The station is a community service of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

"A Valentine Concert: Elmer Ramsey, His Trumpet and Orchestra" will be presented in Samuelson Chapel. Ramsey and the Conejo Pops Orchestra will perform music from great artists of the big band era, including Artie Shaw, Harry James, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie. The program also includes endearing love songs from World War II.

Dynamic vocalist Nancy Osborne will perform. The Westlake Village resident has performed with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, Tex Beneke and Johnny Vana's Big Band Alumni, with whom she made two CDs and a DVD, and as a television and film actor. Osborne also produced her own 17-piece big band CD, "Hot Swing, Cool Jazz."

Also featured will be Camarillo vocalist Damian Gravino, a veteran of local musical theater productions who played Daddy Warbucks in last year's Camarillo Community Theatre production of "Annie."

Daniel Geeting, a member of the CLU music faculty since 1984, will be featured on clarinet. He has performed extensively as a recitalist, played on movie and television soundtracks, and recorded two CDs featuring the clarinet works of major English composers.

Ramsey, a CLU professor emeritus of music, began playing trumpet professionally at the age of 14, and three years later had his own '40s-style big band on a Washington radio station. Many members of his orchestra are CLU alumni and have also performed with Harry James, Glenn Miller and Tex Beneke orchestras.

Admission is $10 for students and $20 for others.

The chapel is located south of Olsen Road near Campus Drive on the Thousand Oaks campus. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visit http://www.callutheran.edu/music.

John Ditto, music director and organist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Kansas City for almost 30 years, will lead the organ master class at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 11.

Ditto will perform at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, in the third and final concert in the Orvil and Gloria Franzen 2011-2012 Organ Program Series celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Borg Petersen Memorial Organ in CLU's Samuelson Chapel.

The organist is an associate professor emeritus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, where he spent 29 years. Previously, he was an associate professor of music at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Mo.

Ditto earned a bachelor's degree in music from Drake University, a master's degree from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate in musical arts from the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate. He has served as organist and choirmaster for churches in Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri and New York.

The Ventura County Chapter of the American Guild of Organists is sponsoring the master class. Organists interested in playing for Ditto may contact CLU's University Organist Kyle Johnson, who studied with Ditto at the conservatory, at 805-493-3332 or kejohns@callutheran.edu.

Both events will be held in Samuelson Chapel, located south of Olsen Road near Campus Drive on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Donations will be accepted. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visit http://www.callutheran.edu.

The new CLU Gospel Choir, which formed in September, is one of the acts performing at the "Black History Concert: The Sunday Morning Experience." The show will feature a variety of soloists, choirs and groups singing both traditional and contemporary gospel music.

V3, an Oxnard- and Los Angeles-based group, will sing traditional gospel music. The group's director, Brandon Binder, also conducts the CLU Gospel Choir. Other featured performers will include William Johnson and the gospel group Purpose.

The chapel is located south of Olsen Road near Campus Drive on the Thousand Oaks campus.

For more information, contact Daniel Lawrence at 805-493-3489 or lawrenc@callutheran.edu.

"Much Ado About Nothing" will be performed June 29 through July 1, July 6 through 8, and July 13 through 15. "Romeo and Juliet" will be staged July 20 through 22, July 27 through July 29, and Aug. 3 through 5. All shows begin at 8 p.m. in scenic Kingsmen Park.

The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company has not performed "Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's famous tragedy of young love, since 2000. "Much Ado About Nothing," one of the Bard's best-loved comedies, was last presented in 2002. The previous shows were among the most popular in the history of the festival.

Company veterans Kevin P. Kern, artistic director of the Pensacola Shakespeare Festival, and Brett Elliott, associate artistic director of the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival, will return to direct "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Romeo and Juliet," respectively. Both men have been involved in the festival since its beginning and have directed productions in recent seasons.

The festival is one of the area's most popular outdoor theatrical events. Visitors are immersed in the Shakespeare experience as the festival grounds open at 5:30 p.m. for pre-show picnicking and entertainment.

Kingsmen Shakespeare Company is the professional theater company of California Lutheran University. The nonprofit organization also coordinates apprentice programs for professional and aspiring Shakespearean actors, an educational tour program in local schools, and summer theater camps for youth.

General admission is $20 for adults and free for those under 18. For more information, visit http://kingsmenshakespeare.org or call 805-493-3014.

"After the Vikings - Before the Reformation: Scandinavia in Transition" will be held Feb. 10 and 11 on the Thousand Oaks campus. The public is invited to join in the spirit of a symposium, which blends music, dining and the free exchange of ideas to enhance the pleasure of learning.

Several authorities from the United States and Europe will discuss Nordic culture and religion on Feb. 10 and 11 in the Preus-Brandt Forum.

On Feb. 10, clothing historian Michelle Nordtorp-Madsen of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota will share images of Scandinavian garments and accessories and Haki Antonsson of London will discuss the development of Christian kingdoms from pagan Viking principalities.

On Feb. 11, Tracey Sands, a former Ventura County resident who now works for the Centre for the Study of the Cultural Heritage of Medieval Rituals at the University of Copenhagen, will speak about how saints were called upon in support of various political causes during the contentious period of the Kalmar Union. Harvard University professor Stephen Mitchell will discuss word magic and its role as a survival tool for those living in early northern Europe. Other presentations will cover wooden statues and the evolution of the construction of Christian churches.

A reception will kick off the event at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 10 in the Scandinavian Center. The symposium will conclude with dinner and a performance of bassoon, accordion and piano music at 7 p.m. Feb. 11 in Lundring Events Center.

CLU and the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation are sponsoring the symposium. Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in San Francisco, the Norway House Foundation and the Consulate General of Finland in Los Angeles provided grants.

For prices, schedules and registration, call 805-778-0162. Discounts are available until Jan. 19.

The festive event will celebrate the Year of the Dragon with a traditional lion dance, Chinese acrobats and gong fu demonstrations. There will be dancing, singing and Chinese music. Authentic Chinese food will be served, vendors will sell items ranging from jewelry to plants, and volunteers will write people's names in Chinese. The event will also feature exhibits on history and art, including Chinese brush paintings and other works by local artists. Door prizes and traditional red envelopes will be distributed.

China will enter the 4,709th year on Jan. 23. A creature of legend, the dragon is the ultimate symbol of success and happiness. It represents power and wealth and the Chinese are eager to have children during the Year of the Dragon.

Chinese New Year is the most important of the Chinese holidays. The holiday lasts 15 days and focuses on bringing good luck for the new year.

According to legend, Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian. To protect themselves, villagers put out food to satisfy the Nian. Later, finding that the beast feared the color red, they hung red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. Today, adults give red envelopes, often containing money, to children to symbolize wealth and prosperity in the coming year. Lanterns symbolize the brightness of spring. In dragon and lion dances, a group of dancers parade under elaborately decorated dragon or lion costumes to scare away bad luck.

CLU's Languages and Cultures Department and Multicultural Programs are sponsoring the free event.

Soiland Recreation Center is located in Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is near the corner of Olsen Road and Mountclef Boulevard on the Thousand Oaks campus. For more information, contact Daniel Lawrence at 805-493-3489 or lawrenc@callutheran.edu.

"Project 24: One Day in the Life" features photography, documentary video and graphic design selections depicting 24-hour periods at CLU, in Thousand Oaks and in Los Angeles. The students documented intriguing stories on three separate days in a project that is repeated each year.

"Creative Concepts" features visual presentations by the sophomore multimedia class. The students created ideas for engaging stories along with logos and merchandise.

Soiland Humanities Center is on the south side of Memorial Parkway at Regent Avenue on the Thousand Oaks campus.

The Multimedia Department is sponsoring both free exhibits. For more information, contact Dan Restuccio at 805-493-3459.

Sister Helen Prejean will present "Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues" in Samuelson Chapel.

Prejean, 72, has been instrumental in sparking national dialogue on the death penalty and helping to shape the Roman Catholic Church's newly vigorous opposition to state executions. The Louisiana native travels around the world giving talks about her ministry and considers herself a Southern storyteller.

As a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, a community of nuns, Prejean first taught religion to junior high school students. Realizing that being on the side of poor people is an essential part of the Gospel, she moved into the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans and worked at Hope House from 1984 to 1986. During this time, she began corresponding with death row inmate Patrick Sonnier, who had been convicted of killing two teenagers, and became his spiritual adviser. After witnessing his execution, she wrote "Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States." It was nominated for a 1993 Pulitzer Prize, spent 31 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was translated into 10 languages.

The book was developed into a 1995 motion picture starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon as well as an opera and a play for high schools and colleges.

Prejean has continued to counsel death row prisoners while advocating for a moratorium on capital punishment. She has accompanied six men to their deaths. Suspicions that some of them were not guilty inspired her second book, "The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions," which was released in 2004. She is currently working on her third book, "River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey."

Prejean earned a bachelor's degree in English and education from St. Mary's Dominican College in New Orleans and a master's degree in religious education from St. Paul's University in Ottawa, Canada.

CLU's Artists and Speakers Committee is sponsoring the free event. For more information, contact Amanda Whealon at awhealo@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3950.

The work of Dan Welden, the originator of the safe and green printmaking technique called the Solarplate method, will be exhibited in the Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture from Monday, Jan. 30, through Wednesday, March 7, as part of the 2011-2012 Artists and Speakers Series. He will create prints in the gallery from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Jan. 30 through Tuesday, Feb. 28. The community is invited to visit, and possibly help create art, during these times.

Welden will also present two Solarplate workshops for students and community members at CLU. The first, from Feb. 10 through 12, is full. A second workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 24, 25 and 26. The total cost is $425.

The artist, who is also a painter, is an innovator at the forefront of the alternative health- and safety-oriented movement of printmaking. As a teacher, he has inspired students around the world with demonstrations of how to make prints, including the use of both intaglio and relief plates, without the use of acids or other dangerous chemicals. He is co-author of "Printmaking in the Sun," the comprehensive manual of Solarplate techniques, and is currently working on an updated edition.

Welden has been making prints and works on paper for more than 40 years. His work has been shown in more than 65 solo exhibitions and 500 group shows throughout the world. His pieces are in many public and private collections including the Amity Art Foundation in Connecticut, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Portland Museum of Art. He is a past president of the Society of American Graphic Artists.

He has led month-long summer workshops for students from Europe, Australia and the United States at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy. He has also taught printmaking at several colleges in the New York area.

The Kwan Fong Gallery is located in Soiland Humanities Center, which is on the south side of Memorial Parkway on the Thousand Oaks campus. It is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

CLU's Artists and Speakers Committee and Art Department are sponsoring the residency and free exhibit. For more information, call Michael Pearce at 805-444-7716 or visit http://www.callutheran.edu. To sign up for the workshop, contact Kristi Colell at 805-797-3018 or cluprinter@yahoo.com.

The chapel service will begin at 10:10 a.m. in Samuelson Chapel. It will feature gospel and inspirational music highlighting the idea of starting within oneself to make a change in the world. Students and members of the staff and community will recite the "I Have a Dream" speech given by the late civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

Following the service, the university will affirm its commitment to peace and challenge attendees to do the same at the CLU Peace Pole in the chapel rose garden.

The chapel is located south of Olsen Road near Campus Drive in Thousand Oaks.

The Office of Campus Ministry, Black Student Union and Multicultural Programs are sponsoring the free event. Call 493-3489 for more information.