Cal Lutheran marks start of journey

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Aug. 19, 2015) California Lutheran University will welcome new students and faculty members during Opening Academic Convocation at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 29, in Gilbert Arena.

Faculty and administrators will assemble in full academic attire to mark the start of the academic journey for about 850 freshmen and new transfer students.

Ventura City Councilmember Cheryl Heitmann will speak to students about serving and connecting with the community in the keynote address. After the ceremony, most of the freshmen and transfer students will leave for the Ventura River bottom to work alongside city and university staff and volunteers to remove an invasive plant, arundo donax. Cal Lutheran has collaborated with the city of Ventura on the university’s annual You Got Served project for incoming students since 2008. In addition to removing arundo, they have hauled out 57 tons of trash and debris from the Ventura and Santa Clara riverbeds, removed invasive ice plant from the Ventura Harbor Wetlands Ecological Reserve and beautified three city parks, a historic site and a community center. Heitmann, whose daughter attended Cal Lutheran, has participated multiple times. You Got Served introduces new students to Cal Lutheran’s commitment to service and justice, connects them with the local community in a meaningful way and provides them with a common bonding experience. 

Eighteen new faculty members will be welcomed to Cal Lutheran. Paloma Vargas and Anita Stone will teach biology and coordinate a new program that supports students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math and expands research and experiential learning opportunities. Other additions to the College of Arts and Sciences are experimental particle physicist Sebastian Carron Montero, astrophysicist Mary Oksala, 2015-2016 Mathematical Association of America Project New Experiences in Teaching Fellow Elizabeth Chisholm, 15-time Grammy Award-winning mixer, engineer and producer Benny Faccone, social stratification and ethnicity expert Cynthia Duarte, and theater lighting designer Walter B. Tindell. Sumantra Sengupta is the new director of the Master of Business Administration program. Other new School of Management faculty members are Loredana Carson, Dazhi Chong, Olga Damascus, Matthew Fienup, Ran Lu-Andrews and Marcella Shelby. Randy Corpuz joins the Graduate School of Psychology, Melissa Spence joins the Graduate School of Education, and Luis Menéndez-Antuña will teach at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley.

The fall semester begins on Wednesday, Aug. 31, for traditional undergraduate students.

The public is welcome to attend the free event. Gilbert Arena is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center at 130 Overton Court in Thousand Oaks. For more information, contact Judy Beaulieu at jbeaulie@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3145.