Mission & Identity

All are welcome

The Office of Mission and Identity provides a place at Cal Lutheran for people who are exploring and deepening faith, seeking to be God's hands in the world.

We accompany and support people at the intersection of faith, life purpose and service to others because people who discover and follow their purpose can transform a community — and the world.

Rev. Dr. Colleen Windham-Hughes

Associate Vice President for Mission and Identity

A community has what it needs when everyone gives and everyone receives.

For 13 years, Colleen served as a faculty member and chair of the Religion Department at Cal Lutheran. In recent years she also served as associate dean of Interdisciplinary Programs and Community Outreach in the College of Arts and Sciences. In July 2023, Colleen was officially appointed associate vice president for Mission and Identity. In this role, she works closely with faculty, staff and students to articulate and help us embody the institutional values that ground our mission and make our university the kind of community in which each person can cultivate gifts to offer and receive the gifts of others. 

Colleen also is active in the broader Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities (NECU), serving as editor of Intersections and on the Faculty Working Group that plans the Vocation of Lutheran Higher Education Conference. She currently is working on the Design Team of the Formation Co-Op, an ELCA grant for children, youth and family ministry funded by the Lilly Foundation.