Int'l scholar awarded endowed position

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — June 8, 2021) California Lutheran University has named longtime faculty member Gregory K. Freeland to the endowed Uyeno-Tseng Professorship in Global Studies. 

The political science professor will work to expand the undergraduate global studies program and foster ties between it and Cal Lutheran’s Center for Global Engagement. Freeland’s duties will include leading an annual study abroad experience, assisting with the Cal Lutheran Oxford program and supporting the Global Leaders Living-Learning Community and other international educational activities. He also will pursue grants and student research opportunities and help raise funds to enhance scholarships and resources for those majoring in global studies.

“I look forward to working with the Center for Global Engagement and others involved in our university’s efforts to grow our international reputation. Since starting here 30 years ago, I have seen our programs thrive with a greater emphasis on internationalization, race and ethnic studies,” said Freeland, who advocated for and implemented these types of classes after he arrived in 1991. 

Freeland was selected for the position because of his outstanding achievements and leadership in global studies research and education and for his international professional reputation. He has received two National Endowment for the Humanities grants, a competitive faculty fellowship from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and a Lutheran Academy of Scholars Grant at Harvard University. As a two-time recipient of Hewlett Faculty Development Grants, he participated in research and culture projects in Washington, D.C., and Cuba. The widely published author has spoken on politics and its intersection with multiculturalism, music, religion, social movements and sustainability at conferences throughout the United States and in Austria, Barbados, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Spain.

He served as director of Cal Lutheran’s global studies program from 2012 to 2018 and associate dean for inclusion and research/creative scholarship for the College of Arts and Sciences from 2018 to 2020. He has led three student seminars to Cuba and two to Jamaica. 

“Dr. Freeland has been pivotal in making Cal Lutheran known regionally, nationally and around the world,” said Jessica Lavariega Monforti, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “His commitment to higher education and service in the college and the greater community make him the ideal person to hold this professorship.”

Freeland is the second professor in the position. He succeeds Michael Brint, who held it from 2005 until he retired this year. The position was named for Japanese businessman and Cal Lutheran supporter Yutaka Uyeno and the late Edward Tseng, a Chinese-born former United Nations official who was a political science professor at Cal Lutheran for nearly 40 years.