Longtime professor named Honorary Alumnus

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - May 12, 2010) The California Lutheran University Alumni Association will present the 2010 Honorary Alumnus Award to an English professor who has taught at the Thousand Oaks university for 40 years.

Sigmar Schwarz of Thousand Oaks will be recognized for his contributions to CLU at the Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 15, in Mt. Clef Stadium.

Schwarz and his family came to the United States from Germany when he was 6 and settled in the Midwest. He began teaching at CLU in 1970 and joined the faculty two years later. He teaches courses on non-Western writers and emphasizes the voices of African Americans, Native Americans and Chicanos in his writing and literature classes. A passionate and supportive professor who has impacted the lives of many students through the years, Schwarz received the President's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2005.

He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, National Defense Education Act Fellow and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow. An expert in Asian Pacific and minority studies, he has researched indigenous authors in Fiji as well as romanticism and phenomenology. During sabbaticals and occasional summers, he has taught at The University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji, where he developed an ongoing interest in post-colonial studies, a focus that sharpened his passion for human rights. Schwarz is a member of the Modern Language Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.

Schwarz earned his bachelor's degree from Augustana College in South Dakota and his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California.