Family and friends cheered the students as they walked onto the field and took their seats. President Chris Kimball welcomed them and expressed the University's pride in the graduates.

"We congratulate you on your hard work, your determination, your commitment to reaching your academic goals—those characteristics that led you to this day."

Undergraduate Commencement keynote speaker Karsten Lundring, a member of Cal Lutheran's second graduating class in 1965, spoke of the benefits of being active alumni. A regular at Kingsmen football home games, Lundring ended his speech the same way he celebrates every Cal Lutheran touchdown: by tossing handfuls of candy to the students.

Connie Stewart, President of the University's Alumni Association and three-time Cal Lutheran graduate, officially inducted the students as new alumni.

"You are following in the footsteps of five decades of graduates who moved on from us with a purpose," Stewart said. "You are joining a dynamic network of alumni that includes more than 23,000 individuals who care about CLU and the students that emerge from here as leaders."

Graduate Commencement keynote speaker Kate McLean reminded students that, as leaders, they need to play an active role in the future.

"Every leader you've ever admired, every little thing that you have ever accomplished is the result of taking action."

Jason Peplinksi, Chair of the Graduate and Adult Student Council and a Cal Lutheran Regent, spoke about the work and responsibility that comes with a graduate degree.

"Earning an advanced degree takes determination and hard work beyond the ordinary," Peplinksi said. He then encouraged the graduates to "create a life that allows you to be of service to others."

Doctoral speaker Amanda Carpenter, who earned a degree in higher education leadership, issued a similar challenge.

"As we celebrate our successes today, I challenge everyone to think about how we can create a better tomorrow for our future scholars."

Masters student speaker Denise Manila, who earned a degree in education specializing in counseling and guidance, emphasized the importance of each graduate's role in global change.

"Making sacrifices to better the world around us begins with making changes within ourselves," Manila said. "We must be the change that we want to see in others. What we do today determines who we become tomorrow."

Mark Banuelos, who earned a degree in marketing communication, emphasized the importance of education in the graduates' post-commencement lives.

"We will constantly be engaged in lifelong learning," Banuelos said. "It's what pushes the human race forward. Continue, then, for the rest of your lives to learn from all the world has to offer."

Alan Kingsley Hart, the Adult Bachelor's Degree Program speaker, earned a degree in liberal studies and has worked for the past seven years in special education. Hart spoke of the determination required to meet the challenges the graduates would face, quoting screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.

"You're going to fall down, but the world doesn't care how many times you fall down, as long as it's one fewer than the number of times you get back up."

Rebecca Cardone, who served as Student Body President for the past academic year, reminded the graduates that the Cal Lutheran community is a global one.

"As Cal Lutheran graduates, we have taken a journey of transformation committed to developing our community and our world," Cardone said. "Don't let geography destroy our created community—expand it. Take what you've learned here and apply it wherever you go."

View Commencement photos on the Cal Lutheran Facebook page.

Rochell Daney of Arroyo Grande, Ellen Hunt of Los Olivos, and Jennifer Perez, Vince Sagisi and Gayle Vyenielo of Santa Maria will participate in the 2013 Graduate Commencement Ceremony on the main CLU campus in Thousand Oaks. Vyenielo and Hunt will also receive preliminary administrative services credentials. Michele Frantz of Santa Maria and Corie Ross of Nipomo also earned preliminary administrative services credentials, although they will not participate in the ceremony.

The innovative program in the Santa Maria Valley prepares students to serve as principals, directors and superintendents as well as in other leadership positions in teaching, higher education and nonprofit administration.

The accelerated one-year program allows students to take classes in Orcutt on weekends and online while working full time. The CLU Graduate School of Education works with Central Coast school districts to provide students with field experience. Assignments require students to identify, research and implement creative solutions to the problems administrators encounter daily.

Experienced faculty and local school administrators serve as mentors. Students also benefit from developing relationships with the other working professionals in their cohort.

A total of about 520 students are eligible to receive master’s or doctoral degrees at CLU’s Graduate Commencement Ceremony. A separate Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 18. This is the 50th year that CLU has held commencement ceremonies.

CLU is a selective university that also has centers in Oxnard and Woodland Hills for graduate courses and its Adult Degree Evening Program. With an enrollment of 4,200 students, CLU offers undergraduate and graduate programs within the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Management and Graduate School of Education. Doctoral degrees in educational leadership, higher education leadership and clinical psychology are also offered. Members of the CLU student body come from across the nation and around the world and represent a diversity of faiths and cultures. For more information, visit http://www.callutheran.edu. For more information on the Central Coast program, contact Program Director Victoria L. Kelly at vkelly@callutheran.edu or 805-938-8931.

About 720 students are eligible to participate in the historic ceremony, held the day after a separate commencement for master’s and doctoral students.

L. Karsten Lundring, who was in CLU’s second graduating class in 1965, will give the keynote address. Following in his father’s footsteps, the Thousand Oaks resident decided in seventh grade that he wanted to be a general agent for Lutheran Brotherhood, now Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. He began working as a licensed agent when he was a freshman at CLU. Now a co-managing partner for the company’s southwest region, he was inducted into the General Agents and Managers Association Hall of Fame, one of the highest honors in the financial industry, in 2012. A generous donor and enthusiastic supporter of CLU, Lundring served on the Board for Regents for 26 years, including six as chair. He has twice been honored as Outstanding Alumnus, and he received the Christus Award for strengthening the bridge between CLU and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2005.

Mark Richard Bañuelos, a Wilmington resident graduating with a bachelor’s degree in marketing communication, will speak on behalf of his fellow traditional undergraduate students. The first person in his family to attend a four-year university out of high school, he served as a resident assistant and played for the club lacrosse team at CLU. He has worked as a technician for Apple for the last two years and plans to continue at the company as he continues on his career path in marketing and multimedia. 

Alan Kingsley Hart, a Moorpark resident graduating with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies, will speak on behalf of the Adult Degree Evening Program students. For the past seven years, he has worked in special education as an instructional aide in Iowa City and Oak Park. He volunteers for the Ventura County Special Olympics and the local level of the Miss America Organization.

About 520 students are eligible to receive master’s or doctoral degrees at the ceremony. This is the 50th year that CLU has held commencement ceremonies.

Kate McLean, a Westlake Village resident with four decades of leadership in the philanthropic and nonprofit world, will give the keynote address. McLean, who received an MBA from CLU in 1977, helped create Interface Children Family Services, Ventura County’s most comprehensive social services agency for children and families, and served as its executive director for 18 years. She was the president of the Ventura County Community Foundation for 13 years, during which time she increased the endowment from $300,000 to more than $70 million in current and future planned gifts. She developed programs that became models for other community foundations, including the Women’s Legacy Fund and the Civic Alliance of Ventura County. She served on the inaugural boards of the CLU School of Management, KCLU, the League of California Community Foundations, the Ventura County AIDS Partnership, the Ventura County Leadership Academy, the California Child, Youth, Family Coalition, the Ventura County Planned Giving Council, the Social Justice Fund for Ventura County and many other organizations. A former member of the CLU Board of Regents, she has received many honors including Simi Valley Citizen of the Year, Soroptimist International Camino Real Region Woman of the Distinction, Ventura County Leadership Academy Distinguished Community Leader, a California Civic Entrepreneur Leadership Award and an honorary Doctor of Laws from CLU.

Amanda Carpenter, a Camarillo resident receiving a doctorate in higher education leadership, will speak on behalf of her fellow doctoral students. The first person in her family to pursue a college degree, Carpenter previously earned a master’s degree in education from CLU and has become a role model and advocate for first-generation college students. Her research focuses include first-generation undergraduates and equitable practices to support underrepresented populations in higher education. She is the coordinator of Career Development Services and the Henry L. “Hank” Lacayo Institute Internship Program at California State University, Channel Islands.

Denise Manila of Simi Valley will speak on behalf of the students receiving master’s degrees. Dedicated to changing attitudes about at-risk students and encouraging these children to achieve their dreams, she is receiving a master’s degree in education, specializing in counseling and guidance.

KCLU plans to begin broadcasting to listeners in the Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Maria, Lompoc, Nipomo, Guadalupe and the Five Cities area on June 18.

The station will air local news, traffic reports and weather forecasts in addition to syndicated programs from NPR, Public Radio International and the BBC. Chosen specifically to serve the needs of listeners in this area, the programming will vary from what is broadcast by KCLU throughout Ventura County on 88.3 FM and in Santa Barbara and surrounding cities on 102.3 FM and 1340 AM.

A community service of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, KCLU debuted in Ventura County in 1994, and the signal was expanded to include Santa Barbara and part of Montecito four years later. The purchase of a station in 2008 increased KCLU’s signal strength in the Santa Barbara area and expanded its reach to include Goleta, Isla Vista and Ventura County’s Rincon. The station now serves more than 90,000 listeners in the two counties.

News Director Lance Orozco and Jim Rondeau, director of operations and programming, have garnered more than 200 awards for their local news coverage and public affairs programming. Orozco won a 2010 National Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association and will receive a 2012 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists on June 21 in Washington, D.C. General Manager Mary Olson has been with the station since its debut.

For more information on KCLU or to listen to live and archived programming, visit http://www.kclu.org.

Collins, who had been suffering from an incurable bacterial lung disease, died at home with her husband of 58 years, Larry, by her side.

The beloved professor was in her 50th year of teaching at CLU when she reluctantly stopped at the end of fall semester as the disease progressed. She was slated to retire in May with professor emerita status.

Collins was a trailblazer in many ways. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Bates College and a master’s degree from Smith College, the New Jersey native became the first female to earn a doctorate in geology from the University of Illinois at a time when few women studied science. She returned to the University of Illinois to complete the requirements for a master’s degree and doctorate in botany.

She found her calling as a college professor. She taught at San Fernando Valley State College, which later became California State University, Northridge, for three years before becoming one of the first faculty members at CLU in 1963. As a woman in a man’s profession, she worked full time while raising five children in the days before policies like maternity leave.

Collins, who climbed Mount Whitney several times, shared her passion for nature with CLU students, taking them on scientific field trips in California’s deserts, Hawaii, Australia, Fiji and New Zealand. Students named her Professor of the Year in 1996, and she received the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2007. She also received the national Sears-Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award in 1991.

The Thousand Oaks resident worked to preserve open space and received a commendation from her city’s mayor for helping to preserve Wildwood Mesa. The author of more than 10 textbooks, she identified about 100 plants for the Barbara Collins Arboretum at CLU and compiled an online directory of thousands of plants.

Collins told the story of her life in “You Lead a Mean Trail: Life Adventures and Fifty Years of Teaching,” which was released in August. The book’s title came from a student who had declared, “Dr. Collins, you sure do lead a mean trail,” as he struggled to keep up with her during a strenuous field trip.

In addition to Larry, Collins is survived by their children Glenn, Greg, Kevin and Rachel. She was preceded in death by their daughter Beth.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 11, in CLU’s Samuelson Chapel. A reception will follow in the lobby of Ahmanson Science Center. In lieu of flowers, her family requests that donations be made to California Lutheran University for a scholarship to be established in her name.

Orozco will receive the award for best feature reporting among all small-market radio stations in the United States on June 21 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Judges selected a total of 84 honorees from nearly 1,700 submissions from television stations, radio stations, newspapers, online news outlets and magazines.

This is the first time that KCLU, a community service of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, has received a Sigma Delta Chi Award.

“My Cancer” included recordings from Orozco’s surgery and the appointment where he received the biopsy results. Earlier this year, the Sherman Oaks resident received two Golden Mike Awards from the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California for the story.

Orozco, a broadcast journalist for three decades, worked at KEYT-TV, KCBS-TV and other television and radio stations throughout California before joining KCLU in 2001. In 2010, he received a National Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association.

KCLU provides National Public Radio and local news programming in Ventura County at 88.3 FM and Santa Barbara County at 102.3 FM and 1340 AM. Listeners can also tune in live or hear archived stories, including “My Cancer,” at kclu.org.

The award honors people who have rendered outstanding service and brought honor and distinction to the university. The association selected Streeter for his dedication, scholarship and leadership.

The Santa Rosa Valley resident has been teaching at CLU for 25 years. Although he is battling pancreatic cancer that spread to his lungs, he continues to teach the Faith and Reason class.

Fascinated by the connections between science and theology, Streeter is deeply involved in CLU’s mission to encourage critical inquiry into matters of both faith and reason. The book he is currently finishing, “God and the History of the Universe,” deals with the interplay of theology and the natural sciences. His 2008 book, “Human Nature, Human Evil and Religion,” explored the relationship between Christian thought and social science theories on human nature.

A specialist in Christian theology, he has also taught courses in biblical studies, church history, ethics and global religions. His research has focused on historical Jesus studies and doctrines of God, creation, human nature and sin. He received the President’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2004.

Streeter has led a life of service beyond academia. The 63-year-old has served as a Lutheran pastor, taught in a remote Kenyan village and participated in an archeological dig at Caesara Maritimi in Israel. He has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations and is currently the president of the board of the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company, the professional theater company of CLU, and a member of the steering committee of the Association of Teaching Theologians of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Southern California, a master’s in divinity from Luther Seminary, a master’s in sacred theology from Yale University Divinity School and a doctorate in theology from Southern Methodist University. He spent an additional year at Yale as a Research Fellow.

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

The program will feature Randall Thompson’s “Alleluia,” Aaron Copland’s “Four Motets” and Johannes Brahms’ “Messe” and “Warum ist das Licht gegeben?”

The Ball State University Chamber Choir is the college’s primary touring and performance choral ensemble. Several campus performances each semester are augmented with an ongoing series of performances with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and Ball State Symphony Orchestra. The ensemble has performed throughout the United States and in Europe.

Duane R. Karna will conduct. The associate professor of music performance and director of choral activities oversees the choral program and conducts the Chamber Choir and the Women’s Choir and coordinates the graduate program in choral music. He earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at the University of Puget Sound and master’s degrees in vocal performance and choral conducting at Southern Methodist University. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting with a minor in vocal performance from the University of Arizona in Tucson where he worked with Maurice Skones.

The chapel is located south of Olsen Road near Campus Drive on the Thousand Oaks campus. Additional parking is available at the corner of Olsen Road and Mountclef Boulevard.

CLU’s Music Department is sponsoring the free event. Donations will be accepted. For more information, call 805-493-3306 or visit callutheran.edu.

“The House I Live In” will be screened as part of CLU’s Center for Equality and Justice Reel Justice Film series. A panel discussion will follow.

The movie captures heart-wrenching stories from individuals at all levels of America’s war on drugs, from the dealer to the grieving mother, the narcotics officer to the senator, and the inmate to the federal judge. The film offers a penetrating look inside America’s longest war and reveals its profound human rights implications.

While recognizing the seriousness of drug abuse as a matter of public health, the film investigates the tragic errors and shortcomings and the effect on America’s poor and minority communities. Over 40 years, the war on drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests, made America the world’s largest jailer and impacted poor communities at home and abroad. Yet drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever before.

Award-winning filmmaker Eugene Jarecki directed the film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. His acclaimed book, “The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril,” was published in 2009.

After the screening, experts will address different aspects of the drug war and field audience questions. Panelists are Bob Stockman, a chaplain for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department; Anthony Normore, chair of CLU’s Department of Educational Leadership and an expert on social justice issues; Richard Brown, a member of the Ventura County Community Advisory Committee and a public advocate on crime, drugs and the California criminal justice system; and Oxnard Police Department Cmdr. Eric Sonstegard, a 1993 CLU alumnus.

Flavio Guzman, co-president of CLU’s Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlán (MEChA) student organization and an intern with the Center for Equality and Justice, is coordinating the event. The subject is personal to the Arleta resident, who grew surrounded by people using drugs such as marijuana.

“The way the laws stand any one of my friends or the peers that surrounded me could’ve ended up in jail simply because of possession,” said Guzman, who is pursuing a double major in Spanish and political science with an emphasis in law and public policy. “These are the majority of people who are being locked up, people who simply use the drug. This doesn’t help get the drug off the streets.”

Muvico Thousand Oaks 14 is located at 166 W. Hillcrest Drive.

CLU’s Center for Equality and Justice and MEChA are sponsoring the free event. For more information, contact the center at cej@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3694.

This year’s concert will feature performances by the University Wind Ensemble and the CLU Percussion Ensemble. The program’s continuous rotation of music is designed to provide audiences with the complete spectrum of wind and percussion music. Michael Hart, CLU’s director of bands, will conduct.

The concert will feature traditional favorites for concert band including Gustav Holst’s “First Suite in E flat,” Vincent Persichetti’s “Divertimento for Band” and John Philip Sousa’s march “The Thunderer.” Newer works include an arrangement of the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” by David Holsinger and “Shine” by Michael Markowski.

Donations will be accepted.

Samuelson Chapel is located south of Olsen Road near Campus Drive. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visit http://www.callutheran.edu.

Watkins will discuss “California’s 21st Century” at the invitation of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. People can watch the session live at http://www.calchannel.com/live-webcast/.

Introduced this year, the forum gives senators an opportunity to hear from Californians with a unique view of the state, its issues and its people in order to inform decision-making. A range of scientists, authors and policy experts have discussed how the state arrived where it is, how it is changing and what the future may hold.

Watkins has provided unflinching economic forecasts for more than a decade and has been widely published and quoted in academic journals and the media, including the Wall Street Journal, CNN and Forbes. He writes a regular column for the Orange County Register.

Watkins helped launch CERF at the Thousand Oaks university in 2009 to provide local, state and national forecasts for government, business and nonprofit leaders. The National Association for Business Economics, the Economist, CNN Money and Case-Shiller Macro Markets have included CERF forecasters in their surveys on economic policies and outlooks, home prices, jobs and the presidential election.

An associate professor of economics who helped start a graduate program in economics at CLU, Watkins formerly served as the executive director of the Economic Forecast Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and as an economist with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. He holds a doctorate in economics from UCSB.

The lecture recital, titled “Genius Child,” is part of the university’s Seventh Annual Festival of Scholars.

Jacqueline Lyons, assistant professor of English, will talk about the poetry of Hughes, a major contributor to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Music instructor Michael Hart will explain the compositional techniques of “Genius Child,” a cycle of ten songs for soprano and piano by U.S. composer Ricky Ian Gordon based on the 1937 poem of the same name and other works by Hughes. Carla Walter, a former ballerina who specializes in arts marketing as an associate professor in the School of Management, will give the last mini-lecture, “Personal Approach to Choreography.”

The event will conclude with a performance of Gordon’s “Genius Child.” Walter and liberal studies majors Marie Orechoff of New Brunswick and Lorna Banuilos of Torrance will dance. Music major Susannah Ruth of Thousand Oaks and Mariana Robles-Dalany, an assistant professor of education who integrates music into teaching, will sing.

CLU’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship is presenting the free event.

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

For more information, contact Robles-Dalany at mroblesd@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3889.

Scholarly work by students in all disciplines will be presented in individual and panel presentations, interactive poster exhibits, musical and theatrical performances, and creative work displays. The many sessions will include screenings of students’ original films, a performance by the Honors String Quartet and faculty presentations on sabbatical projects.

Featured graduate program research projects include Camarillo economics student Kristen Keogh’s study of the potential effect of World Series results on incumbents in gubernatorial elections. Simi Valley education student Deborah Greene will share her analysis of how the use of a flipped classroom where second-graders watched video lectures for homework in math affected achievement.

Business major Madison Pardi of San Diego and global studies majors Daniel Chell of Brookings, S.D., and Kerissa Hollenbach of Bellevue, Wash., will report on human trafficking issues in Thailand. During a travel seminar to the country with faculty member Akiko Yasuike, the students visited several local and international organizations focused on preventing human trafficking and rehabilitating victims and evaluated their effectiveness.

Psychology major Danielle Foster of Cupertino will present the reward-based system she developed and tested to improve the behavior of a preschool-aged child with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She and other students will also share the results of their investigation into the impact of gratitude and spirituality on life satisfaction.

Projects presented during the Science Showcase will include a study of cross-contamination in reusable shopping bags, a model developed to assess pesticide exposure in low-income communities, and a comparison of bacteria growth among regular, capped and electric toothbrushes.

“Loving as Madness in Film” will include the screening and discussion of two very different Oscar-nominated films about love. Presentation of student abstracts and discussion will follow showings of “Don Juan DeMarco” and “As Good as It Gets.”

Students from the History and Literature of Music class will present formal papers with Robert Cutietta, dean of the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, serving as guest commentator.

For a complete schedule of events, go to callutheran.edu/fos. CLU’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship (OUCRS) is presenting the free festival. For more information, contact the OURCS at 805-493-3795 or ourcs@callutheran.edu.

“The Evolution of a Concert II” is the University Symphony’s final performance of this year’s project works, Claude Debussy’s “Petite Suite,” orchestrated by Henri Büsser, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, Opus 107. “Petite Suite” is a collection of four movements originally composed for two pianists at the same piano. It has been transcribed many times for differing instrumental ensembles but this is the most notable one. Symphony No. 5 or the “Reformation Symphony” was originally composed in 1830 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, a central document in the Protestant Reformation.

The program will open with Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll.” Wagner composed the laid-back ode to domestic tranquility in 1869 as a present for his wife for her 33rd birthday. The private piece was written for a small ensemble of 17 players but was later expanded to full orchestra and sold to a music publisher due to lack of funds. It stands as a historic testament to the couple’s love and immortalizes the name of their only son, Siegfried.

The Honors String Quartet will perform Antonin Dvorak’s String Quartet in F Major, Opus 96, No. 12. The quartet features the following: Derek Andrzejewski, a biochemistry and molecular biology major from Thousand Oaks, on cello; Rebecca Cardone, a political science and global studies major from Katy, Texas, on viola; Antonio Foreman, a music major from Agoura Hills, on violin; and Melissa Walker, a biology major from Porterville, on violin. Music professor Daniel Geeting will conduct.

Dvorak’s String Quartet in F Major is sometimes referred to as “The American” due to its unmistakable American musical flair. The composer, who taught in New York for some time, wrote this piece and his most popular work, “The New World Symphony,” while on vacation in the Czech community of Spillville, Iowa. Both works were premiered at Carnegie Hall during the 1893-94 season.

Veteran faculty member Daniel Geeting will conduct.

The chapel is 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 callutheran.edu.

Bernie Luskin, president-elect of the American Psychological Association’s Society for Media Psychology and Technology, will share research and insights on the subject during his presentation in Samuelson Chapel.

The Lake Sherwood resident is CEO of Luskin International, a consulting company that assists educational institutions and businesses with online higher education. Luskin has served as president of Orange Coast College, Coastline Community College, Jones International University and Touro University Worldwide. He is the director of the Kellogg Foundation Community College Leadership Legacy Project and is a past chair of the American Association of Community Colleges. He has taught at many universities and founded the first master’s degree program in media psychology and social change at Fielding Graduate University and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Luskin, a licensed marriage and family therapist and school psychologist with a doctorate in education and technology from UCLA, is the author of ten books and writes a regular column for Psychology Today magazine titled “The Media Psychology Effect.” He has received lifetime achievement awards for his contributions to media and education from many organizations including the American Psychological Association, UCLA Doctoral Alumni Association and California State University, Los Angeles, and two Emmys for documentaries on education.

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

CLU’s Artists and Speakers Committee is sponsoring the free presentation. For more information, contact Jarvis Streeter at streeter@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3236.

The award-winning play by Jennifer Haley will be staged at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, April 25, 26, 27 and May 2, 3 and 4, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 5, in the Black Box Studio Theatre.

In a typical suburbia neighborhood, teenagers are addicted to a new online video game featuring houses identical to the ones in which they live. The gamers must smash through an army of zombies to escape. As the line between virtual and real begins to blur, the players and their parents realize that fear has a life of its own.

The dark comedy deals with absentee parents using video games as a babysitter and kids becoming addicted to a violent game in which they cannot distinguish reality from the virtual world. With mature themes, some profanity and sexual innuendo, the play is not recommended for children younger than 13.

The teenagers are played by Jessie Black, a psychology major from Temecula; Matthew Case, a theatre arts major from Thousand Oaks; Lara Emery, a biology major from Austin, Texas; Graham Jameson, a communication major from Rancho Cucamonga; Karly Loberg, a psychology major from Oceanside; Ben Michaels, a theatre arts major from Redlands; Nolan Monsibay, a music major from Burbank; Cooper Smith, an English major from Trabuco Canyon; and Samantha Winters, a theatre arts and history major from Ventura.

The parents are played by Sarah DeLaGarrigue, a theatre arts major from Agoura Hills; Kelsey Goeres, a communication major from Santa Maria; Jeremy Hanna, a theatre arts major from Thousand Oaks; Aubrey Kaye, a computer science major from Camarillo; Chris Malison, a theatre arts major from Visalia; Melanie Parson, a theatre arts major from Valencia; and Tommy Schofield, a theatre arts and communication major from Edmunds, Wash.

Department chair and veteran drama professor Ken Gardner directs.

“Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom” is the winner of the 2009 Primus Citations Award from the American Theatre Critics Association. Haley, of Los Angeles, is the winner of the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her play, “The Nether.”

The Mainstage Production is part of CLU’s Seventh Annual Festival of Scholars.

Tickets are $10. The Black Box Studio Theatre is located in the Theatre Arts Building on Memorial Parkway near Pioneer Avenue on the Thousand Oaks campus. For information, call the Theatre Arts Department at 805-493-3415.

An opening reception for “Sprezzatura” will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 26, and a “meet and greet” will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 11, in The William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art.

“Sprezzatura” means “the art of appearing effortless” in Italian. When used in describing art, Sprezzatura refers to the bravado an artist demonstrates in creating a piece, whether through a dashing stroke of paint, a fluid sculpting of clay, or a swift and precise capture of an image photographically. The students hope to display a sense of this quality in their work, presenting a show that looks beautiful and painless but took the last four years to achieve.

Lauren Cabral of Santa Paula will exhibit high-contrast charcoal and graphite drawings inspired by her emotions. Felicia Castro of Port Hueneme explored a surrealistic theme in a variety of mediums. Joseph Clarkson of Virginia Beach, Va., assembled works ranging from traditional to graphic styles inspired by his love of the sea, facial hair and the human form. Andrew DeGoede of Gig Harbor, Wash., based his series of representational realism paintings on the lost paintings of Johannes Vermeer. Chelsea Fletcher of Goleta will exhibit a sculpture and other works inspired by her love of nature. The paintings and photographs of Brittany McGinley of Woodland Hills focus on her Mexican heritage and the human form. Allison Milward of Arnold will showcase charcoal and graphic pencil drawings of her friends and family. Nicole Tracy of Palmdale will exhibit paint and pastel works focusing on the human form in candid moments.

CLU’s Art Department is sponsoring the free exhibit and receptions. Art is available for purchase.

The William Rolland Gallery is located in William Rolland Stadium north of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard on the Thousand Oaks campus. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and by appointment by calling 805-493-3697.

For more information, contact Kristi Colell at 805-797-3018 or kcolell@callutheran.edu or Andrew DeGoede at adegoede@callutheran.edu.

The tea will raise money for student scholarships and educational grants at CLU.

Guests will enjoy high tea including sandwiches and other light fare in a garden-party setting overlooking the golf course. The afternoon will include a beverage reception and musical and theatrical entertainment by CLU students Lacie Goff of Enfield, Ill., and Patricia Jaramillo of Van Nuys and harpist Vonette Yanaginuma. A silent auction and raffle will be held. Jim Rondeau, director of operations and programming for National Public Radio station KCLU will emcee.

Attendees are encouraged to wear their finest tea party attire capped off with a fancy hat. Table sponsors and party hosts will decorate each table in a festive theme. Several awards will be presented, including ones for most creative table setting and wildest and most elegant hats.

CLA was founded in 1963 to stimulate the community’s interest in CLU’s academic, athletic and cultural programs. Members organize fundraising and social events throughout the year to support academic departments and student scholarships. The organization has provided more than $1.8 million through the years.

Scholarship recipients are selected for their community service, leadership potential and academic achievement. The grants purchase classroom materials, equipment and technology.

Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center, MyCorporation, University Village and Wood Ranch Golf Club are premiere sponsors. Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation, is the event chair.

Tickets are $50. Sponsorships are available. For reservations or for more information, visit www.callutheran.edu/cla or contact the University Relations office at 805-493-3151 or fielding@callutheran.edu.

“The Universal Language of Multimedia” will be on display in the Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture. A reception will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 28.

The exhibit will include projection media, 3-D printing examples, original audio productions and graphic designs selected from the portfolios of multimedia majors. CLUFest recognizes CLU’s most talented and promising student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers and computer artists.

The gallery is located in the Soiland Humanities Center on the south side of Memorial Parkway at Regent Avenue on the Thousand Oaks campus. It is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The Multimedia Department is sponsoring the free exhibit. For more information, contact Tim Hengst at 805-493-3241 or thengst@callutheran.edu.