California Lutheran University

California Lutheran University
Former name
California Lutheran College (1959–1986)
TypePrivate university
Established1959; 65 years ago (1959)
AccreditationWSCUC
Religious affiliation
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Endowment$115.4 million (2020)[1]
PresidentJohn A. Nunes[2]
Academic staff
437 (193 full time, 244 part time)[3]
Undergraduates2,888
Postgraduates1,394
Location, ,
United States
CampusSuburban – 290 acres (1.2 km2)
ColorsPurple and gold    
NicknameKingsmen (men)
Regals (women)
Sporting affiliations
NCAA Division III
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC)
Websitewww.callutheran.edu
Flagpoles by Soiland Humanities Center

California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian.[4] It opened in 1960 as California Lutheran College and was California's first four-year liberal arts college and the first four-year private college in Ventura County. It changed its name to California Lutheran University on January 1, 1986.[5][6][7]

It is located on a 290-acre (120 ha) campus, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Los Angeles. It offers degrees at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels, as well as post-master's and post-bachelor's certificates.[8] CLU offers 36 majors and 34 minors.[9][10] The university is based in Thousand Oaks, with additional locations in Woodland Hills (Los Angeles), Westlake Village, Oxnard, Santa Maria, and Berkeley.

Cal Lutheran has been called the West Coast's "Cradle of Coaches"; nearly 1 in 4 of football coach Bob Shoup's players would go on to coach at some level, while 144 players have become football coaches, and several have been drafted to the NFL. Particularly many players were drafted following the NAIA Championship win in 1971. The celebration was held at the Hollywood Palladium in conjunction with the Dallas Cowboys that won their first Super Bowl the following month. In college baseball, 24 student players have been drafted for Major League Baseball as of 2014.

  1. ^ As of June 30, 2020. U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20 (Report). National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  2. ^ "California Lutheran University Announces Leadership Transition". California Lutheran University. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "California Lutheran University". Forbes. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  5. ^ Triem, Judith P. (1990). Ventura County: Land of Good Fortune. EZ Nature Books. p. 139. ISBN 9780945092162.
  6. ^ Baker, Pam (2002). Thousand Oaks Westlake Village: A Contemporary Portrait. Community Communications, Inc. p. 46. ISBN 978-1581920611.
  7. ^ Severtson, Ansle T. (1993). Gaylerd Falde: A Bishop for His Time. California Lutheran University. Page: front flap (introduction).
  8. ^ Clemente, Stephen (2009). Peterson's Colleges in the West. Peterson's. p. 52. ISBN 9780768926965.
  9. ^ "Mission and Student Learning Outcomes". California Lutheran University. Retrieved July 22, 2013. California Lutheran University offers undergraduate program offers 36 majors, 34 minors, and 7 pre-professional programs.
  10. ^ Kendrick, Kaetrena Davis and Deborah Tritt (2016). The Small and Rural Academic Library: Leveraging Resources and Overcoming Limitations. Association of College and Research Libraries. p. 156. ISBN 9780838989012.