Cal Lutheran’s New President Wins Praise for Hands-On Style

Charlie Flora, editor of the weekly California Lutheran University Echo, was vexed recently to receive a letter from the university’s incoming president chiding him for letting sloppy grammar slip into the campus newspaper.

Flora knew that the Echo’s copy editing was a little weak at times. But he thought it unfair that Cal Lutheran’s new president, Luther S. Luedtke, expected the Echo to match the standards of the Daily Trojan, the USC newspaper that Luedtke grew accustomed to during his four years as director of USC’s journalism school.

“Things run a lot differently at a small university,” Flora said. “We don’t have the same kind of structure he’s used to.”

Flora then paused and softened his tone: “He’s fit in pretty well so far.”

At today’s inaugural ceremony, Cal Lutheran will formally install Luedtke as the fifth president in its 34-year history. And his colleagues say he should continue to fit in well.

“Cal Lutheran is a highly creative place, and we’re not saddled by what was done before,” biology professor Michael Kolitsky said. “We’re happy to have someone coming in with his own ideas of what it is to be a university. It’s a perfect fit.”

Luedtke has been interim president since August, when the university’s governing board chose him to replace Jerry H. Miller, a theologian who served 11 years as president and now directs university development and fund raising.

The new president is scheduled to be sworn in at 10 a.m. in a ceremony at Samuelson Chapel on the campus.

With his tortoise-shell glasses, mild blue eyes and unimposing stature, Luedtke, 49, looks more like a graduate student than a university president. Although he has immersed himself in budget and personnel issues since August, Luedtke still reflects wistfully on his days as student, scholar and professor.

“I will continue to revere the time I have spent in a classroom,” Luedtke said. “When I’m there, I wonder why I would ever be doing anything else. But I also have a penchant for organization and administration.”

The American literature and culture scholar admitted almost sheepishly that as an undergraduate, he enrolled in Minnesota’s Gustavus Adolphus College as an accounting student before switching to studies of English, German and history.

The new president, a lifelong Lutheran, is described on campus as energetic, enthusiastic and, above all, approachable.

Even newspaper editor Flora’s gripe reveals an aspect of Luedtke’s character that many of his colleagues find appealing--a hands-on style that involves him in many facets of life at Cal Lutheran, a cozy campus of 3,000 graduate and undergraduate students in Thousand Oaks.

“His intelligence and the accomplishments behind him have won everyone’s trust,” said DeAnne Taylor, who chairs an association of administrators at the university. “He’s not overpowering and he doesn’t jump to conclusions. He seems to have a wonderful way of entertaining everyone’s interests and making sure they feel heard.”

On a close-knit campus where professors give out their home phone numbers and show up to cheer at sporting events, Luedtke has already earned a reputation for being accessible and easygoing.

Then again, he had little choice, Luedtke said, recounting how in his first week in office, “the president of the sophomore class walked into my room, stuck out his hand and said, ‘Hi, you must be Luther.’ ”

Perhaps because he has two children who are students--son Pehr, 19, is a sophomore at Princeton University and daughter Pia, 15, is a sophomore at Polytechnic School in Pasadena--Luedtke seems to relate to undergraduates. He even set aside for students 10 out of the 300 seats at his inaugural banquet, traditionally a venue for donors to hobnob with the new administration.

“He cruises the campus and goes where students are instead of staying behind closed doors,” said Jason Russell, 21, the student body president.

A major goal of Luedtke’s tenure will be gaining the city of Thousand Oaks’ approval for a proposed $70-million expansion onto the university’s north campus across Olsen Road. In addition to fund raising, he must drum up community support for the development. The project includes a new athletic complex, creative arts center and classrooms.