Cal Lutheran Marks 40th Anniversary

The Rev. Luther Olmon was there in the beginning. And he’ll be there today, 40 years later, celebrating the anniversary of Cal Lutheran University.

Olmon, now 79, said he helped establish the university in 1959 as the first four-year Lutheran college in California, He recalled the open farmland and chicken coops that gave way to classrooms and eventually to modern buildings.

Today, the university celebrates Founders Day, which opens with a convocation at 10 a.m. in the Samuelson Chapel on campus, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. The celebration then moves to the dedication of a new music practice facility, followed by a banquet. The day concludes with a concert at 8 p.m. in the chapel.

This anniversary represents a turning point for the university, Olmon said. Earlier this month, Cal Lutheran was accepted into the Los Angeles-based Independent Colleges of Southern California, joining the ranks of Pepperdine University, Loyola Marymount University, Mount St. Mary’s College and 13 other schools.

“It helps us associate with other schools,” university spokeswoman Lynda Paige Fulford said. “It’s good for the collegiality to get to meet with the leaders from those other schools. Everybody can learn from everyone else.”

Jay German, associate vice president of the college group, said Cal Lutheran was the first school to be accepted in 10 years.

Earlier this year, the Thousand Oaks City Council approved the university’s 20-year master plan to upgrade the campus at a cost of more than $30 million.

Rick Lopez, 21, a senior majoring in communications, said he’d like to come back in two decades to see what the university looks like then.

“I feel in the next 20 years, it will be a bigger and better university,” Lopez said. But, he added, “I wish the process of building the sports complex would have been done while I’m still here.”