Created under the leadership of Dr. Juanita Hall, the African American Leadership Scholarship provides support to the next generation of African American leaders who are earning a degree and California Lutheran University.

Four months before Aina Bornemann’s 80th birthday, her three adult children began concocting a gift they knew would please her as no other gift could. By pooling their ideas and resources, they designed a scholarship in their mother’s name that would highlight her...

With the advent of business titans like Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie, the noun philanthropy soon became a household word that came to imply the giving of large monetary gifts to civic causes. Translated from the Latin, the word philanthropy means “love of mankind.”...

Those not part of the California Lutheran campus community during the years between 1964 and 1985 missed a very colorful chapter in the life of the college. For those were the years in which Alphonse Toussaint Desrosiers worked on the facilities staff. Alphonse and...

The Alumni Scholarship has a long history with many variations. It started in 1981 as a fund established with proceeds from the concession stand on the visitors’ side of the football field. The scholarship was first awarded in 1982, and early recipients were to be...

Dr. Alvin E. Walz joined the CLC faculty in 1963 when the college was still in its infancy. He was a career educator in chemistry, but he made what was perhaps his most memorable mark as a professor who genuinely cared about his students both before and after...

This scholarship bears the name of Amelia C. Schuh, but the story behind the scholarship is really that of Dr. Mary R. Stauffer, Amelia’s daughter. Mary created the scholarship as a lasting tribute to her mother. She was a physician who had a private practice in...

Amy Lee Arney’s time as a CLC faculty member was relatively brief, but her legacy lives on because of the love expressed by her husband Clarence and other friends following her death. In addition to his monetary gifts to her memorial scholarship fund, Clarence gave...

Noted for its support of private higher education, the Ann Peppers Foundation in Pasadena has endowed this fund for deserving students pursuing a baccalaureate degree at Cal Lutheran.

Ardis Higgins was well known in the Santa Barbara community as an author, musician and philanthropist. But it was through her aunt, Carrie Anderson, that Ardis first became aware of California Lutheran College. Ms. Anderson was dean of women and professor of religion...

Few people love books the way Armour Nelson loved them—on the inside and the outside. For Armour, that love affair was sparked by his elementary teacher in Smolen, Kansas, who challenged his students to see how many books they could read. Armour became an avid...

This is truly a Lutheran love story. Arthur and Dolores Johnson met while attending Luther League at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Los Angeles. They dated for five years before setting a wedding date. But their wedding plans changed when Pearl Harbor was attacked by...

Twenty-five years is a long time to be a widow, but Ruth Neve had a backbone of steel and made the most of those years to the benefit of many others. Ruth’s parents, Ernst and Anne Turkheim, had immigrated to Canada from Germany. They settled in Saskatchewan, where...

Most college campuses promise students that they will have warm, personal relationships with faculty. California Lutheran University has always aimed to be a place where personal interactions between students and professors are the norm, not the exception. This story...

“You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” Those words, written by reporter Bob Sylva of the Sacramento Bee, captured the essence of Arthur (Art) Anderson, a Sacramento resident for 68 years. When Art moved from Illinois...

Since the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Lutherans have been champions of quality higher education. In the United States, Lutheran affiliations took many different forms and iterations. This brief description of the Augustana Fellowship will hopefully...

Dr. A. (Archibald) Weir Bell is proof that a person can make a huge impact in a very brief time. Dr. Bell joined the biology faculty of the newly formed California Lutheran College in 1961. Two years later, at the age of 63, he died of a heart attack. But in his...

Hermine Muller Mathews was a gracious woman. Her gentle Christian spirit permeated her many relationships and her every activity, and yet she had a mind of her own. With her clear view of right versus wrong, she stood her ground when the situation called for it. She...

The Bender-Wolfe Organ Scholarship is the legacy of three generations of one family. The scholarship combines their love of music, their individual talents and their loyalty to California Lutheran University. It is also a symbol of their appreciation of the Lutheran...

Former CLC president Dr. Mark Mathews first expressed his desire to create an endowed scholarship at California Lutheran University in honor of both his parents and the parents of his wife in a February 1986 letter following his retirement from the college. The...

Literally out of the blue on the morning in January 2005, Eddie Bergfield made a phone call to CLU’s advancement office. Eddie lived about two miles from campus but had never visited. Now he wanted to establish a scholarship for science majors, and he wanted to do it...

Herbert Spencer called music “the highest of the fine arts” because it is “the one which, more than any other, ministers to human welfare.” It is an observation with which scholarship donor Betty Shirey Bowen would certainly have agreed. From the beginning Betty...

As Cal Lutheran’s former Associate Provost for Information Services, Julius Bianchi established this scholarship for students majoring in sociology, psychology, or political science.

When you’re from a long line of prominent Lutherans, it seems only natural to be one yourself. At least that’s how Margaret Bennett felt. She was the granddaughter of David Lysnes, a Norwegian-American who helped to start the Augustana seminary. She was also the...

Cal Lutheran’s science program and curriculum changed considerably over the 25 years between 1962 and 1987. Science itself was changing, with new discoveries, new methods and new instrumentation. CLU was fortunate to have some of the finest science professors on...

When a 15-year-old Norwegian girl named Borgny Moen left Norway for the United States, who could have guessed that she would become one of CLU’s leading ladies? Few would have foreseen the future outstanding leader and benefactor the young girl would become. Borgny...

Sometimes the biggest motivator for donors and alumni to contribute to the University is gratitude for the help they themselves have received. At least that’s how the Bortel family looked at it, and this endowed scholarship is the proof. Paula Bortel entered CLC as a...

True long-term commitment to a worthy cause is a wonder to behold, and it can be said that Bob and Jackie Boynton were truly committed to Lutheran higher education for well over 30 years. And that’s where this story starts. In the early 80s, with two daughters to...

Brad and Lisa Wilson could be a poster couple for Cal Lutheran. They met as students on campus, fell in love and completed their degrees before getting married. Brad graduated in 1981 with a major in geology. Lisa followed in 1983 with a major in biology. After...

In July 1984, a terrible auto accident claimed three precious lives and changed three families forever. Brian Solem, from the graduating class of 1983, was one of the three who lost their lives. He had three brothers, and his family lived in Topanga. When Brian first...