Charles and Diana Hagen Family Scholarship

This scholarship story is also a love story. Charles “Chuck” and Diana Hagen met in college, not an unusual occurrence in itself. But the setting for their romance certainly was. They met as student workers in the cafeteria of the University of Chicago, where Chuck’s task was to serve up the meat and potatoes and Diana’s was to serve the vegetables. One could say that it was a “healthy” relationship right from the start.

Diana had earned her degree in advertising design at the University of Michigan and worked at the Ann Arbor Press as head of design for two years. Then she applied to the University of Chicago’s divinity school, where she was awarded a scholarship to pursue her studies. However, she married Chuck in 1950 before completing her degree. Chuck was a graduate student in microbiology at the University, pursuing his degree with the help of veteran’s assistance. Later he became a researcher at Illinois Institute of Technology and eventually went on to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena. There he studied the survival of microorganisms in a simulated Martian environment.

In 1976 the Hagen family, including their two daughters and a son, moved to Camarillo where Chuck became chief microbiologist in charge of quality control with an Oxnard medical device firm. The family was active in Mt. Cross Lutheran Church. Diana, who was part-Swedish, also became involved with CLU’s Scandinavian Center as well as with the American Association of University Women.

When Chuck retired in 1986 he worked as a consultant for a time before he passed away in 2001. Because of her familiarity with CLU, Diana felt drawn to the idea of establishing a scholarship at CLU to perpetuate the family’s love of learning. She knew Chuck would approve. With Chuck in mind, Diana designed the Charles and Diana Hagen Family Scholarship for upper-division students majoring in the biological sciences with an interest in research.