Among those responsible for preparing the study was Dr. Orville Dahl, executive secretary of the Board of Higher Education of the ELC; Dr. William L. Young of the ALC; Dr. Gould Wickey of the ULCA; and Dr. Carl Segerhammar of the Augustana Lutheran Church.

His last visit, which took place on Sept. 24, 1957, took him 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Los Angeles to the Conejo Valley, where Dahl was offered land by Norwegian farmer Lawrence Pederson.

On April 19, 1968, three hundred Cal Lutheran students commemorated the life of assassinated civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. by marching down Moorpark Boulevard in his memory.

[47] When the search for a new president failed to produce a candidate from outside campus, the board of regents was advised by Knutson to appoint Mark A. Mathews, the chair of the business administration and economics department.

[88] On January 25, 2019, Los Angeles Dodgers attended a ceremony and luncheon at the Lundring Event Center in order to honor those affected by the 2018 Thousand Oaks shooting.

[89][90] The Cal Lutheran Choir performed the National Anthem at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum during the Los Angeles Rams' game against the Kansas City Chiefs on November 19, 2018.

The 290-acre (1.2 km2) main campus is located in Thousand Oaks, a city in southern Ventura County, California, comprising 41 buildings, four fields, two stadiums, two swimming pools, a tennis court, botanic gardens, as well as undeveloped chaparral hillsides.

[124] The campus of CLU is primarily organized by the four cardinal directions, with the north side, located across Olsen Road and backed up against Mount Clef Ridge, serving as the primary center for athletics.

Exhibitions rotate approximately five times per year and have featured works from artists such as Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, David Hockney, Fernando Botero, Diego Lasansky, and Picasso.

The School of Management has several locations on campus, including Peters Hall,[158] dedicated on Founders Day, October 23, 1981, during the first academic year of CLU President Jerry H. Miller.

During the 1970s, guest artists such as Roger Williams, Myron Floren, Gordon MacRae, Marni Nixon, Florence Henderson, and others made their appearance on CLC concert tours.

[174] Notable performers with the choir have included composer David Lang, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Steven Stucky, Henry Brant, Morten Lauridsen, Richard Elliott, and Grammy Award winners Eric Whitacre and Hila Plitmann.

The first children's theatre production was “Land of the Dragon.” Among the other plays in the early years were “Kind Lady” and “Death of a Salesman.” A high school drama was held on campus in February 1967 starring Buddy Ebsen, an actor known for his role in The Beverly Hillbillies.

Slattum, a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University, came to CLC after having had successful exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum as well as in New York and Tucson, Arizona, where he had received the Purchase Award.

Founded by Swedish-American professor Armour Nelson and Norwegian-American John Nordberg, the festival began as a celebration of the history of the college and the surrounding area, which was settled by Norwegians in the 1890s.

The festival stage and children's craft activities are located in Kingsmen Park, vendor booths can be found along Memorial Parkway, and exhibits and specialty programs often take place in Samuelson Chapel.

Cal Lutheran competes in 22 NCAA-sanctioned intercollegiate varsity sports:[195] Men's sports (Kingsmen) include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, football, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball and water polo; while women's teams (Regals) include basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball and water polo.

[230] Other notable football players and coaches of CLU include Tom Herman, Rod Marinelli, Eric Rogers, Cory Undlin, Phil Frye, and Dave Aranda.

From its 8–1 record in 1970, the team moved into its greatest season to date in 1971, and captured the NAIA Division II National Championship, winning against Montana Tech and Westminster College in the playoffs.

Anderson, the first manager to win World Series championships in both the American and National Leagues, was approached by the team's coach in 1979 and came up with the idea of golf tournaments to raise money for scholarships.

[256] A local baseball team, Conejo Oaks, which competes in the California Collegiate League (CCL), play their home games at the university's Ullman Stadium (George Lee "Sparky" Anderson Field).

[301] The Thousand Oaks City Council approved a special use permit in 1993 which allowed California Lutheran University to construct a radio tower and FM antenna on top of Mountclef Ridge.

The Dallas Cowboys helped build locker rooms, donated weights to CLU and, from 1980 to 2002, the university awarded the Landry Medal named after the team's coach to honor those who have been an inspiration to youth.

The medal was given to Nancy Reagan, Roger Staubach, Bob Hope, Charles Schulz, Sparky Anderson, Jim Murray, Gene Stallings, John Wooden, and others.

Bob Lilly, a defensive tackle for fourteen seasons (1961–1974), described his time at CLC in his memoir A Cowboy’s Life (2008): “The mountainous terrain surrounding the college was beautiful.

[323] Following the November 2018 Thousand Oaks shooting, members of the CLU Choir performed the National Anthem at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before the start of the Rams’ game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

[328][329][330] Mount Clef Ridge Open Space, which borders the university on the north, totals 217 acres (88 ha) and supports fauna such as mountain lion, coyote, deer, and gray fox.

[338] The Dodge City set in Gunsmoke (1955–1975) was located on a back lot at CLU,[339][340] and Wuthering Heights (1939) was filmed on land which later became the university campus (Olsen Ranch).

[346][347] An episode of Behind the Lights: the Coolest Jobs Behind the Biggest Sports (2012), a series BBC Worldwide is co-producing with Break Media, was filmed at CLU and featured the captain of the United States men's national water polo team.

Members of the Theater Department were featured in an episode of the HBO program Vice News Tonight on November 19, 2018, where they discussed the CLU play "Columbinus" based on the Columbine High School massacre.