By Cal Lutheran News(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — May 5, 2023) California Lutheran University will hold separate 2023 commencement ceremonies for 1,217 undergraduate and graduate students on Friday, May 12, in William Rolland Stadium on the Thousand Oaks campus.
The 60th annual Undergraduate Commencement at 8:30 a.m. will honor 773 students in the Class of 2023, including 707 traditional undergraduates and 66 in the Bachelor’s Degree for Professionals program. Graduate Commencement at 2 p.m. will honor 444 students, including 413 earning master’s degrees and 31 receiving doctorates.
Undergraduate Commencement student speakers
Undergraduate speaker Francine Aclan is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with University Honors. As co-president of CLU PRIDE and the FILO Club, and in other club officer roles, she has been dedicated to cultivating an inclusive campus. She has also worked on campus at the Center for Cultural Engagement and Inclusion, Undergraduate Admissions, The Writing Center, and New Student Orientation. Aclan will pursue a Master of Management in hospitality, with an emphasis in cultural event management and human resources.
Amanda McClain, speaking on behalf of Bachelor’s Degree for Professionals students, is originally from Phoenix, Arizona. After graduating from high school in 2008, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served for six years with the Seabees. She earned an associate’s degree in political science and government from Ventura College in December 2020, then transferred to Cal Lutheran. She is passionate about justice and victim advocacy, and plans to do volunteer work with the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. Currently, she is a technical writer-editor for the Department of the Navy in Port Hueneme.
Graduate Commencement student speakers
Doctoral speaker Kristen Robinson is a two-time alumna of Cal Lutheran’s Graduate School of Education, earning her master’s degree in counseling and guidance in 2009 before returning for her doctorate in educational leadership in 2020. An alumna of the Ventura County Community College District, she played volleyball for the Ventura College Pirates before transferring to the University of California, Santa Barbara, for her sociology degree. She spent nine years working in student affairs for UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, then became the student activities specialist for Moorpark College.
Master’s speaker Victor Rafael Amezcua Aguilar is a first-generation Mexican American and son of fieldworkers who identifies as an Indigenous Purépecha, two-spirit individual. Aguilar received the 2018 Dr. Richard R. Rush Outstanding Senior Student Leader Award as an undergraduate at California State University, Channel Islands, which inspired him to do more for the LGBTQ+ and Mexican American communities by being active in local protests and nonprofits, while he invested time as an applied behavioral analyst and paraeducator in Ventura County. He decided to pursue mental health education to support marginalized youths, and works as a school counselor.
Details about commencement events are available at CalLutheran.edu/commencement. Access to an online livestream of both ceremonies will be available at this address on May 12.
