Alaska's first female ELCA bishop to speak
Cal Lutheran alumna to keynote annual convocation
Shelley Wickstrom was elected to a six-year term as bishop for the Alaska Synod in 2012.
(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., - Sept. 21, 2015) A California Lutheran University alumna serving as the first female bishop for the Alaska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will be the keynote speaker at Founders Day Convocation at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9.
After Bishop Shelley Wickstrom speaks at the service in Samuelson Chapel, 1989 alumnus Nils Slattum will accept the university’s Christus Award on behalf of his late father, art professor Jerry Slattum of Thousand Oaks. The 56th annual event is organized to give thanks for the university’s heritage and to pray for its continued success in fulfilling its mission of educating leaders for a global society.
Wickstrom was elected to a six-year term as bishop for the Alaska Synod in 2012. She was the first Cal Lutheran graduate to be elected a bishop for the ELCA.
Born in Montana and raised in Washington, Wickstrom earned bachelor’s degrees in religion and philosophy from Cal Lutheran in 1981. After graduating, she followed her sister and brother to Alaska and called it home for the next 16 years. She then attended Wartburg Theological Seminary in Iowa, but returned in summers to process salmon roe and complete an internship in Seward. She first served congregations in the Alaskan cities of Dillingham and North Pole and then at two churches in Montana. She also worked as a coordinator for missional leadership in Region 1 of the ELCA.
Slattum, who died in 2014, will receive the Christus Award for making significant contributions to higher education in the ELCA. He taught art at the university from 1962 to his retirement in 1994. Voted Professor of the Year multiple times, he traveled with students to study culture and art in Central and South America and Europe.
The service will also feature the introduction of Colleen Windham-Hughes as the first person to hold the Wilbert and Darlene Carlson Endowed Chair in Youth and Family Ministry and the commissioning of the Board of Regents and Convocation. The Convocation ratifies the university’s Board of Regents, works to strengthen the university’s Lutheran identity, and cultivates ties with ELCA congregations in the Southwest region and with other constituencies.
The event is free and open to the public. The chapel is located at 165 Chapel Lane on the Thousand Oaks campus. For more information, call the Office of Congregational Relations at 805-493-3936.