Castro Valley resident receives CLU award

Student Malina Keaton honored for inspiring others

THOUSAND OAKS, CA (12/19/2013)(readMedia)-- Malina Keaton of Castro Valley received the Student Inspiration Award at California Lutheran University for encouraging intellectual and spiritual growth and promoting service and leadership.

The theology and Christian leadership major accepted the award during the Dec. 12 Sankta Lucia Festival ceremony. She helps coordinate the weekly Common Ground services and is a member of the Lord of Life Student Congregation. This year Keaton received a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship to study how various Christian denominations articulate views on such issues as sex, marriage and homosexuality.

A university committee selects the recipients of the annual award. An alumni family initiated the tradition in 1979, establishing an endowment to provide undisclosed cash awards each year.

CLU is a selective university located in Thousand Oaks, Calif., with centers in Oxnard, Woodland Hills and Santa Maria for graduate courses and its Bachelor's Degree for Professionals program. With an enrollment of 4,300 students, CLU offers undergraduate and graduate programs within the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Management, Graduate School of Education and Graduate School of Psychology. Members of the CLU student body come from across the nation and around the world and represent a diversity of faiths and cultures. For more information, visit callutheran.edu.