CAL LUTHERAN PAVES WAY FOR FUTURE FACILITY.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

Thirty-five years after the first students arrived at the nine scattered buildings then making up California Lutheran University, the college is breaking ground for a Humanities Center that could begin a spurt of new construction.

Today's groundbreaking symbolizes the university's financial and academic health and its commitment to the humanties, said Carol Keochekian, director of university relations.

``This new building reflects our belief that the humanities are at the core of a liberal arts education,'' she said. ``It goes along with the concepts of thinking and questioning that are an integral part of education.''

Keochekian called the construction the beginning of a growth spurt that university officials hope is followed by the development of an athletic center.

Since its founding, the university has grown from nine buildings and 400 students to 45 buildings, 2,457 students and 35 academic departments.

The new Humanities Center will be built on Memorial Parkway at the entrance to the Academic Village. It will feature a stucco exterior and decorative brick, spanning two stories containing 27,000 square feet of space.

The center will house several academic departments and will replace Regents Court, one of the university's earliest buildings.

While university officials hope for new and upgraded facilities, Keochekian said the school remained committed to providing personalized education.

``We would like to increase enrollment only slightly,'' she said. ``The type of education we offer can best be provided on a small scale.''

The one-story Regents Court houses faculty offices for French, English, philosophy and religion, along with health and counseling services. Regents Court also houses Second Wind, a resource center for re-entry students.

Regents Court is scheduled for demolition next week.

Plans call for two facing buildings to create an intimate courtyard for the new Humanities Center. Construction began on one of the buildings in December, and work on both is expected to be completed by early 1998.

The $4 million center will house 16 high-tech classrooms, 30 faculty offices, an art gallery, conference rooms and a 2,200-square-foot lecture hall.

Spectators at the ground-breaking can first watch university officials use a ceremonial, gold, three-handled shovel to dig up the first spadeful of earth. Onlookers can then grab a sledge hammer and take a swing at the walls of the soon-to-be-demolished Regents Court.

Sharing the three-handled spade will be Dr. Luther Luedtke, university president; Bob Samuelson, building committee chair; John Boe, Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Frances Prince, regent and Annie Baumgarten, president of the student council.

The construction of the new center was funded in part by a $1 million gift from the Ahmanson Foundation and a $350,000 gift from the Weingart Foundation. The university also received 60 gifts of more than $10,000 each for the project.