President, California Lutheran University
Varlotta, a Ph.D., became the first female president at California Lutheran University in September 2020 amid a pandemic and national reckoning with racial and social injustice. She put her 35 years of college administration experience to work by spearheading the implementation of a coordinated diversity, equity and inclusion program. She has also mobilized the senior leadership in launching a strategic and master planning process that will guide the university’s future. Prior to Cal Lutheran, Varlotta served six years as president at Hiram College in Ohio and held various administrative roles at California State University – Sacramento, the University of San Francisco and the University of Wisconsin.