Community Commitments Mission

Westmont College is an undergraduate, residential, Christian, liberal arts community serving God's kingdom by cultivating thoughtful scholars, grateful servants and faithful leaders for global engagement with the academy, church and world.

Reflections on the Vision of Westmont College by President Gayle Beebe

The Westmont mission statement identifies five core principles that guide every aspect of our work: liberal arts, Christian, residential, undergraduate, and global.

Recently, a leading national magazine reported that 45 percent of all Fortune 500 CEOs had attended small liberal arts colleges or universities. The article described how much these individuals benefited from the sort of education that occurs in the context of small classes with great minds wrestling with profound thoughts. There really is no other educational experience like it. This approach to learning has been and will continue to be the core focus of the education we provide.

But equipping great minds is not enough; we must also cultivate character. At the heart of our mission as an educational institution lies an unwavering commitment to our Christian faith. What our world needs is not a shrill recitation of narrow ideas, but a robust expression of our deepest convictions engaged in the sort of conversations that really matter. We recognize that living in community allows us to experience more deeply our liberal arts curriculum and our Christian commitment. Integrating the way we live and the beliefs we hold with our intellectual endeavors represents an important part of the Westmont experience.

Our commitment to undergraduate education means that our primary focus is on this wonderful period of life when we make so many of the decisions that shape our ongoing journey. While more and more schools are adding graduate programs, we retain our primary emphasis on undergraduates and believe that we can offer a more effective and engaging program as a result.

Finally, the rising tide of our global economy is making it imperative that we develop a worldview that can move easily within and between the various cultures and societies that make up our world community. In the years that lie ahead, we anticipate the various expressions of Westmont around the world to take on an even greater importance.