Westmont Magazine Meet Our New Professors

Four new tenure-track professors joined Westmont’s faculty this fall: Ben Carlson (physics), Dan Jensen (engineering), Gewnhi “Gwen” Park (psychology) and Alastair Su (history). Johnny Jones serves as Westmont’s first artist/scholar-in-residence for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Other new instructors and lab coordinators include: Will Allison (physics/engineering), Evan Barnes (biology), Pauline Remy (serving a one-year position in Modern Languages; not pictured) and Terrance Yi (serving a one-year position in mathematics).

 


Johnny Jones, a writer and professor with more than a decade of experience teaching and working as a playwright and theater director, launched Westmont Festival Theatre’s first of three staged readings that explore diversity, equity and inclusion in Porter Theatre. The series of readings, named NEXUS: Readings from Black and Indigenous Playwrights, includes discussions after the readings.

Before coming to Westmont, Jones directed the African American Theater Program at the University of Louisville. He graduated from the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff and earned a Master of Arts from New York University and a Master of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts.

“My first goal and hope is to stage plays that engage the students and community with stories that feel new and that engage the very real issues of our times,” he says. “This is a privilege and a great responsibility. As we continue to live in this current moment of social change and a global pandemic, there is an effort to prioritize the achievements, needs and issues of Black, Indigenous and people of color communities.”

The first reading featured "Gloria," a dramatic comedy by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, on Sept. 25.

“The staged reading went very well, was well attended, and featured a meaningful talkback afterwards,” Jones says.

The second installment featured “The Thanksgiving Play,” a satirical comedy written by Larissa FastHorse, a Native American playwright. The Nov. 6 reading also featured excerpts from Suzan Lori-Parks’ “365 Days/365 Plays.”

FastHorse’s satirical play tells the story of four white thespians tasked with devising an elementary school pageant about the first Thanksgiving while avoiding any culturally appropriative missteps. “I wanted to continue to read plays that focused on different dynamics of race, such as privilege and the problematic history of some of our holidays,” Jones says. “I enjoy Larissa FastHorse’s sense of humor and well-meaning in ‘The Thanksgiving Play.’ I also like the newness and her unique commentary on white privilege that isn’t too preachy.”

The performance featured Westmont students Faith German, Alaina Dean, Emiliana Brewer, Emily Derr, Claire Nemec, Ford Sachsenmaier, Joel Michelson and Simeon Michelson.

The series continued with a reading of “The White Card” by Claudia Rankine on Dec. 6.