Westmont News

Hundreds of students, alumni, and neighbors will don mittens and scarves to celebrate Christmas season at the fifth annual Christmas Tree Lighting on Westmont’s Kerrwood Lawn, Wednesday, Dec. 6. The lights on the 150-foot redwood tree will aglow at 5 p.m.

Santa Claus will be inside Kerrwood Hall to pose for free pictures with children. Warm apple cider and cookies will also be available.

Warren Rogers, professor of physics, will serve as Westmont’s interim academic dean, filling a vacancy left by outgoing Provost Shirley Mullen.

Don’t plan on sitting down and watching an ordinary recital for Westmont’s next dance performance. In fact, most people at “Danceworks” won’t be sitting at all.

The Westmont Windancers will perform “Danceworks” Friday, Nov. 17, and Saturday, Nov. 18, in Porter Theatre at 8 p.m.

One of the leading experts in the fields of mission history, the history of world Christianity and mission theology will speak at Westmont. Dana Robert, co-director of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University, will present “Global Christianity: Issues for North Americans in the 21st Century” at a free public lecture, Thursday, Nov. 9, at 3:30 p.m., in Hieronymus Lounge. She will also speak in chapel, Friday, Nov. 10, at 10:30 a.m.

A Westmont-sponsored lecture will explore the complex issue of immigration in the United States, Thursday, Nov. 9, at University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara Street, at 5:30 p.m. The Westmont Downtown lecture, “Immigration and the American Experience,” will feature Dave Lawrence, professor of political science, Rick Pointer, professor of history, and Diana Villanueva-Hoeckley, a Westmont student with a unique immigration story.

An anonymous donor has given $75 million to Westmont, the second largest gift ever for a national liberal arts college. Westmont Chancellor David K. Winter announced the gift on Friday, Oct. 27.

There will be representatives from at least three dozen graduate programs taking part in this year’s Westmont Graduate School Fair. The fair will be held Friday, Nov. 3, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., on the Magnolia Lawn. It is free and open to the public.

Representatives from around the country will speak to students and alumni about what their programs have to offer.

Joyce Luy, Westmont’s dean of admission, says that between 75 and 80 percent of Westmont students attend graduate school at some point in their life.

The Westmont Chamber Orchestra will celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth at two concerts, Friday, Nov. 3 in Abravanel Hall at the Music Academy of the West, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 5 at First Presbyterian Church, 21 East Constance, at 7 p.m. General admission is $5, students are free.

A widely-published author and winner of two National Jewish Book Awards will speak as part of the annual Westmont-UC Santa Barbara Hebrew Bible Lecture. Michael Fishbane, Nathan Cummings professor of Jewish studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School, will speak on “The Ideals of Torah and Torah-study in the Psalms,” Thursday, Nov. 2, in Hieronymus Lounge, at 7 p.m.

Eighteen nationally and internationally known artists will display custom-made teapots, cups and other unique ceramic works Thursday, Nov. 2, through Dec. 15. in Westmont’s Reynolds Gallery. There will be an opening discussion and reception for “Form and Function: A Ceramics Invitational,” Thursday, Nov. 2, at 4 p.m.

Singers from eight high schools will join Westmont’s men’s and women’s chorales, chamber singers and college choir for the Fall Choral Festival Concert, Friday, Oct. 27, at the Marjorie Luke Theatre, 721 East Cota Street, at 7 p.m. The concert is free, but seating is limited.

The American Double, a violin-piano ensemble, will perform a unique concert featuring all of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom’s works for violin and piano. “The Bolcom Project” will be performed as part of the Kerrytown Concert House Classical Series, Sunday, Oct. 22, at 4 p.m. at the concert house, 415 North Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Andrea Gurney knew she wanted to become a psychologist when she was 13 years old. When Gurney’s parents separated, she moved with her mother and sister from New York to Arizona. She remembers going to a family therapist at that time and how it helped provide stability and helped the family to openly communicate with one another.

A day of events at Westmont this month will celebrate Mark Nelson, new Dr. Kenneth and Peggy Monroe professor of philosophy. The endowed chair was created by former Westmont professor Kenneth Monroe, who died in 1987, and his wife, Peggy, who died in February 2004.

Nelson started teaching at Westmont this fall, after spending his last 12 years teaching at the University of Leeds, one of the largest universities in the United Kingdom.

One of the world’s leading experts on science and religion will speak at Westmont, Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 3:30 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge. Denis Alexander is head of the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, supervising research in molecular genetics, and director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmund’s College at Cambridge University.

Charles Farhadian, assistant professor of religious studies, will speak on “Can Islam Save the West?” at the first fall event of the Westmont Downtown lecture series, Thursday, Oct. 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara Street.

Farhadian will explore the relationship between Islam and the West, highlighting a variety of influential Muslim voices to illustrate the diversity of Islam, particularly in its encounter with the West.

Steven Rogers says he enjoys conducting individual psychotherapy and neuropsychological research, but admits his deep passion is working with students. After earning his doctorate, he was a neuropsychology chief fellow at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute when a full-time teaching job opened up at Westmont. He liked the focus on undergraduate education.

Int'l Theatre Festival Converges on Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara will soon host the first international Shakespeare festival in the nation, thanks in large part to the vision and work of John Blondell, Westmont theater arts professor. The Lit Moon World Shakespeare Festival will feature 11 days of events celebrating Shakespeare, Thursday, Oct. 12, through Sunday, Oct. 22.

Westmont has hired a new director for the San Francisco Urban Program. Scott McClelland is heading the off-campus program he describes as a “maturity accelerator” for students.

The San Francisco program began in 1971 and operates in a 108-year old house near Golden Gate Park. There are 22 students enrolled this semester.

Westmont once again had the largest team of volunteers at the United Way’s 15th annual Day of Caring. About 115 students, faculty and staff spent their Saturday morning volunteering at North Kellogg Open Space and Ellwood School.

Last year, Westmont’s team had more than 90 volunteers take part in Day of Caring, Santa Barbara County’s biggest single-day volunteer event.

Westmont has taken a major step toward keeping its campus up to date technologically by going wireless. The $100,000 upgrade includes the installation of wireless access points at most of the campus residence halls as well Voskuyl Library and Kerr Student Center. The technology will allow students and faculty to connect to the Internet outside of their offices and rooms on campus.

You may want to fasten your seatbelt for this theatrical performance. Recent Indy-Award winning actor Mitchell Thomas performs the world-premiere of “The Earthquake Predictor Rides the Bus”, Friday, Sept. 22, and Friday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m. The entire performance takes place on a moving bus. Audiences will be picked up and dropped off at the entrance to Stearn’s Wharf, at the corner of State Street and Cabrillo Boulevard.

Susan Savage, associate professor of art, will show her paintings in the Art Rental and Sales Gallery (ARSG) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Friday, Sept. 15-Oct. 26. An opening reception will be held Friday, Sept. 15 at 6:30 p.m.

Madison Garcia refused to admit she had a stuttering problem. The speech disorder would come and go in phases. Talking on the phone or saying her name was sometimes problematic.

“Because you feel like you can’t communicate,” she says, “you feel like you really don’t have a place in society. That was my biggest fear. If I ended up saying this is what I struggle with, I’d have to deal with it.”

Fourteen students will show off their summer research projects Thursday, Sept. 7, at 4 p.m, in Founders Dining Room. “A Celebration of Student Research at Westmont” will include a student’s work investigating the angular mapping of cosmic muon flux over the sky as well as another student’s work determining the physical structures responsible for working memory.

Dozens of black rubber-band balls are strewn about Westmont’s Reynolds Gallery as part of the latest exhibit, “Cort Savage: Scattered Man and the Particle,” which will be on display from Thursday, Sept. 7, through Oct. 20. Savage has wound the rubber bands around each bone in the human skeleton, reducing the physical human being to an abstract form.

The much-anticipated new film from Columbia Pictures, “Gridiron Gang,” is based on a true story involving former Santa Barbara resident Paul Higa, who died in April. Higa was the chief probation officer for Los Angles County. His widow, Jane Higa, is vice president for student life and dean of students at Westmont.

The 333 members of the incoming class of 2010 have begun arriving at Westmont. Joyce Luy, dean of admission, says the first-year students represent one of the strongest and most selective classes ever. There are also 41 transfer students.

Orientation programs run through Sunday, August 27. The first day of classes is Monday, Aug. 28.

Fourteen new Westmont students have returned from a unique orientation program that takes students backpacking through the North Yosemite backcountry.

The optional orientation program, Inoculum, offers students units of academic and physical education course credit. Students are assigned several readings, lead discussions on the books and write a paper later in the semester.

Westmont once again secured a spot among the top liberal arts colleges in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges 2007.” For the second straight year Westmont joined six other schools with a ranking of 104.

Only nine other liberal arts colleges in California appear in the highest tier: Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Occidental, Pitzer, Thomas Aquinas and Mills Colleges.

Westmont has hired Santa Barbara resident Steve Julio as assistant professor of biology. Julio graduated from Westmont in 1992 and earned his doctorate at UC Santa Barbara in 2001.

For the past three years Julio has been a postdoctoral fellow at UCSB. He was also a research scientist for several years at Remedyne Corporation, a vaccine development company in Santa Barbara.

New England violinist Philip Ficsor will join Westmont’s faculty this fall as assistant professor of violin. Ficsor is a member of the American Double, a piano-violin duo which has been featured on concert series across the United States and Europe.

A popular CNN online podcast will feature an interview with David Newton, Westmont professor of entrepreneurial finance, Friday, July 21. CNN officials say their podcast Web site is visited about a million times a week.

Janet Lamkin, president and chief executive officer of the California Bankers Association, has joined the Westmont Board of Advisors. Lamkin graduated from Westmont in 1981.

The 16-member board provides a critical link between the college curriculum and post-graduate experiences. Its principal purpose is to bring new ideas and fresh viewpoints from those in the business community. The board meets twice a year and reports to the college president.

A group of five Westmont students has returned to the United States after spending a month serving people in Guatemala.

Mike Yankoski, author of “Under the Overpass,” will appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Producers recently postponed a July 6 interview and have not yet rescheduled. Yankoski graduated from Westmont last year and lives in Santa Barbara.

Shakespeare’s “King Richard II” will rule once again. The award-winning play, co-produced by Westmont College Repertory Theatre and Lit Moon Theatre Company, returns for three shows at Santa Barbara Trinity Episcopal Church, Monday, July 31, through Wednesday, Aug. 2, at 8 p.m.

Accomplished illustrator and graphic designer Scott Anderson has been named assistant professor of art at Westmont. Anderson has been an art instructor and adjunct art professor at Westmont since 1999. He has also taught at Santa Barbara City College and Nickelodeon Studios in Burbank.

David Newton, Westmont professor of entrepreneurial finance, will be interviewed on CNN's “Anderson Cooper 360,” Friday, June 16, at 7 p.m., for a special series Cooper is doing on top entrepreneurs of the 20th century who have literally changed American life as we know it.

Westmont’s co-production of “King Richard II” took top honors at the 14th annual Independent Theater Awards, Monday, May 22. The Shakespearean play won four awards, including direction by John Blondell and performance by Mitchell Thomas. Playwright Erik Ehn also won an award for “The Saint Plays,” performed by Westmont students in Porter Theatre last March.

ESPN and ABC Basketball Analyst Steve Lavin will speak next month at Westmont’s 15th annual Golf Marathon Sports Banquet and Golf Outing. The former UCLA head basketball coach will speak on Sunday evening, June 4, at Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort, as a kickoff to a fundraiser aimed at providing scholarships for Westmont athletes.

The Sunday night banquet, hosted by Westmont, is a precursor to an all-day golf marathon at La Purisma Golf Course on Monday, June 5.

Westmont Provost Shirley Mullen has accepted the position of president at Houghton College in New York. She will remain at Westmont through December 2006 and take up her new responsibilities in January 2007.

Westmont closes out the Reynolds Gallery season with a celebration of California’s beauty through a special invitational show featuring some of the region’s finest landscape painters. “Views and Visions: Celebrating California,” will be at the gallery from Thursday, May 18, through June 30. An opening reception will be held Thursday, May 18, at 4 p.m.

To honor outgoing Westmont President Stan D. Gaede, the college has renamed the Institute for the Liberal Arts at Westmont the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts at Westmont. The college has also completed funding toward its initial goal for the institute. David Eaton, who chairs the college board of trustees, made the announcement May 5.

Bruce Fisk, Westmont religious studies professor, will separate fact from fiction in Dan Brown’s best-selling book, “The Da Vinci Code,” in a free lecture, “Breaking the Da Vinci Code,” in both Santa Barbara and Ventura.

Westmont Downtown will present his talk, Thursday, May 11, at 5:30 p.m., at the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St.

Westmont has joined a very select group of colleges and universities dedicated to providing the finest equipment for its musicians. The college purchased 20 new Steinway pianos through an anonymous $350,000 gift, making Westmont one of only two four-year liberal arts colleges in California to be an All-Steinway School.

Gerd Jordano, longtime Santa Barbara civic leader, will receive the Westmont Medal during the college’s graduation ceremonies, Saturday, May 6, at 10 a.m. on Russell Carr Field. It will also be Stan D. Gaede’s last commencement as college president.