Westmont News

The James Irvine Foundation has awarded Westmont $400,000 over three years under its Campus Diversity Program. To prepare graduates for effective citizenship in an increasingly multicultural world, Westmont will use the funds to enroll more students of color and to achieve college goals on diversity.

Westmont is listed among the “Best Colleges in America to Study Entrepreneurship” by Irvine-based Entrepreneur magazine.

The feature story in the April edition of the magazine featuring the top-ranked programs was written by David Newton, Westmont professor of entrepreneurial finance, and Mark Henricks of Dallas. Newton’s company, Santa Barbara-based TechKnowledge Point Corp. (www.techknowledgepoint.com) did the research for the project.

“Read My Lips: The Compelling Case Against Civility,” a Phi Kappa Phi lecture on understanding reasons for uncivil behavior, will be given by Associate Communication Studies Professor Michael Giuliano 7 p.m. March 31 in Hieronymus Lounge at Westmont.

Associate Communication Studies Professor Deborah Dunn and Associate Religious Studies Professor Bruce Fisk will respond.

Westmont's student business venture team took first prize in the Sixth Annual Midwest Enterprise Creation Competition at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., over the weekend.

Westmont's entry – Solum Monitoring Systems, Inc. – received a check for $7,500 in seed capital for the business and introductions to several venture capital sources to pursue potential funding of the enterprise. The national competition is co-hosted by Ball State, Syracuse University and Ernst & Young, LLP.

Twelve Westmont students received David K. Winter Character Through Student Leadership Awards during a ceremony on campus March 19.

The students – four first-year students, four sophomores and four juniors – will receive $2,000 to go toward tuition for the 2003-04 academic year. The juniors receive an additional $250 to give to a charity of their choice. The winners were chosen for their service to others through various leadership positions.

After 127 debates, 70 speeches and 179 judging assignments, the finals of Westmont’s 6th Annual Expressions Speech and Debate Tournament came to a close March 5 with victories by sophomore Josh Cox for the debates, freshman Brad Wiegel for persuasive speaking and junior Clark Morgan for interpretive speaking.

Lisa Beamer, wife of 9-11 victim Todd Beamer and author of “Let's Roll,” the heroic story of United Flight 93, will address Westmont's class of 2003 at commencement ceremonies 10 a.m. May 3 on Russell Carr Field. Commencement is open to the public; however, seating is limited.

Lisa Beamer's book, “Let's Roll, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage,” chronicles the last hours of Todd Beamer's life and the acts of those courageous individuals on Flight 93 who decided to take action to stop terrorists from using their plane as a weapon.

The Fletcher Jones Foundation has given $500,000 to Westmont for the acquisition of new science equipment.

This grant is the lead gift toward a $2.3 million effort to equip the new David K. Winter Hall for Science and Mathematics with state-of-the-art science equipment and to upgrade the observatory.

Robert Ludwick, a 1974 Westmont graduate, is the new chairman of the Westmont Foundation Board of Directors, accepting the gavel from Gerd Jordano, who served as chair for two years.

Robert Ludwick, a 1974 Westmont graduate, is the new chairman of the Westmont Foundation Board of Directors, accepting the gavel from Gerd Jordano, who served as chair for two years.

The foundation is comprised of community members who seek to cultivate healthy ties between the community and Westmont College.

Howard Figler, Ph.D., a nationally known speaker, author and seminar leader, will teach a workshop for career professionals and students, “Essence and Ego: Is it Your Career or Theirs?” 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 7 in the Founders Room in Kerr Student Center.

Bob Kuntz, who has served for more than 30 years in higher education, has been named registrar at Westmont, effective March 1.

Kuntz has worked for the past 18 months at Westmont as assistant to the director of information technology for software improvements. Before he came to Westmont, Kuntz was assistant chancellor for budget and planning at the University of California Santa Barbara, where he worked for 32 years.

Franz Joseph Haydn’s dramatic Mass, “Missa in tempore belli,” will be performed by the Westmont College Choir and Chamber Singers at the fourth annual Choral Masterworks Concert, 8 p.m. March 5 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St. in downtown Santa Barbara.

Admission is a suggested donation of $7 for students and seniors and $10 for general audience.

Westmont’s first fall dance concert featuring a unique blend of dancing and acting will be 8 p.m. Nov. 15 and 2 and 8 p.m. Nov. 16 in Porter Theatre. Admission is $5 for students and seniors and $8 for general audience.

The performance is centered on our relationship with water and will feature one complete piece of contemporary dance. The concert will also include students acting in a European style of clowning. The piece features six dancers and seven actors.

English Professor Paul Willis' 24-page chapbook, “The Deep and Secret Color of Ice,” was selected as the winner in an annual national competition sponsored by Small Poetry Press in Concord, Calif.

Chosen from 300 entries and 13 finalists, Willis will receive a $1,000 prize and 100 free copies of the chapbook, to be published March 1.

March 1, 2003

Westmont officials are aware of the devastating fires that are ravaging Southern California. So far, the conditions in Santa Barbara County have been such that there is no imminent danger of fires near the college. However, we are in frequent contact with local fire officials, and we would activate our preparedness plan if a fire threat approaches the campus.

Mozart's “Requiem” and Vivaldi's sparkling “Magnificat” will highlight Westmont's Third Annual Masterworks Concert, 8 p.m. Feb. 7 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St. in Santa Barbara. Admission, by donation, is $10 for general audience and $7 for students and seniors.

The concert will feature the College Choir, directed by Steve Hodson, and the college Chamber Singers, directed by Grey Brothers. Augmented by faculty and alumni, the College Choir will explore the intrigues of Mozart's “Requiem” with soloists and full orchestra.

Four exceptional high school seniors have been offered full-tuition scholarships to Westmont after they successfully competed against 26 others during the college’s recent Scholars Day.

The winners are Bryce McFerran of Encinitas in Orange County, Jennifer Murphy of Eagle River, Alaska, Neil Bezdek of Centennial, Colo., and Julie Lockwood of San Carlos in the San Francisco Bay Area. The scholarships are for all four years of study, which today would be valued at nearly $100,000.

“The Mariner,” an original piece of visual theatre inspired by Homer’s great epic poem “The Odyssey” will be presented by the Westmont College Repertory Theatre 8 p.m. Feb. 21, 27 and 28 in Porter Theatre.
There will be matinee performances at 2 p.m. Feb. 22 and March 1. Tickets are $5 for students and seniors and $10 for general audience.

“Educating for Justice: Liberal Education and the Development of Just Members of Society,” is the focus of Westmont’s third annual Conversation on the Liberal Arts, Jan. 31 through Feb. 1.

Representatives from 30 colleges and universities will attend the sessions,

Limited seating is available for faculty and staff in the plenary sessions.

Yale University Professor Lamin Sanneh is one of two esteemed scholars scheduled to speak at Westmont this academic year in the college’s World Christianity Lecture Series, a new series sponsored by the college’s history and religious studies departments, among others.

Sanneh, the D. Willis James professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School, with a concurrent appointment as professor of history at Yale College, will appear at several events Oct. 3 and 4.

Westmont and the Santa Barbara Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse have received the first installment of a nearly $1.2 million bequest from the estate of Virginia Perle, which will be split evenly between the recipients.

A public lecture by the artists will be 3 p.m. Jan. 30, followed by the opening reception from 4-6 p.m., both in the Art Center. The show runs through March 7.

“Precious in His Sight,” a service of healing and racial reconciliation open to the greater Santa Barbara community, will be 7 p.m. Jan. 27 at Page Hall on the upper Westmont campus.

Sponsored by the Inter-Faith Ministers’ Alliance in partnership with Westmont, the service is the second in a series of three intended to promote relationships of healing and reconciliation, and draw attention to the fact that all people are God’s people, no matter their ethnicity or race.

“Photographs and Artifacts: A Southwestern Chronicle,” featuring works by Raymond Reid and Henry and Mary Weaver, opens Jan. 27 in Reynolds Gallery.

A public lecture by the artists will be 3 p.m. Jan. 30, followed by the opening reception from 4-6 p.m., both in the Art Center. The show runs through March 7.

The exhibit includes images of Native American life and the environment in which Native Americans live. The objects and artifacts range from traditional baskets and blankets to rarer beaded pouches and carved pipe bowls.

Andrew Walls, the second scholar participating in Westmont’s World Christianity and Global Encounters of the 21st Century lecture series, will discuss “Conversion and Proselytism in a Multifaith, Multiethnic World” 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara. The event is free and open to the public.

Scholars Cecil Mel Robeck, professor of church history and ecumenics at Fuller Theological Seminary, and Anthea Butler, assistant professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University, will respond.

John Nava, the painter who designed the tapestries in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, will discuss the cathedral tapestries 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15 in Westmont’s Porter Theatre. The event is free and open to the public.

For the cathedral, Nava created 25 tapestry panels that depict 135 men, women and children of faith, ranging in age from 9 months to 90 years. Towering an average of 10 feet each, together they form a “Communion of Saints.”

Award-winning pianist Sam Rotman, who earned two degrees from Juilliard, will present a free recital at 8 p.m. Jan. 13 in Porter Theatre on the Westmont campus.

While at Juilliard, he received nine awards in the form of grants, scholarships, and prizes. Subsequently, he has been among the winners in five piano competitions, both in the United States and Europe, including that of Laureate Winner in the 4th International Beethoven Competition in Vienna, Austria.

The John Stauffer Charitable Trust, based in Pasadena, has awarded Westmont $400,000 to purchase much-needed chemistry equipment that will enhance students’ ability to do first-rate research.

Westmont, a liberal arts college similar to Pomona and Claremont-McKenna, has a long tradition of fostering undergraduate research in the sciences, a feature that ensures acceptance for many of our graduates into the best graduate schools in the country.

Westmont has joined nearly 300 other institutions in launching the nation’s first prepaid tuition plan for private colleges and universities: the Independent 529 Plan.

The plan is similar to state-sponsored “529” prepaid tuition plans, but is unique in that it can be used at independent institutions throughout the nation. The program allows families to pay today’s tuition for certificates that will be redeemable years from now at any of the member institutions.

Westmont has scheduled two community conversations about its Campus Master Plan Update followed by tours of the plan site from 9 to 11 a.m. Nov. 16 and Nov. 23.

The informative gatherings will be in Page Hall, on the upper campus. Those who would like to attend should follow the signs from the campus’ main entrance off La Paz Road. Optional tours of the plan site will follow.
In addition, the Montecito Association has offered to sponsor a moderated Community Forum after the first of the year.

Photographs by Brad Elliott of locations and objects used in worship will be featured in the Reynolds Gallery holiday exhibit, “The Art of Devotion” from Nov. 11 through Jan. 18, 2003.

Assistant Art Professor Lisa DeBoer will give a lecture in conjunction with the exhibition at 3 p.m. Nov. 15 in the gallery. An opening reception will follow the lecture. All the events are free and open to the public.

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $96,000 grant to Westmont as part of a collaboration of 10 small colleges and universities to build a highly efficient large-area neutron detector, the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA). More than $700,000 has been awarded for the entire project.

The detector will be a key instrument in the study of rare isotopes at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) on the campus of Michigan State University. The study will help scientists better understand how the basic elements of our universe are synthesized inside of stars.

Sophocles’ “Antigone,” the classic dramatic text of a young woman struggling against the law, will be told through music and dance in the Westmont Theatre department’s presentation 8 p.m. Oct. 24, 25 and 31 and Nov. and 2 in Porter Theatre.

There also will be a matinee performance at 2 p.m. Oct. 26 and Nov. 2. Admission is $5 for students and seniors and $10 for the general audience.

The production examines Antigone’s struggle and explores the three types of laws that humans face: laws from religious texts, civil codes and the unwritten law in people’s hearts.

Local artist Rafael Parea de la Cabada will oversee “Revelation in Genesis,” a semester-long project involving Westmont students next fall. A $15,000 grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship will fund the project.
Parea will oversee three groups of students who will create three works of art to be displayed on campus: one in Page residence hall, one for the space used for chapel and one on the Voskuyl Library lawn. The works are intended to express the Christ-centered character of living, learning and worshipping at Westmont.

An updated campus master plan for Westmont College is under consideration by Santa Barbara County planning officials, who have determined that the plan will not cause significant environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated.

A series of works created in the aftermath of Sept. 11 and titled “Freedom”
by Art Professor John Carlander will be exhibited May 17 through July 27 at Westmont's Reynolds Gallery.

Freedom may mean different things to different people, but after the attack on America on Sept. 11, 2001, we may cherish our ideas of freedom more than ever. For an artist to have the freedom to work is a great treasure, and I am thankful for that freedom.

The internationally acclaimed actress Helena Hale will perform her one-woman play, “Artemisia Gentileschi, Of Lies and Truth,” 7:30 p.m. May 10 in Porter Theatre on the Westmont campus. Admission is $10 for general audience and $7.50 for Reynolds Gallery members.

Hale has performed the play in major museums and theaters throughout the United States as well as in Florence, Italy. It tells the dramatic life-story of Artemisia Gentileschi, the extraordinary 17th-century Italian Baroque artist who was highly regarded for her paintings, which depicted women as strong and independent.

Three generations will gather for Commencement at 10 a.m. May 4 on Carr Field to celebrate the latest recipient in the family of a Westmont degree.

Kirsten White will receive her bachelor’s degree in English, while her parents, Steve and Sharon Gerlach White (‘76 and ‘78 graduates, respectively), watch with her grandparents, Harlan and Ruth Gerlach. The Gerlachs will be celebrating their Golden Warrior anniversary: They graduated from Westmont in 1952.

As Golden Warriors, the Gerlachs will march in with their granddaughter and the other graduates for the ceremonies.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has named Westmont as a winner of the 2002 Circle of Excellence in Educational Fund-Raising Award, which honors superior fund-raising programs across the country. The award comes as Westmont’s capital campaign, which raised more than $56 million, is coming to a close.

Ten National Merit Scholars are among Westmont’s incoming class this fall, representing – for the third year in a row – the strongest class academically in college history. First-year students will arrive on campus Aug. 21 for orientation, and classes begin Aug. 26.

The new National Merit Scholars will bring to 30 the number on campus. Additionally, 97 percent of all incoming students qualified for merit scholarships, meaning they were eligible to receive one of three Westmont scholarships based on academic excellence.

Westmont President Stan Gaede has a new book out: “An Incomplete Guide to the Rest of Your Life: On the Road to Meaning, Purpose & Happiness,” published by InterVarsity Press.

With warm stories and conversational style, Gaede addresses topics such as vocation, relationships, integrity and compassion to provide guidance in leading a life worth living and finding authentic happiness. He points his reader beyond temporary diversions to the God who offers true satisfaction and fulfillment.

Twelve students received David K. Winter Character through Servant Leadership Awards during a special ceremony April 18, 2002.

There were more than 80 nominations for the award, which was previously only open to juniors. This year, first-year and sophomore students were also eligible. Faculty, staff and other students nominated candidates who have demonstrated Christ-like character through acts of servant leadership.

The Westmont Jazz Band offers its annual spring concert 8 p.m. April 16 in Deane Chapel on Westmont’s lower campus. Admission is free and the concert is open to the public.

Three six-piece combo groups and a big band will perform songs from such jazz greats as Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Dr. Stephen W. Hosea, medical director of the infection control department at Cottage Hospital, will speak on “Facing the Fear: What You Need to Know About Bioterrorism” 7 p.m. April 4 at Victoria Hall, 33 W. Victoria St. in downtown Santa Barbara.

The lecture is part of Westmont Downtown, a series sponsored by the Westmont Foundation. The event is free and open to the public.

Hosea has spoken frequently on bioterrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York and subsequent anthrax threats.