Westmont News

Roger Wiens, principal investigator for the ChemCam Instrument, will talk about “Exploring Mars with the Curiosity Rover and its Laser” Friday, Oct. 4, at 4 p.m. in Winter Hall’s Darling Foundation Lecture Hall (Room 210) at Westmont. The talk is free and open to the public.

Robin Catlin Wainwright ’64, president of Middle East Fellowship, is being honored as Alumnus of the Year as part of Westmont Homecoming, Oct. 4-5. President Gayle D. Beebe will give Wainwright the award during the All-Reunion Brunch Saturday, Oct. 5, from 10-11:30 a.m. on Magnolia Lawn. For more information, please contact the alumni office at (805) 565-6056 or alumni@westmont.edu.

Pianist Constantine Finehouse, a scholar-in-residence at Westmont, performs music by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Alexander Scriabin and Sergey Rachmaninoff at a free, public recital Friday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. in Westmont’s Deane Chapel. For more information, please call the Westmont Music Department at (805) 565-6040.

Westmont’s powerful Keck Telescope will aim for a double star and two globular clusters during a free, public viewing Friday, Sept. 20, beginning at about 7:30 p.m. and lasting several hours.  The best viewing generally occurs later in the evening. In case of inclement weather, please call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565-6272 and check the Westmont website to see if the viewing has been canceled.

Henry Kissinger, secretary of state from 1973-1977 and a Nobel Peace Laureate, will discuss world events and diplomacy at a Westmont-sponsored luncheon Wednesday, Oct. 9. Tickets for this event are no longer available.

For the fifth straight year, the U.S. News & World Report ranked Westmont in the top 100 best liberal arts colleges.

The Westmont women’s volleyball team, ranked #16 in the NAIA, is off to its best start in Warrior history, winning the first nine games. Westmont dominated the ASICS/Wyndham Labor Day Tournament at Concordia University, beating #25 Carroll (Mont.) and William Jessup.

Members of Westmont’s talented music faculty will perform the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Peter Schickele and Franz Schubert on Friday, Sept. 13, at 8 p.m. in Deane Chapel. The Fall Faculty Recital is free and open to the public. For more information, please call (805) 565-6040.

Thirteen diverse artists from around the world will exhibit their work as part of “Invisible Realms: Encountering the Sacred” Aug. 22-Oct. 12 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. Most of the artists will be available at a free, public reception Thursday, Aug. 29, from 4-6 p.m.

Westmont’s powerful Keck telescope will feature glimpses of the Moon, Saturn and the Ring Nebula during a free, public viewing Friday, Aug. 16, beginning at about 8 p.m. at the Westmont Observatory. The observatory opens its doors to the public every third Friday of the month in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit, whose members bring their own telescopes to Westmont for the public to gaze through.

Westmont ranks among the best colleges in the west in Princeton Review’s “2014 Best Colleges: Region by Region.” The educational services company named 124 colleges in 15 western states, including 41 in California, in this list. Nationwide, Princeton Review included 643 institutions—25 percent of U.S.

Twenty first-year Westmont students will meet on campus Aug. 8 before heading into the California wilderness on a unique 12-day orientation program. The Inoculum trek begins in the Eastern Sierra town of Bridgeport and winds around many 10,000-foot peaks in the Toiyabe National Forest.

Thirty-six of the world’s top high school science students have been tracking the course of an asteroid as part of the 55th annual Summer Science Program (SSP) at Westmont. The students, from 14 states and six countries, attend college-level lectures during the day and then measure the speck of light from the near-Earth asteroid during the evening.

Westmont’s powerful Keck Telescope will aim for the rings of Saturn and a globular cluster during a free, public viewing Friday, July 19, beginning at about 8 p.m. and lasting several hours.  The best viewing generally occurs later in the evening. In case of inclement weather, please call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565-6272 and check the Westmont website to see if the viewing has been canceled.

The NAIA National Champion Westmont women’s basketball team and Nike have teamed up to offer custom apparel commemorating the Warriors’ historic season. The special T-shirts, sweat shirts and hats are only available for purchase through July 14. To view the championship gear and place your order, please visit the custom website.

Westmont president Gayle D. Beebe has created a blog, chronicling the Westmont Alumni and Parent Europe Trip through June 29. Beebe, who is joined by his wife, Pam, and their three children, are traveling with about 40 Westmont alumni and parents overseas.

The ringed planet Saturn, sitting in the nearby constellation of Virgo, will be one of the focal points of a free, public viewing Friday, June 21, beginning at about 8 p.m. at the Westmont Observatory.

The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art hosts a large rummage sale Friday, Aug. 16, and Saturday, Aug. 17, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Westmont’s Everything Art Sale will offer paintings, prints, drawings, frames, ceramics, art supplies, jewelry, antiques, art books and more. All proceeds benefit the museum and support the exhibition schedule.

Forbes Magazine has ranked Westmont in the top 100 colleges and universities of its new survey, Grateful Grads: Top Return-on-Investment. Westmont, which is listed as No.

More than 100 Westmont faculty and staff teamed up with more than 30 first responders and emergency officials for an all-day earthquake exercise at Westmont May 14. College employees practiced emergency functions and activities with 16 different local emergency organizations.

The exercise provided hands-on practice for the 25 emergency functions identified as necessary for a coordinated response.

Westmont’s powerful Keck Telescope will zoom in on the craters of the moon, the rings of Saturn and a globular cluster during a free, public viewing Friday, May 17, beginning at about 8 p.m. and lasting several hours. The best viewing generally occurs later in the evening.

Led by bagpipes, more than 300 Westmont graduates marched from Kerrwood Hall through the formal gardens to Russell Carr Field May 4 for Commencement. Cloudy skies kept families and friends cool and comfortable as they cheered the graduating students.

The 14-member Westmont Fire Brigade has completed a 40-hour, national wildland firefighter training academy hosted at Pepperdine University. The training included classroom instruction in fire behavior, fire suppression, risk management and preparedness.

About 50 members of the Westmont College Choir and Chamber Singers will tour through Southern California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, singing a diverse repertoire of classic and contemporary sacred and secular music, folk songs, spirituals and vocal jazz.

Jason Womack, small business entrepreneur and advisor, will share four ways to reduce stress and be more productive in a free, public lecture, “L.E.A.P. into Your Future,” Monday, April 22, at 3:30 p.m. in Westmont’s Adams Center, room 216.