Westmont News

» "Westmont College Choir, with director Michael Shasberger. © Brad Elliott."

Seven regional high school choirs will practice and perform with Westmont’s four choral groups in the fourth annual Fall Choral Festival at First Presbyterian Church, Constance and State Street, Friday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Dwight Radcliff, president and CEO of U.S. Veterans Initiative (U.S. VETS), speaks about the effort to break the cycle of homelessness among our veterans Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge inside Kerrwood Hall. U.S. VETS is the largest non-profit organization in the country dedicated to helping homeless and at-risk veterans.

As new vice president of information technology and CIO, Reed Sheard will oversee Westmont’s information systems beginning Oct. 1 when he joins the college’s executive team. He comes from Spring Arbor University in Michigan where he served as vice president for technology services for five years.

Two Westmont professors will discuss the role of religion in politics as part of Westmont Downtown: Conversations About Things that Matter. The event, “Does Religion Belong in Politics? Reflections in the Midst of the 2008 Campaign,” is free and open to the public, Thursday, Oct. 16, at the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St., at 5:30 p.m.

A record number of Westmont students spent Saturday morning, Sept. 20, pulling weeds, planting trees, spreading mulch and picking up trash during the United Way’s Day of Caring. More than 140 students pitched in, joined by several Westmont faculty and staff: Lesa Stern, associate professor of communication studies; Laura Wilson, secretary; Joy Johnson, administrative assistant; Heidi Henes-Van Bergen, secretary; and Karen Sloan, administrative assistant.

Local college-bound students and their parents will meet with representatives from 26 Christian colleges at the 13th Annual Santa Barbara Christian College Fair on Tuesday, Sept. 30, from 6-8:30 p.m. at Montecito Covenant Church, 671 Cold Springs Rd. Admission professionals will present information for college-bound students, parents, youth pastors, and high school counselors regarding college admission, scholarships, athletics and campus life.

Westmont’s Carroll Observatory reopens for free public viewings Friday, Sept. 19, at dusk. Weather permitting, stargazers will look through the powerful Keck Telescope at Jupiter in the southern sky.

Thomas Whittemore, instructor of physics, says the moon will not be visible until late Friday night, creating better viewing conditions for deep space.

Five stone artworks grace Westmont’s campus this fall in the “Donald Davis Sculpture Garden,” Reynolds Gallery’s third annual exhibition of outdoor sculpture. On display near the gallery and Voskuyl Library through Dec. 19, the exhibition includes new and selected works. A public reception with the artist, local sculptor Donald Davis, will be held at the gallery Thursday, Sept. 25, 4-6 p.m.

Gayle D. Beebe, president of Westmont, stressed the importance of character and competence in effective leadership at a noontime Channel City Club speech September 11. More than 125 people attended the lecture, “The Essence of Effective Leadership: Eight Key Principles I Learned from Peter Drucker,” at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort.

The Westmont Conservatives Club honors the people killed Sept. 11, 2001, with a display of 1,500 American flags on Kerrwood Lawn, one for every two people who died that fateful day. The club invites the college and the local community to attend a time of remembrance and commemoration at 6 p.m. today on the lawn.

Susan E. Penksa, an international and European security specialist and professor of political science at Westmont, is in Brussels for two weeks speaking at the European Parliament and participating in the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union’s seminar on security sector reform.

More than 30 Westmont students show off their summer research projects Thursday, Sept. 11, at 4 p.m. in Founders Dining Room. “A Celebration of Science Research” will include a student’s work determining the orbit of an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter as well as another student’s work investigating cognitive impairment among older adults.

The 333 members of the class of 2012 arrive at Westmont this week for new student orientation Thursday, Aug. 28, through Aug. 31. Parent orientation programs take place Aug. 28-29. The first day of classes for all students is Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1.

The incoming class is one of the most talented academically, but also one of the most diverse. There are 111 students of color, a third of the freshman class.

Santa Barbara master violin maker James Wimmer will be honored at Wimmerata, a festival of two concerts featuring musicians from throughout California playing their Wimmer instruments, Sunday, Sept. 7, at Trinity Episcopal Church on the corner of Micheltorena and State Streets. The first concert, 4-6 p.m., will highlight world-class fiddlers playing bluegrass and old-time music. A classical concert follows at 7 p.m. with an all-Wimmer string orchestra and featured soloists.

Westmont’s Reynolds Gallery opens the academic year with “Language Skills: The Art of the Expanded Print,” new work by Martha Ensign Johnson, on display September 4 through October 25. An opening reception Thursday, September 4, 4-6 p.m. is free and open to the public.

Westmont is in the top tier among the nation’s best liberal arts colleges according to U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Colleges, 2009 Edition.” Of the nation’s 265 liberal arts colleges, Westmont ranked in a four-way tie at 111. This is the fourth straight year the college has ranked in the top tier.

Teri Bradford Rouse, executive director of the Channel Islands YMCA Youth and Family Services branch, will become Westmont’s senior director of alumni and parent relations. Rouse graduated from Westmont in 1977, earned her master’s degree from USC then worked at Westmont as a resident director, director of residence life and associate dean of students from 1981 to 1998.

Lyle C. Hillegas went to be with his Lord and Savior July 29, 2008. He served as the fifth president of Westmont from 1972 to 1975. At 37, he was the youngest person ever appointed to the position and the only one to come directly from the ranks of the faculty. During his tenure, he recruited a strong team of administrators, began the process of increasing enrollment from 800 to 1,200 and worked on preserving Westmont’s gardens and beautifying the campus.

The first-ever Montecito Summer Music Festival is underway at Westmont College. More than a hundred chamber music students, ranging in age from 10 to 36, arrived on the Westmont campus Monday with performances running through Friday, Aug 1.

Westmont is prominently featured in a video produced by the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory of Michigan State University. The video describes the Westmont College Cosmic Muon Detector Array and undergraduate research such as viewing the cosmic muon flux mapping over a wide range of the sky.

Several hundred youngsters who arrive for a basketball camp in less than two weeks will be the first to play on Westmont’s new state-of-the-art court in Murchison Gym. Workers are putting the finishing touches on the floor, including lines and a half-court logo are being painted on the floor over the next several days.

The Hubert Schwyzer Quartet, a unique ensemble of instruments commissioned by Westmont, is taking shape under the hands of master violin maker James Wimmer at his workshop in Santa Barbara. Named for a former UC Santa Barbara philosophy professor and cellist, the quartet will be used by Westmont faculty and students during the school year and loaned to the Music Academy of the West in the summer months.

The National Association of Schools of Music Commission on Accreditation has granted associate membership to Westmont following a four-year review process. NASM, founded in 1924, is an organization of more than 600 colleges and universities that establishes national standards for degrees and credentials.

Westmont’s computer science department awarded scholarships of up to $10,000 to five students. The recipients are first-year students Erick Brownfield and Morgan Vigil, juniors Josh Carver and Toby Lounsbury, and senior Michael Gardner. In addition to financial support, the program includes support for study groups, research experience, participation in conferences and other activities.

Forty-eight music students, three professors and one staff member recently returned from Central America, where Westmont choirs sang and served with locals in Guatemala and Costa Rica. The choirs tour each summer, traveling internationally every third year. Westmont students emceed concerts entirely in Spanish and sang in both English and Spanish.

The Westmont Foundation welcomes four prominent Santa Barbara residents to its board. Brad Frohling, Andria Kahmann, Bill Loomis and Alice Van de Water join the 26-member board whose mission is to cultivate ties between the community and Westmont.

Rick Pointer, Westmont professor of history, has been selected as the first recipient of the newly established Fletcher Jones Foundation Endowed Chair in Social Science. The Fletcher Jones Foundation created the chair to rotate among deserving faculty within the social science division. Pointer will occupy the chair for the next four years, beginning in fall 2008.

The Montecito Board of Architectural Review (MBAR) granted preliminary approval for all of Phase I of the Westmont College Master Plan. The first part of the project will add a new art center, science building, chapel, observatory and residence hall while reconfiguring the campus road and athletic fields.

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Exhibition” opened at a VIP event June 5 at the Arizona Science Center in downtown Phoenix, kicking off a five-year world-wide tour that includes Westmont’s famed C.S. Lewis-owned wardrobe. The wardrobe, usually housed in Reynolds Hall on Westmont’s campus, is prominently featured at the beginning of the exhibition, which includes other items that Lewis used when he penned the seven-book series, “The Chronicles of Narnia.”

Judy L. Larson begins work this week as the new director of the Reynolds Gallery and the first holder of the R. Anthony Askew Chair in Art. Larson, most recently the director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts [NMWA] in Washington, D.C., will also teach art history courses. The founding director of Reynolds, Tony Askew, has retired after 26 years at Westmont.

Three current and former Westmont artists were honored with Independent Theater Awards at a ceremony May 19 at Center Stage Theatre downtown. The Indy Awards, given annually by a panel of theater critics from the Santa Barbara Independent and the Los Angeles Times, honor excellent productions throughout the Santa Barbara area.

Twenty-two Westmont students are devoting at least a month this summer to serve people in Malawi, Indonesia, and El Salvador through Emmaus Road, a Westmont program that’s been sending students overseas for the past 10 years.

Paul Willis, Westmont professor of English, will read from his new book, “Visiting Home,” at the Wildling Art Museum, 2329 Jonata St., Los Olivos, on Sunday, June 1, at 3 p.m. The event is free, and the book will be available for sale and signing.

Two seemingly different academic disciplines come together for a unique seminar open to the public this summer at Westmont. “Flying Information” will focus on how we learn to read codes, patterns, signs, and symbols and navigate webs of meaning Monday, June 2, through Friday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to noon. Marilyn McEntyre, professor of English, and Wayne Iba, professor of computer science, will teach the course.

Two Westmont art professors earned awards for their recent work, and several art students were featured in an exhibit in Sacramento last month.

Westmont’s student life office awarded 12 outstanding students for their leadership during the past year. The David K. Winter Character Through Servant Leadership Award is given each spring to students who show exemplary leadership through service at Westmont and in the community.

Each student receives $2,000 toward tuition during the next school year.

Westmont’s famed C.S. Lewis wardrobe will take a five-year journey with “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Exhibition,” a state-of-the-art presentation based on the Disney film series and Lewis’s beloved fictional books. The exhibit, premiering June 7 at Arizona Science Center in Phoenix, features artifacts from Lewis’s personal study as well as the wardrobe.

Gayle Beebe presided over his first Westmont Commencement as president of the college May 3, handing diplomas to 310 graduating students, 109 graduating with honors.

Westmont’s Reynolds Gallery presents “Views and Visions: The Shoe,” a juried exhibition open to all tri-county artists, Thursday, May 15 through Thursday, June 19. The in-gathering of submissions will be at the gallery Saturday, May 10, 9 a.m. to noon, with an opening reception and awards presentation Thursday, May 15, 5 to 7 p.m. Cash awards will be given in a variety of categories.

Gayle Beebe presides over his first Commencement at Westmont as president of the college Saturday, May 3, at 10 a.m. President emeritus David K. Winter formally introduced Beebe to the college at last year’s service. The registrar’s office reports 310 students will be participating in the ceremonies, 109 graduating with honors.

Philip Ficsor and Emma Lou Diemer unveil the world premiere of Diemer’s “Suite for Violin and Piano” Wednesday, May 7, at 11 a.m. in the Santa Barbara Public Library’s Faulkner Gallery, 40 East Anapamu Street. The free concert is presented by the Santa Barbara Music Club.

World-renowned bassist Robert Black will perform and discuss his work in Westmont’s Deane Chapel on Saturday, April 26, at 2 p.m. The free concert, presented by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center at UCSB in collaboration with Iridian Arts, is open to the public.

Westmont has created a new endowed faculty chair in the visual arts through the financial support of several friends of the college. The endowment, named the R. Anthony Askew chair, will support a new full-time professor who will also direct Reynolds Gallery.

More than 530 people came to hear former presidential candidate Steve Forbes speak at a breakfast at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort celebrating the inauguration of Westmont’s eighth president, Gayle Beebe. Forbes spoke about “America’s Economy and the Global Imperative,” declaring that the world is in the midst of a Golden Age. The breakfast kicked off a day of events.

“Never before in human history have so many advanced financially,” Forbes says. “Despite the recent hits on the stock market, it’s still 60 percent higher than it was five years ago.”

Westmont’s annual Fringe Festival, a week-long gala of contemporary theater and dance, returns to campus Tuesday, April 15 through Saturday, April 19. Seventeen original productions by students and faculty fill four performance bills. The public is invited to nightly performances in and around Porter Theatre Tuesday through Friday at 7 and 9 p.m., and a marathon performance Saturday beginning at 4 p.m.

Theater student Zak Landrum presents an interactive performance, “Redemption History III: Ecclesia,” for his senior production Sunday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Westmont’s Murchison Gym. With over a dozen student and faculty actors, the Westmont Gospel Choir, live orchestral music, and video projections, the play tells the story of the Christian church from Pentecost to the Apocalypse.

Three quartets of Westmont string students perform an Instrumental Chamber Concert Friday, April 11, at 8 p.m. in Deane Chapel on lower campus. The free concert features new and rarely heard gems alongside traditional repertoire pieces.