Westmont News

In a decision released this week, California’s Second District Court of Appeal unanimously supported Westmont’s plan to update its campus facilities, reaffirming a December 2007 Santa Barbara County Superior Court ruling that upheld unanimous approvals by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and the Montecito Planning Commission.

Four student venture teams from Westmont’s entrepreneur class will present their start-up business plans to a panel of outside reviewers Thursday, Dec. 11, at 5:30 p.m. at Hieronymus Lounge in Kerrwood Hall. The 19th annual Westmont Collegiate Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition is free and open to the public. Networking and refreshments will begin at 5 p.m.

Westmont’s fall dance recital, “Stories From Africa,” originally planned for the weekend after the Tea Fire, has been rescheduled now that students have returned to campus. Performances will be Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 11-13, at 8 p.m. in Westmont’s Porter  Theatre.

Westmont’s famous 150-foot redwood affectionately known as the Pickle Tree survived the Tea Fire and will be the focus of attention at the seventh annual Christmas Tree Lighting on Kerrwood Lawn, Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Local poets have responded to the Tea Fire by organizing a reading in honor of Paul Willis, a Westmont English professor and poet who lost his home and library in the blaze. Proceeds from the reading will benefit the Westmont Wildfire Relief Fund. The event will be Saturday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. in the Fé Bland Forum at Santa Barbara City College.

After winning the Golden State Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship on Monday with a 2-0 victory over #5 Azusa Pacific, the twenty-fourth ranked Warriors of Westmont have turned their attention to the 2008 NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championship Opening Round. The Warriors (10-6-2) will host Bay Area school Holy Names on Saturday in a seven o'clock game at UC Santa Barbara's Harder Stadium.

The Fourth Annual Westmont Christmas Festival, “Lo, How a Rose,” will ring in the advent season with three performances at First Presbyterian Church, 21 E. Constance at State Street. Admission to the festival Friday, Dec. 5, and Saturday, Dec. 6, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 7, at 3 p.m., is free, but tickets are required due to limited seating.

Violinist Philip Ficsor and local composer Emma Lou Diemer perform together Saturday, Nov. 22, at 3 p.m. in Santa Barbara Public Library’s Faulkner Gallery, 40 East Anapamu Street. The Santa Barbara Music Club presents the free concert.

Nona Pyron, internationally known cellist and adjunct professor at Westmont, will gather professional musicians from across the country for a Chamber Music Retreat Thursday, Nov. 13, through Sunday, Nov. 16, in Westmont’s Kerrwood Hall. Westmont students and other skilled amateurs will also participate in the master class. The retreat is full, but auditors are welcome.

Laura Montgomery, Westmont professor of anthropology, will discuss “The Global Imperative and Moral Education: Peace and Love or Something Else?” at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, at the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara Street, as part of Westmont Downtown: Conversations about Things that Matter. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The T.B. Walker Foundation, an anonymous donor and others have committed $1.5 million to Westmont toward the creation of the college’s first endowed chair in the natural and behavioral sciences. The T.B. Walker Foundation Chair in the Natural & Behavioral Sciences will honor the work of an outstanding faculty member in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering/physics, mathematics or psychology.

Makoto Masuno returns to Westmont as assistant professor of chemistry after graduating from the college in 1997. Masuno transferred to Westmont in 1995 as a junior and chose chemistry as his major, but admits he hadn’t completed a single college chemistry course when he arrived.

“Ceramics: Form and Function” opens in Reynolds Gallery Thursday, Nov. 6, with a reception from 4-6 p.m., and will be on display through Dec. 19. The exhibition brings together work in clay by 14 internationally-recognized artists from around the world, each with a unique mode of working in the medium. Many pieces on display will be for sale.

The Westmont Orchestra will perform for the first time without “chamber” in its name. With 52 student musicians, the ensemble has outgrown the title. The orchestra’s inaugural concerts will be Friday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. in Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West, and Sunday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. in First Presbyterian Church at the corner of State and Constance downtown. Admission is $10, free for students.

Westmont officials broke ground on two new buildings Oct. 23, the first significant construction on the Montecito campus in 24 years. Trustees and other college dignitaries wielded gold shovels to turn dirt at the sites for the Adams Center for the Visual Arts and Winter Hall for Science and Mathematics.

Linda Kazibwe, born in Uganda and raised in Kenya, presents “An Exploration of African Dance Form” Thursday, Oct. 30, from 7:30-8:30 p.m. in Westmont’s Murchison Gym Dance Room. The workshop is free and open to the public.

Alister Chapman, assistant professor of history at Westmont, discusses “Two Cheers for Populism? John Stott and the Limits of Educated Evangelicalism in England” in a Phi Kappa Phi lecture Monday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Chapman explores issues of faith and education while researching the career of English evangelical leader John Stott.

Westmont Professor of Theatre Arts Mitchell Thomas received the Arlin G. Meyer Prize in the Performing Arts, given annually by the Lilly Fellows Program in the Humanities and the Arts at Valparaiso University. He accepted the award, which recognizes work that exemplifies Christian artistic vocation, at a ceremony at Seattle Pacific University Friday, Oct. 10.

Dr. David Newton, professor of entrepreneurial finance at Westmont and president of TechKnowledge Point, discusses the current economic meltdown in a special session of Tuesdays with Morals Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 3:30 p.m. in Westmont’s Page Multi-Purpose Room. The lecture, “Crisis Mode: How Freddie, Fannie, and Financial Engineering Changed Wall Street Forever,” is free and open to the public.

» "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.