Westmont News

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.

Westmont’s annual Spring Choral Concert will feature the Men and Women’s Chorale, Chamber Singers and the 44-member Westmont College Choir, Friday, April 21, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St., at 8 p.m. A free-will offering will be taken.

The Lit Moon Theatre Company will celebrate the birthday of famed poet William Shakespeare by performing the Bard’s most popular play, “Hamlet,” at Westmont College’s Porter Theatre, Friday, April 28, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, April 29, at 4:30 p.m.

Admission on Friday is free for Westmont students, faculty and staff and $10 for general admission. Tickets on Saturday are $50, which includes an off-campus party following the performance.

Three prominent, local bankers will discuss the opportunities and challenges of banking in the current business climate during a panel discussion, Wednesday, April 12, at 3:30 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge. “Banking: Over-Regulated or Under-Entrepreneurial” is part of Westmont’s on-going Economic and Business Speaker Series which is free and open to the public.

There will be nothing conventional about Westmont’s upcoming theater event. In fact, much of the Westmont Fringe Festival will take place outdoors and in areas surrounding Porter Theatre. About 60 performers will take part in 12 different pieces Thursday through Saturday, April 20-22. Performances will be at 5 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. with a Saturday matinee at 10 p.m.

A record number of student artists will present their works at the annual "Senior Art Majors Show," Thursday, April 6 through May 6 at Westmont’s Reynolds Gallery. An opening reception with the 18 senior artists will be held at the gallery, April 6, from 4-6 p.m. There will also be an awards presentation for the artists at 5 p.m. On average, 10 art majors graduate from Westmont annually. There were also 18 art majors who graduated in 2003.

The Westmont Chamber Orchestra will perform its spring concert, Sunday, April 9, at 7 p.m in the sanctuary at El Montecito Presbyterian Church, 1455 East Valley Road.

Under the direction of Emily Sommermann, faculty and students will be presenting works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Volkmann and Benjamin Britten.

A group of residents from Santa Barbara’s Vista Del Monte retirement center will be coming to Westmont in hopes of picking up some health tips. “Max Out on Life: A Wellness Lifestyle Approach” is a month-long, student-led presentation series that begins Tuesday, April 4, at 1:45 p.m. in Murchison Classroom 3.

A professor of psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary will speak about what it means to be a human person, Friday, April 7, at 3:30 in Westmont’s Hieronymus Lounge. Warren Brown’s lecture, “A Thinking Reed: Emergence of Mind and Soul From Human Bodies,” will discuss how it might be that mind, soul and agency can emerge from physical bodies and brains.

Workers are wrapping up their work on renovations to Westmont’s Carroll Observatory in anticipation of the arrival of a new high-tech telescope. The 24-inch reflector telescope is expected to arrive on campus this summer and will be the most powerful one between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

A Westmont student venture competed against eight other student business plans in a national competition in Santa Barbara, but came up short to a project from Duke University. Scott Upton’s Polaris Athletic Training Systems LLC will now compete as a semifinalist in the 9th annual Enterprise Creation Competition, March 24-25, cohosted by Indiana University-Bloomington, Syracuse University and Ball State University.

Westmont Sophomore Allison Trowbridge walked away the big winner of the college’s annual debate contest. Tournament of Expressions started with 128 students in early February and came to an end Feb. 28, with Trowbridge earning $500 as this year’s champion.

Tony Askew, Westmont professor of art and director of Reynolds Gallery, will hold an informal discussion of current methods of intaglio printmaking Wednesday, March 8, at 4:30 p.m., in Art Center 101 next to the gallery.

Songwriter and poet William Jolliff will have a free poetry reading at Westmont, Tuesday, March 21, at 3:30 p.m., in Hieronymus Lounge.

Jolliff chairs the department of writing and literature at George Fox University. He earned a doctorate in English from Ohio State University. He previously taught at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, where he earned an excellence in teaching award.

Westmont officials and a group opposing the proposed update to the college’s Approved Campus Master Plan have both requested that the Thursday, March 2, Montecito Planning Commission hearing be postponed as they continue in mediation.

Westmont officials and a group opposing the proposed update to the college’s Approved Campus Master Plan have both requested that the Thursday, March 2, Montecito Planning Commission hearing be postponed as they continue in mediation.

A Westmont student venture will vie against eight other student business plans in a national competition in Santa Barbara. The third annual Spirit of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (S.E.E.D) Collegiate Venture Forum will be held at the Andalucia Hotel, March 3-4.

Internationally acclaimed pianist Teresa Walters will play at Westmont’s Porter Theatre. The concert, Tuesday, March 7, at 8 p.m., will include songs from Johannes Brahms and George Gershwin. Tickets are $15 or $10 for students and seniors.

A month-long tournament that started with 128 students competing in more than 100 preliminary debates and more than 60 speeches will culminate in a final showdown for cash prizes. Westmont’s Tournament of Expressions: Finals in Debate, Great Speeches, Persuasive Speeches, and Scripture Alive will be Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. in Page Hall. The event is free and open to the public

David Cockburn, professor of philosophy at University of Wales, Lampeter, will be giving a free lecture next week at Westmont. The colloquium, “Love, Particularity, and the Body,” will be Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 3:30 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge.

He has written several book including, “Human Beings: The Proceedings of the Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference,” “Hume” and “An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind: Souls, Science and Human Beings.” Cockburn was awarded a Research Readership in 1994 by the British Academy.

A professor from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., will discuss whether animal pain makes for a compelling argument against God's existence at a free lecture, Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in Westmont’s Hieronymus Lounge. Michael J. Murray, Arthur and Katherine Shadek professor in the humanities, will give the lecture, “God and Darwin’s ‘Clumsy, Wasteful, Blundering, Low and Horribly Cruel Works of Nature.’”

A young Bay Area Celtic band will be playing at Westmont, Friday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in Kerr Student Center (KSC). The Celtic Coffeehouse will feature Célé Dé, an eclectic quintet of Christian high school and college students.