Westmont News

The next Westmont Downtown Conversation, “Science and Religion: Time for Divorce or Renewal of Vows?” will explore some historical clashes between science and religion. Chemistry Professor Niva Tro will speak 5:30 p.m. Jan. 18, at the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Hear and sing traditional music of the season when Westmont’s choral groups and instrumental ensembles present their holiday concert “Christ, the Prince of Peace,” 8 p.m. Dec. 10 and 11 at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Santa Barbara. Admission is free, although a donation will be requested.

Westmont Windancers’ fall dance program, “Cirque: Short, Sweet and Surreal,” offers a circus of surprising twists and turns 8 p.m. Dec. 3 and 4 in Porter Theatre. Refreshments and a question-and-answer time follow the short recital.

Directed and choreographed by dance Professor Erlyne Whiteman, the production features choreography by theater arts instructor Vicki Finlayson and student performances by the Windancers.

The premiere public performance of “Kenosis,” an original composition of spiritual poetry set to contemporary music, will be 8 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Center Stage Theater, Paseo Nuevo Shopping Center in downtown Santa Barbara.

The Westmont Big Band and three combos will perform the best of their work at the Jazz Ensemble Concert 8 p.m. Nov. 19 in Deane Chapel. Admission is free.

The 15-piece big band, directed by music instructor Ron McCarley, will feature both swing music and more contemporary big band music.

“One piece is a tribute to Benny Goodman,” McCarley said.  “The three combos will play a wide variety of music from jazz standards to Wayne Shorter pieces.”

Enjoy the sounds of classical music 8 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Westmont Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra concert in Deane Chapel on Westmont’s lower campus. Admission is free.

“The concert will be fun as well as classical and formal,” Wind Ensemble director Ron McCarley said. “As a special finale we will feature a piece that uses organ and invites the audience to sing the 100th Psalm with us. It will be an enjoyable evening.”

Hebrew Bible expert Alan Cooper will speak on “What Makes Baby Girls Different: Leviticus 12 and “Original Sin” 4 p.m. Nov. 1 in Hieronymus Lounge as part of the annual Westmont-UCSB Lecture on the Hebrew Bible.

The event, sponsored by the religious studies departments at Westmont and UCSB and the Westmont provost’s office, is free and open to the public.

Cooper is a professor of the Bible at both The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and at the neighboring Union Theological Seminary, a non-denominational Christian seminary.

Ernan McMullin, John Cardinal O’Hara professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, will speak on “Is the Universe Fine-Tuned?” 3:30 p.m. Nov. 5 in Porter Theatre. The event, sponsored by the Pascal Society, is free and open to the public.

World-renowned graphic designer and creative director Margo Chase will speak on “Behind Design: A Lecture with Pretty Pictures” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in Porter Theatre. The event is free and open to the public.

What goes on behind the scenes? Where do ideas come from? Chase will discuss the inner workings of her busy Los Angeles creative agency, Chase Design Group.

Chase discovered graphic design while in graduate school and quickly fell in love. Out of school, she started doing freelance design and ultimately opened Chase Design Group.

“Painted Faith: New Mexican Devotional Images,” featuring santos from a never-before-exhibited Santa Barbara Museum of Art collection, will be on exhibit at Westmont’s Reynolds Gallery Nov. 1 through Dec. 18.

An opening reception for the exhibit, the college’s annual holiday show, will be 4-6 p.m. Nov. 18 in the Art Center. A lecture on “New Mexican Santos,” will be given by Cody Hartley, guest curator at the Museum of Art, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10 in Room 101 in the Art Center.

Westmont Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance David Newton will present the lecture “Right Here, Right Now: The Case for America's War on Terror” 7 p.m. Oct. 22 in the Page Multipurpose Room on the upper
Westmont campus.

 “Reckless,” written by Craig Lucas, opens the Westmont theater season on Oct. 28. The play follows Rachel, a cheerful suburban housewife, through a bizarre and fantastic journey as she travels across the country, eventually attaining a hard-won maturity.

Directed by Mitchell Thomas, Westmont’s new full-time, tenure-track professor, “Reckless” plays 8 p.m. Oct. 28, 29, 30 and Nov. 4, 5, 6 with an additional 2 p.m. matinee Nov. 6 in Porter Theatre on the Westmont campus.

Yale Professor Miroslav Volf will speak on “Memory, Salvation, and Perdition: Reconciliation and the Ambiguity of Memory” 3:30 p.m. Oct. 14 upstairs in Kerr Student Center on the upper Westmont campus.

The lecture, part of the series on World Christianity and Global Encounters of the 21st Century, is free and open to the public.

The series seeks to draw the attention of students, faculty and interested community members to the global presence of Christianity, particularly in the non-Western world.

Westmont Communication Studies Professor Greg Spencer has completed his first novel, writing it from an idea he had filed away twenty years ago.

The annual Fall Choral Concert featuring Westmont’s Choir, Chamber Singers and Vox Lumina Women’s Chorale will be 8 p.m. Oct. 15 at Santa Barbara's First United Methodist Church, 303 E. Anapamu St. (at Garden). A donation will be requested.

The choirs will present “Songs of Hope and Mourning” which will consider lament and the human condition, from passionate grief to unrelenting hope.

A fall faculty concert will be presented by the Westmont music department 8 p.m. Oct. 1 in Deane Chapel on the Westmont campus.
The concert is free and open to the public. A reception follows.

The recital will feature: Steven R. Hodson performing Mendelssohn’s “Songs Without Words” on piano; Celeste Tavera, soprano; Patrick Anderson, on guitar; and Emily Sommermann, performing Martinu’s Madrigal Sonata for Flute, Violin and Piano with friends Linda Holland on flute and Josephine Brummel on piano.

Westmont Philosophy Professor Jim Taylor will speak on “Jesus’ Miracles and Christian Belief” at 7 p.m. Sept. 27 in Hieronymus Lounge, Westmont.

Taylor’s talk is the Paul C. Wilt Phi Kappa Phi Lecture for fall semester. Religious studies Professor Bruce Fisk and philosophy Professor Bob Wennberg will respond.

Taylor will discuss why Christians believe that Jesus is God and that he performed miracles by presenting arguments he finds most persuasive.

Parents and grandparents can discover how to instill family values that have a positive influence on finances during a seminar at Westmont, “The Importance of Worth to Wealth and the Fit Family,” 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Oct. 9 in Porter Theatre on the Westmont campus.

College-bound students in the tri-counties will have an opportunity to meet with professionals from more than 30 leading Christian colleges nationwide at the Ninth Annual West Coast Christian College Fair on 6-8:30 p.m., Sept. 27, at Westmont College (955 La Paz Road).

“The Florence Portfolio: Sacrifice,” a new exhibit featuring a series of intaglio prints done by American artists working in Florence, Italy, runs through Oct. 23 in Reynolds Gallery. An opening reception will be 4-6 p.m. Sept. 9 in the Art Center, on Westmont’s lower campus.

Westmont’s Print Sale and Fair, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Aug. 21, will feature more than 25 artists who will donate 30 percent of all sales to the Westmont printmaking program.

The fair will be held on the lawn in front of Reynolds Gallery on the lower campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Building on its reputation for innovative and adventurous theater, Westmont has planned a 2004-05 season that features boldly conceived productions of classic and contemporary plays, dance and visual theater.

Mitchell Thomas, Westmont’s new, full-time, tenure-track professor, opens the season with his production of Craig Lucas’s “Reckless” Oct. 28, playing weekends through Nov. 6 in Porter Theatre.

Actor and gifted teacher Mitchell Thomas joins the Westmont faculty as a full-time, tenure-track professor this fall. Also, the famed Russian visual theater ensemble, DO-Theatre, St. Petersburg, will be artists-in-residence in September.

Santa Barbara Downtown Rotary Club has awarded Westmont President Stan D. Gaede with a Paul Harris Fellowship in recognition of Gaede’s  and the college’s contribution to international understanding and service.

The honor was given to Gaede during a recent Rotary Club luncheon, at which he spoke. A $1,000 donation was made by the Santa Barbara Club on Gaede’s behalf to Rotary International’s Annual Programs Fund.

What do you get when Ray Bradbury, Neil Simon, Sue Grafton, Christopher Buckley, Gayle Lynds and 350 other writers converge for a week at Westmont? The Santa Barbara Writers Conference!

"This year’s conference begins June 25 and runs through July 2, with outstanding speaker events every afternoon and evening that are open to the public. A special treat this year: Publishers have allowed the conference bookstore to sell advance copies of Ray Bradbury and Sue Grafton’s latest books before they hit the bookstores, but only on the days that Bradbury and Grafton appear.

Westmont has received a $2.5 million gift from the Adams Family Foundation for the establishment of an endowed chair in music.

The money will endow a new faculty position in the music department called the Adams Chair of Music and Worship. A portion of the gift -- $500,000 – will endow a fund to enhance music program offerings.

“We are committed to enhancing Westmont’s music program not just for its fine students but for the impact it can have on the community,” Denise Adams said.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi has awarded Wesley Galliher, a chemistry major who graduated in early May from Westmont, a graduate fellowship for the 2004-05 academic year. Wesley will receive $5,000 to aid in his pursuit of a Ph.D. degree in bio-organic or medicinal chemistry. Only 60 students nationwide received the fellowship this year.

Westmont’s Reynolds Gallery has taken first place in the 24th annual American Association of Museums (AAM) Publications Design Competition. “Every Picture Tells a Story,” designed by art instructor Scott Anderson, was selected as the winner of fund-raising and membership materials.

“As you can imagine, I’m very proud of this accomplishment,” Anderson said.

American Masters of Clay, an exploration of American ceramics, will be on exhibit May 13 through June 25 in Reynolds Gallery. An artists’ reception, open to the public, is 5-7 p.m. May 14 in the college Art Center, on the lower campus.

Westmont is a finalist in the “50 Best Christian Workplaces” survey, published this month by Christianity Today magazine.

Conducted by the Best Christian Workplaces Institute (BCWI), the survey polled more than 10,000 employees from 107 organizations in a variety of industries.

“Is There Other Life in the Universe?” a scientific overview of the prospects for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, is the next Westmont Downtown Conversation by physics Professor Warren Rogers, 5:30 p.m. May 13, at the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Starting with the early universe following the Big Bang, Rogers will trace the production and dispersion of heavy elements that form the basis for life.

Four Westmont students have been chosen as Intercultural Leadership awardees for the 2004-05 academic year. Sarah Akinwale, Stephanie Crockett, Laurraine Gereige and Daniel Galicia will each receive a $3,700 award funded by a grant from the Irvine Foundation.

David Spainhour, who retires this month as chairman of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, will receive the Westmont Medal during graduation ceremonies 10 a.m. May 8 on Russell Carr Field.

The Westmont Medal is given each year to recognize those in our community whose lives embody the very principles associated with the Christian character of the college: integrity, service, compassion, responsibility, faithfulness, discipline and generosity.

Christian philosopher and Yale Professor Dr. Nicholas Wolterstorff will speak at Westmont’s 2004 commencement 10 a.m. May 8 at Russell Carr Athletic Field on campus.

Wolterstorff’s speech, entitled “Called or Occupied?” will explore choosing between looking for an occupation and looking for what you are called to do.

“When students leave college and look for a job, do you just look for an occupation, or do you look for what you might be called to do? In short, how do you choose?” Wolterstorff said.

Westmont has received a $3 million gift from the estate of a former professor and his wife.

Dr. Kenneth Monroe, who died in 1987, and his wife, Peggy, who died in February of this year, left assets of more than $3 million to the college. The money will fund scholarships for Monroe Scholars, up to four exceptional students who receive full-tuition assistance each year. The bequest will also create a new endowed chair in a discipline to be named.

The Westmont Theatre and Dance Department presents a New Works Festival, with performances of works by professors and students, 8 p.m. April 30 and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. May 1 in Porter Theatre. Admission is $5.

The festival will feature the Westmont Theatre Arts Repertory Co. and Westmont Windancers.

“Original works are the emphasis, including original theatre pieces, mime, music and dance,” Professor Erlyne Whiteman explained.

The Jazz Ensembles, directed by adjunct music professor Ron McCarley, will perform 8 p.m. April 24 in Deane Chapel on Westmont’s lower campus. Admission is free.

The ensembles with perform “Move” from “Birth of the Cool” by Miles Davis; “Whisper Not”; “Yardbird Suite”; “Anthropology”; “Here's that Rainy Day,” sung by Alicia Burns; “Moonlight Serenade,” sung by Sarah Stockton; “It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing”; “Red Clay” and others.

Rev. Dr. Craig Bartholomew of Redeemer University College in Toronto will speak on “Athens and Jerusalem: Ingredients in Theological Interpretation” 4 p.m. April 16 in Hieronymus Lounge, in Kerrwood Hall on the upper campus.

The lecture, sponsored by the Erasmus Society, is free and open to the public.

Bartholomew will discuss how the postmodern era has created a renewal of interest in theological interpretation of the Bible.

The annual Spring Choral Concert featuring the Choir, Chamber Singers and Vox Lumina Women’s Chorale will be 8 p.m. April 30 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St. (at Micheltorena). A free-will donation will be requested.

Westmont musicians will showcase their skills at the spring concert for the Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra at 8 p.m. April 23 in Deane Chapel on the lower campus. Admission is free and the concert is open to the public.

The Chamber Orchestra, directed by Emily Sommermann, has 12 student members. The program includes the Haydn Cello Concerto in C major with soloist Erin Crumley, a junior. Also on the program is Serenade for Strings by Josef Suk.

Westmont’s graduating art majors’ best work will be displayed during Reynolds Gallery’s annual Senior Art Show, April 13 through May 1. An artists’ reception, which is open to the public, will be 5-7 p.m. April 16 in the Art Center.

The work on exhibit is art that has been created during a seminar class in which each student designs and plans his or her own project, concentrating on an area of expertise, for example, ceramics, sculpture, photography or painting.

Music Professor Grey Brothers will direct the Westmont Chamber Singers in a Palm Sunday performance of Antonio Rodriguez de Matta's “The Passion According to Matthew,” 7 p.m. April 4 in Deane Chapel, next to the Art Center on the lower campus. The concert is open to the public and admission is free.

Matta was a 17th-century maestro of the Mexico City Cathedral. Brothers edited Matta's “Passio secundum Mattheum” from a manuscript found in the cathedral’s archives. This may be the first time Matta's work has been heard since the 17th century.

“Body Image” is the theme of this year’s Sophomore Project art exhibit at Reynolds Gallery, featuring the work of Westmont art students, March 9 through April 3.

Gallery hours may fluctuate during spring break, March 15-19, so please call the Art Center at (805) 565-6162 before visiting.

The art has been produced by students primarily in their sophomore year, explained Susan Savage, associate art professor and department chair.

Robert S. Bryant, owner of Bryant and Sons Ltd. Jewelers and a longtime supporter of Westmont and many other non-profit causes in Santa Barbara, was granted emeritus status when he recently completed three years of service with the Westmont Foundation board.
"Stewart Abercrombie is the only other foundation board member who has been granted this special status upon leaving the board. It is reserved for those who contributed of themselves beyond the expectations of a typical board member.

British Physicist John Polkinghorne will speak on “Can a Scientist Believe in a Destiny Beyond Death?” 7:30 p.m. March 29 at the University Club in downtown Santa Barbara. The event, sponsored by the college’s Behavioral and Natural Sciences Division, is free and open to the public.

Polkinghorne will address the Westmont student body in chapel at 10:30 that morning with a talk on “A Physicist’s Approach to the Christian Faith.” Members of the public are also welcome in chapel.

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Professor David Wells will speak on “Spirituality, Not Religion” 4 p.m. March 24 in Hieronymus Lounge. The event is free and open to the public.

"Wells is the Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Gordon-Conwell, which is in Hamilton, Mass. He was born in Zimbabwe, lived for some years in England and worked as an architect before beginning theological training.

Westmont College’s Repertory Theater presents Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” 8 p.m. Feb. 26-28 and March 4-6 with a matinee performance at 2 p.m. March 6 in Porter Theatre. The production, adapted and directed by Professor John Blondell, is a theatrical presentation based on the famous Romantic novel.

Begun in 1816, “Frankenstein” was completed in 1818 when Mary Shelley was but 19 years old. Though early response was mixed, the novel is now considered one of the most significant novels of the early Romantic period, as well as an icon of contemporary culture.

After weeks of putting their speaking and debating skills to the test, student finalists will compete in the 7th Annual Expressions Speech and Debate Tournament Championship at 7 p.m. March 9 in Page Hall Multipurpose Room on the upper Westmont campus. The event is free and open to the public.

More than $10,000 in prize money will be awarded to winners throughout the speech and debate tournaments, with a $500 prize going to the overall debate champion and $200 awards going to the class champions in speechmaking.