General Education Committee People

Dr. Contakes joined the faculty of Westmont in 2007, after completing his doctorate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, undergraduate degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering at Lehigh University, postdoctoral research in bioinorganic and biophysical chemistry at Caltech. At Westmont he teaches courses in inorganic, analytical, and physical chemistry as well as a senior seminar in science and religion and a liberal arts chemistry course for nonmajors.  His research, published in more than a dozen scientific journals, involves the synthesis of molecular assemblies and light-driven electron transfer catalysts for water remediation applications. He and his wife have three sons.

Dr. Nazarenko joined Westmont College as Dean of Curriculum and Educational Effectiveness in 2010. She chairs the PRC and works with all academic and co-curriculum departments on issues pertaining to curriculum development, outcome-based learning, student-centered teaching, and assessment. She also serves on the Academic Senate, AS Review Committee, and the College's Strategic Planning Committee. She completed her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Culture at the University of Alberta, and her master's in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Washington. Her current research interests include assessing and promoting student success in various educational contexts.

Dr. Jana Mayfield Mullen joined the Westmont faculty in 2001 as an adjunct in the history and religious studies departments. She taught courses in European cultural history, world geography, North American religions, and HIS-010, World History, a Common Core GE course. Since 2013 she has served as a Westmont librarian, providing information literacy instruction, research guidance, and collection development for several academic departments. She is currently Co-Director of the Voskuyl Library with Diane Ziliotto.  She received a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and a PhD with a concentration in 19th-century American religious history from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Her master’s in library and information science was granted by the University of Kentucky in 2012.  

Dr. Steve Hodson joined the Westmont faculty in 1996 as an associate professor of music. Dr. Hodson, a native of Portland, Oregon, holds a bachelor's degree in music education from Lewis and Clark College, a master's degree in music education from the University of Oregon, and a doctor of musical arts degree in the literature and performance of choral music from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He serves as Professor of Music at Westmont College, where his duties have included teaching piano, music survey, conducting, and church music, and directing the College Choir, the Chamber Singers, and New Sounds. Presently, Hodson leads the piano studies area at Westmont. Dr. Hodson is elected to a term ending in Spring 2023.

Tara Sturges joined Westmont as the Assistant Registrar in June 2020. She is a first-generation graduate from Liberty University with her B.S. degree in Psychology-Human Services. Tara worked for eight years at Simpson University in northern California, and five of those years were spent in the Student Records Office. She is currently working on an M.S. in Leadership in Higher Education at Pepperdine University and will graduate in spring 2024. At Westmont, Tara manages articulation agreements with numerous community colleges, oversees the evaluation of transfer work for Westmont applicants, works with faculty in advising rising seniors in their finalizing of Application for Degree details, tracks the progress of seniors to verify they are on track for completing their degrees on time, and assists with the data side of commencement.