Westmont Magazine Wallace Emerson Society

Ardis Higgins has committed her life to music and to education. An accomplished organist, she chaired the music department at Santa Barbara City College and taught music education at Westmont until deteriorating eyesight forced her to retire early. Determined to pursue her passion, Ardis became an international music education consultant, traveling throughout the world with the International Society for Music Education and the Comparative Education Society. The author of more than 60 magazine, newspaper and journal articles and music reviews, she published “Windows on Women” in 1975 to highlight the accomplishments of women. Ardis also wrote the manuals and study questions for “Music in Motion,” an innovative educational series that illustrated classical music with creative film footage. A longtime member of the Santa Barbara Symphony board and a past president of nine community organizations, Ardis received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Santa Barbara News-Press in 1998. Her tireless service to the symphony and the community has enriched the arts in Santa Barbara. Her devotion to music education will endure through the legacy she will leave to Westmont through her estate. ‘Westmont has stayed on a firm footing all these years,” she says. “It’s a delight to be part of the college community.”