Beloved Professor to Speak at Commencement
About 340 graduates will participate in Commencement on Saturday, May 3, at 9:30 a.m. on Thorrington Field with 162 earning honors. More than 70 Golden Warriors, who graduated in 1975, will march in the procession to celebrate their 50th reunion. About 40 nursing graduates, representing the fifth cohort of the Westmont Downtown | Grotenhuis Nursing program, will participate in the event two days after their pinning ceremony on Thursday, May 1, at 4 p.m. in Montecito Covenant Church. Commencement will be closed to the general public and livestreamed at westmont.edu/commencement.
Beloved professor and alumnus Jim Taylor ’78, who retires this year after more than three decades of teaching philosophy at Westmont, delivers the address.
Westmont President Gayle D. Beebe presents the Westmont Medal to John Davies, who has grown his public relations firm, Davies Public Affairs, into one of the top 25 in the nation.
Graduates Miles Ozorio and Claire Bassett will offer student reflections.
Taylor, who earned his doctorate at the University of Arizona and taught at Bowling Green State University in Ohio before returning to Westmont, has authored several books, including “Introducing Apologetics: Cultivating Christian Commitment,” “Learning for Wisdom: Christian Education and the Good Life” and “Soul Pilgrimage: Knowing God in Everyday Life,” which he co-authored with his wife, Jennifer. She spent 15 years at Westmont connecting students with internships. The Taylors have three children who all attended Westmont: Sarah ’07, Ben ’09 and Nathaniel ’15.
Davies, skilled in persuasion and compelling communication, says studying human behavior helps him develop effective and innovative communication strategies that get attention and gain influence. A founding board member of a National Bank, he chaired the University of California’s Economic Forecast Project and led the nation’s largest scholarship foundation. A member of the Westmont Foundation Board and longtime chair of the President’s Breakfast Committee, Davies has demonstrated exceptional leadership throughout Santa Barbara, working tirelessly to transform every aspect of our greater community.
The Westmont Medal honors those whose lives embody the principles associated with the character of the college. Past recipients include Steven and Denice Fellows, Lindsay and Laurie Parton, Christine and Robert Emmons, Rolf Geyling, David and Anna Grotenhuis, Palmer Jr. and Susan Jackson, Gerd Jordano, Jonathan Walker, Katherine Wiebe and Ron Werft, to name a few.