Embracing Global Challenges and Opportunities

Remarks Delivered at Homecoming 2013 by President Gayle D. Beebe, Ph.D.

It’s always a pleasure for me to represent the college, and I do a lot of speaking, often on the road, talking about Westmont and all the good things happening here. Every year we face challenges and opportunities. Being a person who is inherently optimistic, I tend to focus on the opportunities rather than the challenges. But challenges always seem more interesting and entertaining, and so people always ask me to talk a little about them.

If you take a newspaper, subscribe to an online news source or watch TV, you know that higher education is in choppy water right now, from the national level down to the state, regional and local levels. Westmont, being a national liberal arts college with a strong Christian identity, faces challenges on both fronts: to the mission of independent higher education and to the mission of faith-based higher education in America.

I think we have an incredibly compelling mission, and I love getting to work on it every day. But part of our calling as Christians is to always advocate and make a defense for the hope that’s in us. I also think that applies to the opportunities we provide to our students and graduates as they go forth in the world.

My doctoral work focused on historical theology and the philosophy of religion, so I particularly enjoy thinking about the early church. All the first Christians faced insurmountable odds. It’s easy to get discouraged with our own time and lose a sense of perspective, but when I look back at Clement of Alexandria, there was no Christian consensus then. Yet he was able to advocate and articulate one of the greatest philosophies of education— particularly Christian education—that I’ve ever read. As we look back to our forbearers, we recognize that people in every generation face unique challenges, and we need to be prepared for them.

We have the opportunity to demonstrate the relevance of a Westmont education not just to America but to the entire world. We’re moving to implement more deeply the fifth plank of our mission statement: the global initiative or global imperative.

One of our recent additions to the semester-abroad program is Westmont in Istanbul. Heather Keaney and her husband, Jim Wright, started this program. She graduated from Westmont and earned her doctorate from UC Santa Barbara in Islamic studies. We have the magnificent opportunity to work with Yeditepe University in Istanbul. Our students immerse themselves in Istanbul, taking two classes from Heather and Jim and two classes from faculty at Yeditepe.

I visited Istanbul during the first semester in 2012, and I was impressed by the quality of the program that Jim and Heather have crafted for us and also by the quality of the instruction at Yeditepe.

I think programs like this are important because they help us expand our understanding of the world and grasp its complexity. During the 10 years Pam and I lived in Southern California, I began to interact with a variety of ethnic groups and realized they weren’t monolithic. That experience served as my introduction to the complexity of diversity and global awareness. We hope that the global plank of our mission will shape every student’s education so they develop an understanding of the complexity of life in the United States and around the world.

As students return from being overseas, they seek to bring their learning home. We hope their experiences become a vehicle for broadening their outlook and increasing their effectiveness as they go forward in the world.

The Tea Fire five years ago has left scars on campus. It started as a total tragedy but has offered some hidden blessings. The destruction of so many buildings on campus, especially in Clark, where students lost everything, saddens us. Fifteen faculty families also suffered great loss when their homes burned.

In the midst of this tragedy, we were thankful no one died. Despite the huge emotional setback for those who lost so many physical possessions, we have moved forward, and the campus has come back to life, regaining its status as one of the most beautiful in the country.

We’re grateful for the addition of new facilities that have transformed the campus. Our next big project is the Institute for Global Learning and Leadership, which will provide an environment where students can live, learn and develop leadership skills. We hope students returning from study-abroad programs will find it a good place to continue learning from their overseas studies and sharing lessons from their life-transforming experiences.

Part of Westmont’s mission extends beyond educating and preparing students for life after college. We must also look ahead and consider where the world is going and what role we should play as we help students develop their skills and gifts to serve effectively wherever God calls them. That’s one of our many challenges—and a great opportunity to carry out our mission as well.