Three Longtime Faculty Receive Distinguished Professorships

R. Anthony Askew, Allan Nishimura and Robert Wennberg have received the college’s first distinguished professorship award, an honor that recognizes their exceptional commitment to their students and Christian liberal arts education.

The award, which will be given every two years, includes an additional $2,000 annual stipend to be used for their work at the college until retirement. Professors must have taught at the college for at least 20 years to be considered for the honor.

Askew, an art professor who came to Westmont in 1982, has also directed Reynolds Gallery for 19 years. A printmaker and watercolorist, he is an excellent teacher and received the Teacher of the Year award in the humanities in 2000.

“Not only did Tony bring into being the Arts Ascent Day Camp (a summer art camp for area children), but he also took leadership in forming the Art Council (a community-based group that supports Reynolds Gallery and the Art Department), in raising money for the present art building at Westmont, in establishing an art gallery, and giving art at Westmont the visibility that has attracted funds and support for our much-anticipated new art gallery,” Provost Shirley Mullen said in bestowing the award at a special dinner Oct. 31.

Allan Nishimura is a chemistry professor and chair of the chemistry department. He came to Westmont in 1981 and specializes in physical chemistry and molecular spectroscopy. He received a Teacher of the Year honor in 1998.

Like many of Westmont’s professors, Nishimura routinely includes his students in ongoing research – 20 of his undergraduate chemistry students have been co-authors in his publications over the years. Nishimura’s students are regularly and actively sought by the best graduate schools.

“Besides his professional work outside the college, Allan has also sought to be available to the community through the CalSoap Program and various local schools to inspire young people to consider science,” Mullen said.

Robert Wennberg, who came to Westmont in 1970, is a philosophy professor who has been named Teacher of the Tear a record five times during his tenure. He also received a Faculty Research Award in 1986 and has written extensively on the difficult issues of abortion, euthanasia and animal rights.

“While seeking to build a strong faculty-centered college of distinction, Bob has also maintained a consistent record of scholarship in his field of ethics, producing, most notably, the trilogy of books ‘Life in the Balance’ on abortion, ‘Terminal Choices’ on euthanasia and ‘God, Humans, and Animals’ on animal concerns,” Mullen said. “His scholarship work is also marked by that careful attention to balancing tensions and to ruthless honesty about ambiguities that grows out of his gift of constructive criticism.”

The award will be given every other October during a dinner for faculty and college trustees. Recipients will receive the title of “Distinguished Professor” along with a plaque bearing that title. Their names will also be engraved on a permanent plaque in the provost’s office.

For more information, contact the public affairs office at (805) 565-7057 or pubaffairs@westmont.edu.