College News
Monroes Add to Their Legacy
Westmont has received a $3 million gift from the estate of a former professor and his wife.
Dr. Kenneth Monroe, who died in 1987, and his wife, Peggy, who died in February 2004, left the college more than $3 million. The money will fund scholarships for Monroe Scholars, up to four exceptional students who receive full-tuition assistance each year. It will also create a new endowed chair in a discipline to be named.
“What an amazing legacy Dr. and Mrs. Monroe have left,” President Stan D. Gaede said. “To provide ongoing support for a distinguished faculty member and some of the very best students — many of whom could not afford to come to Westmont — is a great gift, one for which the college is deeply appreciative.”
Monroe joined the faculty in 1945. His scholarship and teaching reflected the breadth of the liberal arts, with an emphasis in Mediterranean history and archaeology. He also served as academic dean, a trustee, and twice as interim president.
Chancellor David K. Winter, who served as president from 1976 to 2001, remembers the Monroes with deep fondness and gratitude for their contributions.
“Ken and Peggy Monroe were exceptional people,” he said. “They were leaders in many local organizations as well as on campus. He was a first-rate scholar and professor and was loved and respected by students and colleagues as well. They were warm personal friends to Helene and me, and we miss them very much.”
At his retirement, Monroe received the honorary titles of professor emeritus and trustee emeritus.
A Gift of Music
A $2.5 million gift from the Adams Family Founda-tion will establish an endowed chair in music at Westmont.
The gift supports a new faculty position, the Adams Chair of Music and Worship, and a $500,000 endowed fund for music department offerings.
“We are committed to enhancing Westmont’s music program not just for its fine students but for the impact it can have on the community,” Denise Adams said.
Mrs. Adams, a gifted artist, is a college trustee and a member of the Westmont Art Council, a community group that supports the college’s art programs.
“We are deeply grateful to the Adamses for this extraordinarily generous gift,” President Stan D. Gaede said. “Not only will it allow us to continue building our music program, but it will enable us to strengthen the long tradition of music in worship. We are absolutely delighted by this contribution to the arts at Westmont.”
Provost Shirley Mullen added: “It is our hope that this position will enable us to enhance the role that music plays in our overall campus program and that it will enable us to strengthen our connec-tions with Santa Barbara churches and the Santa Barbara arts community.”
This is the third significant gift the college has received from the Adams Family Foundation. The foundation gave the college two gifts of $5 million each during the recent capital campaign.
Commencement 2004
O n May 8, a sunny Santa Barbara Saturday, 347 seniors graduated from Westmont. Christian philoso-pher and Yale Professor Dr. Nicholas Wolterstorff explored the difference between looking for an occupation and looking for a calling in his address, “Called or Occupied?”
The Noah Porter profes-sor of philosophical theology at Yale University Divinity School, Wolterstorff teaches courses in philosophy of religion and aesthetics. He earned a master’s and a doctorate degree in philosophy from Harvard University.
The author of nine books, he is best known for “Lament for a Son,” a reflection on the accidental death of his 25-year-old son.
David Spainhour, who retired in May as chairman of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, received the Westmont Medal.
This award recognizes people whose lives embody the principles associated with Westmont: integrity, service, compassion, responsibility, faithfulness, discipline and generosity.
Spainhour worked at Santa Barbara Bank & Trust for 37 years. He joined the bank as controller in 1966 and held numerous leadership positions, becoming president in 1989 and chairman of the board in 1996. In honor of his retirement, the bank set up a David Spainhour Scholar-ship to assist a Westmont student in financial need.
Spainhour is also well-known for his commitment to the community and non-profit organizations such as the Salvation Army, Rescue Mission, Coalition for the Homeless, United Way, Santa Barbara Partners in Education, Community Arts Music Association, Girl Scouts, Mental Health Association, YMCA and Cottage Hospital, among others.
Spainhour received the Santa Barbara News-Press Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and the Distinguished Community Service Award from the Anti-Defamation League in 1999. He served as a Westmont trustee from 1991 to 2002.
A Quantum Leap for Science Education at Westmont
Thanks to grants from three foundations totally more than $1 million, Westmont's science program has new equipment.
At a time when younger Americans are losing interest in the sciences, Westmont’s flourishing science program is attracting an increasing number of students.
Over the past two years, Westmont has received $1,150,000 in grants to acquire new science equipment, which has transformed the programs and sparked new interest, enthusiasm and momentum.
The Fletcher Jones Foundation invested the lead grant of $500,000, which helped Westmont approach the John Stauffer Trust for $400,000 for chemistry equip-ment and the Ahmanson Foundation for $250,000 for equipment for chemistry, com-puter science and psychology.
According to Warren Rogers, who chairs the physics department, “These grants have given us a wonderful and much-needed boost. The new equipment allows students to conduct experiments that are straight-forward to run and bring great clarity to the concepts discussed in class.”
Visitors to a science department on any campus may well judge the program by the instruments available to students. Instead of owning outdated equipment pushing the limits of its life-expectancy, Westmont now provides students with research-grade instrumentation.
New acquisitions range from experimental kits and lab equipment to specific instru-ments such
as a diode array detector. Students espe-cially like the robot kits and the laptop computers, loaned out for group projects, research and use in class.
“I appreciate the sophis-tication and power involved in using the computer for data acquisition,” Lance Elliot ’05 said. “It streamlines the process of taking and analyzing data, and it limits the amount of errors. I’m glad to be among the first group of students using this new equipment. I’m sure future classes will love it just as much.”
“The robot kits were very cool,” research assistant Kyle Watters ’06 said. “We built some great designs starting with small tasks, like a remote-controlled robot that turned left or right when you pressed a button. Eventually, we had to construct a robot that could trace a black line using infrared sensors and push soda cans outside of a given boundary.”
Initially used in Assistant Professor Kim Kihlstrom’s computer organization and architecture class, the Lego robot parts and programmable controllers were so successful that professors expanded their usage to other classes.
“The assembly language that the students used to program the robots is a difficult topic to teach,” Kihlstrom said. “The robots provided the motivation and real-world experience that made learning the difficult topic fun and enjoyable.”
Professors report that students are more engaged in learning and more excited about doing research.
“The contrast between before and after the grant purchases is incredible,” chem-istry Professor Allan Nishimura said. “Students spent many hours trouble-shooting and making certain that the old instruments were working. Now they can better focus on the principles of the experi-ment rather than the tedious adjustment of the equipment and cumbersome data taking.”
The state-of-the-art equipment will allow students to be even better prepared for graduate school and careers in science. The acquistions will also serve to attract and retain the brightest science students at Westmont.
Westmont Fund Exceeds Goals
A month before the end of the fiscal year, the Westmont Fund had raised more than $2 million for college programs.
As of May 31, 2004, the Westmont Fund had raised $2,010,147, surpassing the target of $2 million. The gifts from alumni, parents and friends support programs such as student scholarships. The fiscal year ends June 30, 2004.
The Westmont Fund plays a crucial role by:
• Attracting and educating a diverse, highly qualified student body by providing scholarships that recognize both merit and need;
• Recruiting and retaining the finest faculty by providing appropriate compensation and resources for research and special programs;
• Housing students in a residential learning envi-ronment so they can grow spiritually and personally as well as intellectually;
• Ensuring the technology and facilities that allow Westmont to offer an excep-tional college experience by investing in state-of-the-art equipment in labs, classrooms and elsewhere on campus.
