Xuefeng Zhang joined the Westmont faculty this fall as an assistant professor of sociology. The native of China earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Harbin Normal University and his master’s degree in sociology at Nankai University before coming to study at the University of Minnesota in 1997.
Surveys of Americans have revealed an ignorance of science. Educators, like Westmont chemistry professor Niva Tro, frequently call for more science instruction in the schools. Tro will speak on “The Importance of Science Literacy: Why Everyone Needs a Basic Understanding of Science,” Thursday, Oct. 11, at 5:30 p.m. at the University Club on Santa Barbara Street.
Professor Jorge L. A. Garcia will deliver the lecture “Racism as Vice: The Current Philosophical Debate,” Thursday, Oct. 4, at 3:30 p.m., in Westmont’s Hieronymus Lounge.
Chemistry professor Dr. Stephen Contakes, who joined the Westmont faculty this fall, hopes to influence student’s lives inside and outside the classroom. The Lehigh University alumnus is a bioinorganic chemist who focuses on metals in biology.
“The chemistry involved in activities such as thinking and moving contain metals which play a key role in the ways our bodies function,” he says. Contakes does research that replicates in non-natural systems the way these metals act.
Religious studies professor Caryn Reeder, who joined the Westmont faculty this fall, is anxious to begin conducting research on a new topic. She has spent much of the past year writing “The Enemy Within: Biblical and Intertestamental Traditions of Family Violence,” a dissertation she hopes to publish focusing on domestic violence in the Bible and other ancient texts.
“I’m ready to move beyond family violence and get into something more cheerful,” she says.
Mitch Vance, a general partner of a private equity investment firm, has agreed to chair Westmont’s Board of Advisors, President Gayle Beebe announced today. Vance joined the board in 2000 and previously served on the Westmont Foundation.