New Vice Provost Encourages Innovation

Eileen McQuade arrived at Westmont in 2004 to teach biology, and she embraced the task with her usual enthusiasm, passion and positive spirit. She collected accolades such as Teacher of the Year, the Jane Higa Award for Academic and Co-Curricular Partnership and a Faculty Research Award, which acknowledged her many published papers and outstanding research. Given her experience and success, the Provost’s Office named her associate dean of faculty in 2016, and she taught her last class in 2019 to devote full attention to her growing responsibilities, later becoming associate provost.

Now as vice provost at Westmont, McQuade develops new academic programs, promotes initiatives related to campus growth and innovation, provides support for professors and faculty holding endowed chairs, and oversees stewardship of academic resources. She continues to work closely with the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts and the Accessibility Resource Office (ARO).

“I love planning and the creativity of brainstorming, thinking about our needs and new cutting-edge areas,” McQuade says. “I worked on the environmental studies major, and I think Westmont is uniquely positioned to make a contribution and be a leader in the field. I enjoy supporting professors who have great ideas or seek grants to start new programs.”

McQuade helped develop the engineering program and Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing, crafting curricula making them consistent with the college’s Christian liberal arts tradition. “We’re doing this the Westmont way,” she says.

With Steve Porter, executive director of the Martin Institute, McQuade co-wrote a grant for Education for Character, a Wake Forest University initiative, to develop a new first-year seminar. “This course focuses on framing their Westmont experience as a formational journey shaping intellectual, moral and spiritual virtues,” she says.

Another project she promotes involves applying for a five-year Lilly Foundation storytelling grant designed to create sacred stories and empower young adults to share their vocational and spiritual meaning and purpose. “This initiative will align with the Gaede Institute’s Young Adult Leadership Lab, bringing young adults to the new Westmont Keith Center downtown for special programs,” she says.

McQuade wholeheartedly supports the Center for Student Success, First Connections and the student coach program as a champion for student academic success. She values working with student life staff to provide a holistic experience that encourages students to grow in all areas of their lives.

After earning a doctorate in immunology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, McQuade completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.

“The best part of my job involves supporting our first-class faculty, who could teach a lot of places but come here because they believe in the mission. Unlocking their creativity helps us offer the best possible programs,” she says.