Embracing Westmont’s Unifying Values
By President Gayle D. Beebe, Ph.D.
Ninety years ago, our founders envisioned a school committed to rigorous academics and a deep love for God. In 1939, Mrs. Ruth Kerr invited Wallace Emerson to take over the fledgling enterprise begun in 1937 and serve as president of a “proposed four-year liberal arts college built on a sound Christian basis, God having given us a vision for this larger work.” This idea of a robust four-year college quickly turned from a dream to reality, and the invitation extended in 1939 gave birth to Westmont College in 1940.
The college’s first Quarterly Bulletin reflects President Emerson’s views: “…the goal has been careful scholarship, sound doctrine, and consistent Christian living. Westmont College is inter-denominational and evangelical, believing that genuine scholarship is not only compatible with, but necessary to, the Christian viewpoint…”
While our faculty, student body and campus have expanded throughout the years, our commitment to the preeminence of Jesus Christ and the value of the liberal arts remains the heart and soul of all we do.
Our Statement of Faith begins: “Westmont College is a liberal arts college committed to Jesus Christ and belonging to the world- wide evangelical Protestant tradition. In that tradition, the college’s trustees, administrators, and faculty participate in many different churches and with them confess the … historic creeds of the [global] church including the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed.”
We continue to use the word “evangelical” in describing Westmont’s Christian commitment, as President Emerson did at the college’s founding. Recognizing that perceptions of words change with time, the board of trustees considered it time to articulate more clearly what we mean when we say Westmont belongs to the worldwide evangelical Protestant tradition.
Early in my presidency (2009-10), the board of trustees approved the Statement of Key Terms and Identity that, among other things, expanded on our understanding of “evangelical” (see westmont.edu/about/community-commitments/statement-key-terms-and-identity).
The document notes that “the word ‘evangelical’ has a variety of meanings and connotations — theological, historical,
sociological and political — that shift over time and in different circles. As an institution of critical thinking, Westmont should play a leading role in the constant debates over which traits belong in which category and in raising mature disciples within evangelicalism’s various streams… Westmont aptly reflects evangelicalism’s historical transcendence across particular streams, organizations and denominations.”
This year (2025-26), to provide greater clarity about our use of the term “evangelical,” the board of trustees adopted a statement answering the question: What is a generous, centrist, evangelical? To provide help and guidance in answering this question, the board read hundreds of pages of books and articles, met several times via Zoom for in-depth conversations and wrote and refined six different drafts. At its heart, the document articulates Westmont’s ongoing commitment to “hold firmly to the core convictions of the evangelical tradition, including the authority of Scripture, the centrality of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection, and the call to personal faith as the avenue to transformation while embracing an open, gracious posture toward others.”
We believe this additional statement, which supplements earlier affirmations, aptly describes our approach as described in our founding documents and reflected throughout our history. To read the statement, see westmont.edu/about/community-commitments.
The statement concludes, “Taken together, a generous, centrist, evangelical is committed to the truth of the gospel, the practice of Christ-like love, and the pursuit of unity in a fractured world embodying conviction without arrogance, openness without compromise, and faithfulness without partisanship.”
In addition to our treatment of “evangelical,” the board of trustees has worked with administration and faculty to establish two program offerings requested by current and prospective students and their families that also serve the needs of our local community: engineering and nursing. The
professors establishing these disciplines brought a deep commitment to the liberal arts, including an emphasis on innovation and creativity in engineering and holistic, whole-person care expressed through the healing arts of nursing. We’ve worked closely with Cottage Health, responding to an acute and growing need in our wider community.
Finally, our liberal arts approach to these programs aligns well with our mission. To comply with an accreditation request, the college first developed a mission statement in 1986. We’ve updated it twice: in 2010 and again this year. The 2026 version recognizes our efforts to establish two new master’s degrees in nursing that will complement our Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing through Westmont Downtown | Grotenhuis Nursing based at 26 West Anapamu as well as at the newly opened Keith Center directly across the street (29 West Anapamu).
The main element of the modified statement lies in its focus on “community.” When referring to the main campus in Montecito, we continue to define community as both undergraduate and residential with students living on campus and participating in a full array of co-curricular programs. When discussing Westmont Downtown and Westmont Global programs, we describe community by the nature and inter- action of cohorts, with students living and learning together during a concentrated period of time without necessarily residing together in a singular residential community.
In every case, community strives to embody the core guiding principles of truth-centered attitudes and other-centered practices central to our Community Life Statement.
Westmont Mission Statement 2026: Westmont College is a Christian liberal arts community serving God’s kingdom by cultivating thoughtful scholars, grateful servants and faithful leaders for global engagement with the academy, church and world.
I believe in honoring our heritage as we carry out our mission today and prepare for the challenges and opportunities awaiting us in the future. As we move deeper into the 21st century, I feel a tremendous sense of blessing to serve the purposes of God at Westmont, where we strive together to prepare our graduates for a lifetime of leadership and service in every sphere of modern society.