Westmont News

An ecological restoration project near the Westmont campus has begun with students, faculty and staff planting about 45 native coast live oaks. This first phase focuses on an area where Montecito Fire removed many dead and dying eucalyptus trees last summer.

The Westmont Women’s Leadership Council Luncheon features Natalie Taylor, certified financial planner and behavioral financial advisor, on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024, 12-2 p.m. in the Global Leadership Center. A limited number of tickets, which cost $100 per person, may be purchased online.

Westmont celebrates Advent with “Let There be Light!” a festive gathering, tree lighting, hot cocoa and opportunity to take photos with Santa on Wednesday, Nov. 29, from 5-7 p.m. on Kerrwood Lawn. The family-friendly event is free and open to the public.

The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art’s most popular exhibition and fundraiser returns to Montecito on Nov. 30- Dec. 15 offering viewers an opportunity to see and bid on more than 675, small 5-inch-square works by regional, national and international artists. The museum hosts a free, public opening reception on Thursday, Nov. 30, from 4-6 p.m.

Longtime Westmont trustee Gary Harris died Oct. 27 from a heart attack. He was 87.

President Gayle D. Beebe announced to the Westmont community that he and Pam were praying for Gary's wife, Jo Harris, and their family, and encouraged the community to do so as well.

Violinist Philip Ficsor, who served on Westmont’s music faculty from 2006-13, returns to college for a recital with American Double, a violin-piano duo consisting of Ficsor and pianist Constantine Finehouse, on Sunday, Nov. 5, at 3 p.m. in Deane Chapel. The concert, featuring American masterworks for violin and piano by John Corigliano and Daniel Gee ’13, Westmont director of choral activities, is free and open to the public.

The 19^th annual Westmont Christmas Festival, which marks the beginning of the holiday season for many in Santa Barbara, combines orchestra and choirs at the Granada Theatre, the central coast’s premier performing arts venue in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 3, at 3 p.m. Tickets, which cost $22 each, go on sale Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 5 p.m. at westmont.edu/christmas-festival.

Westmont’s science professors have obtained a new tool for their teaching and research. The biology, chemistry, engineering and physics departments will all use the Hitachi scanning electron microscope (SEM), housed in Winter Hall. Its focused beam of electrons interacts with atoms in the sample to produce an image.

A large crowd that included students, faculty, trustees and industry professionals on the college’s engineering board gathered to dedicate Westmont’s new Fletcher Jones Foundation Center for Engineering at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 20. Engineering students hosted an open house in their new digs, highlighting their research and explaining the uses of the machinery.

“What Should We Do About State Street?” The Westmont Center for Dialogue and Deliberation (WCDD) hosts a conversation on this pressing issue and invites Santa Barbara residents to share their ideas for shaping and co-creating this special public space. When you RSVP to the free, public event held Thursday, Oct. 26, from 6:45 p.m.-8:45 p.m., you’ll receive information about the location and parking information because space is limited.

On the heels of Saturday’s annual solar eclipse, the Westmont Observatory opens to the public with the two gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, making an appearance in the night sky Friday, Oct. 20, beginning at sunset and lasting several hours. This month’s free stargazing event features the college’s powerful Keck Telescope, a computer-controlled 24-inch reflector, and other telescopes from members of the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit.

Katherine Bryant, assistant professor of political science, will speak about “The Changing Geopolitical Landscape and the Role of Foreign Aid” at a Westmont Downtown Lecture on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 5:30 p.m. at the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden Street, in downtown Santa Barbara.

Westmont’s alumni returned to campus for Homecoming 2023 and to honor four stellar individuals at the annual Alumni Awards Celebration Brunch.

The college recognized honorees Jay (Ofori) Diallo ’08 (Alumnus of the Year); Jenise Steverding '97 (Alumna of the Year); Carl LaBarbera ’76 (Global Service); and Gabriella (Pinheiro Chavez) Avila ’14 (Young Alum) for their remarkable achievements in their personal careers on Oct. 14.

The Westmont Orchestra will perform one of Tchaikovsky’s most well-known compositions at the Fall Orchestra Concert on Friday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. in Westmont’s Page Hall; and Sunday, Oct. 22, at 3 p.m. in Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West. The concerts are free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the music department at (805) 565-6040 or email music@westmont.edu.

Westmont has become an Emerging Hispanic Serving Institution with more than 23% of students identifying as Latino or Hispanic. The designation is a result of local partnerships, improved outreach efforts and the addition of several key college employees. 

Siegwart ‘Zig’ Reichwald was officially installed as Adams professor of music and worship at Westmont in a day that featured the college choir, orchestra and chapel band performing music from the Psalms, Felix Mendelssohn and rock band U2.

Dave LeMieux ’93, new director of worship for Montecito Covenant Church, performs a two-part multimedia event, "Moses – Truth to Power," on Wednesday, Oct. 18, and Friday, Oct. 20, at 10:30 a.m. at Westmont chapel in Murchison Gym.

Jennifer Ito, Westmont assistant professor of physics, explores exciting new developments in astrophysics in a Westmont Downtown Lecture, “Asteroids and Exoplanets: How Scientists Are Exploring Our Universe,” on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden Street, in downtown Santa Barbara.

Westmont presents “Godspell,” one of the most popular musicals of all time, on Oct. 12-15 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. in Westmont’s Porter Theatre. Music and theater students join together to stage a production for the first time since 2019. Tickets, which cost $20 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors, are available online at westmont.edu/boxoffice.

The parents of a Westmont alumna and a current student joined the Westmont Board of Trustees in May. Mary Barbour, whose daughter, Anna, graduated from Westmont in 2022, and Marcus ‘Goodie’ Goodloe, whose daughter Hannah is currently a senior and will graduate in spring 2024, look forward to supporting the college’s mission on the board, which oversees the operations of the college.

Westmont jumped 16 spots in U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Colleges national liberal arts rankings — the college’s largest rise since 2010. For the 19th straight year, Westmont, ranked at No. 107 (tied), is the number one Christian liberal arts college in the Western U.S.

In a public ceremony replete with orchestral and choral music, Siegwart ‘Zig’ Reichwald will be installed as the Adams professor of music and worship Friday, Sept. 29, at 10:30 a.m. in Murchison Gym. The formal ceremony serves as a prelude to a day of public events that include a keynote address and chamber concert.

For the first time in more than a decade, undergraduate students assisted with research at the Simons Array, a set of three telescopes in the Atacama Desert in Chile at an elevation of about 17,000 feet.

Westmont music faculty take the stage for the Fall Faculty Recital on Friday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. in Deane Chapel. The performance is free and open to the public.

The recital features Music Director Ruth Lin (piano), Adelle Rodkey (oboe), Christina Ramsey (mezzo-soprano), Erin Bonski-Evans (piano), Egle Januleviciute (piano) and Cam Audras (viola).

Andrew Whitehead, one of the foremost scholars of Christian nationalism in the United States, speaks about his new book, “American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church,” on Thursday, Sept. 14, from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Global Leadership Center at Westmont.

Westmont welcomes four excellent new tenure-track professors to campus this fall. Sam Cole (economics and business), Linghui Han (economics and business), Paul Mena (communication studies) and Anna Jordan ’07 (English) each bring a deep Christian faith and a desire to challenge students to think deeply while learning broadly.

About 400 first year and transfer students arrive on campus for the newly named Warrior Welcome Aug. 24-27 and the first day of classes for the fall semester on Monday, Aug. 28. On Wednesday, Aug.

Westmont's annual Impact Conference brings together leading thinkers in education and technology to discuss the development of better data systems for colleges and universities. Co-hosted by Salesforce and Westmont’s Center for Applied Technology (CATLab), the free event takes place on campus Thursday, Aug. 10, from 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. To register or get more information, please visit westmont.edu/impact.

Westmont engineering students returned to Quito, Ecuador, in May to share their love of science, technology, engineering and math with children in an after-school program. The seven engineering students, Jonny Reitinger, Jonah Swanson, Jacob Bailey, Maria Judy, Elijah Cicileo, Becca Hudson and Tasha Loh, designed and built STEM educational materials to share with the children. They were joined by Dan Jensen, director of Westmont engineering, and a Compassion International representative.

All eight graduates of Westmont’s inaugural Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) cohort have successfully passed the National Council for Licensure Exam-RN (NCLEX-RN) and begun careers as nurses. Half of these nurses serve in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. They completed the program in May 2023.

Celebrated Santa Barbara artist Linda Ekstrom offers a wide range of poetic, imaginative and spiritual works of transformed fabric, paper, books and gloves in an exhibition Aug. 31-Nov. 11 at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free opening reception Thursday, Aug. 31 from 4-6 p.m. at the museum, honors “Straddling Circumference…The Art of Linda Ekstrom,” which features both recent work and a retrospective. The museum plans additional events.

As of today, July 13, Westmont launches into a new era of athletic competition to play in the NCAA Division II PacWest Conference this fall. The NCAA formally notified the college that it is approved to move on to the second year of provisional status, which allows them to compete in the PacWest Conference beginning this coming year. 

This summer, Westmont violinist Sophia Chan ’25 performs at the Aspen Music Festival and School (June 29-August 20), one of the top classical music festivals in the United States that features more than 600 classical music students from around the world.

Westmont biologist Amanda Sparkman ’03 and her research collaborators have won a $2 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation to continue investigating the evolution of dwarfism in Channel Islands National Park reptiles.

A record three Westmont graduates have earned prestigious Fulbright Scholarships this year to teach and conduct research around the world. Ebun Kalejaiye ’23 will teach English in Spain, Cody LeFebre ’22 will teach English in Colombia and Valerie Swisher ’22 will study personal experiences and perceptions of mental health care in Hungary.

Rae Dunn, a popular Bay Area artist and juror of this year’s annual Tri-County Juried Exhibition, handed out cash awards to local artists on May 18 at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. “Mixed Up,” celebrates the multitude of talented artists in our local region.

The Westmont Academy for Young Artists (WAYA), a unique two-week summer music program for talented music students ages 12-18, has grown to include esteemed teaching artists from the Santa Barbara Symphony along with Westmont music faculty Aug. 7-11, 14-19 on Westmont’s all-Steinway campus.

A stellar lineup of internationally renowned speakers, authors, CEOs, visionaries and luminaries descend on Westmont’s ninth annual LEAD Where You Stand Conference May 31-June 2 at the college's Global Leadership Center. The Santa Barbara event has quickly gained momentum in attracting powerhouse speakers and participants who share inspiring and empowering leadership principles and best practices for any sphere or line of work and service.

The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art highlights the exceptional talent of local artists in its annual Tri-County Juried Exhibition, “Mixed Up,” May 18-June 17. The public is invited to a free, opening reception on Thursday, May 18, from 4-6 p.m. Award winners will be announced at 5:15 p.m.

Under scattered skies two days after a rare May rainstorm, the 332 graduates of the Westmont College Class of 2023 marched to Thorrington Field on May 6 led by bagpipe fanfare. The celebration, which featured the inaugural graduating classes in both engineering and nursing, included speeches full of colorful imagery from the class verse, “Let your roots grow down into Him” (Colossians 2:7).

Following Commencement 2023, the Westmont College Choir and Chamber Singers embark on a nine-day tour to Tokyo, Japan — the first international choir tour since the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by Daniel Gee ’13, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities, the choirs’ itinerary includes joint concerts with Japanese collegiate ensembles, including those from Waseda University and the Tokyo College of Music, as well as performances at Tokyo Union Church, Tokyo Christian University and the Christian Academy of Japan.

Each year before Commencement, Westmont’s annual Academic Awards Celebration reminds us of the joy of accomplishment and the opportunity we have to excel and fulfil the full range of gifts and abilities God has given us.

Westmont kicked off its new Young Adult Leadership Lab (YALL), which supports the spiritual lives of young adults in their 20s, with 100 local clergy members and lay leaders at a day-long seminar held on campus. Steve Argue, applied research strategist for the Fuller Youth Institute and associate professor of youth, family and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, headlined the event earlier this year in the Global Leadership Center.

Westmont College, which develops Christian ministers and leaders capable of serving in every sphere of society, hosts a one-day Pastors Conference dedicated to encouraging, refreshing and supporting pastors. The event features President Gayle D.

Click Here to Watch the Commencement Livestream

Two Westmont students won David K. Winter Servant Leadership Awards for showing vision, courage, humility, integrity and competence as leaders. Angela D’Amour, dean of student engagement, introduced the 23rd annual awardees, junior Joy Sturges from Redding and sophomore David Shiang from West Hills, on April 14 in Westmont chapel.

Janell Balmaceda uses a pitchfork to spread mulch over the walkways that weave between the garden rows below Thorrington Field. Student intern Peter Schramm ’25 hammers together pieces from several wooden pallets to create new compost bins. This spring, the Westmont garden is flourishing again, thanks in large part to Balmaceda, Westmont’s new sustainability coordinator and garden manager. A team of student volunteers began planting vegetables in March, which the Dining Commons served at the end of the semester. After some repairs, the chicken coop houses egg-laying hens.

More than 40 Westmont students will present their findings on 29 posters at the 2023 Spring Student Research Symposium on April 20 from 3:30-5 p.m. around the Winter Hall third floor atrium. There will also be four students reading selections of their original works of fiction and poetry as part of their English capstone project.