An Invitation from Westmont President Gayle Beebe

I hope you will join us for some meaningful “Conversations that Matter.” At Westmont, we believe in engaging the great issues of society and the vexing dilemmas of our global community as we prepare our students to take their place in the world.

This discussion series gives the larger Santa Barbara community more opportunities to hear from Westmont faculty. During these sessions, sponsored by the Westmont Foundation Board, professors from a variety of fields will address current issues facing our society from the perspective of their disciplines.

I’m proud to serve an institution with such outstanding faculty, and I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to hear them speak and engage in conversation with them.

Goals of Westmont Downtown:

1. To provide an opportunity for Westmont faculty to speak in their area of expertise.
2. To engage the community in meaningful, substantive and lively conversation.
3. To demonstrate the value of constructive dialogue with people of differing opinions.
4. To demonstrate the commitment of Westmont to the life of the mind and to invite the larger community to join that conversation.

Westmont Downtown Lecture:

Spring 2026: 

Talk Explores Changes, Opportunities with AI

A Westmont Downtown Lecture will explore AI's real-world implications on Thursday, April 23, at 5:30 p.m. at Westmont Downtown | Keith Center, 29 W. Anapamu St. The talk, “AI and Our Shared Future: Opportunities, Challenges and What’s at Stake," features Mike Ryu, Westmont assistant professor of mathematics and computer science, and Reed Sheard, Westmont vice president of advancement and chief information officer. The free lecture offers insights on thoughtfully engaging with technological changes while creating new opportunities. No tickets or reservations required; the limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051.

"I’ll open with a brief introduction to AI and then examine how technologies grow exponentially," Ryu says. “I’ll break down how much of the information surrounding AI is real and what is likely hype.”

“I’ll explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping society, education and our daily lives— not just as a tool, but as a force that’s challenging us to rethink what it means to be human,” Sheard says.

Ryu earned both a bachelor’s degree in software engineering and a master’s degree in computer science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He worked in the software industry in the San Francisco Bay Area as a software engineer, an agile coach and an engineering manager before coming to Westmont in 2023. “My passion in computer science is empowering people with technology by teaching in a way that eliminates the high barrier to enter the computing field,” he says.  

Sheard graduated from the University of Sioux Falls, earned a Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary and a doctorate in higher education leadership from Seattle University and has authored numerous articles in addressing innovation and technology while also serving on multiple boards. He joined Westmont in 2008 after serving for five years as vice president and CIO at Spring Arbor University in Michigan, where he oversaw the development of a private, statewide network covering more than 1,800 miles and serving 14 regional sites as well as the main campus. He has also worked at General Electric, Apple, Consonus and George Fox University as an assistant professor of leadership studies.

The Westmont Foundation sponsors the talk, part of Westmont Downtown: Conversations about Things that Matter. Find convenient parking for the lecture at Santa Barbara City Parking Lots 4 or 5.

Ecologist Shares Climate-Smart Planting Strategies

Westmont ecologist Laura Drake Schultheis shares her research about plant flammability and defensible spaces in the face of climate change in a Westmont Downtown Lecture on Wednesday, March 11, at 5:30 p.m. at Westmont Downtown | Keith Center, 29 W. Anapamu St. The talk, “Rooted in Resilience: Adaptive Planting Strategies in Wildland-Urban Interfaces,” is free and open to the public. Parking for the lecture is available at either Santa Barbara City Parking Lots 4 or 5. No tickets are required; the limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051.

“I will share examples of native plant restoration and efforts to improve community defensibility in fire-prone areas like Santa Barbara,” she says. “I hope people are encouraged by the conversation and empowered to get involved in the work being done to restore our native ecosystems and reduce fire risk in our own communities.”

Schultheis, a Westmont alumna who earned a master’s degree in ecology and a doctorate in plant ecology from UC Santa Barbara, has played an integral role in the restoration of a fire-resilient oak woodland west of Westmont’s campus. She and her students have planted about 60 native coast live oaks where Montecito Fire removed dead and dying eucalyptus trees in the summer of 2023.

“While no plant serves as a complete barrier to fire, there is some evidence that healthy, mature oak canopies can slow the spread of fire compared to non-native species like eucalyptus,” says Schultheis, a Westmont assistant professor of biology.

Last summer, she and student Isabella Garcia ’25 presented a paper, “Purposeful Planting: Characterizing Plant Flammability Using Functional Traits for Defensible Space,” at the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, one of the largest ecology conferences in the nation.

Other research has analyzed the structural and functional traits that contribute to the flammability of 20 Santa Barbara native plant species. This summer she and a team of Westmont undergraduates will expand on this work through a collaboration with researchers at UC Santa Barbara.

Schultheis has also published a paper on the effects of drought and opportunistic fungi on big berry manzanita shrubs. 

The Westmont Foundation sponsors the talk, part of Westmont Downtown: Conversations about Things that Matter.