Honoring the Legacy of Ken and Kim Kihlstrom
Kim Kihlstrom established the computer science program at Westmont in 1999, becoming a pioneering professor, accomplished scholar and fierce advocate of educating the whole person. “She had such a heart for students,” says Ken Kihlstrom, professor emeritus of physics. He describes his late wife, who died in 2013 from ovarian cancer, as someone who held her students to high academic standards while inviting them to dinner and baking cookies for them. “On her own, she was a powerhouse who wanted students to succeed personally, socially and professionally while growing in their faith,” he says.
To honor Kim and support Westmont’s mission of developing students through the liberal arts and a Christ-centered community, Ken seeks to create the Ken and Kim Kihlstrom endowed chair in the natural sciences with a primary focus on computer science. The college hopes to raise at least $1.5 million to establish the chair with the Kihlstrom family matching gifts (100 percent for gifts under $1,000, 125 percent for $1,000 and more, and 150 percent for $10,000 and more). To date, the initiative has raised nearly $400,000 with the matching gifts. Ken wants to help the college recruit and retain outstanding scholars who exemplify a commitment to academic excellence, mentorship and the integration of faith and learning.
“Everything we did at Westmont, we did together,” Ken says. He joined the physics faculty in 1984, and Kim taught electrical engineering part time while raising their three children. “She was a mom at heart,” he says. Then during his sabbatical at Stanford in the early 1990s, she started a Master of Science in electrical engineering there and excelled in her computer science classes. When they returned to Santa Barbara, she applied to a doctoral program in computer engineering at UC Santa Barbara and received a fellowship. Once she completed her degree, she worked with Westmont’s mathematics department to launch the computer science major.
Kim reached out to women, recruiting them to the new program and mentoring them. She connected students with computer scientists so they could begin networking and building social skills. An inspiring professor, she won both a Teacher of the Year Award and the Faculty Research Award. She directed two four-year National Science Foundation scholarship programs for students in computer science, engineering and mathematics as well as a two-year National Science Foundation grant for computer security research. In 2004, she received the Wilkes Award for the best paper published in a volume of the Computer Journal.
At her urging, Ken and Kim co-led three Europe Semesters, including one in 2008 with their son, Kevin ’10, when the Tea Fire destroyed their home. The couple chose to trust God in the midst of their loss. A mosaic of a mother hen with outstretched wings protecting her chicks in Dominus Flevit Church in Jerusalem caught Kim’s attention the next day, reminding her of Jesus’s words in Matthew 23:37, “How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” Their family and the seven students living in their house were all safe. “We had lost our pictures, but we still had the people in the pictures,” she said. When the Kihlstroms rebuilt their house, they reproduced the plaque. Ken and his new wife, Cathy, still live there.
Beloved for his humor and amazing demos — the bed of nails, fire walking, liquid nitrogen, occasional explosions and many Spring Sing appearances — Ken retired in 2022. He remains involved with the college, serving as the chair of the Westmont Foundation Board. A Stanford graduate with a master’s degree and a doctorate in physics, he earned multiple accolades during his long tenure, including the Faculty Research Award and the Teacher of the Year Award. His research focused on low-temperature superconductivity. Like Kim, he became strongly committed to student development and educating the whole person.
To contribute to the Kihlstrom chair, see westmont.edu/kihlstrom-endowed-chair