Westmont Downtown
Click here for all 2024-2025 lectures
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:
- To provide an opportunity for Westmont faculty to speak in their area of expertise.
- To engage the community in meaningful, substantive and lively conversation.
- To demonstrate the value of constructive dialogue with people of differing opinions.
- To demonstrate the commitment of Westmont to the life of the mind and to invite the larger community to join that conversation.
Upcoming Westmont Downtown Lecture:
Spring 2025:
Talk Explores Future, Possible Dangers of AI
Two Westmont computer science professors will offer a holistic understanding of artificial intelligence (AI), explore promising new developments and expose lurking dangers in a Westmont Downtown Lecture, “A Human Approach to AI: Understanding Its Promises and Perils,” on Thursday, March 27, at 5:30 p.m. at the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden St., in downtown Santa Barbara. The talk is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required. Free parking is available on the streets surrounding CAW or in nearby city parking lots. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051.
“We’ll explore AI’s deep roots in the 75-year history of computing, demystify the mechanisms behind its seemingly incomprehensible abilities, and examine key breakthroughs that have fueled the explosion of generative AI innovations,” says Guang Song, professor of computer science.
“The talk will establish a framework for critically evaluating the impact of AI on human lives — as both a tool of empowerment for extraordinary achievements and a force that risks undermining human dignity through its underlying biases and resulting harms. We’ll discuss how to best engage ethically with its accelerating influence,” says Mike Ryu, assistant professor of computer science.
Song taught computer science for 16 years at Iowa State University before coming to Westmont in 2022. He earned a doctorate at Texas A&M University and has focused his research on computational biology, exploring how proteins move, studying their molecular mechanical systems, and classifying their various shapes. His research received the NSF CAREER award.
Ryu earned a Bachelor of Science in software engineering and a Master of Science in computer science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo before working at a for-profit corporation in the San Francisco Bay Area. He serves with Westmont’s Center for Applied Technology (CATLab) during the summer as the director of engineering for the mobile and AI development teams.
The Westmont Foundation sponsors Westmont Downtown: Conversations About Things That Matter, a free lecture series, as well as the annual Westmont President’s Breakfast.
Drawing on his experience, Westmont President Gayle D. Beebe will share the power of life’s crucibles – those pivotal moments of trial and triumph – that have defined his personal and professional life and leadership. The talk, “The Crucibles That Shape Us: Navigating the Defining Challenges of Leadership,” has been rescheduled to Monday, March 3, at 5:30 p.m. at the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden Street, in downtown Santa Barbara.
The first 100 guests will receive free copies of Beebe’s latest book, “The Crucibles that Shape Us.” Free parking is available on the streets surrounding CAW or in nearby city parking lots. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051.
Entering his 18th year as president at Westmont, Beebe has responded to several local natural disasters: The Tea Fire, Thomas Fire and Montecito debris flow.
“Though every leader faces enormous challenges that require response, it’s still difficult to anticipate the severity of unfolding events and the length of time it will take to resolve them,” Beebe says. “Each situation demands a vision that exceeds inconvenience and a commitment to strategies and tactics that help us persevere.”
Beebe identifies seven crucibles — powerful catalysts for transformation — that profoundly shape us when we embrace them. Each chapter of the book delves into a challenge that Beebe has personally faced and intimately understands. As a seasoned college president, he brings a unique perspective, blending academic expertise with heartfelt storytelling to create a book that’s both intellectually stimulating and deeply inspiring.
“Life is a perpetual gauntlet with challenge on one side and opportunity on the other,” he says. “We often overlook so many experiences of our everyday life that offer us an opportunity to identify deeper understanding and a better response as we navigate the defining challenges [of life] and leadership. Crucibles have the power to shape us by refining our character, calling forth our best effort, and teaching us to rely on God. Rarely, if ever anticipated, crucibles test our capacity to adapt and change. We often see setbacks and disasters as events that keep us from our best life. They’re really opportunities to grow in leadership.”
Beebe has overseen a period of unprecedented growth and development at Westmont, raising more than $450 million in three major campaigns and adding more than 400,000 square feet of new and renovated building space. An active scholar, he has written or edited more than 40 articles and 10 books, including “The Shaping of an Effective Leader” and “Longing for God.”
Fall 2024:
Talk to Explore Maternity Care Deserts
Hospitals have increasingly been closing maternity departments around the country, including in California. Stephanie Curtis, a certified nurse midwife and Westmont instructor of nursing, examines the issue of maternity care deserts in a Westmont Downtown Lecture, “Delivering in the Desert: The Impact of Maternity Ward Closures,” on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 5:30 p.m. at the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden St., in downtown Santa Barbara. The talk is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required. Free parking is available on the streets surrounding CAW or in nearby city parking lots. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051.
Curtis, who earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Florida, will draw from her personal experiences as a midwife in Central and Southern California. She’ll explore how these populations have been affected and the factors that may contribute to the suspension or termination of inpatient maternity care. She has been an instructor at Westmont Downtown | Grotenhuis Nursing since 2023.
“This growing problem is a symptom of major issues in health care delivery affecting several facilities that provide maternity services,” she says. “It contributes to health care disparities and often leaves those in marginalized communities with even less access to care — some having to drive 30-40 miles to get to a safe place to deliver their babies.”
Westmont Downtown: Conversations About Things That Matter is a free lecture series sponsored by the Westmont Foundation, which also sponsors the annual Westmont President’s Breakfast in late February.
Talk Offers ‘Faith-Based Principles for Pluralist Democracy’
Jesse Covington, whose research explores the interrelation of religion and government, takes a step away from the current electoral matchup to look at enduring challenges Christians face in a context like the United States. He discusses “Hopeful Realism: Faith-Based Principles for Pluralist Democracy” at a Westmont Downtown Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden St., in downtown Santa Barbara. The talk is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required. Free parking is available on the streets surrounding CAW or in nearby city parking lots. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051.
“Christian citizens can experience tension in their political activity, particularly when their moral commitments seem at odds with the tenets of a pluralist democracy — at times to such an extent that they feel they have to choose between the two,” says Covington, professor of political science and director of Westmont’s Augustinian Scholars Program. “But this need not be the case,” he contends.
The talk will draw on a forthcoming book by Covington, Bryan McGraw and Micah Watson that explores how the Christian intellectual tradition can help with this tension. “Hopeful Realism: Evangelical Natural Law and Democratic Politics,” which will be available for purchase in January, shows how the insights of St. Augustine of Hippo, in concert with the Christian natural law tradition, can provide vital guidance for Christians in politics today.
Covington earned a master’s and doctorate in political science from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in religion from Westminster Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s degree from Pepperdine University.
He contributed to the book “Concepts of Nature: Ancient and Modern” and co-edited “Natural Law and Evangelical Political Thought.”
Westmont Downtown: Conversations About Things That Matter is a free lecture series sponsored by the Westmont Foundation, which also sponsors the annual Westmont President’s Breakfast in late February.