Warriors Dedicate New Putting Green

Westmont President Gayle D. Beebe and alumnus Stan Anderson cut the ribbon to the new Stan Anderson Golf Complex at a public dedication ceremony September 10 on Westmont’s lower campus. Anderson then sank a ceremonial first putt surrounded by hundreds of cheering Westmont student-athletes and supporters.

The new facility features an 8,000-square-foot artificial putting green, turf trap, and pitching areas. A 500-square-foot patio and two, 10-foot-wide, covered hitting bays await final approval from Santa Barbara County Planning officials.

Beebe, who played football, basketball, and baseball competitively growing up, loved watching ABC’s Wide World of Sports with Jim McKay’s iconic “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”

“Athletics allow us to experience the full range of human emotion,” Beebe said. “They also allow us to undergo moral transformation. There are few sports that are as precise and exacting and that do more to teach honesty, integrity, and self-regulation than golf. The moral framework of golf teaches us a code of ethics that stretches across the entire landscape of our personal and public life.”

Kirsten Moore, associate athletic director and head women’s basketball coach for the past 15 years, praised Athletic Director Dave Odell, who has a fierce resolve to combine athletic excellence, academic rigor, and character and spiritual development for Westmont’s student-athletes. Over the last decade during his tenure, the Warriors have won 31 Golden State Athletic Conference Championships (not even counting tournament championships), five Top-4 team NAIA finishes, one team National Championship and 10 individual National Championships. Westmont has won the GSAC All-Sports award as the best athletic department for seven straight years. Moore said this makes it the best athletic program in the best conference in the NAIA – and its student-athletes have earned a cumulative GPA over 3.0 for the last five years. “But our deepest motivation cannot be measured by wins and losses: the development of young men and women into leaders of character who will leave Westmont and make a positive impact on the world,” Moore says.

The men’s and women’s golf teams began their seasons September 16-17 at the California State Invitational at Olivas Links Golf Course in Ventura. Both teams host the Westmont Invitational February 24-25 at Sandpiper Golf Club in Goleta. The inaugural Westmont golf teams include 12 men and six women.

Alumnus Stan Anderson ’62, vice chairman of Accretive Exit Capital Partners, has donated the funds for the project. Anderson serves on the boards of Physicians Realty Trust (DOC), Blue Ridge Networks and several nonprofits. He graduated from Willamette University Law School in 1969 and has practiced law in Washington, D.C., since then. He has served on the President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Negotiations, the Presidential Commission on Personnel Interchange, and as ambassador to the United Nations Conference on Energy.

The family of Dave Stockton Sr., a five-time major golf champion and Ryder Cup captain, attended the dedication. Both father and Dave Jr. offered putting instruction to the teams after the ceremony. The Stocktons represent Back Nine Greens, which designed and installed the tailor-made synthetic green.

Major Approval is Music to College’s Ears

The National Association of Schools of Music has approved a Bachelor of Music in performance at Westmont for orchestral instruments, piano, and voice beginning in fall 2019.

“This latest affirmation of the quality of our music program excites us and expands our opportunities to bring top musical talent to our choirs, orchestra, and ensembles,” says Provost Mark Sargent. 

In the last seven years, the college has significantly enhanced its music curriculum, strengthening programs in music education and worship leadership and adding courses in piano and vocal literature. 

“The new degree completes a robust portfolio of offerings for talented students seeking to excel in professional music careers,” says Michael Shasberger, Adams professor of music and worship. “Students who plan to continue their musical training in a conservatory or pursue a career in performance after they graduate will benefit from this degree. Westmont now offers a full range of choices from the Bachelor of Arts in music with a liberal arts emphasis for double majors to the more focused professional degrees of the Bachelor of Music Education and the Bachelor of Music in performance. We hope the new degree will attract more high-caliber performers from around the world.”

Shasberger notes that Westmont already enrolls many fine music students, whose talents contribute to the burgeoning collaboration with the theater department in operatic performance and the growing sophistication of the orchestral and vocal programs. The new major features a strong and distinctive commitment to the liberal arts and requires 80 units in musicianship and musical performance courses, 15 units outside the major, and general education courses. 

“Our music programs incorporate courses from several departments, including modern languages, theater, kinesiology, physics and mathematics, which contribute to the development of the musician,” Shasberger says. “Such interdisciplinarity is a hallmark of a Westmont program.”

Shasberger aspires to enroll about 60 music majors, enhancing the choir, orchestra and musical ensembles that present well-received concerts and performances for the local community, including the Christmas Festival, the Fourth of July concert, and the West Coast Symphony Annual Free Fiesta Concert during Old Spanish Days.