The Westmont Observatory opens to the public Friday, March 18, beginning at 7 pm and lasting several hours. Face coverings will be required at the event. Due to the pandemic, this is the first time in two years the observatory has been open to the public. Westmont hosts a free, public viewing on the third […]
Bestselling author Michael Lewis shared insight into his blockbuster books such as Moneyball, The Undoing Project, and The Fifth Risk, at the 17th annual President’s Breakfast on March 4 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. Exactly two years ago, Daniel Kahneman, the subject of Lewis’ book, The Undoing Project, spoke at the breakfast on […]
The Westmont Music Department handed out tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships to musicians and singers as part of its annual guild competitions. Corrie Bascom, a violinist from Minnesota, won the 10th annual Instrumental Guild Competition February 26 and Hailey Somphone, a soprano from Fullerton, won the Vocal Guild Competition on March 5. Each […]
The Westmont women’s polo team, fresh off a 15-1 victory over cross-town rival UC Santa Barbara, rides into United States Polo Association Regionals on Friday, February 25, in Los Osos. The Warriors will face Stanford, who they beat earlier this season, Cal Poly, UC Davis, USC, UCSB, Oregon State, Montana State, and Idaho State. The […]
Westmont senior Lexy Gillette, a double major in physics and chemistry, will attend the University of Oxford in the fall after earning the prestigious John and Daria Barry Foundation Scholarship. The award, given to about 10 students a year from select institutions, covers tuition, fees, and living expenses, and also provides a stipend and research […]
The Westmont College Festival Theatre and John Blondell, Westmont’s award-winning director and professor of theater arts, stage The Miser, or the School for Lies, Moliere’s funny, highly theatrical on-the-verge-of-the-absurd comedy February 25-26, March 3-5 at 7:30 pm, and March 5 at 2 pm, all in Westmont’s Porter Theatre. Tickets are $10 for students and seniors, […]
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu, a stalwart of Christian higher education, takes over Westmont’s academic programs as the new provost beginning August 1. “We’re grateful to hire Kim Denu, a gifted leader, global scholar, and a recognized educator with 25 years of executive leadership experience in Christian higher education,” says President Gayle D. Beebe. “Deeply committed to […]
Randall VanderMey, Westmont professor of English, says that after four decades of resisting photography, he now uses this art form to write and share poetry with a completely new audience. He describes his approach at a Westmont Downtown Lecture, “Photography and Poetry: Against My Will,” on Thursday, February 17, at 5:30 pm at the Community […]
Westmont presents Aaron Copland’s great 20th century American opera The Tender Land January 28 and 30 at 7 pm at Center Stage Theater in Paseo Nuevo. Purchase tickets, which cost $15 for general admission, $10 for seniors or military, at the Center Stage box office at centerstagetheater.org. Please visit the Center Stage website to view […]
For more than half a century, the hulking figure of Phil Baker ’71 has traversed Westmont’s campus. As the longtime grounds manager with a familiar goatee and wide mustache, he has created breathtaking gardens and stunning athletic fields. He quietly retired last summer, preferring a tri-tip luncheon with a few dozen co-workers and family at […]
Michael Lewis, bestselling author of blockbuster books such as Moneyball and The Blind Side, speaks with Westmont president Gayle D. Beebe at the 17th annual President’s Breakfast Friday, March 4, 2022, from 7:30 am to 9 am in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. Tickets cost $125 each and go on […]
Santa Barbara artist Marie Schoeff explores a profound yet unpretentious relationship with nature and spirituality in a new exhibition, “Marie Schoeff: Amplifying the Between” at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art from through March 26. Schoeff’s imagery, rooted in drawing, explores the ethereal, a transcendent space in a spiritual realm. Her strong sense of physical […]
Sandra Richter, Robert H. Gundry professor of biblical studies, serves on the New International Version (NIV) Committee for Bible Translation (CBT). Few women have joined the prestigious team translating the top-selling English-language Bible. “Knowing the reach of the NIV and the reputation of the excellent scholars already serving on the CBT, it was a quick […]
The Westmont Downtown semester program has become an important link between the college and the Santa Barbara community. With the acquisition last summer of a second building on Anapamu Street in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, Westmont has the opportunity to extend its reach even further. Rick Ostrander has assumed the new position of […]
A steady string of awards continues to paint an impressive career for Scott Anderson, Westmont professor of art. A jury has chosen his illustration commissioned by the Westmont College Festival Theatre, for the 64th annual exhibition of the New York Society of Illustrators, one of the most prestigious and competitive shows in the field of […]
Marianne D’Emidio-Caston, who served the local education community for more than three decades, received the Westmont Education Department’s 2021-22 Excellence in Education Award. D’Emidio-Caston, who most recently directed student teaching at Antioch University Santa Barbara, spoke to Westmont education students, encouraging them to find a trusted, long-term professional partner to “grow with and, more generally, […]
“Engineering is so hard you have to have fun,” said Dan Jensen, director of Westmont engineering, as small, remote-control cars zipped along the road in front of Kerrwood Hall. On December 6, students in Jensen’s Machine Design course raced their foot-long RC cars on a short, figure-eight racetrack as part of their coursework. A few […]
Two first-year students encountered setbacks and obstacles on their journey to Westmont. But as sisters Roxana and Rosario Montané traveled to Southern California from Havana, Cuba, they witnessed God’s provision. “It’s important to always have faith, believe that you can do whatever you want to do and know that God is with you and is […]
For the third straight year, the Westmont women’s soccer team (10-1-5) will host an opening round of the NAIA National Championship Tournament on November 18 and 20 on Thorrington Field. The second-seeded Warriors will battle third-seeded Embry-Riddle (Arizona) on Thursday, November 18, at 1:30 pm. The top-seeded Southeastern (Florida) will play Marymount (California) on November […]
The 17th Annual Westmont Christmas Festival appears for the first time at Santa Barbara’s famed Granada Theatre on Saturday, December 4, at 7 pm and Sunday, December 5, at 3 pm. Tickets, which cost $20 each, go on sale Tuesday, November 23, at 5 pm at westmont.edu/festival. Each year, the festival celebrates the birth of […]
Elizabeth Gardner, Westmont assistant professor of communication studies, examines a protest by children and adolescents in South America on Thursday, November 11, at 7 pm in Westmont’s Global Leadership Center. The Paul C. Wilt Phi Kappa Phi Lecture, “Child Workers Redefining a Bolivian Childhood in the Código Niña, Niño y Adolescente,” is free and open […]
The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, which moved from the confines of the Reynold’s Gallery to its current home in the Adams Center for the Visual Arts more than a decade ago, reveals the enormity of its holdings in “Academic, Barbizon, and Impressionist Artists: Highlights from the Permanent Collection” from November 11- December 18 in […]
The No. 17 Westmont women’s soccer team hosts the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament beginning Thursday, November 11, with two semifinal games on Thorrington Field. Ottawa (Arizona) will play Hope International at 11 am and the Warriors, co-champions of the GSAC regular season, will battle The Master’s at 1:30 pm. The winners will face off […]
Geoffrey Moore, a bestselling author, speaker, and adviser, whose work focuses on the market dynamics caused by disruptive innovation, speaks at a Mosher Center for Moral and Ethical Leadership luncheon on Friday, November 5, from 12-1:30 pm in the Simmons Center of Westmont’s Global Leadership Center. A limited amount of in-person tickets, which cost $100 […]
Personal devices and digital technologies captivate our attention and shape how we live and relate to others. Felicia Wu Song, a cultural sociologist of media and digital technologies at Westmont, explores the soft tyranny of the digital age in a new book, Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age. The forthcoming […]
The Westmont Festival Theatre returns for the first time since March 2020 to stage a new play, Kitty Hawk or Kill Devil, which explores what it means to live in proximity to greatness, October 22-23, 28- 29, 30 at 7:30 pm, and Saturday, October 30 at 2 pm, all in Westmont’s Porter Theater. Tickets, which […]
The Westmont College Orchestra returns to the stage for live, in-person performances of the Fall Orchestra Concert on Friday, Oct. 22, at 7 pm and Sunday, Oct. 24, at 3 pm in Hahn Hall at Music Academy of the West. Tickets, which cost $10 for general admission (students are free), may be purchased at westmont.edu/music […]
More than 30 Westmont students presented their findings on 21 posters at the 2021 Celebration of Summer Research on Sept. 24 around the Winter Hall third floor atrium. Topics included “Firewise Plants for a Flammable World,” “Palms and Oaks Predict Urban Acorn Woodpecker Occupancy Across the California Coast,” “Mental Strength Training Improves Running Performance While […]
Graduates of the Westmont class of 2020 will finally be able to walk across the stage on Carr Field to get their diplomas during Commencement. It’s not easy to turn back the hands of time, but Westmont will be welcoming back to campus more than 180 Westmont graduates (of the 298 who are eligible) from […]
Beloved local educator Michelle Hughes has co-edited a new book that offers ways to reframe obstacles to teaching as opportunities for personal and professional growth. Joyful Resilience as Educational Practice: Turning Challenges into Opportunities, a collaborative effort with Hughes’ colleague and friend, Ken Badley, is available for pre-order through Routledge at routledge.com/9780367644192. A 20% discount […]
Dr. Rob Hughes ’04 has wanted to direct student health services at Westmont since he worked in the Health Center as a student. Now, more than two decades later, he accepted this position following Dr. David Hernandez’s retirement at the end of spring. “I appreciate the care that me and my student colleagues received there,” […]
The Westmont Festival Theatre launches the first of three staged readings that explore diversity, equity, and inclusion Saturday, September 25, at 7:30 pm in Porter Theatre. The series of readings, named NEXUS: Readings from Black Playwrights, will include a post-reading discussion, and is free and open to the public. Johnny Jones, a writer and professor […]
Read about the natural bond between dogs and artists in a new book, Santa Barbara Artists and Their Dogs, and see portraits of them in an exhibition through December 18 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art’s downstairs gallery. The Art Council of the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art created the book, which will be […]
Recent college and university annual rankings continue to affirm Westmont as one of the top Christian liberal arts colleges in the nation. Payscale’s 2021 Best Universities and Colleges by Salary Potential shows that mid-career Westmont alumni, including those with a graduate degree, earn a median income of $127,700 after more than 10 years in the […]
With great appreciation, Westmont announces two major gifts totaling more than $15 million, the two largest cash gifts in college history. In late August, Westmont received $8.2 million from Ed and Mollie Miller, the largest single gift ever. It supports the Paul Raymond Miller Scholarship Endowment, named in honor of Ed’s father and originally established […]
Carol Velas, who has served as a registered nurse for 35 years, will direct Westmont’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program, which begins in January 2022 pending approval by the California Board of Registered Nursing. The former senior manager for state licensing and accreditation at Chamberlain University in Chicago, Velas helped design Westmont’s […]
The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum focuses its attention on the college’s talented art faculty in “Sight & Insight: Westmont College Studio Art Faculty Exhibition” September 2 through October 30. The public is invited to a free, opening reception on Thursday, September 2, from 4-6 p.m. “Our art faculty are all accomplished working artists in their own […]
Soul Care in African American Practice by Barbara L. Peacock (InterVarsity Press, 2020) has won the annual book award from the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture and the Dallas Willard Research Center (MIDWC) at Westmont College. “Barbara Peacock’s book is a rich and loving reflection on the spiritual practices that ‘have been woven into […]
About 410 new students, who include 58 new transfers, begin their journey at Westmont Thursday, August 26, moving into residence halls and enjoying several days of welcoming activities during Orientation. “This class has persisted through the pandemic and arrives with high energy and optimism to live and learn in person in real community,” says Irene […]
“I rarely drink coffee,” says Tiffany Gong ’23, a behavioral neuroscience student at Westmont, who is the subject and the researcher examining the impact of acute caffeine on cortisol and melatonin levels. Gong, whose roommate strategically places a piece of duct tape over Keurig coffee pods to hide their caffeine content, records her salivary cortisol […]