New Faculty Bring Faith, Excellence to Classroom

Five tenure-track professors, including a returning alumnus and an international design expert, join the Westmont faculty this fall, bringing a shared commitment to integrating faith with academic excellence. The new tenure-track appointments include Stephen Owusu (economics and business), Gregg Ten Elshof ’92 (philosophy), Demetrius Tucker (English), Jarrett Walbolt (kinesiology) and Kristin Wood (engineering). 

Owusu, who taught last year at Westmont, says the college is “a place filled with faithful servants of God whose true intentions are not only to train students academically but also shepherd them in the light of God’s Word.” He also learned that teaching is truly his calling. “I always knew I wanted to teach, but I have been surprised by how passionate I am about teaching economics,” he says. “I also learned that my life is more meaningful when I am at a place where I can easily connect with people spiritually.”

He graduated from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana before earning a master’s and doctorate from the University of New Mexico. This year, he hopes to work on three separate research projects. The first evaluates the impact of a city-level development program on crime against women in India. The second determines the impact of free elementary school on language dynamics. And the third assesses the impact of the implementation and rollback of extended secondary schooling in Ghana.

Ten Elshof, who graduated from Westmont with a degree in business and economics, taught philosophy at Biola University for 27 years, serving as the founding director of the Center for Christian Thought. In his final semester at Westmont, he took his first philosophy course – taught by Bob Wennberg and attended by history professor Shirley Mullen. “Wennberg was sort of laid back and Shirley would fire questions at him,” he says. “There was such genuine affection, respect and friendship, and yet they seemed to disagree about everything. I was so taken, I thought, this is what I should have been doing for four years at Westmont. This is what I’m going to do when I leave here.”

He earned a Master of Arts in philosophy of religion and ethics from Talbot School of Theology and a doctorate from the University of Southern California. He specializes in metaphysics, epistemology and Confucianism, and has authored several books, including “I Told Me So” and “Confucius for Christians.” “There’s always been something very special about this place in my mind,” he says. “There’s a passion for the liberal arts.” He says he fell in love with learning and his wife, Laurel ’92, at Westmont. Their children, Silas ’24 and Larkin ’26, both graduated from Westmont, and Gideon ’30 is a
first-year student.  

Tucker credits his undergraduate work at Boyce College, a private Christian institution in Louisville, Kentucky, with preparing him well for Westmont’s academic and community setting. “Westmont’s integration of faith in the classroom, my love for reading, and work in African American literature intersected,” he says. “It seemed like this could be a great fit and a place to grow and grow with the students as well.”

Tucker earned a master’s degree at the University of Louisville and a doctorate at Georgia State University. At Westmont, he is looking forward to teaching a seminar on Frederick Douglass, drawing on Douglass’s autobiographies to examine the American experience and explore his efforts to shape and reform the nation. “Douglass carries an awareness of his own social power, and that makes everything he writes deeply charged,” Tucker says. “It’ll be exciting for students to understand this type of American identity – where we were, where we are, and where we’re still trying to go. Frederick Douglass can help mediate that for students. I’m most looking forward to being a carrier of culture – almost like a missionary of culture.”

Walbolt graduated from Bethel University and earned a doctorate in exercise and nutrition sciences, exercise physiology at Baylor University. “Westmont is a great school that combines the liberal arts with an amazing environment,” he says. “The philosophy of the institution plays a huge role in the way I approach my teaching: How do we bring kinesiology alive right here?” 

His early research explored low-cost treatments for PTSD using nutritional and exercise interventions. Since then he has diversified to examine ways to build physiologic resilience, the ability to keep moving under stress and adapt to the environment. “I’ve taken some of my interdisciplinary research with nutrition and exercise and included the psychological components to look at how your personality affects your stress response to exercise, and to consider how different exercise treatments would work better with certain personalities versus others.”

Wood, who served as an adjunct professor and instructor in Westmont’s engineering department last year, says that taste of the college is what brought him back as a tenure-track professor. “The students are fabulous, and I felt God’s calling to come back and work with them,” he says.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering at Colorado State University and a master’s and doctorate in engineering and applied sciences at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) before becoming a faculty member in engineering at the University of Texas at Austin for over two decades. He was also a professor and founding Head of Pillar (Engineering Product Development) at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), where he directed the MIT International Design Center. 

“It’s basically a leadership role in design thinking and design innovation,” he says. “I am currently engaged with a robotics program at SUTD that received a $7 million grant for the next few years, and I hope to get my students here involved. I’m wholly looking forward to bringing my faith into my teaching to assist and mentor these young folks to grow in their faith and connect it to their academic discipline.”

The college also welcomes several new, full-time, one-year professors. Kaydie Carr and Mia Pasini join the nursing faculty. Jack Keefer (business and economics) returns after teaching as an adjunct professor at Westmont in spring 2025. Alumnus Winston Gee ’21 will teach general chemistry labs and physical chemistry.

Nursing Grads Inspire at Summer Pinning

Westmont’s first nursing cohort to graduate during the summer term honored 19 new registered nurses at a traditional pinning ceremony Aug. 20 at Montecito Covenant Church. The Westmont Downtown | Grotenhuis Nursing Program has quickly expanded to include three cohorts studying each year.

The ceremony, which dates to the 1860s, symbolizes both the mastery of healthcare skills and the commitment to a calling of healing and service. Each graduate recited a pledge, a nurse’s version of the Hippocratic oath. 

Westmont President Gayle D. Beebe reflected on the profound role nurses play in the community, citing early Christian theological traditions regarding service. “Saint Augustine was once asked to sum up the love of God and said this: ‘God’s love has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of others,’” Beebe said. “This is what God’s love looks like and how I think of nurses. We’re grateful for your willingness to go through the training, and we look forward to your service in our community.”

Dianthe Hoffman, who directs the nursing program, recognized the network of support surrounding the graduates. “No one reaches this day alone,” she said. “Behind every graduate is a circle of family, friends and mentors who believed in you, who cheered you on through every exam, sat with you through every doubt, prayed with you and reminded you why you started.”

David and Anna Grotenhuis, whose generous support helped establish the program, attended the ceremony. Students expressed appreciation and gratitude for the couple’s vision and leadership. 

Ilyssa Glick addressed her peers in an inspiring reflection about finding their “why” in life, sharing memories of early pharmacology flashcards, late-night study sessions and clinical rotations. She highlighted the central theme of discovering purpose through the rigorous accelerated curriculum.

“The funny thing about the story of our character is that it never truly ends,’ Glick said. “It continues to evolve, kind of like us. ‘Why’ will continue to be with us as we navigate our careers, care for patients and serve as advocates. We’ll make phone calls and lean on one another for support throughout the rest of life. I’m so inspired every day by each of you. You’ll forever be my ‘why.’ It has been such an honor to come to this calling with you, and I thank you for giving me my ‘why.’”

Nursing instructor Jessica Barbosa praised the students for their grit, curiosity and resilience throughout the intensive program. She urged the new nurses to lead with both clinical competence and moral clarity as they enter healthcare settings.

“You’re going out into the world as nurses, grounded in the liberal arts and guided by Christian values, and I want you to hold that identity with intention,” Barbosa said. “It means bringing not only your clinical skill but moral clarity, not only technical knowledge, but your genuine humanity. 

“The world needs who you are. Go forth with confidence, lead with compassion and never underestimate the difference you will make.”

Cohort 8 includes Lesly Alatorre, Anika Terese Boncich, Madison Ann Burnett, Baby Jane Marcial Catura, Lara Cisneros (Cum Laude), Sarah Marie Easley, Monique Esparza, Lea Yee Gillett (Cum Laude), Ilyssa Glick (Cum Laude), Mikayla Marie Gonzales, Cindy Gonzalez, Nicole Herrin (Magna Cum Laude), Casey Milne (Magna Cum Laude), Jacquelyn Monet Kortenhoeven, Keala Christine Newman (Cum Laude) Emma Jayden Samano, Tiffany Tran (Magna Cum Laude), Savannah Weber (Magna Cum Laude), David You (Cum Laude).