Workers have begun constructing a new $7 million building on Westmont’s campus north of the Global Leadership Center to house the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture. Crews expect to complete the 3,700-square-foot complex and 1,500-square-foot deck in about 15 months, replacing the existing structure at 909 La Paz Road. Private donors are funding construction […]
The fifth annual Impact Conference, Cultivating Community in the Age of AI, brings together senior technology leaders in higher education to explore ways to apply AI to strengthen – rather than replace – human connections on July 24-25 in Westmont’s Global Leadership Center. Purchase tickets, which cost $129 per person for two full days with […]
Westmont has welcomed a herd of sheep to campus to eat non-native vegetation and reduce wildfire fuel in the barranca west of Voskuyl Library, adjacent to the dry Westmont Creek. Coordinated by Montecito Fire, the flock from Cuyama Lamb will eat their fill before the grasses dry out later this summer and have the potential […]
Stu Cleek, who has more than 35 years of experience in Christian higher education, has been named vice president for student life at Westmont. “This is a significant and exciting moment for our campus community, and I’m deeply grateful for Stu’s legacy of faithful service during the past 26 years at Westmont,” said President Gayle […]
Westmont has begun a national search for a new head coach of women’s tennis after Cade Pierson resigned July 3. Pierson, who was a two-time NAIA All-American while attending Westmont, had served as head coach since the 2022-23 school year. Her resignation brings an end to her overall Westmont tennis tenure that began as a […]
Westmont alumnus Paul Mori (‘77) directs the Prime Time Band’s free Fourth of July Concert, presented by the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation, on Friday, July 4th, at 5 pm at the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Gardens. Guests are encouraged to bring a blanket or low-back chair. The performance will feature an afternoon of lively music […]
The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art celebrates Judy L. Larson, who retired following 17 prolific years as museum director, on Thursday, July 10, from 4-6 pm at the museum. The special celebration includes an exhibition featuring prominent objects from the collection acquired during Larson’s tenure. Major donors during Larson’s tenure included Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree, Faith […]
About 100 top high school baseball players from Southern California and Hawaii worked out in front of MLB and college scouts as part of the Milwaukee Brewers Area Code Baseball Tryouts June 30 to July 2 from 9 am to 4 pm at Carr Field. Westmont has hosted the annual event, which is free and […]
New York Times columnist David Brooks, citing rising mental health issues, social distrust, and loneliness, examined the moral decline in America and suggested that Christian colleges can contribute to the “re-moralization” of American life. He delivered the keynote talk, “How Christian Colleges Can Fix What Ails America,” at the 11th annual LEAD Where Your Stand […]
Westmont alumnus Adrian McIntyre (‘25), who led all NCAA Division II scorers averaging 27.9 points-per-game, is the PacWest Conference Male Athlete of the Year. McIntyre, who became Westmont’s first PacWest Player of the Year in men’s basketball, now becomes Westmont’s first all-encompassing Athlete of the Year in the entire conference. He set program records for […]
The Westmont Observatory offers views of Mars, a comet, and the Whirlpool Galaxy on Friday, June 20, beginning at 8:30 pm and lasting several hours. Westmont hosts a free, public stargazing event on the third Friday of every month in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Astronomical Society, whose members bring their own telescopes to share. […]
During his 44 years teaching at Westmont, Jeff Schloss explored the fascinating relationships between biology and Christian faith. The author and co-editor of major works on biology and love, morality and religious commitment, he served for the last 15 years as senior scholar for the Biologos Foundation. He lectured and held fellowships at major universities […]
Debbie Price caught the Hollywood bug when she glimpsed festival klieg lights. “It was opening night of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theatre,” she says. “I saw Robert Mitchum, Jane Seymour, Kirk and Michael Douglas, Peter Cetera and others arriving – my first celebrity sightings.” She has since attended 36 of […]
Gregg Afman begins his anatomy class by telling students he hopes they have an “aw-full experience.” “I don’t want awe-SOME,” he says. “I want you to be FULL of awe.” A towering figure, Gregg uses his deep, husky voice to share his awe for God’s creation. “I love nature. I love the mountains. But there’s […]
A large crowd celebrated the 15 recent graduates of the Westmont Downtown | Grotenhuis Nursing program at a pinning ceremony last month at Montecito Covenant Church. In the student speech, graduate Rosalba Barbosa recounted the challenges the nursing students faced, including long clinical hours, sleepless nights, and emotional burdens, but also highlighted the growth and […]
Judy L. Larson arrived at Westmont in 2008, four months before the college broke ground for the Adams Center for the Visual Arts and the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. As the inaugural R. Anthony Askew professor of art and the director of the museum, she taught an art history course while organizing her first […]
The orchestra toured Iceland for nine days following Commencement, visiting tourist sites, including Reykjavík, the Golden Circle, Reykholt, the Ring Road waterfalls, the Blue Lagoon, Akureyri, the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, various botanical gardens and museums. They performed at Hof Cultural Center, shared a concert and dinner in Langholtskirkja with the University Choir of Iceland, learning more […]
A standing-room only crowd attended the Westmont Department of Education’s 21st annual Celebration of Teaching to honor the 13 graduates and their cooperating teachers April 25 in Westmont’s Founders Room. The student teacher presentations were interspersed with heartwarming slideshows, videos and talks by professors Andrew Mullen and Carolyn Mitten. The student teachers included Hannah Hutton, […]
Dozens of people packed into the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum on May 15 to see Adam Belt’s selections for On the Edge and hear the winners of the Tri-County artist exhibition. “This a very vibrant arts community – you can see all the support that you share for each other,” Belt said. “It was a privilege […]
Yulya Dukhovny, Westmont artist in residence, won a Santa Barbara Indy Award for Stage Artistry for her work on The Wind in the Willows on May 20 at Soho Restaurant & Club. Dukhovny first joined Westmont in 2018 when she performed her unique style of visual theater, featuring paper animation in a vertical 2D scenic […]
Music professor Steve Hodson has retired after teaching at Westmont for nearly 30 years. He appreciates the variety of roles he has filled: directing choral activities, conducting the Westmont College Choir, founding and leading the ensemble New Sounds, teaching a music survey class as well as basic and advanced conducting, and directing piano studies. “I […]
An impressive lineup of world-class keynote speakers will share insights on effective and purposeful leadership at the 11th annual LEAD Where You Stand conference on June 4-5 at Westmont’s Global Leadership Center. David Brooks, New York Times columnist and bestselling author, headlines an exceptional group of speakers that includes: Gayle D. Beebe, Westmont president and […]
Two home renovations prepared Benjamin and Marlise Kast-Myers (’96) for the ambitious project of restoring the historic Betty Crocker Estate in Valley Center, California. Their mission: blessing people through their love for hospitality. The couple first transformed their home in Carlsbad. A full-time designer at an ad agency in Carlsbad Village, Benjamin scoured antique shops […]
Westmont baseball’s (43-14) season came to a disappointing end when the Warriors, needing only to win one game, dropped both ends of a double header, 6-2 and 6-4, to Cal State Monterey Bay (38-17). The Otters advance to this week’s Super Regional in Nampa, Idaho, to face Northwest Nazarene, where the winner will advance to […]
Montecito’s longest running juried exhibition for tri-county artists will run from May 15 – June 14 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A public opening reception for On the Edge, featuring juror Adam Belt, is Thursday, May 15 from 4-6 pm. The museum received a record 458 entries by 216 artists. From these submissions, […]
The Westmont Observatory hosts a summer star party that’s out of this world on Friday, May 16, beginning at 8:30 pm and lasting several hours. The observatory, home to Westmont’s powerful Keck Telescope, opens every third Friday to the public in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit, whose members bring their own telescopes and […]
Westmont baseball (41-12) defeated the Sharks of Hawai’i Pacific (32-22) 5-3 to win the PacWest Tournament Championship – in its first year of eligibility – on May 9 in Fresno. The tournament championship came eight days after the Warriors clinched the PacWest Regular Season Championship, the first PacWest regular season championship team won by a […]
Led by bagpipes under overcast skies, about 340 graduates made their Last March from Kerrwood Hall down to Thorrington Field where they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas on May 3. Retiring professor and Commencement speaker Jim Taylor (’78) encouraged the graduates to do something unexpected – to pull out and use their […]
About 340 graduates will participate in Commencement on Saturday, May 3, at 9:30 am on Thorrington Field with 162 earning honors. More than 70 Golden Warriors, who graduated in 1975, will march in the procession to celebrate their 50th reunion. About 15 nursing graduates, representing the fifth cohort of the Westmont Downtown | Grotenhuis Nursing […]
Zola Sokhela, Abigail Hundley, and David Oyebade brought home All-PacWest honors as a result of top three finishes at the PacWest Outdoor Track-and-Field Championships on April 25-26 at Fresno Pacific. Sokhela finished second in both the men’s 1,500 meter run and 800-meter run, earning eight team points in each race. His time of 3:56.57 in […]
Westmont baseball (37-11, 32-9 PacWest) – ranked No. 4 in NCAA DII – cut its magic number to two after taking three of four games against Vanguard on April 25-26. Westmont has two games remaining in the regular season, make-up games at Azusa Pacific on Thursday, May 1. Freshman Jesse Di Maggio, a Dos Pueblos […]
A passionate longtime rock climber, Noah Banez (‘18) pursues his sport in an unlikely location: the isolated island of Guam. The co-founder and managing director of Guam Sports Climbing Center (Climbing Guam) in Barrigada, he also coaches the Guam National Climbing Team. He and his wife, Olivia ‘Ozie’ Le Sage Banez, moved to Guam in […]
Two Westmont students received David K. Winter Servant Leadership Awards during chapel on April 7 in Murchison Gym. Angela D’Amour, dean of student engagement and interim vice president for student life, honored Kate Robinson (‘27) of Beverly, Massachusetts, and Andreas Olvera (‘26) of Woodland, California, for demonstrating above-and-beyond commitment to serving the campus community with […]
The Westmont Observatory opens to the public for a free stargazing event Friday, April 25, beginning about 8 pm and lasting several hours. Jen Ito, Westmont assistant professor of physics, says the college’s powerful Keck Telescope will zoom in on the gas giant Jupiter. “This will probably be the last time we’ll get to see […]
Meredith Whitnah, associate professor and chair of the Westmont sociology department, illuminates the role of race and gender in religious responses to social injustice in a reading and Q&A with Provost Kim Denu about Whitnah’s new book, Faith and the Fragility of Justice: Responses to Gender-Based Violence in South Africa, on Friday, April 25, from […]
Westmont baseball (31-9, 26-7 PacWest), ranked No. 4 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division II Poll, won another series April 11-12 defeating the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans (9-28, 9-24) in three games with the fourth game being rained out after three innings with Westmont leading 5-0. The Warriors remain atop the PacWest standings with […]
Twelve graduating art majors will display their capstone art projects from April 3rd to May 3rd at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free public reception opens Twelvefold: Westmont College Graduate Exhibition 2025 on Thursday, April 3, from 4-6 pm. The exhibition offers diverse themes focused on identity, relationships, and place. The artists include […]
It was a picture-perfect evening at the Santa Barbara Bowl for Westmont’s 64th annual Spring Sing, Picture This, on March 29th. Off Campus earned bragging rights as the sweepstakes winner of the musical skit competition between students from each residence hall. Their skit, “Champagne Problems,” was a Montecito whodunit mystery based on the classic board […]
In the last two summers, Westmont has hosted more than 100 evangelical students, professors and nationally recognized experts for conferences about Christian climate advocacy. The Faith.Climate.Action. Workshop, funded by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, now provides nearly $40,000 in grants to support sustainability initiatives for eight members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities […]
Multiple records were broken at the annual Westmont Classic track and field meet on March 21-22, which was the final home meet for 15 senior athletes. Both the men’s and women’s teams came in second behind George Fox University. Junior David Oyebade broke the program’s best-career mark in the men’s hammer – twice – finishing […]