Remaining Faithful to the Call: Academic Excellence with Christ Holding Preeminence
Although new to the Westmont family, I marvel at God’s FAITHFULNESS to the college, allowing it to survive and to thrive “through many dangers, toils and snares.” These challenges include the college’s bold beginnings at the end of the Great Depression, its progress during World War II, its survival of various fires and floods, and, most recently, its tenacity and fortitude to remain open during a global pandemic. In addition to appreciating the stories of God’s FAITHFULNESS in sustaining Westmont during its 85 years, I’ve been struck by the FAITHFULNESS of those who embraced God’s call to both start and continue the college’s mission.
All's Well That Ends Well
After teaching Shakespeare for 35 years, Paul Willis still gets choked up at the end of a play. This fall — his last semester at Westmont as a professor of English — he felt emotional exploring “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in an environmental literature class. He has taken students to see it at an outdoor theater in Topanga Canyon, where trees grow out of the stage. “It’s the first play for many of them, and it’s fun to be part of that,” he says.
Talented New Professors Join the Westmont Faculty
Five new accomplished, tenure-track professors joined the Westmont faculty this fall. Isaac Gomez (kinesiology), Jennifer Ito (physics), Ruth Lin (music), Siegwart “Zig” Reichwald (music) and Guang Song (computer science) each bring a deep Christian faith and a love for teaching.
Sharing A Wealth of Writing & Film Knowledge
Wendy Eley Jackson, a native of Atlanta, brings extensive experience in film and television as the theater department’s new artist/scholar-in-residence for justice, reconciliation, and diversity, teaching for the theater and English departments this fall.