Faculty Announcements for December 10, 2009



Faculty Announcements for December 10, 2009

1. Let me continue our faculty highlights by heaping more praise on those responsible for last weekend’s Christmas Festival. Great thanks go out to Michael, Grey, Steve, Randy VanderMey, Scott Anderson, and many others for putting together an absolutely wonderful and deeply meaningful program. Rarely in my years at Westmont have I been more proud to be associated with the college than I was on Saturday evening. It was a rare gift to all of us, including the 150 or so students who participated. I was also very proud last night of the Economics and Business students who participated in the Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition. They also made Westmont look very good through their well researched, clearly articulated presentations.

2. Congratulations are in order for Ray and Brenda Rosentrater who became proud grandparents last night of a baby girl to their daughter Amanda – Abigail Rae weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces.

3. I am pleased to report that Dr. Kristi Lazar will be joining us a temporary full-time faculty in Chemistry in January. Kristi is a 2000 Westmont grad, with a MA from Princeton and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. We’re delighted to have her return to Westmont and fill our needs in the Chemistry department for the next three semesters. I can also say that the other four faculty searches are proceeding well.

4. We’re also delighted to report the safe arrival home of our faculty who have been away on off campus programs this semester – the Larsen Hoeckleys, the Hunters, and Lisa DeBoer. Even more delightful has been the news of this past week that Chris and Cheri’s daughter Deanna has finally been approved for permanent residency in the U.S., ending a seven-year long effort. We rejoice with Deanna and her family.

5. Speaking of off campus programs, let me simply say briefly that Bill Wright and I had a fruitful trip to Istanbul last month and will be pooling what we learned there with what others learned on similar trips to Cairo and to Israel/Palestine last summer for consideration by the Global Initiatives Task Force, the Director of Off Campus Programs, and the Off Campus Programs Committee. The Task Force’s work is moving forward. My hope is that we will be able to announce by the end of this academic year or sometime in the summer where Westmont will plan to establish a new semester-long off campus program. President Beebe would like that program to commence operations by the spring of 2012. The Acting Provost and others will be endeavoring to make that happen.

6. The work of another recently established task force, the Biblical and Theological Foundations of Diversity Task Force, is also moving forward. That group has been charged with writing a short statement on the biblical and theological foundations of diversity. We hope to have a draft to show the Board of Trustees at its May meeting.

7. Last month I mentioned my perception that we need to re-address the issue of full professor review or evaluation. Towards that end, I will be putting together a small working group for second semester that will be asked to gather information on what a range of other schools are doing in this area. Then during next academic year, I would like to see some type of proposal work its way through the faculty so that we have something in place for the fall of 2011.

8. A couple of upcoming events to mention – on Thursday January 14th, Richard Hughes, Distinguished Professor of Religion at Messiah College, will be giving a talk based on his new book Christian America and the Kingdom of God, a critical analysis of the notion of America as a Christian nation. Then on March 10th, Westmont will be co-sponsoring with the UCSB Arts and Lectures series a talk by writer Malcolm Gladwell at the Arlington. Gladwell has authored a series of best selling non-fiction works including Blink, Outliers, and Tipping Point.

9. Finally, I am happy to report that yesterday, we received the good news that our bond issue has finally been approved by the three banks we have been working with. With the private financing we have been able to secure, that provides us with $65 million to complete the current construction phase. That is indeed great news. But it also means that we are $65 million in debt and will begin needing to service some of that debt rather soon. As we heard the president mention earlier this fall, this debt service will have an impact on our annual budgets for the foreseeable future. That impact will be substantial enough to make next year’s budget and those beyond it very challenging for the college. The Executive Team will appreciate your prayers as we make important and no doubt difficult decisions about how to balance next year’s budget in the weeks and months ahead.

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