College's Closest Neighbor Focuses Gift on Scholarships, Arts
Montecito neighbors Harold and Annette Simmons have surprised Westmont College with a $1 million gift. Half the gift has been designated for student scholarships. The remainder will go toward funding an endowed chair in art that will bolster the program of the soon to be constructed visual arts center and gallery.
The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board has selected Dr. Susan Penksa, Westmont associate professor of political science, as a Fulbright Scholar grantee to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During the last 10 years Penksa, an international security and development consultant, has built an extensive consulting practice with national governments, the European Union, NATO, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations.
Five Westmont students will fly out of Los Angeles today to spend a month serving people in Indonesia in one of four student-led Emmaus Road trips. Twenty-five students will participate this summer.
A service project to Nigeria had to be cancelled this week due to a surge in criminal activity in the country and extensive travel warnings. College officials hope to redirect the group to another African country.
Westmont has created a scholarship honoring husband and wife Drs. Gayle and Ruth Tucker who have taught in the college’s education department for 31 years. Jenny Deetz, the first recipient of the Tucker Scholarship, graduated this month with her teaching credential.
More than two dozen local teachers attended a recent reception at Westmont recognizing Westmont’s student teachers, master teachers and the Tuckers.
The Westmont College Choir, Chamber Singers, and New Sounds will join voices with the Chamber Orchestra on their annual musical tour, this year through the Southwest. The group of more than 75 students will travel though Southern California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona from Sunday, May 6, through May16.
Traditional and contemporary art work will be on display at Reynolds Gallery’s final exhibition of the season, “Views and Visions: The Still Life.” The exhibit, which features paintings and photographs, will be held from Thursday, May 10, through June 22. There will be an opening reception Thursday, May 10, at 4 p.m.