Blog Posts by Westmont

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $96,000 grant to Westmont as part of a collaboration of 10 small colleges and universities to build a highly efficient large-area neutron detector, the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA). More than $700,000 has been awarded for the entire project.

The detector will be a key instrument in the study of rare isotopes at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) on the campus of Michigan State University. The study will help scientists better understand how the basic elements of our universe are synthesized inside of stars.

Sophocles’ “Antigone,” the classic dramatic text of a young woman struggling against the law, will be told through music and dance in the Westmont Theatre department’s presentation 8 p.m. Oct. 24, 25 and 31 and Nov. and 2 in Porter Theatre.

There also will be a matinee performance at 2 p.m. Oct. 26 and Nov. 2. Admission is $5 for students and seniors and $10 for the general audience.

The production examines Antigone’s struggle and explores the three types of laws that humans face: laws from religious texts, civil codes and the unwritten law in people’s hearts.

Local artist Rafael Parea de la Cabada will oversee “Revelation in Genesis,” a semester-long project involving Westmont students next fall. A $15,000 grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship will fund the project.
Parea will oversee three groups of students who will create three works of art to be displayed on campus: one in Page residence hall, one for the space used for chapel and one on the Voskuyl Library lawn. The works are intended to express the Christ-centered character of living, learning and worshipping at Westmont.

An updated campus master plan for Westmont College is under consideration by Santa Barbara County planning officials, who have determined that the plan will not cause significant environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated.

A series of works created in the aftermath of Sept. 11 and titled “Freedom”
by Art Professor John Carlander will be exhibited May 17 through July 27 at Westmont's Reynolds Gallery.

Freedom may mean different things to different people, but after the attack on America on Sept. 11, 2001, we may cherish our ideas of freedom more than ever. For an artist to have the freedom to work is a great treasure, and I am thankful for that freedom.

The internationally acclaimed actress Helena Hale will perform her one-woman play, “Artemisia Gentileschi, Of Lies and Truth,” 7:30 p.m. May 10 in Porter Theatre on the Westmont campus. Admission is $10 for general audience and $7.50 for Reynolds Gallery members.

Hale has performed the play in major museums and theaters throughout the United States as well as in Florence, Italy. It tells the dramatic life-story of Artemisia Gentileschi, the extraordinary 17th-century Italian Baroque artist who was highly regarded for her paintings, which depicted women as strong and independent.