Dear Fellow Alums,
As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, campus takes on that unmistakable feel of fall. The strong winds that blow through every autumn bring anticipation of the holidays, inviting reflection on the goodness of God, the gift of community and God鈥檚 faithfulness that carries us through each changing season.
For many of us, this time of year brings both gratitude and longing: gratitude for the people and moments that have shaped our journeys and longing for the deeper peace that only Christ can bring.
Wherever this season finds you 鈥� surrounded by family and friends, traveling or recalling your own days on this hillside campus 鈥� I hope you remember that the light of Christ continues to shine through you. We give thanks for the ways our alums live out 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 mission with grace and joy in every corner of the world. May this Advent and Christmas season bring you rest, renewal and the deep assurance of God鈥檚 love made visible in Jesus.
May the strength of God sustain you;
May the power of God preserve you;
May the hands of God protect you;
May the way of God direct you;
May the love of God go with you always
May the will of God give you peace that transcends understanding as you trust in His
providence.
Warmly in Christ,
Janay Marshall 鈥�01
Director of Alumni Relations
A Joyous Homecoming Celebration
About 500 alums and their families returned to Westmont for one of the best-attended
Homecomings in years. Many celebrated class reunions, and everyone enjoyed a wide
variety of activities. The annual Alumni Brunch honored outstanding men and women
who make significant contributions to their communities.
Rob Ring 鈥�90, this year鈥檚 Alumnus of the Year, serves as CEO of London-based Kaerus Bioscience, which explores treatments for patients
with rare genetic syndromes causing intellectual disability, autism and epilepsy.
He earned a doctorate in molecular neurobiology at the Irell & Manella Graduate School
of Biological Sciences. 鈥淚鈥檝e carried this Warrior mentality my whole life,鈥� Rob said
at the brunch.
We honored sisters Alexis Otterlei Bennett 鈥�05 and Leah Otterlei Pillsbury 鈥�00 as our Alumnae of the
Year. They founded Orka Health and Wellness, providing compassionate, client-centered
care through teletherapy and support services by a team of licensed therapists, registered
dietitian, clinical nutrition coach, psychologist, parent coach and spiritual coach.
Both are Licensed Independent Clinical Social Workers who have earned a Master of
Social Work.
Spencer Dusebout 鈥�15, our Young Alum of the Year, cofounded Hands4Others (H4O) when he was 16, bringing clean water to more than 250,000 people in 17 countries. Since then, he鈥檚 built and advised a number of software as a service (SaaS) companies that span business intelligence, automation and machine learning.
Lindsey Connolly 鈥�08 received this year鈥檚 Global Service Award. She co-founded the non-profit Destined for Grace 17 years ago to educate and improve the lives of children in Haiti. Through donations and funds raised at their Goleta thrift stores, the organization has established a school and garden in Mirebalais that feeds and teaches the children. She serves as 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 interim head coach for the track and field team during Coach Russell Smelley鈥檚 sabbatical.
A friendly competition encouraged reunion classes to make gifts to support 蜜桃传媒
students today. The class of 1975 donated the most, and the class of 1970 achieved
the highest rate of participation. The Alumni Office presented a check of $5,507,564.91
(the total amount alums contributed in the past year) to WCSA president and vice president
Mya Brushey and Allie Bunn, who accepted on behalf of students.
At Homecoming, we dedicated the new Nancy Voskuyl Prayer Chapel Window, which depicts the 15th Station of the Cross. Created by Scott Parsons, the beautiful
artwork will remain on permanent display.
The 蜜桃传媒 Classic Golf Tournament featured friendly competition for teams and raised nearly $45,000 in scholarship
money for students.
The Career Resource Center hosted an alumni-student networking dessert in the Kerr Student Center that began with a talk on AI in the workplace by computer
science professor Mike Ryu.
Alums, students, faculty and staff gathered at the Fletcher Jones Foundation Center
for Engineering to celebrate the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) awarding full certification
to the 蜜桃传媒 engineering program following an extensive three-year process. Only two other Christian colleges in California
have received this accreditation, which is retroactive to October 2022. The significant
designation enhances the credentials of our engineering alums.
More than 100 alums gathered at the Biltmore Wall for our second annual Sips and Snacks event to watch the sun go down Friday evening.
Alums Roy Schenkenberger 鈥�00 and Jon Hughes 鈥�94 drew a crowd as they returned to campus for a free concert in Deane Chapel. Attendees
enjoyed their heartfelt lyrics and unique fingerstyle guitar playing.
The college also honored four members of the first varsity women鈥檚 team: the 1973 volleyball squad. Shelley Bourland Ekstrom 鈥�77, Jayne Presnell 鈥�78, Cindy
Vanderdussen Hardeman 鈥�78 and Kathy Perkins McGuigan 鈥�77 received Trailblazer Medals
before the Friday night volleyball game to honor their pioneering efforts.
The Alumni Tailgate and Kids Carnival provided lunch and ice cream to more than 200 attendees. Children enjoyed face painting,
a climbing wall and carnival games.
The Celebration of 50 Years of Women in Sports Banquet honored women who have been trailblazers and record-breakers in all our women鈥檚 sports
programs.
Alums attended a variety of lectures and panels from 蜜桃传媒 professors, former faculty and guest speakers such as Greg Spencer
(communication studies), Blake Kent (sociology), Michael Everest (chemistry), Tim
Van Haitsma (kinesiology) and President Gayle D. Beebe. Amanda Sparkman (biology)
led a fascinating panel on bioscience and the possible return of extinct animals.
The Patterson brothers fielded questions after the screening of their documentary
short 鈥淎ll Things Metal.鈥�
Save the date for our next Homecoming: October 2-4, 2026.
Reach out to alumni@westmont.edu if you graduated in a class ending in 6 or 1 and would like to help plan your next
reunion.
President鈥檚 Alumni Council
In June, the Alumni Office relaunched an Alumni Council , which serves as a vital link between the college and alums by developing and providing key leadership to mission-centered initiatives designed to strengthen and promote the alumni network. The council provides expertise, advice and support to the Office of Alumni Relations regarding its vision, goals and plans for the future. Matt Blickendorf 鈥�08 serves as the president. Other members include: Courtney DeSoto 鈥�98, Daniel Lew 鈥�09, Janelle Marshall 鈥�01, Taisa Skovorodko 鈥�07, Zach Sheely 鈥�04 and Ryan Zoradi 鈥�08. We hope to grow this council in coming years. Among other good work, their signature project focuses on reestablishing the 蜜桃传媒 Career Mentor Program. More than 200 alums have registered as mentors, and we hope to match them with students interested in their industries in December. We hope to offer this program again next year. If you didn鈥檛 sign up this time, you鈥檒l have future opportunities to do so.
Refer a Future 蜜桃传媒 Student
Do you know any high school students who would thrive at 蜜桃传媒? Refer them to the admissions office. If we鈥檙e not already aware of the student and they apply and get admitted, you鈥檒l receive a $100 gift card to the 蜜桃传媒 Bookstore (limit three per person).
Regional Events
Alums in Orange County have gathered for several recent events, including a patriotic summer social in July
and a Trivia Night in September. They鈥檒l meet to eat dinner and watch the Balboa Island
Boat Parade in December.
Alums in the Bay Area enjoyed a pool party at the Lundells鈥� in June and watched the jazz act The Queen鈥檚
Cartoonists, led by Joel Pierson 鈥�01 in November. In January, they鈥檒l gather at Burgess
Park in Menlo Park for a potluck with corn hole and spike ball.
Alums in Austin met in October at St. Elmo in Springdale.
Alums in Honolulu mark your calendar: We鈥檙e bringing you a free dinner and book tour event on Friday,
March 13, 2026. Register if you鈥檇 like to join us.
If you鈥檇 like to work with the Alumni Office and serve as a regional representative,
please email alumni@westmont.edu. We can talk about this volunteer role.
Recent Lectures you may have missed
Ben Carlson, assistant professor of physics at 蜜桃传媒, explored the scientific foundations of today鈥檚 most pressing energy and climate issues in Energy and Climate from the Ground Up . He earned a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and says the lecture expanded on a course, Physics for Future Presidents, that focuses on the impact of basic science in the modern world. He highlighted how we can use the concept of energy density as a lens through which to examine energy 鈥� from batteries to fossil fuels to nuclear power 鈥� and he
explored the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to sustainable energy systems. Earlier this year, Carlson and thousands of researchers worldwide received the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics given to the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, a particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as several related experiments. In 2022, he received a $200,000 National Science Foundation grant to further his search for evidence of the presence of mysterious dark matter. He joined the 蜜桃传媒 faculty in 2021 after teaching at the University of Pittsburgh as a Samuel Langley postdoctoral fellow. Click to watch this fall 2025 talk.
Physics professor Jennifer Ito presented Physics, Philosophy and Faith: An Exploration into the History of the Universe, which explored the history of the universe, covering both the scientific aspects of cosmology and its philosophical and faith-related dimensions. She delivered the talk as part of the Phi Kappa Phi Paul C. Wilt Lecture series. Robert Haring-Kaye (physics) and Jim Taylor (philosophy) responded. Click to watch this spring 2025 talk.
Alumni Updates
Rhonda Mundenk 鈥�94 has become the president and CEO at Haven for Hope in San Antonio, which serves the
local homeless population. After graduating from 蜜桃传媒, she earned a Juris Doctor
from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago; a Master of Public Health in
health policy and administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago, School
of Public Health; and a Master of Science in healthcare transformation from the University
of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School & McCombs School of Business. She served as
CEO for both Lone Star Circle of Care and Clinical Health Network for Transformation
in Austin and most recently as COO for Harbor Health Team Inc. She previously worked
as the director of business operations and COO at the University of Illinois Medical
Center.
Heidi Lundquist Jones 鈥�95 and her husband, Ben, have operated their own successful chiropractic practice in
Sacramento since 2001. A few months before the COVID-19 pandemic, Heidi had an epiphany.
鈥淚 woke up in the middle of the night and realized what I needed to do,鈥� she says.
鈥淚鈥檝e always felt that women could be better supported during pregnancy, birth and
the postpartum period.鈥� She decided to create Haven, a nonprofit organization that
encourages doulas in their career paths while helping mothers from underserved populations
in Sacramento. When she opened the doors to Haven in 2020, they supported 50 mothers
through their pregnancies in the first 10 months. Read more about Heidi in the .
Carolyn Dueck Murphy 鈥�97, M.D. , serves as one of the physicians at 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Health Center. After graduating, she
earned her medical degree from Loma Linda University and completed the Family Medicine
Residency Program at Ventura County Hospital. She worked as a family practice physician
at Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara and at UCSB鈥檚 student health service before returning
to Westmont in 2022. Carolyn loves to deploy her gifts in the community and has volunteered
at Doctors Without Walls, a free mobile clinic for the homeless, and at Santa Barbara
Community Church while raising three active sons with her husband, Liam Murphy 鈥�06.
Dr. Kristen Kleen Hughes 鈥�04 , the 2025 Santa Barbara County Physician of the Year, joined the Santa Barbara County
Public Health Department in 2016 and became the chief physician of the Franklin Healthcare
Center in 2024, where she transformed team鈥慴ased care. A standout defender for the
women鈥檚 soccer team that won national championships in 2001, 2002 and 2003, Kristen
and her husband, Dr. Rob Hughes, 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 director of health services, have two
children.
Joy Brenneman 鈥�11 wrote a how-to book about blacksmithing, , which will be available on January 28! Find more information by clicking the link.
A studio art major, she got interested in blacksmithing by working in the industrial
craft and art field after graduating.
Santa Barbara Snapshots
蜜桃传媒 finished in the black for the 41st consecutive year despite facing some of the tightest financial margins in our history, an issue across
higher education.
At Orientation in August, 蜜桃传媒 welcomed 375 new first-year and transfer students
with 38 students joining two other cohorts in the accelerated 16-month Bachelor of
Science in Nursing program at 蜜桃传媒 Downtown Grotenhuis Nursing. The new arrivals
include 71 first-generation college students, 26 international students from 24 countries,
and 127 athletes, the largest recruited athletic class in Warrior history. Men represent
43 percent of this new crew with 57 percent women, and 49 percent bring multicultural,
multinational diversity with 27 percent identifying as Hispanic. The second largest
transfer class in school history included 64 students. 蜜桃传媒 awards four-year academic
scholarships ranging from $15,000 to nearly $41,000 each year to more than 95 percent
of entering new students. The 62 high-achieving, first-year students selected as Augustinian
Scholars received grants ranging from $28,000 up to 75 percent of tuition. 蜜桃传媒
attracted and enrolled an incredibly accomplished incoming class with an average GPA
of 3.9. Students have expressed the most interest in majoring in economics and business
(16 percent), kinesiology (12 percent), biology (9 percent) and psychology (7 percent)
with 16 percent undecided.
Two alums returned to Westmont in the fall as tenure-track professors. Welcome back, Kyle Hansen 鈥�19 (mathematics) and Nicole Marsh 鈥�17 (biology).
We launched a new environmental studies major this fall in response to strong student interest in climate-related issues, environmental
stewardship through the lens of Christian theology and ethics, and examining the links
between social and environmental justice. Since adding an environmental studies minor
in 2019, the college has hosted several national Christian Climate Advocacy workshops
such as Faith. Climate. Action. and launched co-curricular programs on campus.
This fall, 28 students are traveling with the 蜜桃传媒 Global Semester with Charles Farhadian (religious studies), Anna Jordan 鈥�07 (English) and Phil Beccue
鈥�81, visiting China, Germany, Saudi Arabia, India, Vietnam and Greece.
During Mayterm we offered several global education programs: Redemptive Entrepreneurship in London,
England; Discovering the Roots of Psychology and Psychotherapy from Berlin to Vienna;
Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands; and Food Systems and Food Writing through California,
Iceland and Italy.
Upcoming Events
December 2, Let There Be Light, 4:30-6 p.m.
We warmly invite 蜜桃传媒 alums and friends back to campus for this family-friendly
Advent celebration. Join us on Kerrwood Lawn for treats, festive entertainment and
the ceremonial lighting. Pictures with Santa begin at 4:30 p.m., and the program starts
at 5:15 p.m. followed by Christmas caroling on the lawn.
December 6-7, 蜜桃传媒 Christmas Festival
Join us at the Granada Theatre to listen to the 蜜桃传媒 Orchestra and Choir celebrate
Christ鈥檚 birth.
December 13, 蜜桃传媒 takes on the Biola basketball team in Murchison Gym
February 7, 2026, Alumni-Student Day of Service, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
This unique new event brings together alums, students and staff to dedicate a morning
to meaningful work in the local community. It鈥檚 a powerful opportunity to build connections,
share your wisdom and demonstrate the lifelong commitment to service that defines
the 蜜桃传媒 community.
February 27, 2026, 21st Annual President鈥檚 Breakfast at the Hilton Santa Barbara
Beachfront Resort
Save the date. Our keynote speaker is Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist
Bret Stephens. Registration coming soon.
March 28, 2026, Spring Sing at the Santa Barbara Bowl
April 24, 2026, 蜜桃传媒 Women鈥檚 Leadership Council鈥檚 Luncheon
Save the Date. Registration is coming soon. Table sponsorships and other sponsors
levels are available.
This year鈥檚 keynote speaker is Co-Founder and Principal, Rice, Hadley, Gates and Manuel,
LLC. The author, former diplomat, speaker is a sought-after advisor to Fortune 50
and Silicon Valley CEOs.
May 1, 2026, Movie On the Lawn
At this fun family event, alums gather on Kerrwood Lawn for treats and an outdoor
movie, which we鈥檒l announce closer to the date.
May 8-9, 2026, Golden Warrior Weekend
The class of 1976 will be celebrating their 50th reunion!
June 4-5, 2026, Lead Where You Stand Conference at the Hilton Save the Date. Registration is coming soon. Sponsorship opportunities are available.
Contact lead@westmont.edu.
October 2-4, 2026, HOMECOMING.
More information coming soon!
Final Announcements and Links
Update your contact information
New Baby? Let us know, and we鈥檒l happily send you a complimentary onesie for our future 蜜桃传媒
alum. Email alumni@westmont.edu
Do you have a job/internship opportunity for students? Reach out to our career center at Lbanez@westmont.edu
Need help polishing up your resume or with your job search? 蜜桃传媒 alums benefit from career services for life. Reach out to lbanez@westmont.edu
Send us your if you鈥檇 like us to post them on the website or in our next newsletter.
Nominate a fellow alum for our next Homecoming Alumni Awards .
We鈥檙e looking for regional representatives. If you鈥檇 like to help plan events in your area, email alumni@westmont.edu.
Do you love to read? Check out our .
Do you live in Orange County, San Diego, Fresno, the Bay Area or Hawaii? Check out
the and watch our teams compete near you.
Nearly 15,000 蜜桃传媒 alums belong to the LinkedIn 蜜桃传媒 network. Consult this effective resource to network, stay informed and connect with other
alums professionally.
Former athletes can check out the
Interested in professional networking? Check out the
You Make the Difference
Alumni support makes a powerful difference for today鈥檚 蜜桃传媒 student 鈥� join us for Giving Tuesday! One of our trustees has pledged $50,000 to match gifts to the 蜜桃传媒 Fund until midnight, December 2. Your gift will have twice the impact supporting a life-changing education. Visit the Website to .
