Westmont College

Westmont College

Motto	Christus Primatum Tenens: Christ Holding Preeminence
Motto in English	Christ Holding Preeminence
Type	Private, Christian, liberal arts college
Established	October 29, 1937
Endowment	$84.4 million (2014)
President	Gayle Beebe
Provost	Mark Sargent
Dean	Edee Schulze
Academic staff	96
Administrative staff	306
Undergraduates	1,313
Address	955 La Paz Rd, Montecito, Santa Barbara County, CA, USA 34°26′59″N 119°39′34″W / 34.4497888°N 119.6593305°W / 34.4497888; -119.6593305Coordinates: 34°26′59″N 119°39′34″W / 34.4497888°N 119.6593305°W / 34.4497888; -119.6593305
Campus	Suburban, 111 acres (45 ha)
Colors	Maroon & White
Nickname	The Warriors
Mascot	Warrior
Affiliations	Western Association of Schools and Colleges; California State Board of Education; NAIA; Christian College Consortium
Website	www.westmont.edu

Westmont College, founded in 1937, is an interdenominational Christian liberal arts college in Montecito near Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California.

Ruth Kerr, owner and CEO of the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company, established the school as the Bible Missionary Institute in 1937 on the former Westlake School for Girls campus near Downtown Los Angeles. It was renamed the Western Bible College in 1939. During these early years, Kerr and the other founders decided that a liberal arts curriculum was the best direction for the school. In 1940 Dr. Wallace Emerson, the first president, renamed the school Westmont College, derived from a college in the west and in the mountains. He envisioned a Christian liberal arts college that would take its place among the best in the nation.

By 1944, Westmont College had outgrown its facilities in Los Angeles. After a failed attempt to move the campus to Altadena in early 1945, the desperate search for a new campus led Mrs. Kerr and the trustees to 'El Tejado,' the former Dwight Murphy estate in Montecito with its 125 acres (51 ha). Westmont purchased this property and moved to the Santa Barbara area in the Fall of 1945.

Set in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains, Westmont’s wooded and scenic acres provide an environment for a residential college. The campus includes buildings and land from two former estates and the historic Deane School for Boys. The grounds still feature the pathways, stone bridges, and garden atmosphere typical of Montecito, a suburb of Santa Barbara.

While Westmont has sought to preserve and use the original structures, it has also built new facilities, including Voskuyl Library, the restored Westmont Art Center, the A. Nelson Science Building, the Murchison Gymnasium Complex, and the Ruth Kerr Memorial Student Center. In 2008 Westmont broke ground for the construction of the Winter Hall for Science and Mathematics and the Adams Center for the Visual Arts.

In 2006, Westmont received a gift of $75 million from an anonymous donor, the second largest gift ever to a national liberal arts college at the time. In September 2009 Westmont was informed that the donor withdrew the pledged $75 million gift which caused the college to put off construction of two new buildings.