About 340 graduates will participate in Westmont commencement ceremonies, 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 3, on Thorrington Field with 162 earning honors.
Also march in the procession will be more than 70 Golden Warriors, who graduated in 1975, celebrating their 50th reunion.
About 40 nursing graduates, representing the fifth cohort of the Westmont Downtown | Grotenhuis Nursing program, will participate in the event as well, just two days after their May 1 pinning ceremony at Montecito Covenant Church.
Beloved professor and alumnus Jim Taylor ’78, who retires this year after more than three decades of teaching philosophy at Westmont, will deliver the commencement address. Graduates Miles Ozorio and Claire Bassett will offer student reflections.
Westmont President Gayle D. Beebe will present the Westmont Medal to John Davies, who has grown his public relations firm Davies Public Affairs into one of the top 25 in the nation.
Taylor, who earned his doctorate at the University of Arizona and taught at Bowling Green State University in Ohio before returning to Westmont, has authored several books, including “Introducing Apologetics: Cultivating Christian Commitment;” “Learning for Wisdom: Christian Education and the Good Life;” and “Soul Pilgrimage: Knowing God in Everyday Life,” which he co-authored with his wife Jennifer.
Jennifer Taylor spent 15 years at Westmont connecting students with internships. The Taylors have three children who all attended Westmont.
Davies, skilled in persuasion and compelling communication, said studying human behavior helps him develop effective and innovative communication strategies that get attention and gain influence.
A founding board member of a national bank, Davies chaired the University of California’s Economic Forecast Project and led the nation’s largest scholarship foundation.
A member of the Westmont Foundation Board and longtime chair of the President’s Breakfast Committee, “Davies has demonstrated exceptional leadership throughout Santa Barbara, working tirelessly to transform every aspect of our greater community,” the school said.
The Westmont Medal honors those whose lives embody the principles associated with the character of the college.
Past recipients include Steven and Denice Fellows, Lindsay and Laurie Parton, Christine and Robert Emmons, Rolf Geyling, David and Anna Grotenhuis, Palmer Jr. and Susan Jackson, Gerd Jordano, Jonathan Walker, Katherine Wiebe, and Ron Werft.
Commencement is closed to the general public, but will be live-streamed at westmont.edu/commencement.