New Westmont prez takes over reins

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

After spending the past seven years at the helm of Spring Arbor University in Michigan, Gayle Beebe took the reins at Westmont College on July 1, becoming the evangelical school’s eighth president.
Along with Beebe’s appetite for sports, he brings a laundry list of degrees stretching from his home state of Oregon, to Princeton, to Claremont Graduate University.
They range in diversity from master’s degrees in divinity, philosophy of religion, theology and business administration in strategic management, to a doctorate in philosophy of religion and theology.


But the man behind the degrees -- already familiar with Westmont thanks to a one semester stint here in 1980 -- sat in the president’s office at Kerrwood Hall during an interview with the Daily Sound on Tuesday.
Beebe said he’s at once humbled by his position and excited, above all, to take on new challenges.
“It’s a great privilege to come back in this role and serve the school in this way,” Beebe said.
Perhaps the most glaring challenge facing Westmont at the moment is breaking ground on phase one of the campus’s master plan, which has been unanimously approved by the Montecito Planning Commission, as well as the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
The entire master plan calls for a multiphase project, that when completed will showcase 345,837 square feet of new buildings, 164,164 of which is planned for phase one.
In order to get the plan approved, Westmont officials, architects and planners made 12 appearances before the planning commission alone -- a process that cost the school an estimated $3 million.
The lengthy and oftentimes controversial topic of land use in Montecito and Santa Barbara County is something Beebee said he was briefed on before taking the job.
“I’ve never seen a process that’s more thorough,” Beebe said. “I think we’ve been a great partner with the planners.”
Beebe noted the success Santa Barbara County has had in implementing a strict planning process that has undoubtedly managed to restrict growth, which in turn has preserved the area’s natural beauty.
And a large part of that planning process are the people who live in the county, some of whom aren’t happy with the county’s decisions when they’re in favor of construction at Westmont.
Despite getting a stamp of approval from the planning commission, a community group filed a lawsuit challenging the planning commission’s decision. Beebe said a hearing is scheduled for sometime in November.
Beebe said he hopes to polish the school’s relationship with its neighbors, but said he believes most people are happy the school is where it is.
“You have to get along with your neighbors,” Beebe said. “By and large people are happy we’re here.”
Lucky for Westmont, being able to create and balance a good relationship with the college's neighbors, build out the school, which is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and remain financially viable at the same time are all things Beebe has experience with.
During his tenure at Spring Arbor -- a 100 acre campus with 14 satellite campuses -- Beebee said he inherited a school in financial crisis.
In order to overcome the crisis, Beebe said he and other officials at the school doubled the enrollment --something he can’t do at Westmont due to a student cap set at about 1,200 students -- and completed a $45 million capital campaign, which included the construction of a major academic building.
In order to stimulate the enrollment increase, Beebe said he made good hires, which in turn improved programs and “built in a culture of continual input.”
“I really believe I left the place healthier than I found it,” Beebe said of Spring Arbor.
So was leaving the university he helped mold into a bigger and better institution easy?
Not exactly.
Beebe said uprooting his wife Pam and their three children was a tough decision, but one that made sense.
He said his decision to take the job was based on an “overwhelming sense that this is a great opportunity.”
When asked if becoming president of Westmont was an obvious next step in his career, Beebe said it wasn’t.
“It would have been very easy to stay [at Spring Arbor],” Beebe said. “We really just felt we needed to do this.”
Aside from building out the campus, which is expected to take more than two decades, Beebe has lengthy list of other goals as well.
Two of those goals include expanding the school’s international study abroad programs and improving the athletic programs.
He said he doesn’t know what his favorite thing about living on the central coast is yet, but suspects it will be the mild winters.
After flying back to Santa Barbara from Portland recently, Beebe summed up his feelings on Santa Barbara.
“It’s just got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.”