Westmont gets $1.5 million for social sciences

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A $1 million donation from the Fletcher Jones Foundation was announced by Westmont College yesterday and will allow the school to create its first rotating endowed chair in the social sciences. The $1 million will be matched with an anonymous donation of $500,000.
“The Fletcher Jones Foundation grant and matching gift create an exciting opportunity for us to expand our research within the social sciences,” said Westmont President Gayle Beebe.

“It also allows us to reward our exceptional faculty for their distinguished teaching, scholarly efforts and personal investment in students.”
According to a statement by Westmont, the Fletcher Jones Foundation Chair in the Social Sciences at Westmont will honor the work of faculty members in history, sociology, anthropology, kinesiology, economics, business, education, liberal arts and political science.
The statement said the chair will be awarded to a current Westmont professor every three to five years and will include an annual stipend. The chosen professor will also teach one less class each year in order to focus on research.
The first chair will be awarded in Fall, 2008.
Westmont has three endowed chairs in the humanities, the Gundry Chair in Religious Studies, the Monroe Chair in Philosophy and the Adams Chair in Music and Worship. In the natural and behavioral sciences, Westmont has the Smith Chair in Chemistry.
The Westmont statement says Fletcher Jones established the Fletcher Jones Foundation of Los ANgeles in 1969 with a mission of supporting private colleges and universities in California.