Former Westmont President, El Montecito Pastor Dies
July 30, 2008
Lyle C. Hillegas went to be with his Lord and Savior July 29, 2008. He served as the fifth president of Westmont from 1972 to 1975. At 37, he was the youngest person ever appointed to the position and the only one to come directly from the ranks of the faculty. During his tenure, he recruited a strong team of administrators, began the process of increasing enrollment from 800 to 1,200 and worked on preserving Westmont’s gardens and beautifying the campus.
The first-ever Montecito Summer Music Festival is underway at Westmont College. More than a hundred chamber music students, ranging in age from 10 to 36, arrived on the Westmont campus Monday with performances running through Friday, Aug 1.
Westmont is prominently featured in a video produced by the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory of Michigan State University. The video describes the Westmont College Cosmic Muon Detector Array and undergraduate research such as viewing the cosmic muon flux mapping over a wide range of the sky.
Several hundred youngsters who arrive for a basketball camp in less than two weeks will be the first to play on Westmont’s new state-of-the-art court in Murchison Gym. Workers are putting the finishing touches on the floor, including lines and a half-court logo are being painted on the floor over the next several days.
The Hubert Schwyzer Quartet, a unique ensemble of instruments commissioned by Westmont, is taking shape under the hands of master violin maker James Wimmer at his workshop in Santa Barbara. Named for a former UC Santa Barbara philosophy professor and cellist, the quartet will be used by Westmont faculty and students during the school year and loaned to the Music Academy of the West in the summer months. 
The National Association of Schools of Music Commission on Accreditation has granted associate membership to Westmont following a four-year review process. NASM, founded in 1924, is an organization of more than 600 colleges and universities that establishes national standards for degrees and credentials.