Historian Installed As Social Science Chair

Richard Pointer, Westmont professor of history, will be installed as the first recipient of the Fletcher Jones Foundation Chair in the Social Sciences during a day of free, public events Wednesday, March 4. The inauguration of the chair, which will rotate every four years among deserving faculty within the social science division, will be held in Murchison Gymnasium at 10:30 a.m.

Shirley Mullen, former Westmont provost and current Houghton College president, will take part in a panel discussion, “What is History Good For?” in Porter Theatre at 3:30 p.m. Other panelists include: Steven Pointer, Trinity International University professor of history, Marianne Robins, Westmont professor of history, and Joel Carpenter, director of the Calvin College Nagel Institute. Richard Pointer will give a dedicatory lecture, “The Wait and Weight of History: Reflections from a Life in the Past,” in Porter Theatre at 5 p.m.

“According to the testimony of numerous faculty colleagues from inside and outside the social science division, Rick has distinguished himself by his extraordinary contributions to Westmont and to the broader academy in the areas of teaching and scholarly research,” says Warren Rogers, interim academic dean. “He certainly has earned this recognition.”

Pointer, an American historian, joined Westmont’s history department in 1994, and was social science division Teacher of the Year in 1997 and 2003. He has written two books, “Protestant Pluralism and the New York Experience” and “Encounters of the Spirit: Native Americans and European Colonial Religion,” as well as many articles. He graduated from Houghton College and earned his master’s and doctorate degrees from Johns Hopkins University.

The Fletcher Jones Foundation was incorporated in 1969 by Fletcher Jones, Co-Founder of Computer Sciences Corporation. After the death of Fletcher Jones in 1972, the original trustees of the Foundation decided that support of the private colleges and universities in California should be their primary emphasis. That policy has been reaffirmed by subsequent trustees and continues to this day.