Gaede to Step Down as Westmont President

Westmont President Stan D. Gaede announced he will conclude his presidency at the end of the academic year in June. He has served as the college’s president since July 2001. Previously, he was provost, the top academic officer, for five years. The 58-year old will return to Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., where he joined the faculty in 1974 and became provost in 1993. He has accepted a position to serve as senior scholar-in-residence at the Center for Christian Studies, which he helped establish.
“My calling is moving me in a different direction,” Gaede says, “away from the presidency and toward a more focused effort on behalf of Christian scholarship.”

The Westmont Board of Trustees will immediately begin a nationwide search for a new president.

“The board accepted Stan's resignation with great reluctance,” says David Eaton, chairman of the board of trustees. “We’ve been fortunate to have Stan in leadership roles here at Westmont for the past decade. He has done an outstanding job as president, clearly articulating the college’s mission and working to strengthen Westmont academically and financially. We wish him God’s blessings as he returns to a position of scholarship and writing in New England.”

Gaede succeeded David Winter, who served as Westmont president for 25 years. During Gaede’s tenure, Westmont has made great progress in enhancing its standing as a premier national liberal arts college. He established the Institute for Liberal Arts at Westmont and oversaw efforts to update the campus master plan.

Under Gaede’s leadership, student diversity has increased. In 2001, only 13 percent of the student body were students of color. This year that number is 20 percent. Westmont recently welcomed the class of 2009, 26 percent of whom are students of color. Of all new students, which includes transfer students, 25 percent are students of color.

He set the direction for an increase in giving to Westmont. Financial support from alumni has more than doubled to $2.87 million and the endowment has more than tripled to $56 million. Total gift income has increased 21 percent, and annual giving is up 40 percent.

Gaede graduated from Westmont in 1969. He and his wife, Judy Brinkman Gaede, met at Westmont and have three children. Their youngest, Kirsten, is a senior at Westmont. Their son, Nathaniel, graduated from Westmont in 1998 and is a second-year student at Boston College Law School. Their daughter Heather Gaede Regoli is an attorney in Palo Alto, Calif.

Gaede earned his doctorate in sociology at Vanderbilt University. He served as professor of sociology at Gordon for 22 years, chairing the sociology department for six years. He spent his last three years at Gordon as provost. His areas of expertise include social theory, the sociology of knowledge, American culture, and the relationship between social and religious change. He has authored seven books, including “An Incomplete Guide to the Rest of Your Life,” “When Tolerance is No Virtue: Political Correctness, Multiculturalism, and the Future of Truth and Justice,” “Surprised by God” and “Life in the Slow Lane: On the Benefits of Not Getting What You Want When You Want It.”

“Along with my sense that God is calling me to a new work,” Gaede says, “I am also convinced that he is forming a new leader to take the presidency at Westmont.

“Westmont is an extraordinary institution and it has been my great privilege to serve it for these ten years. As an alum of the college, I’m deeply grateful for the unique position that it has taken in higher education.”