Biography
The Reverend J. Cameron West (“Cam”) took office as Huntingdon’s 14th president on June 1, 2003, and was inaugurated April 16, 2004. Since his first days in office, President West’s focus has been the renewal of Huntingdon’s rich history as a liberal arts college of the Church. He believes that the ultimate end of a liberal arts education is responsible citizenship which places the well-being of our communities at the center of our beliefs, our decisions, our actions. His goal for Huntingdon students is that they be educated in the liberal arts in order to think critically and morally, communicate with clarity and civility, and extend themselves in service far beyond their own backyards. President West’s vision for Huntingdon, rooted in the College’s historic motto engraved above the entrance to Flowers Hall, is expressed in three words: Faith, Wisdom, Service.
During President West’s tenure, the academic core curriculum has been redesigned to emphasize the acquisition of fundamental written and oral communication competencies; immersion in the Judeo-Christian Biblical, historical, theological and ethical traditions; and the study of Western civilization, American and British literature, and the natural sciences. Majors in accounting, elementary education, religion, and Christian education have been restored to the College’s academic programs. New majors in P–12 physical education and youth ministry have been introduced. A concentration in worship leadership has been added to the music major. Teaching certification for P–12 music education and 7–12 biology education have been added. A concert band was organized in spring 2008 to complement the College’s concert choir. In fall 2006, the Scarlet and Grey Marching Band took the field as one of the only marching bands in the South region of NCAA-Division III.
Beginning in fall 2010, students will participate in a learning initiative, ACT: The Art of Critical Thinking. The initiative begins with the course, PACT: Practicing the Art of Critical Thinking, and continues with critical thinking-intensive courses during the remaining years, culminating in a Senior Capstone course.
The Thomas F. and Emma Staton Center for Learning Enrichment was established in 2007 within the Office of Academic Affairs and is housed in the Miriam Jackson Home. The Staton Center offers a wide range of services, including individualized academic counseling, academic success centers organized by discipline and staffed by full-time faculty, and the Grade Advocacy Program (GAP), required of students on academic sanction. An expanded Disability Services Program and a Center for Career and Vocation have also been organized within Academic Affairs. Many new positions have been added to the College’s Office of Student Life, including a college chaplain and director of community service, a coordinator of student activities, a coordinator of commuter student services, a coordinator of campus recreation, and professional residence hall directors. Five new sports, including football, men’s tennis, women’s golf, and women’s and men’s cross country, have been added to Huntingdon’s NCAA-Division III intercollegiate athletics program, and gender equity has been established with seven women’s sports and seven men’s sports. In Greek life, one new national sorority and two new national fraternities have been welcomed to the Huntingdon campus, bringing the total number of sororities and fraternities to four each.
In order to strengthen Huntingdon’s signature academic courses of study in the sciences, President West focused soon after his arrival on the renovation and expansion of the College’s historic science building, Bellingrath Hall, which was rededicated in February 2008. The art gallery has been renovated and renamed Seay Twins Art Gallery. Improvements in student services facilities include addition of the Java City internet cafe in Houghton Library with the addition of a convenience store to that space in fall 2009; creation of the Tomberlin Fitness Center and the Hawks’ Nest game and recreation area in Catherine Dixon Roland Student Center; relocation and modernization of the College bookstore in Roland Student Center; modernization of Julia Walker Russell Dining Hall; the opening in fall 2009 of a new outdoor sand volleyball recreation facility, Massey Beach, on the former site of Massey Hall; and the opening in fall 2009 of a new outdoor student gathering space, The Grove, located between Roland Student Center and the Hut. Through the generosity of the Board of Trustees, Ligon Hall was renovated and reopened as a residence hall for first-year women in fall 2009. The James W. Wilson Center was renovated in 2010 and now houses several academic departments, the Adult Degree Completion Program offices, the Business Office, the Registrar's Office, the Office of Student Financial Services, and the Office of Travel and Event Planning, as well as modernized classrooms. In 2010, Huntingdon dedicated the new Jean Rodgers Chapel on the second floor of Flowers Hall. The College is in the final stages of installing a modern integrated administrative software system.
Charles Lee Field at W. James Samford Jr. Stadium, a 2,000-seat on-campus football facility, was constructed in two phases in 2004 and 2006, to house the Huntingdon Hawks Division III football program. The student center gymnasium, which had not received significant improvements since its construction in the late 1950s, has been completely renovated and renamed Catherine Dixon Roland Arena, with suspended competition floor, scoreboards, seating, lights, windows, doors, ceiling, heating/air conditioning, and roof. The women’s volleyball team now plays in the renovated and renamed James W. Wilson Jr. Gymnasium inside the Will and Kelly Wilson Community and Athletic Center on the College’s Cloverdale Campus.
Huntingdon today is, indeed, a transformed institution, drawing students to campus in numbers not witnessed since the 1960s. Full-time enrollment in the traditional day program for fall 2010 is projected at 840, an increase of almost 60% from fall 2002. Total enrollment in the Adult Degree Completion Program has grown from virtually zero in fall 2002 to a projected 300 in fall 2010, with nine sites across Alabama. The value of endowed funds under direct College management has doubled since 2002. The faculty has grown by one-third, the faculty teaching load has been reduced, and faculty salaries are now highly competitive with peer institutions. Leadership programs and spiritual formation for United Methodist high school students, Christian education professionals, and rural church clergy have been initiated through the Duffey Institute for Church Leadership.
At the May 19, 2007, Commencement Exercises, the Huntingdon College Board of Trustees awarded the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to President West. In his citation, Board of Trustees chair W. Kendrick Upchurch III stated that President West’s “unwavering leadership has transformed Huntingdon College. Academic programs have been restored, the faculty has been rebuilt, the teaching load has been reduced, a new football field and stadium have been added to the campus, new student life programs have begun, and special contributions have led to even more improvements campus-wide. Fittingly, President West approached the task before him as if it were the most rigorous of scholarly pursuits: reading, studying, learning, listening, and putting his ideas into practice. Knowing Cam, there was also a good amount of prayer. The result is a campus alive with vigor and hope—a strong and vibrant presence in the academic world today.”
Prior to his arrival at Huntingdon, President West served as a parish minister and a college administrator for 25 years in the state of North Carolina. From April 1999 to May 2003, he served as a vice president in several capacities at Brevard College. As vice president for student life, dean of students, and director of church relations, July 2001–May 2003, he was responsible for the administration of the Office of Student Life, including campus life, intercollegiate and intramural athletics, and church relations. Prior to his appointment in Student Life, he served as vice president for student enrollment at Brevard. During his tenure in enrollment management, Brevard reached its highest enrollment level since the late 1980s.
President West served from 1978 to 1999 as a parish minister in United Methodist congregations throughout North Carolina. Ecumenical theological dialogue and programming were major emphases of his ministry, and he was active in the leadership of the Western North Carolina LARCUM community (Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic, United Methodist). He taught extensively at Duke Divinity School’s Center for Continuing Theological Education and its field education program and for the United Methodist Church’s Residency in Ordained Ministry program for newly-ordained clergy. He has published sermons, articles, and book reviews in The Sewanee Theological Review, The Journal of College and Character, The Interpreter, Circuit Rider, and The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spirituality. Since coming to Huntingdon, President West has spoken widely to civic and community organizations and has preached at churches of several denominations throughout Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. He is an elder and clergy member in full connection with the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. President West’s hobbies are book-collecting and reading. His personal library of more than 3,000 volumes reflects particular interests in American history and politics, 20th century American and British literature, and Christian theology.
Community and professional service is at the heart of President West’s credo. He is a member of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100 and serves on the board of directors of the Montgomery Metro YMCA, the Montgomery Chorale, the Montgomery Area Business Committee on the Arts, and the Business Council of Alabama. Leadership Alabama selected President West for its 2008–09 leadership development class, an honor and privilege awarded to only 50 Alabamans annually. He is a member of the NCAA-Division III Chancellors/Presidents Advisory Group. He also participates actively in the programs of two other national higher education associations, the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU).
His past community and professional involvement has included chairing the advisory committee of the North Carolina Fellows Program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the university’s highly-selective leadership development program for undergraduates; serving as president of the Old Colony Players in Valdese, North Carolina, sponsor of the third-longest-running outdoor drama in North Carolina; chairing the board of directors of the Total Life Center, the first church-sponsored adult day care center in Raleigh, North Carolina; serving on the statewide advisory panel of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and serving on the executive committee of the Alabama Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (AAICU). President West has served on the board of directors of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church (NASCUMC) and keynoted the association’s annual meeting in July 2007.
Born July 1, 1950, in Lumberton, North Carolina, President West was educated in the North Carolina public school system and graduated from Needham B. Broughton High School, Raleigh, in 1968. He was awarded the Bachelor of Arts, with a major in American Studies, from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, in 1972. While at Chapel Hill, he was named a North Carolina Fellow and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, Order of the Grail and Order of the Old Well leadership honoraries, and Phi Kappa Sigma social fraternity. He wrote for the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, worked in leadership positions in the Campus Y, and served as administrative assistant to the student body president. In 1978, he received the Master of Divinity cum laude from The Divinity School of Yale University, where he was a Rockefeller Fellow. President West completed his academic professional education at The Divinity School of Duke University, where he was awarded the Master of Theology in 1986, submitting as his thesis, “Fitting the Hearer: John Wesley’s Preaching of Gospel and Law,” under the direction of Professor Geoffrey Wainwright.
.jpg "The West Family")
President West and his family, including his wife, Elizabeth Batchelor West, their daughter, Grace, and their son, William, live in The Delchamps Residence on the Huntingdon campus. Mrs. West, a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Financial Planner, holds the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. She worked outside the home most recently as comptroller of Kanuga Conferences Inc., the international retreat and conference center of the Episcopal Church located outside Hendersonville, North Carolina. Grace is a freshman at The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, and William is a ninth-grader at The Montgomery Academy. During breaks in the College calendar, the Wests enjoy vacationing at their family home in North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains.
Updated 6/30/2010