Westmont College received $1.5 million from The T.B. Walker Foundation, an anonymous donor and other supporters to create the college’s first endowed chair in the natural and behavioral sciences. The T.B. Walker Chair in the Natural and Behavioral Sciences will honor the work of an outstanding professor in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering-physics, mathematics or psychology.

Jeff Schloss, who joined the biology faculty at Westmont in 1981, will be the first scientist to hold the new position. Internationally known for his prolific scholarship on interactions between evolutionary theory and religious faith, Schloss has co-edited several major books on this topic. He speaks frequently throughout the country and around the world to both scholarly and popular audiences and serves on more than a dozen editorial and advisory boards related to issues in science and religion.

The T.B. Walker chair includes a reduced teaching load so the professor can focus on research. It’s the third chair established at Westmont in the past year. Earlier in 2009, the college inaugurated the R. Anthony Askew Chair in Art and the Fletcher Jones Foundation Chair in the Social Sciences.