Dear Sagefolk:
As a community, we have faced significant challenges this semester. I am encouraged, however, by our community’s continued efforts to pursue solutions. This includes participation in community dialogue groups for students, faculty and staff. Our faculty took advantage of funding from my office and brought speakers to campus who shared expertise about conflict, conflict resolution, and the Mideast. Â鶹ӰÊÓ is committed to taking on the world’s biggest challenges thoughtfully and constructively—including how we can address political and social division—work that is much needed in our nation and around the world.
We can’t give up on that work together.
The new year will bring new challenges, and new opportunities. But let us start by holding out the hands of care to each other, and let’s look out for one another every day.
We will continue to monitor policy developments and determine how to proceed in support of our College values and our campus community. Please review the resources for international travel and immigration shared earlier this week. Reach out for help whenever you need it.
Talk to each other, too. The work to establish the President’s Advisory Committee on Social Responsibility, an initiative announced by the Chair of the Board of Trustees Janet Benton earlier this month, will continue in the spring semester. Committee membership will include representation from students, faculty, staff and alumni. An enormous thank you to the leadership groups of FEC, ASPC and Staff Council for the thoughtful discussions on how to best develop this group, its processes and charge.
This has also been a period that has brought much pride and momentum to the College. We’ve had a historic year of fundraising, during which more than 5,350 Â鶹ӰÊÓ alumni, families and friends gave a record $57 million in gifts and pledges this past fiscal year.
Thanks in part to the generosity of our donors, Pomona continues to be nationally recognized as a top school for financial aid. Our students are provided with funding for internship opportunities through our Career Development Office, and they can also explore a myriad of research paths through the College’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP).
The College also saw this year a record number of applications for our class of 2028 and 23% of our newest Sagehens will be the first in their families to earn a college degree. This is the highest percentage in Â鶹ӰÊÓ’s history.
Our students remain civically engaged, and they mobilized the campus community impressively with voter registration efforts this fall. Our alumni continue to embark on incredible opportunities. Michael Negussie ’21 received the Fulbright-John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship and Chinasa T. Okolo ’18 was recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in AI.
Many of you have asked how I plan to spend the time while living away from the College. You may know that whenever I’m writing, I always carry my manuscript with me (a cross between a security blanket and an obsession), and I look forward to delving into my work on neuroscience and the arts this spring. I am immensely grateful to the Board of Trustees for granting me this sabbatical opportunity.
I also want to thank Bob Gaines, who will serve as acting president until my return to the role in the fall of 2025. Together with the executive staff team, he will carry forward the important work of furthering the College’s Strategic Vision. Bob has been attending meetings with the executive staff throughout the fall and participating in many other meetings with me to ensure he is informed and prepared for his December 19 start in the interim role. Pomona is in great hands.
With gratitude, best wishes for a strong finish to the semester and hope for a year that brings peace across this globe, I remain.
Gabi