Hello, Sagehens. We are approaching our college’s Founder’s Day, celebrating Pomona’s launch
135 years ago, and I want to offer an update on our community’s plans for the future
and where we stand on the path to fulfilling them.
We’ve made tangible, significant steps forward.
One of them is the opening of our exceptional new Center for Athletics, Recreation and Wellness,
which will support the development of lifelong habits of wellbeing for students, faculty
and staff, while providing our athletes with facilities that match our academic excellence.
The new center is a space for everyone in our community, and I encourage our campus
community to make use of the fitness classes and workout spaces, and attend a Sagehen athletics
event – don’t forget to take in the stunning mountain views from Voelkel Gym.
As we aim to change the world for the better through our vital educational mission, we
must recognize the essential nature of wellness – physical, emotional, social and spiritual.
Wellness will be a priority that involves all aspects of campus life as we strive to
support faculty, staff and students in seeking to achieve balance in key areas of life.
Another significant step came in September with the launch of our new Institute for
Inclusive Excellence, which will be the hub for campus programs that build inclusive environments
and developing new programming supporting this work. The goal is for Pomona to continue
become a place where everyone can flourish and know they belong.
In the areas of equity and access, with Pomona’s unique role in promoting opportunity in American
higher education, one of our key goals is to cover more of the fundamental costs of
attending college with grant aid.
Starting in Fall 2021, we began covering the full cost of student health insurance (SHIP)
for low-income students. Eventually, as money is raised, we seek to fully cover SHIP for
all students who receive financial aid.
We have started covering more costs for all students on financial aid by providing a $50
per semester bookstore credit, and we plan to increase this amount in the future as fundraising
allows.
As our nation faces growing divisions, we will work to do to open the doors of opportunity
wider.
In recent decades, Pomona has made real progress in enrolling students from lower-income backgrounds,
and we will continue to push forward in this area. About a third of the nation’s population
is middle class; however, at Pomona, this group makes up only 15 percent of students.
We must enroll more middle-income students if Pomona’s student population is to be
truly representative of our nation.
With a more concerted outreach and increased financial aid, we will bring to Pomona more
students from families at the middle of the income spectrum in the years ahead. We
also will build pipeline partnerships with community colleges to promote transfer to
Pomona. The pandemic’s disruption hit community colleges with particular force, and we need
to restore this important path to opportunity.
We’ve been fortunate this year as the pandemic’s impact on our campus is receding at the moment.
But the challenges of world faces continue to grow, and our students must gain the ability
to partner with people and organizations, with both humility and agility, in order to
take on the grand challenges of our time.
The aim of our Global Pomona Project is that every Pomona student will meaningfully engage
with global learning, whether from abroad or here in the U.S. And our definition of
global learning will evolve beyond something that takes place largely outside U.S. borders
as Pomona develops closer ties to communities in Southern California, which draws people
from around the world.
Our global project will help guide the implementation of the College’s Strategic Vision and the
development of the Center for Global Engagement, an important building project that will in
time replace Oldenborg, and advance the work of reaching across academic disciplines to
address the world’s pressing problems.
Our ambitions for the years ahead are big because the world’s challenges are vast.
But I’ve seen our community rise to the challenge throughout the pandemic, and I know
we can meet the next challenges as well.
Pomona has benefitted from generations of generous Sagehens—one reason we can provide
the extraordinary educational resources we offer to our community is that Sagehens have
always banded together. Our commitments depend on philanthropy—on gifts of time and of
funding—so that we can live up to our dreams. The generosity of our community is legendary,
and I am grateful. We will need the full engagement of every member of our community to do so
but I know Sagehens will come through, as they always do. I’m looking forward to working
together to advance our mission in the years ahead. Chirp, chirp!