Lindsay Stadler has been selected as the College’s new registrar after serving in the role on an interim basis for almost a year. Stadler earned her bachelor’s from Claremont McKenna College and master’s from Claremont Graduate University. “I have been around The Claremont Colleges the vast majority of my adult life,” says Stadler, who started at Pomona in 2022 as associate registrar of operations. “I feel I’ve grown up professionally here, and I’m really fortunate to have such supportive and collaborative colleagues in registrar’s offices around the consortium.”
Campus News
At the Humanities Studio
With the Humanities Studio’s much-lauded founding director Kevin Dettmar stepping down from his role last spring, the studio, which fosters interdisciplinary study of the humanities among Pomona students and faculty, is now headed up by Tomás Summers Sandoval Jr., a professor of history and Chicana/o Latina/o studies. Sandoval’s teaching and research focuses on Latine populations in the United States and he is currently at work on a book examining the history of Latinos in relation to the U.S. war in Vietnam.
Faculty Retirements
Richard McKirahan
Professor of Classics
and Philosophy
53 Years at Pomona
Sharon Hou
Associate Professor of Chinese
45 Years at Pomona
Samuel Yamashita
Professor of History
43 Years at Pomona
Grace Dávila-López
Adjunct Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures
31 Years at Pomona
Nicole Weekes
Professor of Psychological Science and professor of neuroscience
28 Years at Pomona
Board of Trustees Elects Four New Members
Four newly elected members of the Board of Trustees began their term on July 1. Justice Halim Dhanidina (Ret.) ’94, Robi Ganguly ’00 and Cosimo H. J. Thawley ’11 are Pomona alumni. Bill Riley is the parent of a 2026 graduate.
“Trustees play a vital role in the leadership of the College,” says Geoff Pearson, secretary to the board. “They ensure that the College maintains its academic excellence and long-term sustainability through the strategic direction and fiduciary oversight they provide.”
Dhanidina is dean of the Western State College of Law and was the first Muslim judge in California when appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2012.
Ganguly began his two-year term as president of the College’s Alumni Association Board in July. A co-founder of the software company Apptentive, he now invests in and advises early startups and coaches CEOs of new ventures.
Riley recently chaired the College’s Family Leadership Council. He is a partner at Twin City Dealerships in Knoxville, Tennessee, and was board president for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.
Thawley is an assistant secretary for the Australian Treasury Department, currently serving as the country’s minister-counsellor and senior treasury representative to China.
5 Questions for: Danielle Lynch
Pomona-Pitzer Director of Athletics and Chair of the Physical Education Department
Danielle Lynch traces her competitive nature to childhood, when as a young fan of Olympic champion sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner, she raced friends down her northern New Jersey neighborhood streets barefoot.
She almost always won.
“That’s when I learned I don’t need anything but who I am to be successful,” she says.
Lynch used that outlook to become a first-generation student-athlete at Rutgers University, and it’s the same perspective she’s brought to Pomona-Pitzer as director of athletics and chair of the Physical Education Department, a role she began in April.
“I felt the love immediately,” she says. “I felt supported. People are asking the right questions and then truly listening for the answers to the solutions they’re seeking. People are truly wanting to engage in meaningful ways to learn about my experiences and how I’m going to work with our students.”
Lynch recently answered questions about the Sagehen community, philanthropy, holistic development and wellness, and the hallmarks
of great athletic departments.
What traits do great athletic departments have in common?
Great athletic departments have core values that are strong. They’re student centered. They have coaches that are teaching and building culture. Winning helps people feel good, but great athletic departments have a healthy, successful culture that develops young people holistically. A byproduct of that, oftentimes, is winning, and not only winning in the sport, but also winning in life. I’ve been at a lot of places that do things really, really well, and I’ve gained different tidbits of excellence from those spaces to work into my own ethos and core values on how I’d like my department to be run.
How do you hope to strengthen connections between student- athletes, alumni and the broader Pomona community?
College is full of incredible opportunities, but it’s also a time when students face real challenges—academically, socially and personally.
Danielle Lynch with Pitzer President Strom C. Thacker (middle) and Sagehens Coach Alex Rodriguez after the women’s water polo team captured a fifth straight national title in May.
When alumni and families stay engaged, they help create a network of people who care deeply about student success and well-being. I think one of the most powerful things we can do is create opportunities for just that by bringing people together around the things that matter most—supporting student wellness, celebrating their achievements on and off the field and ensuring they have what they need to thrive.
Alumni and families can play such a meaningful role in both celebrating those successes, while also helping address the obstacles students face along the way.
What role do alumni and families play in the success of an athletics program?
Alumni show our current student-athletes what a Sagehen life looks like after they’ve left the bubble of collegiate athletics with an excellent liberal arts education. They help us with mentorship as well as career networks, and they model what our current student-athletes and students in general hope to become. Families are partners in the developmental mission. We recruit families, not just athletes.
We are also incredibly grateful for the many alumni and families whose generosity strengthen Sagehen Athletics. Their support helps create opportunities for student-athletes to pursue excellence while benefiting from the full Pomona experience—from competitive athletics and leadership development to academic achievement and personal growth.
That spirit of support is reflected in Sagehen Athletics Giving Day, where alumni and families have consistently rallied behind our athletes, supporting everything from team travel to facility upgrades. Their generosity is a powerful expression of the lifelong connection so many have to Pomona and its athletic community.
Where can community support make an immediate impact?
Sagehen Athletics creates a powerful entry point for Pomona alumni, families and friends to invest in student success. Their involvement—whether through mentorship, volunteerism or cheering in the stands—supports an experience that helps our Pomona-Pitzer student-athletes develop as leaders and scholars. Donor support in particular strengthens wellness, expands career development opportunities and helps ensure that every student has the resources needed to learn, grow and thrive.
I also encourage Sagehens to reach out to me directly so I can hear what is needed, and what concerns and questions we all have. We need to have honest and open conversations about opportunities to create community, excellence and holistic development.
What responsibility do athletic departments have in shaping good citizens and leaders?
Some of my doctoral research looked at social justice and leadership. Student-athletes have social capital, especially on liberal arts campuses that lack fraternity and sorority life. We want to help develop our student-athletes to become conscientious leaders who are bringing solutions to some of the larger issues we’re facing—not only as a country but worldwide.
Student-athletes have the power to shift culture and to make change on a large scale, so it’s our responsibility to help them understand the power they hold and activate it for good.
Commencement 2026
Wig Awards
Seven Pomona faculty members received the 2026 Wig Distinguished Professor Award at Commencement on May 17 for their excellence in teaching, commitment to students and service to the College and the community. Presented annually since 1955, the Wig Award is the highest honor bestowed on Pomona faculty. Recipients are elected by juniors and seniors and confirmed by a committee of trustees, faculty and students.
2026 Wig Award winners. Top row: Erica Dobbs and Feng Xiao. Middle row: Alexandra Papoutsaki and Sara Sadhwani. Bottom row: Michael Kuehlwein and Nicole Weekes.
This year’s recipients are:
- David Divita, professor of Romance languages and literatures
- Erica Dobbs, associate professor of politics
- Michael Kuehlwein, George E. and Nancy O. Moss Professor of Economics
- Alexandra Papoutsaki, associate professor of computer science
- Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of politics
- Nicole Weekes, Harry S. and L. Madge Rice Thatcher Professor of Psychological Science and professor of neuroscience
- Feng Xiao, associate professor of Asian languages and literatures
Class of 2025: Where Are They Now?
Every year, Pomona College gathers data on the career destinations of our alumni six months after graduation. Here’s what we know about our most recent Sagehens’ paths so far.
Class of 2025 post-graduation outcomes: 58% Job, 31% Further Education, 6% Fellowship, 3% Other, and 2% Service.
- Graduates are pursuing further education through programs at:
Harvard, Oxford, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan. - 17% of the top industries represented are in management consulting and financial services:
Employers include Apple, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, the Los Angeles Times, Microsoft, the National Cancer Institute, the National Park Service, the Peace Corps and Wells Fargo. - 41 graduates received fellowships.
- Shark Mutulili ’25 was awarded the College’s first Rhodes Scholarship since 2003: Mutulili is the 13th Rhodes Scholar in College history and the second woman at Pomona College to win the award.
New Merch Alert
Sagehens in need of some new Pomona-themed merchandise are in luck—several new totes and tees (stickers, too) are now on sale through the Coop Store website thanks to a recent contest. Students and alums were asked to come up with either a general Pomona design or one related to Oldenborg. Seventy percent of the profits will support the College. “I was really struck by how creative the designs were,” says ASPC President Grace Zheng ’26. “Many included small, thoughtful details you would only fully appreciate as a Sagehen, which made them feel especially personal and meaningful.”
Final designs may differ slightly.
-
- Tote Bag in memory of the 1966-2026 Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages
-
- 1996 Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages T-Shirt
-
- Exit 47 tote bag
-
- Exit 47 sticker
A New Center for a Changing World
Nearly a century ago, a handful of Pomona College students set sail for Asia, launching one of the nation’s earliest study abroad programs. Today, Pomona is again pioneering a new frontier in global education.
In March, the Board of Trustees formally approved construction of the Center for Global Engagement (CGE), a liberal arts laboratory and a dedicated home for students, faculty and staff to collaborate with partners on complex societal issues of local and global consequence.
Architectural rendering of the Center for Global Engagement
The College’s most ambitious construction to date, the $125 million center will house 200 students and nine visiting scholars in immersive living-learning communities. It will also include academic, meeting and conference spaces alongside a forum dining hall and event space, which will host campus- and community-wide events.
“The Center for Global Engagement is not just a project. It is key to Pomona’s path forward—our opportunity to imagine what a 21st-century liberal arts college can be, and to build the structures that make that possible,” Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr says.
The College’s leadership in global education has long been part of its identity, from its early study abroad programs in China and Japan in the 1920s to the opening of the Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages and International Relations in 1966.
In spring 2020, the College’s Board of Trustees and faculty leadership reaffirmed this commitment through a new Strategic Vision focused on investing in people and tackling the defining issues of our time.
Today, that vision is reflected in the makeup and experiences of Pomona’s community, where 14 percent of students are international, hailing from 65 countries outside of the U.S., and 20 percent of faculty have earned an undergraduate or graduate degree internationally. Currently, half of all Sagehen students study abroad—five times the national average—and the College intends to make these opportunities available to even more students in
the coming years.
April 2026 Language Tables in the Oldernborg Center
The CGE will be powered by new and expanded initiatives designed to prepare students to lead across borders and disciplines. Students, faculty and local and international partners will have opportunities to collaborate through hands-on projects that address urgent societal challenges. Programming will include interactive seminars that bring leading experts into conversation with students and faculty on pressing issues that require interdisciplinary thinking.
The center will also serve as a hub and home for programs that expand students’ horizons. In addition to traditional semester-long study away programs, Pomona has begun offering Global Gateways programs— shorter term, faculty-led study away courses tied directly to the curriculum.
“The phrase ‘global engagement’ is deliberate,” says Kara Godwin, assistant vice president and chief global officer. “It signals a move away from thinking that is bound by geography or academic major to focus on the problems we want to solve and the skills we want to develop.”
The Board’s approval of the CGE follows the successful effort to raise commitments totaling $50 million toward the full cost of the building—a threshold the Board established in 2022.
“Philanthropy has always driven bold ideas at Pomona—and the success of the Center for Global Engagement is no exception,” says Maria Watson, vice president for advancement. “Visionary partnerships with alumni, families and friends have made this a reality. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the exceptionally generous donors who have supported this project.”
To learn more about the Center for Global Engagement and its role in advancing Pomona’s global initiatives, visit the CGE website.
A Global Scholar’s Journey
Let’s explore the student experience of the CGE through the eyes of a Sagehen—we’ll call her Maya.
First Year
Maya attends a CGE seminar led by a visiting global health scholar, where discussions about aging populations motivate her to enroll in a sociology course on public health that includes real-time collaboration with peers at a German university and policy analysts in Washington, D.C.
Sophomore Year
Looking for opportunities to study public health challenges in different parts of the world, Maya joins a Global Gateways study away program in Nepal, shadowing health care practitioners and interviewing centenarians about their daily lives and traditional practices.
Global Gateways students in Morocco
Back on campus, Maya declares a major in sociology and begins joining the advanced Spanish discussion table in the CGE, led by a visiting language resident from Mexico, to build the language skills she needs to study health care systems in Latin America.
Junior Year
Maya joins an interdisciplinary research team housed in the CGE, and together they examine barriers to care for Southern California Latino communities and produce a report that becomes the foundation of her senior thesis. She presents her work in both Spanish and English to peers, faculty, local partners and community members.
Final Year
Through conversations with alumni mentors and global partners, Maya learns to put language to her interests in aging, chronic disease and health equity in Spanish-speaking communities and earns a spot in a top public health graduate program.
25th Reunion
Maya returns to campus as a visiting scholar housed in the CGE. Now an international expert in chronic disease intervention, she is eager to inspire the next generation of Sagehens, sharing her knowledge, experiences and commitment to lifelong learning.
“Graduates today will encounter difference and dissonance everywhere: in their communities, in their professions and in their lives. Our mission is to make sure they are ready—not just to succeed, but to lead and thrive,” says Kara Godwin, assistant vice president and chief global officer.
Women’s Water Polo Captures Fifth Straight Division III National Title
Brienz Lang ’26, who was named Tournament MVP.
Five years, five crowning moments.
In April, Pomona-Pitzer captured its fifth consecutive USA Water Polo Division III championship, defeating rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS), 15-10, to send another senior class off with a handful of hardware.
The Sagehens and Stags have met in the Division III championship game four years running, their eternal Sixth Street rivalry one of the best in the country.
“We’ve won the whole time we’ve been here,” says Mia Amberger ’26, who led the Sagehens in points this season, “and I feel because of that, it’s difficult to not fall into the trap of playing not to lose rather than playing to win. But we did a phenomenal job this year in the championship game of playing to win.”
On the road to their fifth straight Division III title, the Sagehens defeated Division I UC Santa Barbara for the first time in program history. They also clipped Division I Cal Baptist.
Both victories followed adversity—the first, after a rare nonconference loss to CMS, and the second, after losing star center Paityn Richardson ’27 to injury.
Beyond the championships, Ayva Magna ’26 says her class’s legacy is defined, in part, by standing toe-to-toe with and knocking off first-class opponents.
“Every year we’ve been able to beat new Division I teams,” she says. “We’ve always tried to show our younger girls that we have more goals than winning the championship game.”
Brienz Lang ’26, who played through injury this season and was named Tournament MVP, couldn’t have asked for a better sendoff to her Sagehen career.
“I was so proud of everyone,” she says. “It was a great way to end the season.”