Campus News

Long-Serving Faculty Members Retire

Professors Margaret Waller and Zayn Kassam have retired after decades of teaching and service to Pomona College.

Professor Margaret Waller

Waller, the Dr. Mary Ann Vanderzyl Reynolds ’56 Professor of Humanities and professor of Romance languages and literatures, had been a member of the faculty since 1986. A specialist in 19th-century French literature, she also is an expert on gender and power. Her 1993 book, The Male Malady: Fictions of Impotence in the French Romantic Novel, was one of the first to pioneer masculinity studies in the field of French literature. Waller, known as Peggy, was honored with the Wig Distinguished Professor Award for excellence in teaching in 1991 and 2000.

Professor Zayn Kassam

Kassam, the John Knox McLean Professor of Religious Studies, retired in December 2022 to become director of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. A professor at Pomona since 1995, her most recent leadership role was as associate dean of the College for diversity, equity and inclusion. Kassam was a three-time recipient of the Wig Award for excellence in teaching (1998, 2005, 2015) and in 2005 was honored with the American Academy of Religion’s National Teacher of the Year Award.

New Pitzer President a Sagehen from the Start

The bonds of The Claremont Colleges will become a bit tighter this summer, when consortium alumni take over as presidents of two of the colleges.

Strom C. Thacker ’88. Reprinted with permission of Pitzer College

Strom C. Thacker ’88.
Reprinted with permission of Pitzer College

Strom C. Thacker ’88, who graduated from Pomona with a degree in international relations, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, becomes president of Pitzer College on July 1. On the same day, Harriet B. Nembhard CMC ’90 becomes president of Harvey Mudd College.

Thanks to conveniently aligned athletic programs, neither one will have trouble knowing which side to sit on when Pomona-Pitzer plays Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Sixth Street Rivalry games.

Thacker, who has been dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs at Union College in Schenectady, New York, grew up in Northern California and came to Pomona with the help of generous financial aid that included a federal Pell Grant. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and become an advocate for college equity, access and the value of a liberal arts education.

Among Thacker’s duties at Union College, by the way: Managing a budget of approximately $47 million. (Chirp.) Welcome home, President Thacker.

A Path to U.S. Colleges for Refugee Students

Among Pomona’s newly admitted students for 2023-24 are nine refugees with citizenships from Congo, Syria and Ukraine.

The admissions are a reflection of Pomona’s commitment to the recently launched Global Student Haven Initiative, a program founded by eight colleges and universities in response to the war in Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Along with Bowdoin, Caltech, Dartmouth, NYU, Smith, Trinity and Williams, Pomona is dedicated to providing a path for students affected by worldwide crises to apply to U.S.-based colleges and universities—and to receive scholarships and other support when they arrive. The initiative seeks to help students continue their education and later to return to their home nations.

“This is about opening doors and helping people through them,” says Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr. “The global disruptions of recent years have tested American higher education’s long commitment to reaching out to the world. We seek to reaffirm our global ties, starting with the urgent needs of students facing the devastation of war.”

Pomona’s effort is supported by an earlier $1.2 million gift from Florence and Paul Eckstein ’62 in honor of his immigrant parents, and a new $1 million gift from the Fletcher Jones Foundation.

2023 Commencement Speakers

Pomona’s 2023 Commencement speakers know about persistence, as do the new graduates they addressed in a May 14 ceremony.

Sherrilyn Ifill is a distinguished civil rights lawyer, voting rights advocate and scholar. A senior fellow at the Ford Foundation, she previously spent a decade as president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the nation’s premier civil rights law organization. She was chosen one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2021.

“We need you in this fight. You have to find time to do your part. While you do your part, hold onto your joy. Joy is part of resistance as well.” —Sherrilyn Ifill

“We need you in this fight. You have to find time to do your part. While you do your part, hold onto your joy. Joy is part of resistance as well.”
—Sherrilyn Ifill

Penny Lee Dean ’77 set 13 world records as a marathon swimmer, including a 1978 crossing of the English Channel that shattered the men’s world record by more than an hour. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1996. A six-time All-American swimmer at Pomona, she returned to the College and coached and taught for 26 years, winning 17 SCIAC women’s swimming titles and guiding the women’s water polo team to a national championship in 1993.

“From my time as a student, I learned to stand up for what I believed in. Never stop believing in yourself." —Penny Lee Dean ’77

“From my time as a student, I learned to stand up for what I believed in. Never stop believing in yourself.”
—Penny Lee Dean ’77

In addition to conferring honorary degrees on Ifill and Dean, Pomona posthumously honored Trustee Emeritus George E. “Buddy” Moss ’52 with the Trustees’ Medal of Merit. A member of the Board of Trustees from 1995 to 2004, Moss made possible many programs for faculty and students. Among his many contributions, he made gifts to establish the George E. Moss Community Partnerships Fund, the George E. and Nancy O. Moss Professorship in Economics, the Henry G. Lee ’37 Professorship in Poetry, the Peter W. Stanley Chair of Linguistics and Cognitive Science and the Roscoe Moss Professorship in Chemistry.

Teamwork: Another National Title for Women’s Water Polo

Teamwork

Teamwork: Another National Title for Women’s Water Polo

The wire-to-wire No. 1 team in Division III women’s water polo this season had to go the extra distance to bring home its second consecutive national championship.

Pomona-Pitzer flew two time zones to play in the four-team USA Water Polo Division III National Championship tournament in Rock Island, Illinois, only to meet Sixth Street rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) in the title game.

The Athenas pressed the Sagehens even further, taking them to overtime before Pomona-Pitzer won the championship, 14-13, after CMS just missed a shot in the final seconds of the second overtime period.

With that, the Sagehens defended the Division III title they won at home in Haldeman Pool last year. The NCAA holds only a single-division championship tournament dominated by Division I programs, but USA Water Polo sponsors a Division III title for men and women.

“I want to thank USA Water Polo for stepping up and organizing this tournament,” Sagehens Coach Alex Rodriguez said. “They are providing an experience for our student-athletes that was not available before.”

CMS came from behind and forced overtime with four seconds left in regulation when Cooper McKenna ’24 made good on a five-meter penalty shot to tie the score at 12-12.

“I think the world of the CMS coaching staff and they had their team prepared to fight,” Rodriguez said.

The Sagehens netted the winning goal early in the second overtime period on a hard shot by Alexandra Szczerba ’25. CMS couldn’t break through against goalkeeper Zosia Amberger ’25, hitting the crossbar in the final seconds before the Sagehens sealed it with a steal.

Abigail Wiesenthal ’24, who scored six goals in the final game and four in the semifinal, earned most valuable player honors. She was joined on the eight-player all-tournament team by Szczerba and Namlhun Jachung PZ ’24.

With the win, the Sagehens repeated their triple titles of a year ago, winning the SCIAC regular-season championship, the SCIAC tournament championship and the USA Water Polo Division III title.

Another National Title for Women’s Water Polo

Still, Pomona-Pitzer’s 26-10 record doesn’t fully tell the tale. The Sagehens stood up to Division I teams all season, taking on a powerhouse schedule to prepare to defend their 2022 Division III title. As a result, they finished the season not only ranked No. 1 in D-III—they also ranked No. 22 in the all-division poll dominated by D-I teams.

They pulled their biggest upset in a game against then-No. 11 Indiana, claiming the best win in program history against a ranked opponent. They also defeated then-No. 22 Long Island University, a team that reached the NCAA tournament.

“When we play D-I teams, most of the time we’re the David in the David-and-Goliath situation,” said Madison Lewis ’24, the Sagehens co-captain along with Wiesenthal. That’s true, said Amberger, who as goalie has the task of facing likely future Olympians from teams like Stanford and USC.

“We obviously did win one, which was super amazing,” Amberger said.

NCAA Championships: Cross Country Teams Take 5th, 11th

The three-peat was not to be, as the two-time defending national champion Pomona-Pitzer men’s cross country team finished fifth at the NCAA Division III championships November 19 in East Lansing, Michigan.

With patches of snow on the ground, gusting winds and temperatures in the 20s, conditions were challenging. The No. 1-ranked Sagehens were knocked off by MIT, which won its first national championship. Pomona-Pitzer was led by Lucas Florsheim ’24 in 16th place and Derek Fearon ’24 in 24th as the pair earned All-American honors.

The Pomona-Pitzer women finished 11th, led by Abigail Loiselle ’23, who earned All-American honors with her 21st-place finish.

In Memoriam: James P. Taylor

1954—2022

Taylor JamesEmeritus Professor of Theatre Jim Taylor, who taught at Pomona for three decades before his retirement in July, passed away from complications of cancer on November 10, 2022. He was 68.

As a specialist in stage and lighting design, Taylor not only trained students in those arts but also designed the College’s departmental theatre productions. In recent years, he found great satisfaction in developing and teaching a course titled Theatre in an Age of Climate Change that introduced elementary concepts and principles of both climate change and theatre. He also was involved in Climate Change Theatre Action, an international series of readings and performances of short climate change plays, hosting events on the Pomona campus that sought to inspire climate action through artistic expression.

Together with Isabelle Rogers ’20, Taylor worked to write a play, This Is a River, set in Malaysian Borneo, where deforestation, palm oil plantations and dam construction have affected Indigenous people living along the Baram River. In 2020, Theatre Without Borders and the Pomona College Department of Theatre presented an online reading of the in-progress work that featured Southeast Asian actors living in Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

“Jim was an extremely kind professor and advisor, and supported me at every point,” Rogers says. “His work went far beyond lighting and set design, and I was most inspired by how he encouraged students to incorporate challenging messages, like the intersection between environmental issues and gender, into our theatrical work. I appreciated how he always pushed himself out of his comfort zone to work on new projects. It was such a pleasure to collaborate with him on This Is a River, which was in many ways a passion project from his personal experience on the EnviroLab Asia trip and his knowledge about the urgency of environmental activism. I’m committed to continuing his legacy with future work and collaboration with Indigenous Kayan groups on the play.”

Taylor also had expertise in South African theatre and theatre in the Philippines, where he was a Fulbright lecturer in 1997-98.

Before arriving at Pomona in 1991, Taylor was a professor at Grinnell College, Drake University and the University of Arkansas Little Rock. He earned an MFA in theatre design and technology from Southern Methodist University in 1979 after graduating from Colorado College in 1976.

At Pomona, students who had the opportunity to study with Taylor valued his skillful teaching, his vast knowledge and his close attention to craft, but the word they most frequently used to describe him was “kind.” 

In nominations for the Wig Award for excellence in teaching, students described Taylor as someone who saw “the light of each student and invite[d] them to the community with his kind heart,” and referred to him as the “kindest, most passionate, very talented, and brilliant professor.” One student noted that he was a source of comfort during the pandemic, teaching his classes with “a calm, gentle kindness that is so appreciated, especially when the world is so hard.” Students said they felt genuinely cared for by a professor noteworthy for his flexibility, compassionate listening and concern for their well-being as much as for their learning.

In addition to his contributions to dozens of campus productions—most recently as set designer for last April’s Scissoring in Pomona’s Allen Theatre—Taylor frequently worked in lighting design for Pasadena’s A Noise Within theatre and at various other venues and festivals over the years.

In describing the value of theatre to students, he said, “Studying theatre is a powerful synthesis of specialized knowledge and broader knowledge, which is important. You become proficient in expression in the short term, and prepared for learning and practice in the art for a lifetime.”

Born James Patrick Brennan Taylor in Denver in 1954, Taylor spent most of his childhood in Wichita, Kansas. He discovered his love for theatre and his talent for the backstage elements of the craft while at Colorado College.

Taylor is survived by his first wife, Mary (Twedt) Cantrell and their daughter Brennan Straka, whose family includes son-in-law Andrew, step-grandson Glen and grandson Malcolm. He is also survived by former wife Rosalie “Sallie” Canda Taylor and her daughter, Francesca “Cesca” Canda.

On Board: 3 Distinguished Alumni Join the College’s Board of Trustees

John Gingrich

John Gingrich

John Gingrich ’91 is the office managing director for Accenture in Northern California, leading more than 5,000 people who work out of the company’s San Francisco Innovation Hub and San Jose offices. He is responsible for Accenture’s talent development and recruiting as well as growing the business and maintaining strong client relationships. He also works to deepen relationships with local community organizations, nonprofits, higher education institutions and government entities. Gingrich returned to Accenture in 2020 from Bay Area startup Humu, where he held the position of chief revenue officer. Earlier in his career he spent nearly three decades at Accenture. Gingrich is a board member and past board chair of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. He also is a director for the Elizabeth V. Sanderson Foundation, which provides animal rescue resources and land preservation grants to help protect the environment. Born in Pomona and raised in Claremont, Gingrich majored in international relations at Pomona. His wife, Christine Currie ’91, is a Pomona alumna. Their son Gus Gingrich ’24 is a current student.

Wei Hopeman

Wei Hopeman

Wei Hopeman ’92 is a co-founder and managing partner of Arbor Ventures, a leading Asia-based fintech-focused venture capital firm founded in 2013. Arbor uses its global vantage point, extensive network and deep sector knowledge to identify key trends and partner closely with leading entrepreneurs to build transformational companies. Hopeman previously was managing director and head of Asia for Citi Ventures, chief China representative for Jefferies & Co. and a technology investment banker at Goldman Sachs in Silicon Valley. She currently serves on the board of directors of Booking Holdings and numerous private technology firms. After graduating from Pomona College with a major in international relations, Hopeman earned an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Jim Valone

Jim Valone

Jim Valone ’85 is a retired emerging markets investment professional who is actively involved in nonprofit work. From 1999 to 2021, he worked at Wellington Management, where he founded and led the firm’s emerging markets debt (EMD) effort. During his tenure, he built out a suite of EMD products, led a team of 35 professionals and grew assets under management to over $35 billion. Prior to joining Wellington, Valone was a portfolio manager at Baring Asset Management and an analyst and portfolio manager at Fidelity Management. In retirement he continues to invest in emerging markets through his private investment fund, 4747 LLC. Valone’s nonprofit work is concentrated in youth education and sustainability causes. He serves on the boards of the Wellington Foundation and Empower. Valone also is a board member of the Emerging Markets Investors Alliance, which promotes good governance and sustainable development in emerging markets. After majoring in economics at Pomona, he went on to earn an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He and his wife, Lisa Valone ’96, live in Wayland, Massachusetts, and have two grown children.

After 67 Years Pomona Claims Another SCIAC Football Championship

Pomona-Pitzer Football team seen celebrating after winning 2022 Sixth st. Rivalry game

Pomona-Pitzer Football team seen celebrating after winning 2022 Sixth st. Rivalry game

When students rushed the field after Pomona-Pitzer’s Sixth Street Rivalry win over CMS for the first SCIAC title and first NCAA playoff berth in the program’s history, a few of them already had bottles of bubbly ready to spray in celebration.

Figuratively speaking, the champagne had been on ice for 67 years. Pomona had not won a SCIAC football title since 1955—so long ago that Pitzer College had not yet been founded and Pomona and Claremont played together on a combined team.

“It means the world. You imagine this, and now it’s a reality. Nothing beats it,” says defensive back Vaish Siddapureddy ’22, one of the Sagehens’ fifth-year seniors already taking classes at Claremont Graduate University while playing their final seasons after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 season.

Quinten Wimmer PZ’24 on left, throwing a pass to Will Radice ’22 on right

Quinten Wimmer PZ’24 on left, Will Radice ’22 on right

Emotion was flowing along with champagne spray after a hard-fought 28-14 victory over CMS (7-2) on November 12. Officially, the two teams shared the SCIAC title with one conference loss each, but the Sagehens earned the automatic NCAA berth and bragging rights by virtue of their head-to-head win over the Stags.

Crowd of Pomona-Pitzer fans cheering

A week later, Pomona-Pitzer bowed out in the first round of the 32-team NCAA Division III football playoffs in a loss to undefeated Linfield University on November 19 in McMinnville, Oregon. But this Pomona-Pitzer team left its mark with an 8-3 record—the most wins in program history—with two of the losses in overtime.

“It’s a lot of hard work that coaches, players and staff have put into this, and we finally did it. We finally did it,” says John Walsh, head football coach and assistant professor of physical education.

It has been a long climb. When Walsh arrived at Pomona-Pitzer in 2013 as defensive coordinator and associate head coach, the Sagehens had won only two games over the past three years, making them one of the least successful programs in the country.

“It needed to be rebuilt,” Walsh says. “We took some time and solidified the infrastructure and then brought in the right coaches and the right players. That’s how you do it.”

Since Walsh took over as head coach before the 2017 season, the Sagehens have gone 27-20 and had only one losing record.

“When I first came into this program, Coach Walsh had only been here for a few years,” says offensive lineman Michael Collins ’22, who graduated with a degree in economics in May and will earn an MBA from Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Management this spring. “He made a real point to change the culture here. This was a team that hadn’t won games in a long time. It had been 60 years at that point since Pomona had won a league championship. I really was inspired by the people he recruited to come in.”

The game was played in front of an overflow crowd at Merritt Field, with spectators leaning on the fences outside the stadium after the stands filled.

“When I came in, I had no clue how big a rivalry this really was,” says Collins. “It means a lot because this rivalry between the two teams has been a huge part of my time here. As much as you want to beat the other guys, the reality is, it makes both teams better. Both these teams, CMS and ourselves, have pushed each other in these tight rivalry games.

“I think it’s a real testament to not only what Pomona and Pitzer have going on, but all the 5Cs.”

A Grant for Inclusive Excellence

Pomona’s newly created Institute for Inclusive Excellence will benefit from an $800,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The six-year grant is part of the HHMI Inclusive Excellence initiative, which incentivizes four-year colleges and universities to build capacity for inclusion on their own campuses, especially in the sciences. Pomona is one of 108 schools across the country that were invited to take part in HHMI’s current Inclusive Excellence 3 initiative. Most of the grant will go directly toward supporting programming through the College’s new institute, which is co-directed by Travis Brown and Professor of Biology Sharon Stranford. Pomona’s initial focus is on faculty and staff professional development in inclusive teaching and mentorship.

Travis Brown (left), Sharon Stranford (right)

Travis Brown (left), Sharon Stranford (right)