Professor of Computer Science Yuqing Melanie Wu, an expert in data management and query optimization whose love for teaching drew her to the liberal arts, became Pomona’s new vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College on July 1.

“I’m struck by her openness, transparency and eagerness to get input from across the College,” says Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr. “I know Melanie will be a key partner in supporting our talented faculty, promoting a compelling liberal arts curriculum for our students and elevating Pomona’s unique role in creating opportunity in American higher education.”

Wu arrived at Pomona in 2014 as a visiting associate professor and was hired as a tenured associate professor the following year. Her desire to devote more time to teaching led her to Pomona after serving as a faculty member at research institutions. That pursuit of excellence in the classroom was recognized in 2021 when Wu received the Wig Award for teaching, the highest honor faculty members can receive at Pomona.

Her leadership experience includes numerous Pomona faculty and academic committees and consortium-wide task
forces for computer science. She chaired Pomona’s Computer Science Department from 2017 to 2020. She recently completed a 2021-22 fellowship with the American Council on Education (ACE), a comprehensive and rigorous leadership program in higher education.

At Pomona, she is a member of the Global Pomona Project steering committee, a group tasked with shaping Pomona’s role in the world for decades to come. As a first-generation immigrant and a woman of color in the field of computer science, Wu notes that she “is keenly aware of the challenges people with diverse backgrounds face. It’s important to recognize that pursuing diversity, equity and inclusion is a journey of lifelong learning for all.”

Wu earned her B.S. and M.S. in computer science from Peking University in China. She went on to receive an M.S. from Indiana University Bloomington and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

She succeeds Professor of Geology Robert Gaines, who has served as dean of the College since 2019.

View Dean Wu’s video message to the Pomona community at pomona.edu/deanwu.

Fifty years ago this summer, Title IX, a federal civil rights act to ensure that students and employees in educational settings are treated equally and fairly regardless of gender, was signed into law. Although the focus today is often on Title IX’s protections related to sexual harassment and sexual violence, for generations of women Title IX opened wide the gates that had limited their opportunities to compete in high school and college athletics.

Pomona has a long history of women’s athletics (see the striking picture of the 1903 women’s basketball team), but equity with men’s sports is a direct result of Title IX. Today, Pomona-Pitzer sponsors NCAA competition in 11 women’s sports and 10 men’s, including football, which requires a larger roster of athletes.

As part of Sagehen Athletics’ yearlong commemoration of Title IX, Pomona College Trustee Onetta Brooks ’74, a basketball and volleyball player as a Pomona student, talked with Miriam Merrill, director of athletics and chair of physical education.

Trustee Onetta Brooks ’74

“What I do remember for volleyball in the initial couple years is we made our own shorts,” Brooks recalls. “Somehow there was a top that had a number, and I don’t know if that was just something leftover. But of course you had to buy your own shoes. So all I recall is I think the knee pads maybe had been provided. We were on our own the first couple of years when I came in ’70.

“And laundry. We had to do our own laundry, so to speak, so we could come back fresh the next time. I think towels may have been provided.”

The video that can be viewed at sagehens.com/information/50th_anniversary_of_Title_IX is part of the commemoration led by Professor of Physical Education Lisa Beckett.

“Always trying to have equal access, male and female locker rooms and all the equipment, it was just something that I knew would take time, and I’m just so grateful that it eventually has come a long way since then, my time,” Brooks says.

Each May, we celebrate Commencement as students begin their lives after college. It also marks the time a small group of professors begin their retirements after years of service to the College. For alumni, seeing the professors’ names might inspire nostalgia—and perhaps a note of appreciation. These are the faculty retirements from the 2021-22 academic year, along with the year they arrived at the College.

Tom Leabhart (1982)
Resident Artist and Professor of Theatre

Patricia Smiley (1989)
Professor of Psychological Science

Cynthia Selassie (1990)
Blanche and Frank Seaver Professor of Science and Professor of Chemistry

Mary Coffey (1995)
Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures

Kim Bruce (2005)
Reuben C. and Eleanor Winslow Professor of Computer Science

Sandeep Mukherjee (2006)
Associate Professor of Art