He really brings science and the arts together. He feels that art is not just a tack-on, but it’s an essential part of going out in the world, something that strengthens innovation and empathy, which are the qualities that are really needed.

—Louise Bryson
Trustee

I got to know President Oxtoby pretty well when I was ASPC president. I was pretty frustrated at the time because I really wanted the faculty to require a Dynamics of Difference and Power course as a graduation requirement, and I spent my presidency organizing around that issue. One of the problems was that critics kept saying that not enough students wanted the change. I invited President Oxtoby to come speak at a Senate meeting, and I remember him telling us that our job was to do what was right, not what was popular.  That was a pivotal moment for me that affirmed that I was being a good leader for following my heart.  That message has stuck with me to this day.

—Lori Kido Lopez ’06

The times I’ve seen him most happy—when I’ve seen looks of what I would describe as pure happiness on his face—have been after his talks with students.

—Teresa Shaw
Special Assistant to the President

I think David has been an important spokesman for the liberal arts. As I look back over the past few years, his message has really resonated in countries like China, where traditionally people would opt for a large research university. To me, it’s inspiring to see that more people actually know what Pomona College is and what the liberal arts entail and that more Chinese students are pursuing this experience. I really applaud David for his continuous effort to be at the forefront in conveying the importance of a liberal arts education, in both domestic and international regions.

—Xiaoye “MD” Ma ’11
Trustee

When I think about David and Claire, I can’t help but think of the times they’ve been around music, and in particular, when they’ve been around the Glee Club. There’s always so much joy on their faces. It’s very clear that David enjoys not only the music itself, but the fact that he’s hearing students sing. It’s meaningful to him. We’ve had several times on tour when he and Claire were in our midst, and we’ve sung for them in particular. That’s the picture that comes into my head—the joy on their faces when we’ve stood in a circle around them and sung to them.

—Donna Di Grazia
Professor of Music

Read more Oxtoby memories, part 3

It is hard to imagine Pomona without President Oxtoby. For more than a decade, David served the Pomona community well. He encouraged students to grow intellectually, challenged graduates to tackle big issues, and motivated all of us to take real, meaningful action to make the world a better place. I’ve come to know David quite well, and I’ve always been inspired by his deep commitment to fighting climate change. I have spent my adult life working to solve climate change, so it’s an issue that is personal to me. It won’t be solved by one person or one country.  We can only solve this by coming together to learn, educate others and work towards a solution. That’s why President Oxtoby’s work to educate and engage with students on climate change has been critical to our fight, and it’s why I’m more optimistic than ever about finally solving our generation’s greatest challenge.

—Sen. Brian Schatz ’94
U.S. Senator from Hawaii

He’s always done what he thought was right for the institution, even when it was hard. Sometimes, when you’re serving others, you have to put your own feelings on hold. He was always able to do that and to listen to people on both sides of the issues.

—Rick Hazlett
Professor Emeritus of Geology

I read his CV, and I noticed his passion for environmental chemistry. So I said, ‘Oh, this is an opportunity.’ So I sent him an email and said, ‘What if the two of us were to team-teach a course, you know, a serious course in environmental chemistry?’ And he thought it was a wonderful idea. And it was a great team effort. David handled everything with the atmosphere, gas-phase, and then I dealt with the oceans and the land—the solid-phase. And he was always prepared, gave clear presentations and was simply on top of the material.

—Wayne Steinmetz
Professor Emeritus of Chemistry

I majored in chemistry, so David factored into my life pretty early on because of his background as a chemist. I was always really impressed by him. I mean, he literally wrote our chemistry textbook for freshman year. I got to know him a little bit when I took the Environmental Chemistry course, but we really didn’t get to know each other very well until the end of my time at Pomona, when he helped me with my application to Cambridge. I think he is just such a calming influence. He really takes the time to sit down and listen to what you’re saying before he starts trying to give advice.

—Mike Gormally ’11

I think President Oxtoby is probably one of the most outspoken leaders on college campuses when it comes to sustainability. For instance, we went to the Climate Round Table at the White House together last year. That was a small group of about 20 presidents who went to D.C. to speak with leaders at the White House. So I’ve seen his leadership in that setting, and then you see the emphasis on sustainability here on campus—the energy efficiency of the new buildings, for example—and you see him talking about carbon pricing, which is not something a lot of college presidents feel comfortable doing. But he has such a complete understanding of what’s going on, and he’s active in the community. He’s a real leader.

—Tom Erb ’18

Read more Oxtoby memories, part 4

I have always admired the clarity of purpose President Oxtoby has demonstrated in terms of diversity and inclusion. He understands, at a very fundamental level, that living and learning in a diverse and inclusive environment is the best preparation for students at Pomona College. I’ve enjoyed working with him on these very important issues facing the College and I believe our students will reap the benefits of his leadership for decades to come.

—Ric Townes
Associate Dean of Students

I took a selfie with him and Mrs. Oxtoby at the freshman picnic, and it just felt wonderful to get to know them on the first week of school as a freshman. I think my friends and my teachers from my international school were all pretty surprised that I got to know President Oxtoby the first week of school, and were commenting on Facebook, like: ‘Wow, you got know president already.’

—April Xu ’18

What struck me about David when I first met him was his deep personal humility.  In all of our conversations about priorities and financial decisions, his thinking is guided by a strong ethical core and a commitment to what is best for students in particular and the Pomona community as a whole.

 —Karen Sisson ’79
Vice President and Treasurer

David is, in addition to everything else, a decent and caring person who detests injustice. It has been David’s commitment to justice that has led Pomona to the forefront in terms of recruiting, admitting and supporting a student body that is diverse in every possible respect.

 —Richard Fass
Vice President for Planning, Retired

David Oxtoby’s commitment to diversity and to making the Pomona education accessible to all has been consistent, wide ranging and effective. Because of his leadership, Pomona has partnered with QuestBridge and the Posse Foundation, made the Draper Center and its signature PAYS program an important part of the campus, opened Pomona’s doors to Dreamers, and increased the number and diversity of its international students. Each one of these initiatives is significant, but, taken together, they have transformed the College. Talking to students, walking around campus, sitting in classes, you can easily see, hear and sense the effect of the changed student body on the intellectual life of the campus. Those of us who have worked with David on these issues have come to realize that we can depend on his commitment to equity, and diversity. His is not a fleeting here-today-gone-tomorrow commitment; rather it comes from an inner moral compass. Pomona is a changed and better place because of it.

—Shahriar Shahriari
Professor of Mathematics

Read more Oxtoby memories, part 5

The story of the Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity is really the story of how David started out with a dream for The Claremont Colleges, how he managed to inspire a significant donor and how he managed to bring all of the five undergraduate colleges together to make it possible. And to me that’s characteristic of David—he has an end goal in mind; he is willing to take the time and figure out a process that will allow people to buy in; he is willing to enlist help from lots of different sources to get there; and he’s got an enormous amount of patience in seeing the big picture and being able to find a path to the place he wants to get to.

—Maria Klawe
President, Harvey Mudd College

I’m a big fan of David’s, and one reason is his commitment to the arts. He’s worked really hard over the years to figure out, from a physical plant point of view, how we can do a better job of teaching the arts. Certainly, the Studio Art Hall is one example, and his commitment to building a new art museum is another. I know the time he’s put in—his work with the architects, the late-night hearings and City Council meetings. He’s really put his heart and soul into seeing it forward, so that we can have these gorgeous buildings that will last years and years for thousands of students to experience and appreciate and to learn under those roofs.

—Janet Benton ’79
Trustee

It was very clear to me from my first interview that David was really deeply involved in this search. You could see in his eyes that he cared a lot about the Sontag Center. Then David called me personally to talk about how it had gone and what the next steps would be, and he spent some time on the phone with me at 9 o’clock on a Saturday night. And when I came back for a full day, he picked me up at the hotel at 7:30 in the morning in his car. Seeing his commitment made a big difference in my interest and appreciation of the job.

—Fred Leichter
Founding Director of the Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity

I remember when James Turrell came to campus for the Skyspace project. He looked at the site in the courtyard between Lincoln and Edmunds halls, and then we were up in the conference room talking to David about it, and Turrell was sketching out Skyspace images, and David was really engaged. They started talking about materials and the effect of light and chemical interactions, and Turrell said something about rust, and David said, ‘I’m really interested in rust!’ When I think of David, I think of that conversation—the ability to merge science and the humanities and the arts and to think about things differently and to feed off someone else’s ideas.

—Kathleen Howe
Director of the Pomona College Museum of Art

Giving his inaugural address in October 2003

Applauding noted CBS anchorman and honorary degree recipient Walter Cronkite during the 2004 Commencement exercise.

In full gear for one of his beloved long-distance bicycle rides

Teaching his environmental chemistry class in February 2007

Helping to assemble “String Theory,” the 2009 artwork-cum-canopy that provides shade for the annual commencement ceremony in Marston Quad

Talking with students during his daily walk to work from the President’s House in 2009

Welcoming Native Americans to campus for the first College-hosted powwow in August 2012

With his wife, Claire, at Trinity College, Cambridge, during his fall 2012 sabbatical

With Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in October 2015

Raising a toast at the closing celebration for the Daring Minds Campaign in February 2016

Speaking to the Class of 2020 at the 2016 Convocation

2003

The campus is alight on the October evening of Oxtoby’s inauguration as Pomona’s ninth president. Students welcome him from his previous job as dean of physical sciences at the University of Chicago with a party featuring a Chicago-style jazz band and a “Taste of Chicago” fare of hot dogs and deep-dish pizza. The next morning, Oxtoby leads a 10-mile bicycle ride with 40 cyclists, including faculty, students, staff and alumni.

2004

The Richard C. Seaver Biology Laboratory is completed, providing state-of-the-art research and teaching labs for genetics, cell biology, neurobiology, plant and animal physiology and ecology. The building receives the College’s first LEED certification (silver) from the U.S. Green Building Council.

2005

“47 Things Every Sagehen Should Do” challenges student to break out of the “Claremont Bubble” and explore the cultural institutions, outdoor recreation opportunities and other resources of Southern California.

2006

The College’s student-built Organic Farm becomes an official part of campus and part of the Environmental Analysis Program, which offers its first Farms and Gardens class.

2007

Pomona dedicates the new Lincoln and Edmunds halls, housing the departments of Psychology, Linguistics and Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Geology and Environmental Analysis, as well as three intercollegiate programs—Asian American Studies, Black Studies and Chicano/a Studies. The buildings receive LEED gold certification. In the courtyard, Pomona’s newest work of public art is completed. The LA Times calls “Dividing the Light” (below), a Skyspace by James Turrell ’65, “one of the best works of public art in recent memory.”

2008

The stock market crash marks the beginning of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and Pomona’s endowment tumbles by about 25 percent. The College freezes salaries and institutes other belt-tightening measures but actually increases funding for financial aid to assist students affected by the events. The College also reaffirms its decision, announced earlier in the year, to no longer include loans in financial aid packages.

2009

The Office of Community Programs is renamed the Draper Center for Community Partnerships, with plans to expand educational and community outreach, including the College’s long-term commitment to the Pomona College Academy for Youth Success (PAYS).

2010

The College publicly launches Campaign Pomona: Daring Minds, setting a goal of $250 million. The five-year campaign focuses on raising funds for four main areas: increasing endowed scholarship aid, enhancing teaching and learning, improving critical facilities, and expanding the Annual Fund. Five years later, the campaign closes with more than $316 million raised. (At right, Stewart Smith ’68, one of the campaign co-chairs, at the campaign launch)

2011

Sontag and Dialynas residence halls open on north campus. The halls, featuring suite-style apartments for about 150 students, are certified LEED Platinum, becoming the first college residence halls in California to achieve that rating and the second such project anywhere in the nation.

2012

Oxtoby is among 180 influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors and institutional leaders who are inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

2013

Pomona is one of 22 colleges in the country named to The Princeton Review 2014 Green Honor Roll for earning the highest possible score based on its environmentally related practices, policies and academic offerings.

2014

The College celebrates the opening of its new Studio Art Hall with performances, art activities and installations. The hall replaces Rembrandt Hall, doubling the space for painting, drawing, sculpture, digital arts and photography. The following year, the Studio Art Hall receives LEED Gold certification.

2015

Founders Day marks the dedication of the rebuilt Millikan Laboratory and renovated Andrew Science Hall with an afternoon of family-oriented events and activities. The Millikan and Andrew buildings, which house the Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy departments, are certified LEED Platinum.

2016

Plans are announced for a new Pomona College Museum of Art as part of the College’s proposed master plan.