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Pomona College Magazine is published three times a year by Pomona College
550 N. College Ave, Claremont, CA 91711
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Q & A/ Miriam Feldblum
Helping Students Flourish
Miriam Feldblum arrived at Pomona in July as the new vice president and
dean of students. Coming to Pomona after more than a decade at Caltech,
Feldblum oversees residential and social life and shares oversight of
academic support services, advising and academic procedures.
Anne Shulock ’08 sat down with Feldblum in September to discuss the new
dean’s background and plans.
You’re from New York City. When did you
first come to California?
I came to Northern California from Paris
in 1989. I was working on my dissertation—
I wrote a book on citizenship in
France. I’d already done my Ph.D
coursework at Yale, then went to Paris to
do fieldwork, then came back to Stanford
where I had a fellowship to finish writing
my dissertation. And so I never left
California. I spent from 1989 to 1995 in
Northern California—I was a professor at
the University of San Francisco and also a
scholar-in-residence at Stanford—and
then I went to Caltech.
Pomona has its 47 things to do. What are
your top “must-sees” and “must-dos” in
the area?
I love going into L.A., I love discovering
neighborhoods, I love taking the metro.
I’ve already taken the train from here,
and I love the fact that I can walk to the Metrolink. You can’t always get everywhere
with the metro, but you can get to
a lot of places. I also like to go hiking,
though you have to remember I grew up
in New York City, so when I say I like
hiking it comes with no expertise. When
I was working at Caltech and living in
Altadena I would frequently walk and jog
into the San Gabriel hills and go hiking
along the canyon.
 You have a lot of experience managing
student activities. What did you participate
in when you were a student?
I worked as a research assistant. I knew I
was interested in politics and political science
and that I wanted to go on to graduate
school, so as an undergraduate I
spent a lot of time with my faculty members.
I also took some time off when I
was an undergraduate and worked as a
nanny in New York City on Central Park
West. I certainly experienced rich New
York, and it was actually a great experience.
It was a lot of fun, and there were
so many people you could bump into in
the elevator. One day I bumped into
Steve Martin three times.
Then I went abroad the spring semester
of my senior year—to Geneva. I was
finishing up my coursework, but I was
also searching for a job, and the first job
I got was at McDonald’s, right by the
train station. For anyone who has gone
to Geneva, I think it’s still there. I didn’t
like it at all, but it actually got me interested
in immigration. There were a lot of
immigrant workers at McDonald’s, and
the conditions of immigrant workers’
lives in European countries were really
brought home to me. I was in Geneva
for a year and a half, and I worked for
an organization now called International
Organization for Migration. And that’s
what sparked me into becoming an
immigration scholar. So I think it’s
really important to go abroad. You find
out what travels well, how much you
don’t know.
What initially attracted you to Pomona?
Actually, the position was brought to my
attention. I was very happy at Caltech,
and I didn’t really know that I wanted to
move, but I was convinced to apply, and
I did. In December, when I came out
here for the initial meeting with the
search committee, I had this wonderful
meeting with the committee, and there
was such a great sense—from the students,
the staff, the faculty, the president—
of real concern for students. It was
clear that there were great benefits to
having this sole focus on undergraduate
education, and I came away from meeting
with them saying, “Wow!”
And then, I have to say, what really
did it for me was two students who took
me for a tour of campus and wowed me.
It was just wonderful. It was so clear to
me that they were so engaged across the
campus and not just focused on one
issue. Students have so much energy and
enthusiasm and concern for others.
I’m enthralled with this place.
What is your role here now?
For me, the primary goal for Student
Affairs—and why we’re here—is to help
students flourish. That is what inspires
us, what drives us, what our focus is on.
And to enable students to flourish means
working very closely with students and
faculty and staff so that this can happen.
Sometimes it’s really working to support
the faculty, so that students in their classes,
or who they’re advising, do the best
that they can do. So for me the focus is
on students, but because of what we’re
trying to accomplish, it really means
making sure that we’re being very
responsive to the needs of faculty, staff
and students.
What are some specific issues that are on
tap for you this year?
There are three working committees that
I’m chairing that are very important and
that are going to require sustained
engagement by all of us.
The first one is the Residential Hall
Planning. Building new residence halls for
Pomona is something that we want to do
really thoughtfully, and what’s important
to me is making sure that students’ input
takes place in the very beginning. So actually,
Pomona has agreed to have a student
on the architect selection committee,
which we haven’t had in the past. ...
The second working group is on the
Center for Community Partnership, and
that’s also in the Strategic Plan. I’m really
excited to be working on that as well.
I want the conversation to start with
Orientation Adventure, which in reality is
about getting people out of the Pomona
bubble, getting them to think, “How are
we engaging in our surrounding communities?
In the natural landscape? In the
urban landscape?” We want students to
start making these connections and then
continue them in the form of community
partnerships. Right now we’re really talking
about implementation, and implementation
must include student and faculty
engagement.
The third working group is on the
Speakers’ Program. We’re still in the
midst this month of finalizing the membership
of all these groups but I’m hoping
that we can start meeting in October.
In talking with students, what issues
concern them right now?
For the trustee-student retreat that’s taking
place in October, health and counseling
is one topic. I think students are very
interested in how effective these services
are, how responsive they are—are we
doing the best that we can for Pomona
students? Mental health services are a top
priority for me. We actually are working
very closely with Rebecca Kornbluh who
is the Claremont consortium’s director of
health and psychological services, and
she’s coming to weekly meetings with us,
so we’re looking for a closer integration
with what’s happening on the CUC side.
How would you sum up your philosophy?
I take a very collaborative approach to
everything that I do. I’m always concerned
about ensuring that people have a
voice. You have to make sure that people
are at the table for meetings, and you
have to make sure that we’re trying to
work together. But you also have to
spend time listening to people individually.
So one part of it is really working hard
to listen and to hear what people are trying
to communicate.
Second, I think it’s important to be
thoughtful and deliberate, but also to
take action. It can be very frustrating if
you spend all your time talking about
something, but nothing ever happens. So
I try to build a culture of evidence, gathering
information, talking about it—but
then action. And then it’s important to
be very honest about it when the change
can’t happen at that time.
Dean Quinley, your predecessor, was
known as “DQ.” Do you have any suggestion
for your own nickname?
I was talking to a student who last year
was a first-year, and when her sponsor
said, “We’re going to dinner at DQ’s,”
she thought it was Dairy Queen and was
really looking forward to it! But students
are going to have to be creative with
my name. I’m sure they can be creative
enough. |
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