The 2025 Wig Distinguished Professor awards were bestowed on seven Pomona faculty at Commencement on May 18, recognizing their excellence in teaching, commitment to students, and service to the College and the community.
This year, five professors received their first Wig Award—an honor presented annually to faculty since 1955. The other two recipients were honored previously.
Students in their junior and senior years cast anonymous ballots for the prize. A committee of trustees, faculty and students then confirm the winners.
This year’s recipients are:
Malachai Bandy, assistant professor of music
Mietek P. Boduszyński, associate professor of politics
J Finley, associate professor of Africana studies
Frances M. Hanzawa, associate professor of biology
Tom Le, associate professor of politics
M. Bilal Nasir, assistant professor of Asian American studies
Shahriar Shahriari, William Polk Russell Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
Below is a sampling of what students had to say about their nominees.
Malachai Bandy
Bandy, a sought-after live and studio musician in the greater Los Angeles area, has amassed a professional performance record on some 20 instruments spanning more than 800 years of music history. His areas of expertise include viola da gamba technique, history and iconography; historical performance practice; and 17th-c North-German music and esotericism.
“Malachai Bandy pours more energy, time and thought into the social wellbeing and academic success of his students than any professor I have encountered before.”
“Malachai is a phenomenal professor, and I don’t know if I’ve ever felt more passion in a class before.”
“Prof. Bandy is such a caring and kind individual, and he always strove to make his classroom an accessible and welcoming environment.”
Mietek P. Boduszyński
Boduszyński is an expert on U.S. foreign policy, democratization and democracy promotion, post-conflict stabilization, transitional justice, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and the Middle East and North Africa.
“He is an incredible professor who goes out of his way every day to inspire kids and do everything possible to help them succeed. We are lucky to have someone like him here.”
“I participated in his faculty-led summer study abroad program in Belgium and Morocco in summer 2024. … It was an opportunity to listen and talk to the people who work at the international institutions, like the EU and NATO; NGOs, human rights movements, embassies, and more that we read about in the classroom. It was an incredibly engaging experience and Professor Mietek was a fantastic professor.”
J Finley
Finley studies Black women’s history, performance and cultural expression, and her current research focuses on the performative and political efficacy of Black women’s humor and comedy.
“Finley is a wonderful professor, extremely exemplary of her passion for critical humor studies. She’s worked to embolden this field on Pomona’s campus through her classes, pushing her students’ growth through comedy shows and bringing a conference to town.”
“J Finley is not only an entertaining professor, but she is also a brilliant lecturer, balancing curatorial studies with the study of comedy and Black women’s cultural production. I am honored to be her student!”
Frances M. Hanzawa
A Pomona professor for more than 30 years, Hanzawa’s areas of expertise include ecology, evolution, plant ecology, genetic and demographic consequences of seed dispersal, and plant-animal interactions.
“Professor Hanzawa has been a great and supporting professor in Plant Ecology, supporting us on independent projects and striking a great balance between teaching a lot of really great material and pushing us to incorporate our own interests into the classroom.”
“Professor Hanzawa is genuinely invested in my learning and success.”
“She is a great lecturer and wonderful character to be around.”
“Professor Hanzawa goes out of her way to help students. She was a lecturer who kept me constantly engaged and thinking about the ideas of the course outside of class.”
Tom Le
Le, a Wig Award winner in 2020, has expertise in Japanese security policy, the U.S.-Japan alliance, war memory and reconciliation, militarism norms, military and security balance in East Asia and East Asia regionalism.
“His advice changed my life for the better. His classes and the skills I learned from them will stick with me for the rest of my life, and I will never forget how much he’s helped me in finding what I want to be part of and locating ways to be part of it.”
“Prof. Le carries an immense amount on his shoulders because he cares about his students and the community.”
“Professor Le commands the classroom masterfully, has no shortage of wisdom, and fosters an engaging learning experience.”
M. Bilal Nasir
Nasir’s research interests include policing and surveillance, critical race studies, secularism, social movements, science and technology, and anthropology of Muslims and Islam.
“Professor Nasir is not only highly intelligent, but also genuinely compassionate.”
“Nasir has changed my life—allowing me to think more critically about the world.”
“Professor Nasir is an outstandingly supportive and thoughtful educator. His course designs are inspiringly well formulated, and his classes strike an artful balance of informative contextual lecture and brilliantly structured conversation as guided by his thought-provoking leading questions.”
Shahriar Shahriari
Shahriari, a Wig Award recipient in 2018, 2013, 2008, 1999 and 1993, has taught at Pomona since 1989, with expertise in combinatorics of posets, extremal set theory, finite group theory, representation theory of finite groups, and surreal numbers.
“Professor Shahriari has been one of the brightest parts of my time at Pomona. Starting from when I was an underclassman having a hard time in his class, he took the time to meet with me, help me connect with others, and encourage me to stay in the major.”
“It is common for most math majors to say they decided to pursue math after taking one of Professor Shahriari’s courses, and for good reason—he is a kind and demanding professor who truly makes sure that students know the content inside and out!”
“Prof. Shahriari has been an irreplaceable advisor throughout my time at Pomona. He has provided thoughtful, kind, and well-rounded advice on every step of my college journey.”