A Closer Look: Julie Siebel '84, 2024 Alumni Distinguished Service Award Recipient

"I can’t recall a time when Pomona College didn’t have a presence in my life."

Julie Siebel and friends at Alumni Weekend at Pomona College campus — Julie Siebel and Sagefriends celebrating Alumni Weekend with Cecil.

Thursday, August 1, 2024

Three Questions

How has your Pomona College experience played a role in where you are today?

Pomona gave me the tools I needed to become the relationship builder, change agent and leader I am today. Since graduating, I have built a reputation for forging and maintaining relationships, forming coalitions and drawing on many diverse perspectives to identify and address the big picture issues as well as the minute details as the situation requires.

Building this leadership style began when, as a senior, I was the student representative to the Alumni Association’s executive committee. Not only was I a student, I was the only woman at the table. I remember clearly four of the men in that room helped me understand I represented the next generation of leadership among the alumni community. My training began with that experience. In an era before we truly understood what allyship meant, at a time when concerns for gender diversity outweighed many others, and intersectionality was just an idea on a distant horizon, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Byron Hayes ’56, John Jakle ’67, Bill Struebing ’59 and Ken Wright ’56. Together, they introduced me to the skills, strategies and standards that would shape my professional, civic and intellectual leadership path for the subsequent 40+ years.

What is your favorite Pomona memory?

The theme that resonates with me all these years later is the immersive nature of our experience as students. Learning wasn’t limited to the classroom or the faculty. I’m not sure if I was introduced to the latest international policy issues while taping ankles for the football players in the training room prior to practice, in the classroom from a faculty lecture or during a late night Foster’s donut run. As students, we lived in an environment where learning was a constant, opportunities for growth surrounded us and the chance to build lifelong relationships in the process was a given.

What advice do you have for current Pomona students?

These four years go by incredibly fast. Enjoy every moment you have as a student. The world you inhabit here on campus is both unique and transformational. Embrace the opportunities that come your way, push your own boundaries to discover the new and different (even if it is uncomfortable) and take time to relax, have fun, and build those friendships now – they’ll sustain you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine as you move beyond the Gates and into the “outside world."

A thoughtful and dedicated Sagehen volunteer for over four decades, read about 2024 Alumni Distinguished Service Award winner Julie Siebel '84, the latest story in the "A Closer Look" series, featuring 2024 Alumni Award winners. Siebel was honored along with fellow award recipients at Alumni Weekend this past spring.

In thinking about her esteemed place among Pomona College leadership volunteers, Julie Siebel ’84 must be considered a child prodigy. Growing up in Claremont, she tagged along with her mother, Cynthia “Sue” Cudney Siebel ’59, as she worked on and finished her Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate University. The proud product of Sycamore School, adjacent to The Claremont Colleges, Julie is also related to a surprisingly large number of siblings and cousins who are graduates of four out of the 5Cs and CGU. She has spent nearly all her life connected to or serving Pomona College.

As an undergraduate at Pomona, Siebel majored in American Studies and was also fascinated by the study of human psychology. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California (USC) in U.S. History and Gender Studies and has worked in non-profit management for most of her career. Currently, Siebel is the Senior Vice President and Engagement Manager at CCS Fundraising.

A student leader while at Pomona, Siebel served as a Sponsor in Norton-Clark residence hall, Orientation Co-chair, an officer and member of the Glee Club and student representative to the Alumni Council during her junior and senior years. Soon after graduating, Siebel volunteered to chair the Orange County Regional Alumni Chapter and served on the College’s Centennial Celebration Planning Committee. She has served on nearly every reunion class committee since graduation. She currently serves on the Alumni Association Board and chaired the Regional Alumni Chapters committee in her first three years as a member. Siebel is also a proud member of the Torchbearers Circle.

“I can’t recall a time when Pomona College didn’t have a presence in my life. As a child living near campus, I remember talking about President Blaisdell’s quote with family members who helped me understand what ‘bear their added riches in trust’ meant and how it encompassed far more than simply financial support. I have little doubt those conversations helped to shape my personal belief that each of us has a responsibility to make a difference, and to do so effectively requires a focused and strategic commitment to an issue that speaks to us on a personal level,” Siebel said.

Siebel celebrated her 40th reunion with the Class of 1984 this past spring at Alumni Weekend 2024.

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