Tom and Patty Pollard ’64 P’95 want to ensure Pomona students have worry-free access to summer research opportunities.
Each fall, SURP students present posters of their summer research findings at Pomona's Intensive Summer Experience Symposium.
SURP students work as research assistants on Pomona faculty research programs or on independent projects under faculty mentorship.
For Tom and Patty Pollard ’64 P’95, conducting research as Pomona College students laid the foundation for their successful careers — Tom as a research scientist and Patty as a leader in non-partisan politics. Now, it’s the inspiration behind their $1 million legacy gift to support the College’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP).
A chemistry and zoology major at Pomona, Tom spent three of his summers conducting scientific research off campus. The research Tom conducted during the summer before his senior year made a profound impact on his life framing the questions he has investigated throughout his career.
Patty, who studied government at Pomona, says her experiences with two professors sparked her interest in non-partisan political advocacy work. She took a course taught by Lee McDonald ’48, former dean of the College and professor emeritus, who was active in local government and encouraged his students to help register voters. She credits Michael Armacost, a former government professor, with guiding her senior thesis on international politics.
“Undergraduate research is a testing ground,” says Tom Pollard, professor emeritus of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Yale University and a research associate at UC Berkeley. “You may think you want to be a social scientist or biologist or chemist. But unless you actually try it, you don't know.”
The Pollards’ generosity will ultimately establish a fund to support SURP and other student research programs in perpetuity. An additional $25,000 gift from the couple will provide immediate support for SURP students.
“Summer research programs are ideal for students to explore and learn without the classes and other activities that keep them busy during the academic year,” says Tom. “These opportunities need to be available for all students without financial worry.”
Support for SURP is essential to ensure that all students, regardless of financial need, have the opportunity to participate in summer research, underscoring the College’s steadfast commitment to equity and access. About half of all Pomona students participate in faculty-mentored research and in 2024, a total of 195 students received more than $1 million in grant funding through SURP.
Faculty-mentored student research is a key experiential learning opportunity for students to explore career and graduate school interests or begin their senior thesis. SURP offers students the chance to work closely with a professor as a research assistant or to develop their own project.
“My sincerest gratitude to Tom and Patty Pollard for their transformative gift and steadfast belief in the importance of student research opportunities at the College,” says Pomona College Acting President Robert Gaines. “Their generosity upholds the Pomona standard of excellence and fosters invaluable experiential learning and self-discovery for Sagehens now and in the future.”
The Pollards’ gift continues the family’s history of supporting Pomona students. Tom’s father, Dean ’33, established an endowed scholarship fund at Pomona in 1981 to honor his wife, Florence ’38. Following his parents’ footsteps, two more generations of their family attended Pomona, including Tom’s brothers, David ’65 and James ’77, and the couple’s daughter, Katherine ’95, who, like her grandmother more than five decades earlier, was the class valedictorian. Tom, David, James and Katherine all became professional scientists.
Patty describes her experience at Pomona as a “confidence booster.” Following graduation, Patty taught high school and later preschool. She served as president of Maryland’s League of Women Voters and founded a statewide advocacy group to support Maryland public schools. Patty also assisted classmate and former Pomona College Trustee Robert Price ’64 with his philanthropic work to improve education in San Diego public schools serving students from low-income families. She organized courses in English as a Second Language for parents and trained them to volunteer in the classroom.
After graduating from Pomona, Tom continued summer research at Harvard Medical School where he started using biochemical, biophysical and computational analysis to learn how cells move and divide in two. He has been honored for his discoveries with the E.B. Wilson Medal, the American Society for Cell Biology’s highest honor, the Canada Gairdner Award and an honorary doctorate from Pomona in 2005. Tom chaired academic departments at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Yale and also served as president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
“Pomona College got me out to the frontier of research, and I kept on doing that for the rest of my life,” says Tom. “We’re very happy to help strengthen the Summer Undergraduate Research Program and create research opportunities for Pomona students for generations to come.”
Learn how you can leave a legacy gift to Pomona or make a taxwise gift using your retirement account by visiting our website or emailing our legacy gift team.