Six outstanding Sagehens are being recognized for their professional achievements and longtime service to Pomona College by the Alumni Association Board.
This year the Blaisdell Distinguished Alumni Award for high achievement in professional activities or community service will be awarded to Susan M. Blaustein ’75, Douglas M. Haynes ’85 and Charles E. Phelps ’65. Former Director of Alumni Relations Nancy Treser-Osgood ’80 and John Rabold ’75 will receive the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in recognition of their selfless commitment and ongoing volunteer service to the College. The Inspirational Young Alumni Award, which recognizes the dedication, perseverance and consistency of a recent graduate, will be presented to Priya Amritraj ’15.
“These extraordinary alumni embody what it means to be a Sagehen through their exceptional accomplishments, leadership and generosity,” says Pomona College Acting President Robert Gaines. “On behalf of the College, I am proud to recognize and celebrate these stellar members of our community.”
Blaisdell and Distinguished Service Award recipients are selected by a council of past presidents of the Alumni Association Board. Inspirational Young Alumni Award recipients are selected by a committee of current Alumni Association Board members. This year’s honorees will be presented with their awards during Alumni Weekend, May 1-4. Alumni Weekend attendees will hear a special presentation featuring this year's Blaisdell and Inspirational Young Alumni Award honorees on campus May 3. The Distinguished Service Awards will be presented during the Through the Gates program later that same day.
Blaisdell Distinguished Alumni Award
Susan M. Blaustein ’75 is the founder, executive director and current board chair of WomenStrong International, a non-profit that focuses on the work of local feminist leaders around the world and amplifies their capacity and solutions for driving meaningful change in their communities. A lecturer at Columbia University, Blaustein was formerly a senior consultant and analyst with the International Crisis Group and the Coalition for International Justice. She also has reported on conflicts, politics, economics and social injustice for numerous publications, including The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal.
Douglas M. Haynes ’85 is the interim vice provost for faculty affairs and programs in the University of California Office of the President. As the inaugural vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer at UC Irvine, Haynes helped create the Office of Inclusive Excellence and led pioneering initiatives, including expanded opportunities and program development for underrepresented groups. He was also the founding director of UCI’s Center for Medical Humanities, where he led innovative collaborations among arts, humanities and medicine faculty to advance the understanding of health, healing and well-being.
Charles “Chuck” E. Phelps ’65, a university professor and provost emeritus at the University of Rochester, is among the most highly honored individuals in health economics internationally. A member of the selective National Academy of Medicine, Phelps is the only person awarded the Victor R. Fuchs Award for Lifetime Contributions to Health Economics and the Avedis Donabedian Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. In addition to being a former researcher and director at the RAND Corporation, Phelps taught in the economics and political science departments at the University of Rochester, directed its Public Policy Analysis Program, chaired what is now the Department of Public Health Sciences and went on to become the university’s provost. His twin brother Lew Phelps is also a member of the Class of 1965.
Alumni Distinguished Service Award
John Rabold ’75 is longtime alumni volunteer who has encouraged his classmates to stay connected with Pomona and each other for decades. Rabold, who regularly shares College updates and news about alumni events with fellow Sagehens, has served as a 1975 class reunion committee member for many years and helped plan its celebrations, including this year’s 50th reunion. He has also been instrumental in fundraising for class gifts.
Nancy Treser-Osgood ’80 was Pomona’s director of alumni relations for 17 years. Under her leadership, she restructured the Alumni Council, expanded Alumni Weekend programming and participation and created new events to boost alumni engagement. She has been faithfully serving on her Class of 1980 reunion committee since their fifth reunion. A former varsity volleyball player for Sagehen Athletics, student athletic trainer and basketball statistician, Treser-Osgood was also the Pomona-Pitzer Athletics Hall of Fame Committee’s secretary for nearly 30 years. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame for her service in 2023.
Inspirational Young Alumni Award
Priya Amritraj ’15, head of film and television for the Hyde Park Entertainment Group, oversees the creative development, packaging and production of projects, with an emphasis on high-profile intellectual property acquisition, talent collaborations and global film, TV and digital endeavors. She is developing projects highlighting her passion for telling culturally diverse and female-driven stories, including The Joy Luck Club 2, a sequel to the original film based on Amy Tan’s novel; Audition, an adaptation of the 1993 pioneering Japanese genre film; and, in partnership with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Hip Hop Cop, a TV series on the memoir follow-up to BlacKkKlansman.
Learn more about the 2025 Alumni Award recipients on the Alumni Awards webpage.