Dear Pomona Community,
As we settle into the rhythm of the academic year, I hope you are finding time to enjoy the myriad artistic, athletic and intellectual events across campus. What a gift to call Pomona our academic home. Many of those opportunities connect us to cultures, languages and communities, locally and around the world. I am pleased to share how the latest Center for Global Engagement (CGE) developments are building on all that Pomona has to offer.
This summer, we shared updates about the CGE’s new academic vision and physical home. You can read those messages on the CGE website. Today’s news focuses on the people and programs bringing the CGE to life while we continue to shape the future.
Global Pomona Council
Last week, the Global Pomona Council (GPC) held its first meeting of the academic year. We reviewed the progress made by last year’s work groups and our development timeline, and began looking ahead to this year’s projects.
Among them is shaping the Global Collaborative, the CGE’s signature program that brings together students, faculty and community partners around shared global questions and immersive learning opportunities. The Council has begun to explore the Collaborative’s design and what an eventual call for proposals might look like.
As the Council works this fall to shape the CGE’s next phase, we will also learn from pilot initiatives already underway. New experiments in student engagement, immersive research and teaching, and collaboration are critical to our progress. Later in October, for example, Professor Pierre Englebert, the H. Russell Smith Professor of International Relations, along with his student collaborators and colleagues from around the world, will host the Africa After the End of History Symposium. I invite you to read about it.
Student Engagement
Students play an essential role in helping us imagine what comes next. Last year, for example, students were instrumental in our Dear Oldenborg commemoration project. The Global Pomona Council Student Work Group begins this year by designing the new CGE living-learning communities beyond our seven existing language immersion halls. Students will review research; consult with students and administrators at other institutions; gather data from the Pomona student body; and collaborate closely with staff and faculty across campus to consider how immersive residential and academic experiences can best serve Pomona students and advance the CGE’s vision. Many thanks to ASPC leaders Malu Estoducto, Tendo Lumala, Bridget Brodie and Liam Bayer, as well as Josh Eisenberg, Dean of Campus Life, and Courtney Derrico, Senior Associate Coordinator for the CGE, for their help getting us off to a great start.
Current Programs & Leaders
Planning our future includes building on—and enhancing—essential, long-standing global programs. Staff from Oldenborg and the International and Domestic Programs Office (IDPO) are leading initiatives in full swing from their temporary home in Montgomery Hall. They, and many colleagues across campus, have worked tirelessly to sustain our programs through the transition period. I am especially grateful to Nicole Desjardins Gowdy, Senior Director of the IDPO; Senem Bakar, Interim Director of Oldenborg; and their outstanding teams for all they are doing. Some highlights include:
- Daily Language Tables in the Frank Blue Room will feature 25 languages this semester.
- International Student and Scholar Services recently welcomed more than 50 new students from 28 countries.
- Our seven Language Residents are hosting study breaks, teaching conversation classes and working with language immersion students living in Lawry Hall.
- Students are meeting regularly with IDPO advisors and exploring 70 study away options in more than 38 countries that enhance Pomona’s curriculum and expand the student experience.
- IDPO staff recently announced two Summer 2027 faculty-led Global Gateways programs in China and Mexico and are already working with faculty to design proposals for 2028.
Beyond Oldenborg and the IDPO, emerging CGE programs will catalyze new opportunities for immersive, interdisciplinary, local and global research and learning in a variety of ways. Our pilot projects continue to inform our way forward and provide access to new initiatives now while we design for the future. We encourage you to learn more about the emerging program areas on our website, where you can also explore FAQs and submit questions or feedback.
Building Our New Home
Meanwhile, exciting progress continues on the CGE’s physical home. Construction remains on schedule. You can watch the construction livestream and learn more on the CGE website.
There is much still to develop, test and learn as the CGE vision comes to fruition. I look forward to sharing more updates with you—and, most importantly, to creating opportunities for students, faculty and staff to shape it along the way.
Warmly,
Kara Godwin
Assistant Vice President and Chief Global Officer
Pomona College