Each year, the Alumni Association Board honors distinguished alumni and faculty with awards recognizing their exceptional achievements and outstanding service to Pomona College. Read the story announcing of this year's honorees.
2025 Blaisdell Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
Susan Blaustein ’75 is the founder, executive director and current board chair of WomenStrong International, a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and strengthening the work and impact of local women-led organizations around the world. A lecturer at Columbia University, she was a senior consultant with the International Crisis Group. Blaustein writes op-eds on human rights issues and has reported on conflicts, politics and social justice for The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal.
Douglas M. Haynes ’85 is the interim vice provost for faculty affairs at the University of California Office of the President. As UC Irvine’s first vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion, he founded the Office of Inclusive Excellence. Haynes also launched UCI’s Center for Medical Humanities, fostering collaboration between arts, humanities and medicine.
Charles "Chuck" Phelps ’65, a professor and provost emeritus at the University of Rochester (UR), is a leading figure in health economics. A National Academy of Medicine member, he’s the only recipient of both the Victor R. Fuchs and Avedis Donabedian lifetime achievement awards. Phelps was also the former director at RAND and led the Public Policy Analysis Program at UR.
The Blaisdell Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
The Blaisdell Award and Past Honorees
The Blaisdell Award, one of the most prestigious awards given to Pomona alumni, recognizes individuals for their high achievement in their professions or community service. These are alumni who have carried the spirit of the College beyond the Gates and lived up to President James A. Blaisdell's inscribed words: "They only are loyal to this college who departing bear their added riches in trust for mankind."
Recipients of this award are selected by a committee of Past Alumni Board Presidents.
The Awards Committee shall name the award winners following a confidential process that does not share information about nominees or outcomes. The Committee and the Alumni Association do not respond to nominations or provide any explanation for the process of the Committee. In addition, the Committee may choose to select from current year nominations or past years’ nominations.
Please note, special consideration is given to nominees whose class is in an anniversary reunion year. For 2025, that includes all classes ending in 5s or 0s.
Past Blaisdell Award Honorees
- 2023: Linda Alvarado ’73, Michelle Williams Court ’88 and Peter Shelton ’73
- 2022: Mike Budenholzer ’92, Colleen Hartman ’77, Bret Price ’72 and John Roth ’62.
- 2021: Cathy Corison ’75, James Strombotne ’56, Martina Vandenberg ’90 and Nathan Wang ’79.
- 2020: Steven G. Clarke ’70, Jennifer Doudna ’85, Ann Hardy ’55 and Anjali Kamat ’00.
- 2019: Brian Schatz ’94, Debra Cleaver ’99, Earl Maize ’72, Lynda Obst ’72 and Marilyn Ramenofsky ’69
- 2018: Esther Brimmer ’83, Bernard Chan ’88 and Cruz Reynoso ’53
- 2017: Penny Dean’77, Myrlie Evers-Williams ’68, Richard G. Taranto ’77 and Brian E. Tucker ’67
- 2016: Gretchen Berland ’86, Ed Krupp ’66, Julian Nava ’51 and George C. Wolfe ’76
- 2015: Bill Keller ’70, Richard Post ’40, Mary Schmich ’75 and James Turrell ’65
- 2014: Ifeanyi Menkiti ’64, Joe Palca ’74 and Rip Rapson ’74
- 2013: William Bader ’53, Cladd Stevens ’63 and Garrett Hongo ’73
- 2012: Richard Frank ’46 and Tom Redburn ’72
- 2011: Irving "Sonny" Brown ’56, Hashim Djojohadikusumo ’76, Carlos Guangorena ’76 and Dr. Robert E. Tranquada ’51
- 2010: R. Stanton Hales ’64 and Tracy Westen ’62 and Robert Stern ’66
- 2009: Bill Block ’71
2025 Alumni Distinguished Service Award Honorees
John Rabold ’75 is a dedicated alumni volunteer who has kept his classmates connected to Pomona for decades. He keeps fellow Sagehens informed about important college updates and alumni events. As a longtime reunion committee member, he is helping plan this year’s 50th reunion and has been instrumental in fundraising for class gifts.
Nancy Treser-Osgood ’80 served as Pomona’s director of alumni relations for 17 years, restructuring the Alumni Council, expanding Alumni Weekend and creating new events to enhance engagement. She has served on her Class of 1980 reunion committee since its 5th reunion. A former varsity volleyball player and athletic trainer, Treser-Osgood was inducted into the Pomona-Pitzer Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.
The Alumni Distinguished Service Award
The Alumni Distinguished Service Award and Past Honorees
Established in 1990 and inaugurated in 1991, the Alumni Distinguished Service Award is bestowed annually to an alumnus or alumna in recognition of that person’s direct selfless commitment and ongoing volunteer service to Pomona College.
The purpose of this award is to pay tribute to an alumnus or alumna for unheralded, selfless and direct service to the College, in evidence over a period of years. Every effort is made to seek a recipient who has not otherwise been already honored and care is given to select worthy candidates from Pomona’s vast alumni body, with first consideration given to those who have not served in the Alumni Association’s highest leadership positions, as trustees, faculty or staff of Pomona.
A committee of Past Presidents of the Pomona College Alumni Association Board selects the award recipient(s).
Please note, special consideration is given to nominees whose class is in an anniversary reunion year. For 2025, that includes all classes ending in 5s or 0s.
- 2024: Thomas Doe ’71, Verne Naito ’77, Julie Siebel ’84, Jonathan Siegel ’84
- 2023: Ann Rose Davie ’58
- 2022: Georgia Ritchie McManigal ’54, Marty Jannol ’77 and Penny McManigal ’58
- 2021: Peggy Olson ’61, Kelly Perine ’91 and Dodie Bump ’76
- 2020: Frank Albinder ’80, Jim McCallum ’70 and Harry E. Pukay-Martin
- 2019: Faye Epps (honorary), Lisa Prestwich Phelps ’79, P’12 and Susanne Garvey ’74
- 2018: Cathie Brown ’53 and John Thornton ’53
- 2017: Barbry Amberg Hogue ’72 and Joan-Patricia (JP) O’Connor ’72
- 2016: John Edwards ’64 and Pat Riggs ’71
- 2015: Jeanne Buckley ’65 P'92 and Stan Hales ’64
- 2013: Rosemary Choate ’63 and Carlos Garcia ’73
- 2011: Pat Newton ’51
- 2010: Peter and Sandy Briggs ’64
- 2009: Lee '48 and Claire ’47 Kingman McDonald
- 2008: Robert Herman ’51
- 2007: John Fisher ’67
- 2006: Byron Hayes '56
- 2005: Bruce Prestwich ’55 and Carolyn Tranquada Prestwich ’54
- 2004: Verne Orr ’37
- 2003: Eleanor Pierson ’41
- 2002: Patricia Sullivan ’55
- 2001: Ed Malan '’48 & John Pendleton ’51
- 2000: Marylin Vaughn Jacobsen ’55
- 1999: Nick Polos ’51
- 1998: Lee Harlan ’55
- 1997: Anne Shaw Price ’44
- 1996: Robert B. Dozier ’23 & Fannie Boyd Dozier '24
- 1995: Leonard Agee Shelton ’32
- 1994: Nancy Barrett Ringle ’41
- 1993: William Fellows ’33
- 1992: C. Crawford Thompson ’40
- 1991: Mason L. Hill ’26
2025 Inspirational Young Alumni Award Honoree
Priya Amritraj ’15 is head of Film and Television at Hyde Park Entertainment Group, one of the leading independent entertainment companies in Hollywood. Passionate about female-centered stories and showcasing diverse cultural experiences, she’s working on several projects, including The Joy Luck Club 2, a sequel to the 1993 movie, and Hip Hop Cop, a Hulu TV series adaptation of the sequel memoir novel to BlacKkKlansman, with 50 Cent.
The Inspirational Young Alumni Award
The Inspirational Young Alumni Award and Past Honorees
The Inspirational Young Alumni Award honors a young alumnus or alumna (a graduate within the last decade) in recognition of their dedication, perseverance, and consistency in following the inscription on the College Gates: “They only are loyal to this college who departing bear their added riches in trust for mankind.”
- 2024: Kelebogile Zvobgo ’14
- 2016: Marlies Talay ’10
- 2015: Jessica Ladd '08
- 2014: Lt. Francine Segovia '04
- 2013: Maggie Fick '07
- 2012: Elena Shih '04
- 2011: Jane Chen '00
- 2010: Maia Sophia Campbell '01
- 2009: Melvin Yee '00
- 2008: Janelle Lin '00
- 2007: Maria Luz Garcia '01
- 2006: Emily Arnold-Fernandez '99
- 2005: Enriqueta Ramirez '00
- 2004: David Holmes '97
- 2003: Cuc Vu '92
- 2001: Loriq Charkoudian '95
- 2000: Casey Trupin '95
- 1999: Karin Zaugg '93
- 1998: Ed Tessier '91
- 1997: Martina Vandenberg '90
- 1996: Gretchen Berland '86
The Faculty Alumni Service Award
The Faculty Alumni Service Award and Past Honorees
Established in 2012, the Faculty Alumni Service Award honors faculty “in recognition of exemplary service to the alumni association over a period of years.’’
- 2024: Donna Di Grazia,
- 2023: Donna Di Grazia
- 2018: Lorn Foster
- 2017: Shahriar Shahriari
- 2016: Frank Pericolosi
- 2015: Char Miller
- 2014: Ken Wolf
- 2013: Monique Saigal
- 2012: Jonathan Wright