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ɫ��ɫ has received a $2.5 million gift to support interdisciplinary global education programs and engaged learning opportunities for students from The H. Russell Smith Foundation, Stewart R. Smith ’68, P’00 ’09, Robin A. Ferracone, and MacKenzie C. Teymouri ’09. Pomona alumnus Stewart Smith is chair emeritus of Pomona’s Board of Trustees and alumna MacKenzie Teymouri, his daughter, is a current trustee of the College.

This gift builds momentum for the College’s planned Center for Global Engagement (CGE), which will house interdisciplinary programs and activities developed through the new Stewart Smith Interdisciplinary Global Engagement Fund. CGE will be a hub where Pomona faculty and students pursuing interwoven disciplines can gather with worldwide experts to explore problems from fresh perspectives. Such collaboration—between faculty and students, and with scholars and practitioners from across the globe—is essential to Pomona’s vision for developing the next generation of global leaders.

Currently, close to half of Pomona’s students participate in study abroad programming. As part of its strategic vision, the College aims to expand study away and other immersive global learning opportunities to all students. This gift—the third announced this fall following a historic year of record-breaking fundraising and alumni giving participation for Pomona—paves a path toward that ambitious goal.

“The impact on ɫ��ɫ of the Smith family’s leadership and generosity is beyond measure,” says ɫ��ɫ President G. Gabrielle Starr. “I am grateful for their ongoing support, which will be integral to ensuring that every Pomona student meaningfully engages with global learning and successfully collaborates across cultures, languages and differences. It is such a fitting tribute to Stewart.”

The gift, comprised of $2 million from The H. Russell Smith Foundation and a $500,000 legacy gift commitment from Stewart, will form a new fund to advance the Global Pomona Project. It also holds special meaning for Stewart’s wife, Robin Ferracone, his daughter, MacKenzie, and son, Graham Smith ’00, who with this gift aim to honor Stewart’s leadership and service to ɫ��ɫ.

The fund will also support global learning opportunities through the new study away Faculty-Led Program, which leverages the depth and breadth of Pomona’s faculty expertise, and by strengthening the College’s foundational study abroad options. Additionally, students will gain greater exposure to global perspectives and cultures through increased visits from international scholars, leaders, researchers and speakers who will bring varied viewpoints and expertise to campus.

Stewart, who served as chair of the Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2009, knows firsthand how the College can shape students into leaders. “My experience at Pomona really defined and benefited me throughout my life,” he says. Weeks after arriving on campus as a “good student but a shy and skinny guy,” he decided to run for class president. Although Smith lost the election by eight votes, he stepped up again the following year and was elected to lead his sophomore class. He discovered that he thrived in leadership roles, and it became a skill he has honed and leveraged throughout his career as an attorney, co-founder and CEO of Kinsmith Financial Corporation and a board leader within multiple not-for-profit organizations.

Stewart and MacKenzie believe deeply in the College’s ability to develop empathetic leaders who can navigate and devise solutions for issues of global scale and crises that impact the world’s most vulnerable populations.

“It is a simple idea,” says Stewart. “If knowledgeable and well-intentioned experts from other nations and cultures, along with Pomona students and faculty, get together with an aim to understand where others are coming from, good things happen for our students and our wider world.”

“As a liberal arts graduate, Pomona taught me the power of gathering ideas from wildly different disciplines and bringing them together in new and different ways,” says MacKenzie, who currently serves as a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County. “When you go out into the world, that interdisciplinary liberal arts experience enables you to tackle problems in a much more complex, empathetic and successful way.”

Education and philanthropy are guiding principles in the Smith family. “I watched my father and grandfather lead by example, giving their time and capabilities to help others,” recalls MacKenzie. Drawing upon that tradition, with this gift, the Smith family honors Stewart’s service to the College as well as his commitment to advancing the mission of his alma mater. “After watching decades of my father giving selflessly to ɫ��ɫ, it was time to honor him in this way and, following my grandfather’s footsteps, meaningfully recognize the impact he has made.”

The Smiths’ generosity to ɫ��ɫ spans nearly nine decades, beginning with a gift of $100 from H. Russell Smith, Stewart’s father, soon after his own graduation from Pomona in 1936. Russ, Stewart and MacKenzie have served as trustees of the College for nearly 60 years in total, with Russ chairing the board for 18 years and Stewart chairing for nine years.

“There is a deep, sentimental side to this for me–that we're doing this together. And just as my father passed the torch to me, I am over time passing it to MacKenzie,” Stewart says. “This is perhaps my best and greatest gift to the College thus far.”