Pomona Runs Ads to Recognize Professors
By Justin duRivage
News Writer
"Pomona College congratulates California's professors of the year for 2000, 2001, and 2002," reads the ad in The New York Times. On December 2 and 3 Pomona College ran advertisements in five California newspapers and in the Western editions of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The ads were placed by Pomona's Public Affairs Office with the goal of recognizing outstanding Pomona faculty and raising the college's name recognition.
Mark Woods, Pomona's Director of Public Affairs, was responsible for the placement of the ads. The ads were not intended to boost applicants or advertise continuing education programs as some ads for colleges do. Rather, the purpose of the ads, said Woods, was to reach employers and opinion leaders-"folks that are in a position to make a difference for a graduate."
Though some college administrators were squeamish about a purchased attempt to boost Pomona's brand name recognition, the decision to run the advertisements was made because "an institution like this treads a fine line, there is a decorum. It matters what your peers think of you," said Director Woods.
Peter Stanley, President of Pomona College, explained to The Student Life that "for Pomona faculty to win the endorsement of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching three years in a row seemed something that would communicate our values to the larger world. What captures headlines is a Nobel laureate, a Division I football or basketball championship, a presidential policy adviser, not great scholars who choose to teach exceptional students in close, personal, and caring ways."
Advertising, Stanley said, helps Pomona get the recognition its academic excellence deserves. Woods agreed, stating that while respected colleges do not generally advertise, he did not "think there is a hard and fast rule that says advertising is bad."
While there was concern that the ads might appear unbecoming of a college of Pomona's stature, Director Woods felt that the novelty of the method made it "more likely that [other colleges and the public] would say 'that's interesting'"
The quarter page advertisements ranged in cost from $1700 to just over $5000 for those in the national papers and The Los Angeles Times. Even with introductory and non-profit rates, the advertisements cost Pomona nearly $40,000.
Such an expenditure to expand Pomona's recognition on the West Coast was approved both by a committee of trustees charged with developing the College's public recognition and Pomona's President Peter Stanley.
Though happy with the advertisements, Woods emphasized that "[the decision to advertise] is not a change in our policy" and that Pomona would not make a policy of placing advertisements celebrating its faculty and students.
The advertisements, which were published last week, are unrelated to another set of Pomona ads billing the college's ongoing promotion of the Pomona College Plan. The Pomona Plan is an annuity and trust, which Pomona advertises in financial publications such as The Wall Street Journal.
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