Page 7 - WesternU View Summer 2019

I arrived a couple of days early before I started, and View: Did you have in mind that you someday would be
decided I’d check in. HR used to be across the street, a senior administrator here?
along with almost everything else that wasn’t academic-
GG: No! I thought I would just do this grant and move on
related. I stopped in, and as I was walking back out to my
to something else. I didn’t miss snow one bit, and
car to start looking for a place to live, out the door
southern California had opportunities. But I’ve made the
bounds this tall, kind of portly gentleman, waving a sheet
comment before that the only job here I asked for was the
of paper at me, yelling my name, and saying “I need you
first one. Thereafter, I was told what I would be doing
to look at this!” And that’s how I met Phil (Founding
next. … After doing (grants), an important conversation
President Dr. Philip Pumerantz).
we had early on was in 1988 or something like that. We
View: What are your memories of the campus and its were looking at, institutionally, about 800 applicants in
people and the surrounding community when you first the DO program, and if you assume 50 percent of them
got here? were not competitive, you’re looking at 400. We had an
economic boom, everyone
GG: There used to be metal
was going into business,
arches across both ends of and when the economy is
(campus) that said “College “So that led to the mission going good, applications drop
Plaza,” which existed for off. Being a single-purpose
an entire ONE block. The from a single-purpose osteopathic medical school,
park over there (Centennial in that type of environment
Park) was faculty and staff osteopathic medical school … where your future is
parking – all in that space. dependent upon only one
I think there were 19 basic to do a lot more health-related program, we asked, “What
science faculty and else can we do that’s in
probably 20 or 30 staff graduate programs.” keeping with our mission?”
members, three
and we kept saying
microcomputers … about
primary care, and so: PAs
100 students per class, so a
(physician assistants).
total of about 400 students. Just consisted of the buildings
There was also a close relationship with osteopathic
on this side of the street and the one where (Student
medicine and physical therapy, and physical therapy
Affairs) is across the street.
became an interesting opportunity. So that led to the
View: What was downtown Pomona like? mission going from a single-purpose osteopathic medical
school addressing the primary care needs of the West to
GG: Not much different, really. The office supply store
still meeting the health care needs of the West but putting
where Phil got his first set of stationery was still there at
in our mission statement the flexibility to do a lot more
the corner. Most everything was still antique shops, by
health-related graduate programs.
and large. To the east of us, Buffum’s (now the Health
Professions Center) was still operating. There was a (That idea) wasn’t without its detractors. Some of that
Christian Science Reading Room, and a furniture store … was, it was going to bleed our program to support other
Antiques Row was more or less exactly what it is now. ones. But the early ones were money-makers. They didn’t
The Fox was pretty shuttered by that point, deteriorated. take away anything. They brought in new resources and
This block … was the entire university. new people and supported our development.

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