Established by Pumerantz as the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, the Pomona, Calif., school\u2019s first class consisted of 36 students. Today, nearly 3,000 attend WesternU, which thanks to Pumerantz\u2019s vision and leadership has grown to include nine colleges dedicated to Osteopathic Medicine, Allied Health Professions, Pharmacy, Graduate Nursing, Veterinary Medicine, Dental Medicine, Optometry, Podiatry and Biomedical Sciences.<\/p>\n
Each of the schools is built around Pumerantz\u2019s beliefs that learning is a discipline, caring is an art and that innovation and collaboration only make an education richer. Focused on adult learners and those looking to change careers, WesternU\u2014like Pumerantz himself\u2014is known for being a leading provider of state-of-the-art higher healthcare education.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of things my mother taught me was that education can make a difference in people\u2019s lives, and I\u2019ve always cared so much about people. At one time I thought I\u2019d be a doctor, but then I realized that physics and chemistry weren\u2019t my strengths,\u201d Pumerantz laughed. \u201cOne of the things I am good at, however, is envisioning possibilities and bringing together people with the expertise needed to make them a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
A track record of growth at WesternU prove this. Guided by Pumerantz, WesternU in recent years was among the first U.S. colleges to create what has become a highly regarded internet-based advanced nurse practitioner program. Its College of Veterinary Medicine is the only in Southern California. And faculty at its Harris Family Center for Disability and Health Policy work as hard to improve access to healthcare services for patients with disabilities as they do to educate future care providers, Pumerantz said.<\/p>\n
Though well past retirement age, Pumerantz said he can\u2019t imagine not coming to work or spending his days at WesternU. He\u2019s been an educator for close to 50 years, starting as a Waterford, CT, high school history teacher shortly after graduating from UConn with his bachelor\u2019s degree. A U.S. Army veteran who spent much of the early 1950s\u2019 Korean Conflict stationed in Germany, his tuition was paid by the G.I. Bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout that benefit, I might not have been able to go to college, but I wanted to so badly,\u201d remembered Pumerantz, who at Gruhn\u2019s urging went on to earn both an MA and Ph.D. in Education from UConn. Prior to moving to California in the mid-1970s, Pumerantz also served as an education professor at the University of Bridgeport (UB), co-founder of UB\u2019s College of Continuing Education, and director of education for the American Osteopathic Association.<\/p>\n
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