By Meredith McGroarty
In life, June Pollak B.A. ’49, M.A. ’51, Ph.D. ’61 had a generous spirit and was inspired to help others achieve their goals. With her passing, she leaves a wonderful legacy at USC that honors her empathetic nature and love of learning.
As a student at USC in the years immediately following World War II, Pollak B.A. ’49, M.A. ’51, Ph.D. ’61 often encountered soldiers returning from the war, boys who had been forcibly turned into men. Now filling the classrooms of USC and colleges across the nation, these men impressed Pollak with their resilience and forward-thinking outlook.
“They were interesting, driven people who were determined to get through school as fast as possible and get a degree and get out and get a job and live a full life,” she said.
The lessons learned from those former GIs stayed with Pollak in the 75 years since she first encountered them. Later, as a philanthropist, she funded multiple initiatives to help graduate students and early career faculty at USC conduct research in the humanities and sciences. Her most recent gift established the Salz-Pollak Fellowship, an endowed faculty fellowship in the English department of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences that provides funding for an assistant or newly promoted associate professor to take a semester-long, funded sabbatical to focus on their research.
“Assistant professors have to do research, publish, teach, and they’ve got young families, all at once. So, if they could have a breather, that would help with the research and the writing, and that is something I’d like to help with,” Pollak said.
“June believed so deeply in the importance of supporting junior faculty,” Professor David St. John, chair of the English department, said. “At USC, she saw the chance to make a profound difference in both the lives and the careers of our young professors.”
Through personal experience, Pollak learned that academia can be a long and difficult road, albeit one that can also be at times exciting and satisfying. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in music and English and her master’s and Ph.D. in English from USC, she went on to become one of the first faculty members at California State University, Fullerton, where she helped create the school’s English program.
“I helped build that campus from scratch. It was an exciting place to be,” she said.
A few years after starting at Fullerton, Pollak, by then in her 40s, met her husband, George, through a mutual friend. Although the couple had no children, Pollak said that their philanthropic initiatives were their way of extending a hand to future generations. Together, they created the Salz-Pollak Endowed Faculty Research Fund in Humanities, which provides summer and sabbatical grants to faculty in the humanities at USC Dornsife. After her husband died of Alzheimer’s disease, Pollak planned a gift to USC that would help fund graduate student research on the disease.
Pollak hoped her gifts would inspire freedom of thought to aid people in the years to come.
“I have a super optimistic view that people with a higher education are more open to new ideas and less prejudiced. I know that’s not always true, but I hope that the best and the brightest will try to lead the world for the better.”
We are saddened to report that Dr. June Pollak died on June 26, 2021. She was 94.