Claremont McKenna College

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Claremont McKenna College


Motto	Crescit cum commercio civitas (Civilization prospers with commerce)
Established	1946
Type	Private
Endowment	US $336 million
President	Pamela Gann
Staff	128
Undergraduates	1,059
Postgraduates	0
Location	Claremont, CA, USA
Campus	Suburban, 50 acres (4 km²)
Nickname	CMC
Website	www.cmc.edu

A member of the Claremont Colleges, Claremont McKenna College is a small, highly selective, private coeducational, liberal arts college enrolling about 1100 students with a curricular emphasis on government, economics, and public policy. CMC is located in Claremont, California, 35 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles.

[edit] History and reputation

Bauer Center

Claremont McKenna College was founded in 1946 as Claremont Men's College. The school became coeducational in 1976 and was renamed after Donald McKenna, a founding trustee, in 1981.

U.S. News and World Report ranked it as the 12th best liberal arts college in the nation ^[1] and The Washington Monthly ranked it seventh in terms of community service. In 2003, The Atlantic Monthly ranked Claremont McKenna as the 22nd best undergraduate college in the nation based on admission rate, SAT scores and rank in high-school class. In 2006, 21 percent of applicants were admitted, making it the fifth most selective liberal arts college in the country.

According to quality-adjusted publications, CMC has the top-ranked economics department among liberal arts colleges. ^[2]

The Wall Street Journal has listed it as the eighth best liberal arts feeder school into elite graduate universities for law, business and medicine.

The Princeton Review lists Claremont McKenna among the nation's top twenty colleges for the "Best Quality of Life," "Happiest Students," and "Most Politically Active Students."

Claremont McKenna College was ranked second among liberal arts colleges for yield on Fulbright applications by the Chronicle of Higher Education. It is also a nominator (one of only 67 US colleges and universities) for the Luce Scholars Program^[3].

[edit] Campus life

[edit] Dorms

Claremont McKenna's dorms are divided into 3 regions: North Quad, Mid Quad, and South Quad. In addition, the Student Apartments sit on the East edge of campus, and are occupied primarily by seniors.

North Quad is comprised of Appleby, Boswell, Green, and Wohlford dormitories and are the campus' first dorms. In the north quad dorms, every room opens to the outdoors instead of opening to an interior hallway. North quad rooms are all doubles grouped into suites of four rooms that share a bathroom. North Quad is the center of the social scene at CMC and at the greater 5C community.

CMC's Mid Quad is home to Beckett, Benson, Berger, Marks, and Phillips Halls, which feature long interior corridors, double and single rooms, large shared-bathroom facilities, and all-dorm lounge areas. Commencement was formerly held in Badgley Gardens, the green space just south of Beckett Hall. Due to the construction of a new dorm on Badgley Gardens, Commencement has been moved to Pritzlaff field, behind Bauer Center, on the east end of campus. Construction on the new dorm in Badgley Gardens is scheduled to begin in summer 2007, pending blueprint approval from the Board of Trustees.

The tallest buildings in Claremont are in the last residential area - South Quad. Better known as "The Towers," Auen, Fawcett, and Stark Halls, make up South Quad. Each tower has seven floors with approximately twelve students per floor. Each floor has a common area and a large shared bathroom, and there is an all-dorm lounge area on the ground floor. Stark Hall, the newest of the South Quad dorms, is substance-free, meaning that no alcohol or drugs are allowed.

All dorm rooms are attended to by housekeeping staff every other week.

[edit] Senior Apartments

The Senior Apartments lie to the east of the college's athletic facilities and to the west of Claremont Boulevard, and are divided into four buildings numbered 651, 661, 671 and 681. Each apartment is divided into four bedrooms and two bathrooms, and an apartment application must have four names on it. Until recently, half the apartments were reserved for men and half for women, and apartments were allotted based on credits. However, in 2005 the college abolished the 50/50 male/female ratio and began to assign apartments strictly on credits, which has had the effect of skewing the ratio slightly toward the female side. In any given year, most of CMC's 260 - 300 seniors can live in the apartments, though due to limited space some must live in the dorms.

Living in the apartments is considered highly desirable amongst CMC's senior class. Seniors get the chance to live with three friends of their choice, and do not have to worry about potentially obnoxious underclassmen. They also have the option to stay on a meal plan and eat at one of the 5-C dining halls, or cook for themselves. Apartment dwellers do not get the maid service of the dorms, but they do get a cable hookup, which the dorms don't have. Noise levels are more manageable, and tend to be quiet during much of the week and in the days leading up to thesis, and loud from Thursday to Saturday. Most parties and social events at the apartments take place between buildings 661 and 671 or on the "dunk hoops" (a small basketball court with 7 foot hoops).

[edit] Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

The Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum hosts more than one hundred dinner and lecture events with distinguished speakers each year, serving as the College's central intellectual and social hub. Students enjoy getting to know their professors at wine and cheese receptions and formal dinners preceding lectures by eminent visitors such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Attorney General Janet Reno, filmmaker Spike Lee, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak, Paul Rusesabagina (the man portrayed in Hotel Rwanda, and the Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The Athenaeum also serves daily afternoon tea in its library, featuring chocolate-covered strawberries and pastries. Afternoon tea, like all Athenaeum meals and events, is free to students, faculty, and staff.

[edit] Traditions

IM Soccer on Parents Field

Many incoming freshmen participate in W.O.A.!, or "Wilderness Orientation Adventure." W.O.A.! is a student-run preorientation program. Options include backpacking, camping, and rock-climbing at Yosemite, canoeing down the Colorado River, and beach camping at Catalina Island. Each trip is led by current students and a member of the faculty or alumni. W.O.A.! allows incoming students to develop friendships and get a sense for the college community before the formal beginning of their college careers.

The "Madrigal Feast" is an annual dinner held in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Both current students as well as alumni typically attend. Guests are treated to a medieval-themed feast, complete with wassail, and a spirited musical performance put on by other students in medieval dress.

Several of Claremont McKenna College's traditions are water-related:

Freshman water fight

The incoming freshman class and those students overseeing freshman orientation participate in a large-scale water fight at the college's north quad at the beginning of every college year.

Unlucky students get "ponded," thrown in to one of the two fountains located on campus, by their peers on their birthday.

Graduating seniors hold an impromptu celebration in the Flamson Plaza fountain on the due date for senior theses at the end of the year. Bystanders and passerby can expect to get wet.

[edit] Academic programs

[edit] General education requirements

Although its specialty is public policy and economics, Claremont McKenna College does hold to the idea of a liberal education by requiring students to add breadth to their knowledge through the completion of course in natural and social sciences, humanities, and foreign language.

[edit] First Year Requirements

Literature 10 - Composition and Literary Analysis

Unless waived for a transfer student, every student must take in their first year at the college. This introductory literature class covers all the major literary genres and is designed to improve each students critical thinking and writing skills. The specific works studied and course format varies depending on professor. There are plans in the Literature department to eventually phase out this class as a requirement and for the first year in 2006, students with an appropriate AP score in English may substitute any literature course for their Literature 10 requirement.

Civilization 10 - Questions of Civilization

Question of Civilization was designed to provide a unifying experience of Claremont McKenna students while fostering the exploration of universal thoughts and ideas. Directed by Prof. Robert J. Valenza, each year a core set of text is chosen for all section of Civilization 10, with each professor free and challenged to add his/her own insights or works to the course. Although not common in all sections, Prof. Valenza encourages the Civ faculty to provide interaction through discussion. Many students, though far from most, find this one of their most cherished CMC experiences.

Nevertheless, the course is not without its critics. Some students have complained that the course attempts to do too much and ends up teaching nothing. The course is designed to be a combination of literature, philosophy, and religious studies, though it too often ends up as none of the above. The class has been called, by both students and professors, "pointless".

[edit] Majors

The academic strength of Claremont McKenna College lies in the social sciences, particularly Economics, Accounting, Government, and Organizational Psychology. It is also known for its version of the Oxford-style Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major. Claremont McKenna is especially known for its social and natural science programs, with over two-thirds of alumni attending graduate schools within five years of graduation. Business, law, and medical school top the list though CMC grads go on to all types of graduate programs.

For a complete list of CMC's majors, visit the CMC catalog at the Office of Registrar's Website.

[edit] Sequences

Claremont McKenna College does not offer traditional minors. Instead, CMC offers a group of sequences, which are minor-like groups of courses on a particular interdisciplinary theme.

CMC's sequences include

Asian-American
Computer Science
Ethics
Financial Economics
Gender Studies
Human Rights, Genocide, and Holocaust Studies
Leadership

[edit] Research institutes

CMC sponsors 11 different on-campus research institutes and centers. They seek to produce new research and publications while involving undergraduate students in rigorous academic work. Many are named in honor of the college's donors.

[edit] Athletics

Athletes from CMC, Harvey Mudd College, and Scripps College compete under one program, CMS Athletics[1]. The men are the Stags, and the women are the Athenas. The teams participate in the NCAA's Division III and in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

[edit] Controversies

Like all colleges, CMC is not without controversy. For example:

On the evening of March 9, 2004, after attending and speaking at a campus forum concerning a recent spate of racist and racially-insensitive incidents, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Kerri F. Dunn reported that her car had been vandalized and painted with racist, sexist and anti-semitic slurs. In response the Claremont Colleges cancelled classes the next day, and a series of demonstrations, candle-light vigils and community meetings were called to address the threat posed by an alleged and previously unknown group of violently intolerant students. Subsequent investigaton by the City of Claremont's police department and the FBI revealed that Dunn had, in fact, slashed her own tires and applied the insulting phrases to her own vehicle. She was subsequently found guilty of filing a false police report and attempted insurance fraud. She was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay a fine of approximately $19,000 in restitution.

A new issue is the planned expansion of the student body. Current president Pamela Gann, a controversial figure among more conservative alumni, is now considering increasing the student body by 60 students. While a modest number, critics of the plan say it will change the student dynamic by making the community less intimate and requiring the building of a new dorm.

[edit] Presidents

George C.S. Benson, founding president (1946-1969)
Howard R. Neville (1969-1970)
Jack L. Stark (1970-1999)
Pamela Gann (1999-current)

[edit] Notable faculty

John Roth [2] - noted Holocaust and genocide scholar
Charles Kesler [3] - editor of the Claremont Review of Books and noted conservative scholar
Ralph Rossum [4] - biographer of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
John J. Pitney [5]- Government professor often quoted in media
Robert Faggen [6] - professor of literature and noted Robert Frost scholar
Andrew E. Busch [7] - professor of government and author of books on current American political landscape and Ronald Reagan
Jay Conger [8] - leadership scholar, renowned business consultant
Diane Halpern [9] - former president of American Psychological Association
Jonathan Petropoulos [10] - expert consultant in World War II art reclamation
Elizabeth Spalding [11]- professor of government in CMC's Washington DC semester program
Marc Massoud [12] - former president of the American Accounting Association

[edit] Alumni

John Anderson '84 - Co-founder of Woodhouse Chocolate in Napa Valley
Joel Appel '87 - President & CEO of Orange Glo International, makers of cleaning products Oxiclean, Orange Clean, Orange Glo, and Kaboom
Robert A. Day '65 - Chairman, Trust Company of West; Chairman, W.H.Keck Foundation; a billionaire heir of William Keck of Standard Oil.
Chuck DeVore '85 - Member, California State Assembly
David Dreier '75 - California Congressman and former Chairman of the House Rules Committee
George Dunn III '72 - Chief of Staff to California Governor Pete Wilson, 1997-1998
Johnny Ellis '82 - Member, Alaska State Senate
Sean Elsbernd '97 - Member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Michael Grindon '86 - President of Sony Pictures Television International
Rob Hurtt '66 - California State Senate Republican Leader, 1995-1996
Michael Jeffries '66 - Chairman & CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
Jon Kirchner '89 - President and CEO of Digital Theater Systems
Randy Steven Kraft '67 - Convicted murderer
Henry Kravis '67 - Founding Partner, Kohelberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR)
David M. Mason '79 - Member, Federal Election Commission
Harry T. McMahon '75 - Vice Chairman, Merrill Lynch
Gary Mendoza '77 - Former Deputy Mayor, City of Los Angeles, 2002 Republican nominee for California Insurance Commissioner
Steve Merksamer '69 - Chief of Staff to California Governor George Deukmejian, 1982-1987
Robert Nakasone '69 - Former CEO of Toys 'R' Us
Ashwin Navin '99 - COO and Co-Founder of BitTorrent Inc.
Thomas B. Neff '76 - Founder and CEO, FibroGen
Augie Nieto '80 - Founder, Life Fitness, Inc.
Raymond Remy '59 - Former Deputy Mayor, City of Los Angeles
George R. Roberts '66 P'93 - Founding Partner, Kohelberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR)
Karen Rosenfelt '80 - Film Producer and Former President of Paramount Pictures
Jack L. Stark '57 - Former CMC president
Peter Thum '90 - Founder, Ethos Water (Sold to Starbucks)
Jake Zimmerman '96 - Member, Missouri House of Representatives

[edit] Dropouts and/or transfers

Blake Gottesman, Personal Aide to the President of the United States
Robin Williams, actor and comedian
Wes Parker, baseball player, Los Angeles Dodgers
Michael Feuer - Member, Los Angeles City Council, 1995-2001

[edit] External links

Claremont McKenna College-- The Official College Website
ASCMC-- The Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College
Claremont Independent Online
CMCStudents.COM-- The Internet Voice of Some CMC Students

Princeton Review's Claremont McKenna College Profile

[edit] References

The Claremont Colleges
Claremont McKenna College • Harvey Mudd College • Pitzer College • Pomona College • Scripps College • Claremont Graduate University • Keck Graduate Institute • Claremont University Consortium

Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Caltech • California Lutheran • Claremont-Mudd-Scripps • La Verne • Occidental • Pomona-Pitzer • Redlands • Whittier

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