The William F. Podlich Distinguished Fellows Program at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California invites leaders in academia, the professions, and public affairs to share their intellectual talents with the students and faculty of CMC, a college consistently ranked as one of the top liberal arts institutions in the nation. The Podlich Distinguished Fellows Program provides an outstanding experience for both scholar and student in a rich academic environment within The Claremont Colleges -- a consortium of five undergraduate and two graduate institutions. The program’s focus on intellectual vibrance provides Podlich Fellows the opportunity to be in-residence on our campus for a full semester or an academic year.

How It Works

Hosted with competitive honoraria and housing allowance at Claremont McKenna College, Podlich Visiting Fellows come to campus to share their knowledge amid our rich academic environment, contributing lectures and course activities. Podlich Fellows are excellent public speakers who are ardent about their line of work; they are seeking to share their passion for their field while having time to focus on their research. During their stay, Podlich Fellows present a lecture at the College’s renowned Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum, a center for discussion virtually unmatched in any liberal arts setting.

The Nomination/Application Process

Claremont McKenna invites you to nominate a colleague for this honor, or to apply directly.

To nominate a colleague, click here. To apply for consideration as a Podlich Distinguished Fellow, click here.

Nomination/Application Forms are due by October 15, 2008. Selections will be made by December 15, 2008.

The Podlich Distinguished Fellows Program was founded by Claremont McKenna College alumnus and trustee William F. Podlich in 1998 to enrich the College intellectually by bringing preeminent figures in scholarship, business, and public affairs to campus for extended visits.

Recent Podlich Fellows include:

• Lee J. Alston, Professor of Economics, University of Colorado-Boulder; Professor of Economics, Political Science and Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Dame Gillian Beer, King Edward VII Professor of English, Cambridge University, author, and former chair of the Booker Prize Committee.
• Michael Berenbaum, Ph.D., conceptualized the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. and now serves as president and CEO of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.
• Ernesto Cortez, recipient of the MacArthur Prize; Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) and Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS).
• William A. Darity, Jr., Cary C. Boshamer Professor of Economics and adjunct faculty in sociology, UNC-Chapel Hill; Research Professor of Public Policy Studies, African and African American Studies and Economics, Duke University.
• Jerry Fowler, Staff director, the Committee on Conscience, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
• John Lewis Gaddis, author and Professor of History, Yale University.
• Michael Ghiselin, MacArthur Prize recipient and senior research fellow, California Academy of Science.
• Sir Michael Howard, former professor of history at Oxford and Yale; dean of Britain's military historians.
• David Hull, Dressler Professor of Philosophy, Northwestern University.
• Leszek Kolakowski, philosopher and historian, recipient of the MacArthur Prize.
• Daniel C. Kurtzer, Lecturer in Public and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School and S. Daniel Abraham Visiting Professor in Middle East Policy studies; Commissioner, Israel Baseball League; former Ambassador to Israel and Egypt.
• Richard Lewontin, Alexander Agassiz Research Professor of Biology, Harvard University.
• David McCullough, historian and bestselling author; two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
• James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Professor Emeritus of American History, Princeton University.
• Adam Michnik, author; editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s largest newspaper; one of the primary leaders of the Solidarity Movement.
• Nelson Polsby, Professor of Political Science, University of California-Berkeley .
• William B. Quandt, Professor of Politics, University of Virginia; Former Senior Staff Member, National Security Council; Former Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution; Honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellow.
• Alan Wolfe, author and Professor of Political Science, Boston College.
• Joanna Zach-Ronda, Professor of International Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

About Claremont McKenna College

Claremont McKenna is a highly selective undergraduate institution located thirty-five minutes from Los Angeles. With a mission to educate responsible leaders in the realms of economics, government and the professions, we attract some of the brightest young minds in the nation. We are a member of The Claremont Colleges consortium of five undergraduate and two graduate institutions, and we champion undergraduate research at our 11 world-class Research Institutes. CMC is the youngest college ranked in the U.S. News & World Report top 15.