Creating an Indivisible Learning Community
Part One

Expanding Student Opportunities
Part Three

Creating an Indivisible
Learning Community

Heather Antecol P’29
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dean of the Faculty
James G. Boswell Professor of Economics

From the very beginning, Hiram understood how essential close student-faculty relationships are to who we are at CMC. I saw that in how he talked about students and in how carefully he listened to faculty. He didn’t just support faculty research in theory; he made people feel trusted and encouraged to take risks and try new ideas.

Wendy Lower
John K. Roth Professor of History
George R. Roberts Fellow

Hiram called it “liberal arts in action,” and it’s what encouraged interdisciplinarity in our teaching, research, and problem-solving. This not only strengthened our intellectual environment, but effectively built bridges across siloed departments and research institutes. I think all academic institutions contend with this challenge of trying to foster more holistic experiences and approaches, but Hiram was very deliberate and consistent in pursuing this during his entire tenure.

Diana Selig
Kingsley Croul Associate Professor of History
George R. Roberts Fellow

Going back to the search committee for Hiram, I recall him saying, “Education is the cornerstone of civilization. Liberal arts are the cornerstone of education.” And liberal arts are under duress. Even back in 2012, they were facing challenges around the country, and he saw it as his mission to defend them.

George Thomas
Burnet C. Wohlford Professor of American Political Institutions

At a time when liberal arts education is under siege, CMC is truly a model for the country. Perennial questions are at the heart of so many CMC classes, and the questions are treated as genuine questions that invite open and honest reflection from professors and students alike. Whether it is a course in political thought, law, history, or literature, students come to understand their world better and are prepared to bring their learning to bear on real-world problems.

Heather Antecol P’29
Student success has always been at the center of what we do at CMC. Hiram understands how much our students benefit from the many layers of support we have in place—from Romero Success Coaches to the (Murty Sunak) Quantitative Computing Lab to the Center for Writing and Public Discourse. He also believes deeply in the importance of labs and research institutes as places where students have meaningful opportunities to work beyond the classroom and apply what they are learning in real-world contexts.

Josh Morganstein ’25
CMC professors are teachers, researchers, and mentors simultaneously. The small class sizes, constant availability of professors, and boundless research opportunities make CMC an unrivaled place to learn. Today, my job involves a lot of problem solving, research, and presentations. When someone asks how I am able to present confidently to senior clients despite being so junior, I often joke that I already have four years of practice—it’s the same job I did as a research assistant at CMC, it’s just that now the clients have (unfortunately) replaced the professors.

President Chodosh and some of CMC's trustees during his inauguration.

A male student presenting research on a poster board display to peers.

Collage of students interacting with faculty and in a tutoring session.

Wendy Lower
As the former director of the Mgrublian Center, I started to invite leading human rights defenders and policy-makers from around the world outside of my field to campus for seminars, simulations, and field trips. We organized open mics, photo exhibitions, and other creative activities for students to develop or show off talents unseen in the traditional classroom space. And that was because Hiram significantly raised the stature of CMC’s research institutes in undergraduate liberal arts, both in the USA and abroad. Our programs are truly global now.

Shana Levin
Crown Professor of Psychology
George R. Roberts Fellow

During an early Senior Advisory Council meeting, I remember Hiram went around the room and asked all the senior staff to share something that each of us could do immediately to make a real impact at the College. I proposed a budget for annual student research funding—and voilà!—he funded it on the spot. Same with our Summer Research Program.

Esther Chung-Kim
Professor of Religious Studies

As a scholar who works in religious studies now, I can branch out and work on wealth and poverty, or on a new project with religion and medicine. And that’s a freedom that Hiram has encouraged at CMC. If I decide I want to explore medicine and its connections with religion, no one stops me, no one says, “Why are you doing that?” It makes scholarship fun here. It makes research fun here. I recently told someone that I love my job, and I think that’s one of the reasons: Because I have the freedom to do the research, I have the support to do it, and I have students who want to do it alongside me.

Marc Massoud P’89
Robert A. Day Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Accounting

While I had big dreams here, I never dreamed I would have an academic chair and a beautiful spot named after me at a wonderful school. It remains one of my fondest memories, and it meant so much more to be able to share it with my family and my CMC family, including presidents Jack Stark, Pamela Gann, and, of course, Hiram. His 13 years of innovative leadership enhanced academic life at the College and made us all stronger teachers. He really made a difference in the lives of our students.

Emily Wiley
Professor of Biology

Hiram has especially urged freedom and space for students to map their own path. It inspired my thinking about a student’s journey as painting a story on a canvas, one that might begin with seemingly disconnected images that then join in unique ways, often unexpected. It’s the process that is key—allowing students to try, feel, and shape the journey.

John Roth
Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy

Hiram and I share appreciation for the French author and philosopher Albert Camus. We remind each other about Camus’ affection for Sisyphus, whose passion for life, which Hiram embodies, led that ancient hero to take risks, accept challenges, and struggle toward heights in ways, as Camus says, that are enough to fill a man’s heart.

Ran Libeskind-Hadas
Kravis Professor of Integrated Sciences: Computational Biology
Founding Chair of the Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences

I think one of Hiram’s core principles is: Let’s make this institution the best it can possibly be. And I would say just the best, full stop. My sense is that one of the ways this manifested itself in integrated sciences is a recognition and commitment that we can absolutely be the best at this; the vision is exciting and compelling and Hiram did a masterful job of articulating that.

Mark Huber
Fletcher Jones Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
George R. Roberts Fellow

CMC began its Data Science major—which I was involved in creating—in 2021. And after five years, it is still the only Claremont College to have such a major. This is not a fluke or coincidence. CMC has always been strong in policy and decision making, and both these tasks require a deep understanding of how to take in data, how to process it, and how to communicate the results of models to those who can benefit from it. CMC is in many ways uniquely qualified to take on these types of tasks based on its rich history of exploring new ideas and bringing people together.

A CMC's student takes a selfie with young African students during internship trip.

President Chodosh presenting John Roth (right) an award.

Professor Emeritus Mark Massoud P’89 hugging Priya.

Pae White and Christopher Walker ’69 standing in the public art piece, Qwalala.

The Athenas Volleyball team celebrating their NCAA Division III win in 2017.

CMC Leads: Through the Years

Notable CMC moments, initiatives, and accomplishments during the past 13 years of President Chodosh’s tenure.

View Milestones

Doug Peterson ’80 P ’14 P ’15
CMC Trustee

The vision for how science and combinatorial mathematics would become foundational to every part of liberal arts is ahead of its time. With a dual major in Math and History from CMC myself, the way Hiram articulated this vision resonated with me from the very first time he discussed it. He understood how technology and science have become embedded in everything we do through his own experience and conversations with students, faculty, alumni, companies, and investors. His observations led to active conversations with the Board of Trustees to lead a historic campaign to fund the Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences and the Robert Day Sciences Center. This will shape CMC for the next 50 years.

Ran Libeskind-Hadas
Hiram could have said, “You know what? We want to build a really great liberal arts science program. Let’s build top-tier programs in physics, chemistry, biology, and others.” And I think he just had the clarity of mind to realize: “We’re much more likely to be exceptional and impactful with this new approach to science education that integrates with CMC’s core strengths.”

Harriet Nembhard ’91
I’m a 3-2 program alumna who went on to an academic career (now President of Harvey Mudd College). I lived the exact intersection that Hiram worked to institutionalize. I vividly recall a memorable Alumni Weekend—years before the Robert Day Sciences Center groundbreaking—where Hiram asked us to articulate a personal trait that CMC taught us that remains with us today. I shared that CMC instilled in me the intellectual confidence to master liberal arts and engineering simultaneously. That foundation paved the way for an extremely gratifying career at the intersections of engineering, science, and healthcare.

By recruiting world-class scholar-teachers for the Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences, Hiram ensured the College would be an intellectual home for students like me and many others who refuse to be defined by a single discipline.

Emily Wiley
It is such a unique opportunity to shape the future of science education by modeling new approaches. I’m honored to be part of such a visionary initiative to test what is possible. Truly once in a lifetime.

Wendy Lower
As a historian, I have always appreciated Hiram’s ability to step back and reflect on where CMC has come from, to grasp its present potential, and to imagine its vibrant future.

Jack ’57 GP’11 and Jil Stark ’58 GP’11
CMC President Emeritus and First Lady

Hiram accepted the leadership of CMC, its prominence, and made it even better. He endorsed the mission of the College, and with integrated sciences, made it even more relevant to the modern world. 

Hiram and trustees celebrate with Harriet Nembhard ’91 at her inauguration as president of Harvey Mudd.

Harriet Nembhard ’91 with David Mgrublian ’82 P’11, Laura Grisolano ’86, and President Hiram Chodosh at her investiture ceremony.

President to President

As president of Harvey Mudd, I have a deep appreciation for the inspiration I have absorbed from Hiram. In the “top job,” one looks for peers who meet the educational imperatives of our time with courage and clarity. Hiram is that leader. His work has served as an engine for CMC and a powerful catalyst for my own leadership.

Few others could have built an initiative as robust as The Open Academy. It’s truly a distinctive result of Hiram’s deep understanding of our nation’s democratic architecture. By institutionalizing commitments to viewpoint diversity and constructive dialogue, he strengthened a foundational practice of democracy. Over the years, I have admired how this program has woven a set of cultural habits around listening, curiosity, and engagement—across students, faculty, and staff.

At Hiram’s invitation, I joined the Institute for Citizens & Scholars and the College Presidents for Civic Preparedness. To drive that commitment through personal engagement, I am co-teaching a new interdisciplinary course this semester, ”The Game of Democracy.” In a way, it is a very “Mudd-like” expression of Hiram’s Open Academy vision. We ask a formative question: What happens when democracy becomes a design challenge at the intersection of fairness, randomness, engineering, and art? We challenge our students to consider several critical facets of representation and citizenship and then build their own “devices of democracy,” inspired by the Kleroterion.

As we approach the nation’s Semiquincentennial, I find myself reflecting on how my own liberal arts education at CMC has never left me. I still have the copy of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America I bought from the Huntley Bookstore for an introductory political science course—the used price still marked on the inside cover. I took it from my shelf and referenced it as I was developing this very course.

Thirty years later, Hiram has shown us all what is possible when liberal arts breadth and academic courage come together with engineering depth. This is how we build bridges between institutions and create habits for the heart and mind that can be instilled in us all.

Harriet Nembhard ’91 became the sixth president of Harvey Mudd College, one of The Claremont Colleges, in July 2023. She studied Management-Engineering at CMC and served as an Alumna Trustee of CMC for three years. In addition, she served on CMC’s inaugural Integrated Sciences Advisory Council.

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Creating an IndivisibleLearning Community

CMC Leads: Through the Years

President to President

Creating an Indivisible
Learning Community