History

CMC Archivist Sean Stanley thinks of himself as an archaeologist, uncovering Claremont McKenna’s history as captured in rare recordings, a trove of early student newspapers, and correspondence that date back to before the College’s founding in 1946.

Across the CMC curriculum, members of our faculty are meeting the challenge of these unprecedented and historic times, delivering exceptional coursework in a fully online modality for the spring semester. In our Academic Innovations series of faculty Q&As, professors share their curricular highlights, best practices, and how students are helping to shape virtual learning for a memorable, collaborative academic experience.

As the Presidential Inauguration approaches on Jan. 20, and the U.S. government recovers from the attack on the Capitol, we asked CMC professors to reflect on Trump’s legacy, the opportunities for the Biden White House now that the Democrats control Congress, and how the country might move forward as the power structure in Washington D.C. transitions from the Trump to the Biden administration.

To navigate a presidential election held during a pandemic, and amid high-pitched political polarization, CMC History Professors Lily Geismer and Tamara Venit-Shelton are offering an historical guide.

The pair came together in the days before the election to record a video to explain the various scenarios that could play out post-Election Day 2020.

Associate Professor of History Albert Park has received two prestigious fellowships to support a year in Japan and Korea researching how rural environmental movements influence contemporary agriculture infrastructure policies.

Park received a Fulbright Fellowship to support his work in east Asia and an Abe Fellowship for his research in Japan.

The Fulbright Fellowship facilitates relations between the United States and citizens of other countries. Park will be asked to give public talks, mentor students, and engage with the local community in addition to his research.

Associate Professor of History Lily Geismer has been named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow for 2018 by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Geismer will receive up to $200,000 to support sabbatical research for her book project "Doing Good: Public Policy and the Market from the War on Poverty to the Clinton Foundation."

Tamara Venit-Shelton, an associate professor of history at Claremont McKenna College and author of A Squatter’s Republic: Land and the Politics of Monopoly in California, 1850-1900, has been awarded the Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship for Recently Tenured Scholars by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).

Glen M. Cooper, a visiting assistant professor at CMC, is a historian with a broad swath of knowledge that covers many eras and cultures. Cooper came to the College from Brigham Young University in 2014 and has taught subjects that range from ancient Greek history to Islamic history to medieval Europe and even extending to India and Byzantium.

UPDATE 12/16: Read the Foreign Affairs review of Russia's Path Toward Enlightenment.

The Marc Raeff Book Prize has been awarded to Gary M. Hamburg, Otho M. Behr Professor of the History of Ideas at CMC, for his book Russia’s Path toward Enlightenment: Faith, Politics, and Reason, 1500-1801.