President

The Board of Trustees and the Presidential Search Committee seek the next President of Claremont McKenna College (“CMC” or “the College”). Throughout its history, CMC’s unwavering commitment to its founding vision and focused mission and principles has powered its evolution, growth, and success. Claremont McKenna College’s mission is to prepare students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions.

CMC alumni have excelled across a wide range of fields—rising to leadership roles in government, finance, industry, law, and academia, while also distinguishing themselves as scientists, entrepreneurs, authors, clergy, military officers, and diplomats. This breadth of accomplishment reflects the College’s commitment to cultivating principled, pragmatic leaders and has helped establish CMC as one of the nation’s premier liberal arts institutions.  

The CMC mission is rooted in what the founders called the “Original Idea,” which was that CMC would provide an education “rationally balanced to meet the political, economic, social, and cultural needs of students so as to prepare them for tomorrow’s world of affairs.” They envisioned CMC as a residential liberal arts college distinguished by its focused academic program and commitment to responsible leadership and research. Although this commitment is not unique -- all liberal arts colleges aspire to train responsible leaders–– CMC is unique in how it implements this vision, embodied in the four key pillars of a CMC education:

The first pillar is the focused curriculum, with long-standing distinction in two key departments: the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance (RDS) and the Government Department. These departments, with over 30 tenured and tenure-track faculty in RDS and 25 in Government, are significantly larger and better resourced than their counterparts at traditional liberal arts colleges and offer courses and opportunities that have not conventionally been part of a liberal arts education. These curricular offerings prepare students to engage deeply with public and private sector challenges.

The second pillar is a robust general education (GE) experience for all CMC students. CMC’s GE requirement includes courses across the social sciences, natural sciences, and the humanities plus a required thesis. CMC has approximately 20 majors, and roughly 40% of CMC students opt for a Dual or Double Major. This broad liberal arts foundation, CMC believes, is key to developing capacities for open inquiry, critical thinking, adaptation, integration, and moral reasoning that are necessary for responsible leadership.

The third pillar is a commitment to research. This commitment is embedded in the faculty culture, which takes seriously the teacher-scholar model and the emphasis on independent, original student research. CMC’s commitment to research is manifest in its on-campus research institutes, centers, and laboratories.  Students and their faculty mentors undertake projects that are often externally facing, involving community partners and clients. CMC’s research culture builds bridges between the intellectual discoveries of the classroom and the practical applications for the public and private sectors.

The fourth pillar is exemplified in CMC’s Open Academy and its associated Marian Miner Cook Atheneum. It reflects CMC’s commitments to freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity, and constructive dialogue. The Open Academy is based on the principle that our differences should not divide us. By bringing together students, faculty, and outside speakers with a wide range of backgrounds and beliefs, CMC aspires to engage students with perspectives they may not share and to adapt and grow from that engagement. The goal is to provide them with skills so that they may eventually lead with conviction, compassion, and humility.

The next President will join the CMC community at an exciting moment in its history. The College recently completed a record-setting capital campaign, exceeding $1 billion. CMC has recently launched the Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences, a pathbreaking program that provides every student with foundational computational literacy and uses real-world socio-scientific challenges to integrate chemistry, physics, and biology. Integrated Sciences majors will engage with a novel curriculum that blurs the lines between traditional disciplinary boundaries to develop creativity, curiosity, and competence. When the new Robert Day Sciences Center opens in the fall of 2025, it will house a program designed to provide leaders in our economy and society with the essential tools necessary in this technological age. Over $400 million was raised in the recently completed capital campaign to support this effort. Integrated Sciences adds yet another distinctive dimension to a CMC education.  

CMC seeks a President who will continue to strengthen the institution academically and financially, while continuing to champion the College’s commitments to freedom of expression and viewpoint diversity. The incoming President will oversee several exciting accomplishments in the coming years, including driving the success of the new Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences and the Campus Master Plan, which doubles the footprint of the College. In addition, the President should remain open to potential future endeavors. The President will address the following key opportunities and challenges:

• Strategically advance CMC and reinforce its distinctiveness with a focus on its mission;
• Work in sync with a strong and highly engaged Board to execute the existing programmatic and campus goals while mapping a plan for the next decade; 
• Continue to secure external funding and the resources necessary to achieve the College’s many ambitions; 
• Continue to successfully enroll students who are best able to contribute to and benefit from a Claremont McKenna College education; 
• Strengthen the College’s academic position within academia by supporting the recruitment and retention of a highly distinguished faculty; 
• Nurture a campus environment that is characterized by diversity of thought and openness to new ideas;
• Serve as a strong leader who effectively develops and leverages the talents of the senior executive team;
• Represent the College externally to promote CMC’s strengths and values. 

The anticipated salary range for the position is $600,000-$700,000. The president is provided with and required to live in the President’s home in Claremont, adjacent to campus.

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process/until the position is filled. For more details, including the full position profile and to submit inquiries, nominations, referrals, and applications, please see below. Electronic submission of materials is required.

David Bellshaw is leading this search with Jaime Morgen, Drew Nichols, and Salem Adisu.

In addition to its commitment to a harassment-free educational and working environment, Claremont McKenna College is an equal employment opportunity employer. The College is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees and complies with all applicable state and federal laws on the matter. The College does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including gender, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition or medical leave, marital status, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by law. The College also prohibits the harassment of any employee on any of these bases.