A Letter to the CMC Community

Leadership is the hallmark of Claremont McKenna College. It is in our DNA and informs our approach to everything we do. From student development to faculty recruitment and retention to alumni involvement, we seek to set the standard for excellence and achievement.

For more than 60 years, we have built our reputation as a training ground for leaders in business, the professions, and public affairs. Our graduates have an impact on the world around them far out of proportion to our size. With an on-campus enrollment of approximately 1,100 students, CMC is the smallest college ranked in the U.S. News & World Report top dozen. The College’s more than 9,500 alumni have bolstered that recognition through their success. Fully 70 percent of CMC graduates go on to advanced degrees. Moreover, one in eight graduates now holds a position in top management.

Claremont McKenna has accomplished this by providing students with extraordinary resources and opportunities; by maintaining an enviable nine-to-one student-to-faculty ratio and nurturing close student-faculty relationships; by attracting some of the very best teacher-scholars in the world; by fostering an atmosphere that emphasizes hands-on learning; and by continuing to innovate through the creation of groundbreaking new programs and curricula. These factors have resulted in heightened competition among CMC applicants, consistently making the College one of the most selective among top liberal arts colleges.

Since its establishment more than six decades ago, CMC has redefined liberal arts education. But our ability to continue as a trailblazer requires that we prepare for the challenges of a global age. Leaders today occupy an international stage; their spheres of influence are broader and deeper than ever before. The College must expand its capacity to give emerging leaders the tools they need to excel and thrive in this changing environment.

This is the reason behind the Campaign for Claremont McKenna, an ambitious effort to raise $600 million by 2012. The Campaign guides CMC’s future by calling for critical investment in the College and its people, programs’ and infrastructure. We are faced today with a number of stark realities: our facilities are becoming outdated, competition for stellar faculty is fierce, and top-tier students expect a vast range of experiences (from study abroad to academic travel to student-faculty research) that demand ever greater resources. The Campaign addresses this directly, calling on CMC’s stakeholders to play a crucial role in positioning the College for 21st century success.

Your support is absolutely vital as we embark upon this historic campaign. Inspired by our founding mission, we can create a CMC that honors yesterday as it charts a course to tomorrow. Our goal is simply this: to extend the College’s remarkable legacy of leadership, and to give it fresh relevance for this and coming generations.

Please join us. Together we will do great things.

Pamela B. Gann
President

Thomas M. Mitchell '66
Campaign Co-Chair

E. David Hetz '80 P'10
Campaign Co-Chair