Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city 35 miles (56Â km) east of downtown Los Angeles. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate (Pomona College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Scripps College, Pitzer College) and two graduate (CGU and Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences) institutions of higher education. Adjoining and within walking distance of one another, design was based on that of Oxford University and Cambridge University.
CGU is the oldest all-graduate institution in the United States, with many notable alumni in different fields all over the world. The university is organized into five separate schools: the School of Arts & Humanities; School of Community & Global Health; Drucker School of Management; School of Educational Studies; and the School of Social Science, Policy, & Evaluation.
History
Founded in 1925, CGU was the second of the Claremont Colleges to form, following Pomona College and preceding Scripps College. Claremont Graduate University is the oldest remaining all-graduate university in the United States. The school has undergone several name changes since its inception. After being called Claremont University College for thirty-seven years, in 1962 the school officially became known as Claremont Graduate School and University Center. Five years later, in 1967, the name was again changed to Claremont University Center, and in 1998 it acquired the name Claremont Graduate University.
The Claremont Colleges were designed to incorporate the Oxford Model of higher education. Instead of one large university composed of several separate schools, the Claremont Colleges are made up of different institutions designed around differing theories of pedagogy. CGU was founded upon the principle that graduate education is separate and distinct from undergraduate education. Students discover and cultivate their disciplines during undergraduate course work; at CGU students continue cultivation of their own disciplines, but are also expected to augment this with research that incorporates other disciplines as well. This is called "Transdisciplinarity", and is an essential component of Claremont Graduate University’s functioning theory of pedagogy.
The school is home to about 2,200 masters and PhD students, as well as approximately 200 full and part-time faculty members. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has classified Claremont Graduate University as a CompDoc/NMedVet: Comprehensive doctoral (no medical/veterinary) with high research activity. Its five academic schools and one independent department award master's or/and doctoral degrees in 31 disciplines. Enrollment is limited and classes are small.
Academics
Claremont Colleges
Among the contiguous CGU, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, and undergraduate colleges (Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, and Pitzer), academic collaboration is highly valued. Cross-registration is free, and the members share libraries, health care, security, and other facilities.
Schools
Arts & Humanities
The School of Arts and Humanities includes departments in the fields of Art, Religion, Music, English, Cultural studies, Archival studies, History, Applied Women's studies, and Philosophy. These subjects have an interest in interdisciplinary studies that provide disciplinary depth as well as cross-disciplinary flexibility.
In the Department of Religion, students can earn a degree with a focus in Mormon Studies, Catholicism, Islamic Studies, History of Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Indic Studies, Coptic Studies, Zoroastrianism; additional programs include Women's Studies in Religion, Religion and American Politics, Ethics and Culture, and Philosophy of Religion and Theology.
Social Science, Policy & Evaluation
SSSPE encompasses the Division of Politics and Economics and the Division of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences. These departments aspire to transcend sharp division between politics and economics and to create a synergy between the two. SSSPE offers M.A. and Ph.D. programs in Political Science, American Politics & Political Philosophy, Public Policy & Evaluation, International Studies (Comparative and/or World Politics), International Political Economy, Economics, Global Commerce & Finance, and joint degrees with MBA. SSSPE offers the first Ph.D. and M.A. concentrations in the Western United States focused on the Science of Positive Psychology.[1]. An innovative program also offers the first Ph.D. degree in the leading-edge field of neuroeconomics which bridges economics, psychology, and public policy.
Community & Global Health
Formed in 2008, the School of Community and Global Health is dedicated to generating scientific knowledge about the causes and prevention of disease and the improvement of health and well-being of diverse populations locally and globally. The school is responsible for training professional practitioners to translate prevention science into improved practice and policy for health promotion and disease prevention at the individual, community and global levels. The school offers a Ph.D. in Health Promotion Sciences and M.P.H. degrees; the M.P.H. program, which has a variety of concentrations, is fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. The five-year accreditationâ€"the longest allowable for a newly accredited programâ€"was announced on July 9, 2012.
Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management
The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito School of Management follows the Drucker philosophy based on people (management as a human enterprise, as a liberal art) and looks beyond traditional perceptions of economics, instead espousing management as a liberal art, focusing on social theory, history, and sustainability.
Educational Studies
The School of Educational Studies offers the M.A. and Ph.D in Teaching, Learning and Culture, Education Policy, Evaluation and Reform, Higher Education/Student Affairs, Special Education and Urban Educational Leadership.
Center for Information Systems & Technology
CISAT was founded in 1983 by Paul Gray as an independent entity. Unconstrained by a typical business school structure, students are allowed to focus specifically on those topics associated with IS&T. The school provides a solid technical grounding in IT systems, while at the same time, addressing the significant management challenges to designing, developing, implementing and assessing IT systems in applied business and governmental settings.
Botany Department
In conjunction with the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont Graduate University offers master's and doctoral degrees in botany emphasizing systematics and evolution of higher plants. Subfields include monographic and revisionary studies, cytotaxonomy, molecular systematics, phylogenetics, plant anatomy and comparative aspmorphology, ecology, plant geography, and reproductive biology.[2]
Institutes
Peter F. Drucker Institute
Peter Drucker Institute is a think tank and action tank based at Claremont Graduate University that was established to advance the ideas and ideals of Peter F. Drucker, the father of modern management.
Getty Leadership Institute
The Getty Leadership Institute at Claremont Graduate University is a leading source of continuing professional development for current and future leaders of museums and other nonprofit institutions.
Institute of Mathematical Sciences
The Institute of Mathematical Sciences offers a variety of masters and doctoral degrees, and maintains a strong applied research component through its internationally recognized Engineering and Industrial Applied Mathematics Clinic, offering students first-hand experience in solving significant problems in applied mathematics for business and industry clients. IMS also provides joint programs in financial engineering, computational science, and computational and systems biology.
Campus
Location and buildings
As part of the Claremont Colleges, CGU sits on 550 acres (220Â ha) of land and includes over 175 buildings that is home to the Claremont University Consortium in Claremont, California.
In July 2007, CNN/Money magazine ranked Claremont as one of the top 5 places to live in the United States.
Harper Hall Harper Hall is the oldest building on CGU's campus, originally housing the graduate library. It is now the administration building centralizing CGU's student and administrative functions. Classrooms and study areas take up a majority of Harper Hall’s lower level.
Stauffer Hall and Albrecht auditorium
The Academic computing building The ACB is a three-story, 27,000-square-foot (2,500Â m2) facility completed in 1985, which was renovated in 2009 to include the third floor. It houses academic computing resources, the School of Social Science, Policy, & Evaluation, the Center for Information Systems and Technology, two computer labs, and the Kay E-Health Center. It is also home to the Paul Gray PC Museum.
Ron W. Burkle Building The Ron W. Burkle building was completed in 1998. Named after CGU fellow Ronald Burkle, it is currently home to the Peter Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management. It is a three story, 36,000-square-foot (3,300Â m2) facility housing offices, classrooms and lecture halls, the Drucker Library and the Drucker Institute.
Des Combes Gate
The CGU Art Building The CGU Art Building is home to two galleries, The East Gallery and the Peggy Phelps Gallery. During the semester the galleries feature work by current MFA students as well as special exhibits curated by professors, featuring the work of local artists. The art building has an independent studio space for each student measuring 22 by 12 feet. Once a year, the art building and all of the studios are opened to the public in an event called "Open Studios."
Notable places on campus
Paul Gray PC Museum
The Paul Gray PC Museum is a computer museum at Claremont Graduate University. It is named in honor of Paul Gray, a former professor at the university, and is located in the Center for Information Systems and Technology. As of November 12, 2005, the museum is showing the "Best PCs Ever", based on the article "The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time" published by PC World.
The Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
Claremont Graduate University is home to the Kinglsey Tufts Poetry Award. The Award is presented annually for a work by an emerging poet. The award was established in 1992 by Kate Tufts to honor her late husband, poet and writer Kingsley Tufts. It is the largest monetary prize in the nation for a mid-career poet.
Noted people
Alumni and faculty
Presidents
- James A. Blaisdell (1925â€"1936)
- William S. Ament, Acting President (1935â€"1937) Note: Overlap in years due to the fact that Ament was hired July 1, 1935 while Blaisdell was on sabbatical.
- Russell Story (1937â€"1942)
- Robert J. Bernard (1959â€"1963) Note: Bernard ran the university from 1942 to 1959 under the title administrative director.
- William W. Clary, Acting President (1963)
- Louis T. Benezet (1963â€"1970)
- Howard R. Bowen (1970â€"1971)
- Barnaby Keeney (1971â€"1976)
- Joseph B. Platt (1976â€"1981)
- John D. Maguire (1981â€"1998)
- Steadman Upham (1998â€"2004)
- William Everhart, Interim President (2004â€"2005)
- Robert Klitgaard (2005â€"2009)
- Joseph C. Hough, Jr. Interim President (2009â€"2010)
- Deborah A. Freund (2010â€"2014)
- Robert Schult, Interim President (2015â€"2016)
- Jacob Adams, Interim President (2017â€"present)
References
Further reading
- Bernard, Robert J., An Unfinished Dream: A Chronicle of the Group Plan of the Claremont Colleges; The Castle Press, 1982.
- Blaisdell, James Arnold, The Story of a Life: An Autobiography; Penn Lithographics, 1984.
- Clary, William W., The Claremont Colleges: A History of the Development of the Claremont Group Plan; The Castle Press, 1970.
External links
- Official website
- Claremont Graduate University at National Center for Education Statistics: College Navigator