Photo by Isaiah Tulanda ’20
CMC’s Gould Center Earns National Honor
The Gould Center’s Humanities Labs at Claremont McKenna College have been awarded The Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs from the American Philosophical Association and Philosophy Documentation Center.
The national honor recognizes the creation of programs that “risk undertaking new initiatives in philosophy, and do so with excellence and success … so they may inspire and influence others to follow their lead.”
“Based on student testimonials, we at the Gould Center have long been confident that we’ve hit upon a winning formula with our signature initiatives like the Humanities Labs. But it’s really incredibly gratifying and rewarding to get this external validation and recognition of our success,” said Amy Kind, Director of the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies and the Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy.
The award selection committee specifically cited the Humanities Labs for fostering a “ground-breaking approach to philosophical scholarship and pedagogy by building on the team-based model familiar from scientific research … faculty mentors have used this model to create collaborative environments where students are encouraged to explore their ideas through project-based problem-solving and to express them in formats that go beyond traditional academic genres.”
The Humanities Labs program was created in 2019 to offer students a funded opportunity for hands-on experience in humanities research.
To learn more, visit cmc.edu/humanities-honors.
– Thomas Rozwadowski
Photo by Laura Somoza Velez ’24
Heard at The Ath
The Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum has attracted an incredible lineup of prestigious speakers for the past four decades. Serving as the heart of intellectual and social engagement, the Ath shines a light on the College as a hub for thoughtful and constructive dialogue. Here are highlights from recent speakers.
“Even if you can’t convince somebody fully to align with you, if you can get them to fight you less hard, that’s still progress. If you can give them the opportunity to be your friend and not see you as just the enemy or somebody who hates them, you actually have the opportunity to change their mind.”
– David Hogg, Parkland shooting survivor and co-founder of Leaders We Deserve, a grassroots political organization dedicated to electing young progressives to Congress and State Legislatures across the country.
“Believe it or not, you can forage in places like New York City—you just have to know what to look for.”
– Michelle Dowd PZ ’90, journalism professor and author of the celebrated memoir, Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult.
“We’re larger than most state governments, and that creates some interesting challenges and opportunities.”
– Dean Logan, the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk for Los Angeles County, the nation’s largest, most diverse local election jurisdiction serving more than 5.7 million registered voters.
“What I mean by colorblindness is you disregard [race] as a reason to treat anyone differently. And that should also be a basis for public policy… You base policies on class and socioeconomics rather than [race]. Why? Because socioeconomics, whether it is simple income or wealth … is a much better proxy for disadvantage. Because we’re trying to correct for disadvantage.”
– Coleman Hughes, author of The End of Race Politics, and the keynote speaker at Res Publica and the Athenaeum, co-sponsored by the Valach Speaker Series and The Open Academy.
Civility Role Models Honored by Dreier RoundTable
The Dreier RoundTable (DRt) at Claremont McKenna College took to the national stage during the 2024-25 academic year, presenting Civility Awards to U.S. Governors Spencer Cox and Jared Polis. The duo were honored for bridging the political divide through their collaboration on the Disagree Better Initiative.
The DRt recognized the Governors at two separate events, the culmination of the DRt’s ongoing efforts to offer a range of hands-on learning opportunities designed to foster civil discourse on campus and inspire students to engage with diverse perspectives and promote understanding through meaningful conversations. During the fall semester, the DRt hosted an op-ed writing contest, as well as several Oxford-style debates that explored topics such as immigration and the electoral college.
With the aim to inspire CMC students to become leaders in the public sphere, Dreier launched the Civility Awards to honor “public servants who engage in a vigorous clash of ideas” while understanding that “their political adversary is not their enemy.”
The DRt honored Cox and Polis for co-chairing the bipartisan National Governors Association Disagree Better Initiative, which is “for Governors to model how to disagree better, setting an example and creating the permission structure and template for other public officials at every level to follow.”
“The leadership that you and Jared are showing now has been a model for anyone who is engaged in public service, said CMC Trustee and DRt founder David Dreier ’75, who served in Congress as a Republican from 1981-2013.
Cox told the audience who gathered at the Athenaeum for the award presentation in November: “I didn’t get elected to be the Republican Governor of Utah. I was elected to be the Governor of Utah. My job is to represent the entire state, not just the Republican Party.”
Following the award presentation, Cox and Dreier joined a conversation on the importance of civil discourse in U.S. politics moderated by Aditya Pai ’13 a member of the DRt advisory board. Dreier explained how he and former Democratic Governor of Montana, Steve Bullock ’88 P’24—the inaugural recipient of the DRt Civility Award and a member of the DRt advisory board—jointly decided to recognize Cox and Polis because of the pair’s demonstrated “commitment to turning down the temperature in American politics.”
In October, after Colorado Governor Polis, a Democrat, was honored at the Athenaeum, he engaged in a conversation on the future of American politics with Dreier and Professor Jack Pitney. Later he posted on social media: “This award highlights our ability to work together for a brighter future. Thank you, Representative David Dreier and the students at Claremont McKenna College. We all have a role to play in this effort.”
– Anne Bergman
Photo by Isaiah Tulanda ’20
Photo by Tristen Tate ’26