A recent gift to CMC of more than $13 million will fund full-tuition merit scholarships for CMC students with exceptional leadership potential. Made possible through a trust established under the Estate of Frank R. Seaver, the gift allows for as many as 16 students to be awarded merit scholarships beginning this fall.
The Frank Seaver Leadership Scholars Program, funded by a $13.39 million endowment gift to the College, provides full-tuition funding to four outstanding students from each undergraduate class, as well as providing two summer stipends for each recipient during four college years to pursue leadership development opportunities such as internships, community service, and academic travel.
"The Seaver Leadership Scholars Program will allow CMC students to shape lives that will make a difference in this country and in the world," said Claremont McKenna College President Pamela Brooks Gann. "We are grateful to the Seaver Trust for allowing us to build on Frank Seaver's commitment to liberal arts education and the men and women who benefit from what we do at CMC."
CMC's Office of Admission will identify and select potential candidates for the Frank Seaver Leadership Scholars Program during the regular application process, beginning with the recruitment of the first-year class entering CMC in fall 2008. In addition, a selection committee comprised of outstanding CMC alumni representatives reflecting the kinds of leaders the Leadership Scholars program expects to fund will lead candidate selection interviews.
The College will award full-tuition merit scholarships to the most outstanding students in the applicant pool who have demonstrated both academic and leadership accomplishments through the application and selection process.
The estimated annual cost to provide full tuition for sixteen Frank Seaver Leadership Scholars is $600,000. Eight of the 16 will also receive summer stipends of $5,000 each.
Frank Roger Seaver graduated from Pomona College in 1905 and built a fortune making oil-drilling equipment. He was a close friend of many of the Pomona College alumni responsible for founding CMC in 1946.