The 2019 CMC Strategy Report

Affirming CMC’s Mission and Identifying Strategic Priorities

Since 1946, Claremont McKenna College’s mission has been to prepare students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions.

The 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 that would be distinguished by its focused academic program and its commitments to responsible leadership and research.

Their vision and mission would come to life through: i) an academic program focused on core liberal arts disciplines across the social sciences, sciences, and humanities; ii) a curricular emphasis in economics and government with the expectation that all students would engage with the current affairs of the day; iii) an interdisciplinary approach; iv) a balanced view of economic and political perspectives; v) a faculty of top quality teacher-scholars; and vi) a commitment to ethics.

The 2019 CMC Strategy Report (the “Report”) reaffirms the College’s founding vision and mission, and emphasizes that CMC’s foundational strategic priority should be to:

• Reinforce the Founding Vision for Claremont McKenna College: The founding vision for CMC continues to provide the most effective approach to educating CMC students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions.

From that foundational priority, the Report identifies two strategic priorities to ensure the present and future vitality of the vision and mission:

• Strengthen CMC’s Programs in the Sciences, Computer Science, and Data Science: To address significant gaps in faculty resources and facilities that have developed between the sciences and CMC’s programs in the social sciences and humanities, and to better prepare CMC students for tomorrow’s world of affairs.
• Expand Student Opportunity: To continue successfully competing for, enrolling, and fully supporting the students best able to fulfill CMC’s mission of preparing tomorrow’s leaders.

The Strategy Report also details specific recommendations in support of these strategic priorities, and provides a framework for tracking their implementation, including the regular evaluation of their effectiveness in advancing the College’s mission.