Claremont Graduate University history

1927 In the fall, the university admits its first students.

June 10, 1928 CGU awards MA degrees to its first four graduates: Jerry Voorhis (Education), Eloise Sterling and Marjorie Belle Travers (English Composition), and Wiley Wells Mather (Political Science).

1929 The first art seminar is offered during the summer session.

1937 The university grants its first doctorate to Dorothy Walter Baruch, who goes on to a distinguished career as a psychologist and author of children’s and child-rearing practice books.

1946 In January, the idea of a single centralized library (there are three at the time) serving The Claremont Colleges is first proposed.

1951 CGU launches its program in Politics & Public Policy, one of the oldest of its kind in the United States.

1958 CGU’s Religion program is conceived when ground is broken at the newly affiliated Claremont School of Theology—formerly the School of Religion at University of Southern California—enabling both institutions to share faculty members, research, and other resources.

1970 CGU undergoes massive curricular expansion, adding 27 new master’s and doctorate programs ranging from music and botany to economics and mathematics, as well as the major fields of the humanities.

1973 In the fall, the School of Mathematical Sciences (now the Institute of Mathematical Sciences) undertakes its first Engineering & Industrial Applied Mathematics Clinic project for Bell and Howell.

1983 Paul Gray, an influential CGU professor and pioneer in information systems, founds what is now the Center for Information Systems & Technology (CISAT). At the time, few colleges were offering such information science programs.

1988 CGU celebrates the successful completion of its second fundraising campaign and first individual campaign, the Campaign for Preeminence, which exceeds its $50-million goal.

1997 World-renowned evaluation expert and academic philosopher Michael Scriven joins the CGU faculty as Professor of Psychology and director of the Evaluation program.

1999 A founding scholar in the field of positive psychology, Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, along with Assistant Psychology Professor Jeanne Nakamura, launches the Quality of Life Research Center at CGU, propelling the university to the forefront of an exciting new field.

2000 For CGU’s 75th anniversary, the official seal of the university is revised, adapting motifs from the original design.

2001 The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education reclassifies CGU as “doctoral research university, extensive (R2)”—the highest rating for a research university of its scope and size.

2003 Major renovations on the Graduate Management Center are completed thanks to $1.5-million gift from the John Stauffer Foundation.

2004 The Drucker School is renamed the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management in honor of Japanese entrepreneur and business leader Masatoshi Ito, a longtime friend and strategic partner of Drucker who provided substantial financial support.

In 2005, the Transdisciplinary program expands its activities to support research and programming open to the entire CGU community.

2006 Out of the Peter F. Drucker Archives, the Drucker Institute is founded to preserve Drucker’s legacy and build upon his wisdom by applying it to important contemporary issues in business and society.

2008 The School of Community & Global Health (SCGH) is founded to foster the study of such 21st century health threats as accelerated shifts in global populations and spikes in preventable health-related problems.

2009 In November, The Getty Foundation provides major grant to support Getty Leadership Institute’s move to Claremont Graduate University, which becomes effective the following January.

September 15, 2011 CGU installs the first female president in its history, Deborah Freund.

2013 Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Claremont Graduate University announce a groundbreaking partnership establishing new master’s degree in Art Business.

2015 CGU celebrates its 90th anniversary.

2016 Claremont Graduate University expands into Downtown Los Angeles, a hub for creative industry academic programs, special events, and entrepreneurial collaborations.