Claremont McKenna College history

Classes began even before a name was chosen; the school was incorporated as Claremont Men’s College in the spring of 1947.

By 1951, however, CMC established seven majors: accounting, business administration, economics, fine arts (with Scripps College), government, humanities, and international affairs.

Harvey Mudd College A coeducational, 735-student college, Harvey Mudd joined the consortium in 1955 and offers undergraduate programs in engineering, science and mathematics, while also emphasizing the humanities and social sciences.

In 1957, CMC joined Harvey Mudd College to form CMC-HMC teams with the Stags mascot.

Pitzer College With a curriculum that emphasizes the social and behavioral sciences, particularly psychology, sociology, anthropology and political studies, Pitzer was founded in 1963 and is a coeducational college that enrolls nearly 950 students.

The W.M. Keck Science Department run jointly with Scripps and Pitzer colleges was established in 1964.

In 1981, the College was renamed Claremont McKenna College, recognizing the role of founding benefactor and trustee Donald McKenna.

The current Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum opened in 1983.

The Claremont Independent: Founded in 1996, this magazine of conservative and libertarian writers does investigative reporting and publishes political and social commentary on campus news.

Keck Graduate Institute The seventh and newest member of The Claremont Colleges was founded in 1997.

Enrollment expanded from 1,000 students in 1999 to 1,300 students today and, as a result, faculty expanded to keep the faculty student ratio at 9:1 and 85% of classes taught with fewer than 20 students.

Claremont Port Side: Founded in 2003, this progressive 5C{The five Claremont Colleges (Pomona, Scripps, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd, and Claremont McKenna))} magazine offers reporting and analysis on everything from global to campus issues.

However, in 2005 the college abolished the 50/50 male/female ratio and began to assign apartments strictly on credits, which has had the effect of skewing the ratio slightly toward the female side.

In September 2007, Claremont McKenna College announced the largest gift ever to a liberal arts college – $200 million – donated by alum Robert A. Day (Chairman, TCW Group), to create the Robert Day Scholars Program, which has both an undergraduate and graduate component.

In 2008, the college eliminated loans from its financial aid packages, meeting every student's demonstrated need with grants.