Hiram Chodosh, the President of Claremont McKenna College, which is ranked as one of the best Liberal Arts colleges in the nation joins Enterprise Radio.
Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Hiram Chodosh discuss the following:
- Claremont McKenna has built a reputation for developing future leaders—how is the College evolving its approach to leadership education in response to today’s global, political, and technological shifts?
- In an era where campuses are grappling with polarization and protest, how does CMC maintain its commitment to free speech while fostering a respectful and inclusive academic environment?
- Claremont McKenna emphasizes practical application of the liberal arts. Can you share examples of how students or alumni who are translating their education into tangible societal impact?
- What initiatives has CMC undertaken to address the growing mental health challenges among college students, and how is the administration measuring success in this area?
- As the national debate continues around college costs and student debt, what is CMC doing to ensure that a world-class education remains accessible to students from all backgrounds?
Hiram E. Chodosh is the president of Claremont McKenna College, one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. An accomplished leader in several domains, he is widely recognized for his innovations in higher education, scholarship in comparative law, and expertise in international justice reform.
Known for its focus on economics and government, the liberal arts atcClaremont McKenna College integrates hands-on experience andcinternships, advanced research, and leadership development through 15 signature institutes, centers, and labs, many programs that expand student opportunities, and a dynamic residential life experience.
Under President Chodosh’s leadership, CMC has implemented several new programs and centers to enhance the College’s singular leadership mission in liberal arts education. CMC has raised more than $200 million in new funding for scholarship and special student opportunities, including a student cohort program providing first-summer internships for every student on financial aid. One in five entering students are the first in their families to attend college, and one of five are Pell grant eligible. Over the past six years, CMC also opened several new centers, including the CARE Center, designed to foster the understanding and mitigation of social division; the Soll Center for Student Opportunities, which both integrates and elevates advisory support for post-graduate success; the Roberts Pavilion, an award-winning facility for athletics, recreation, and community events; the Policy Lab, a platform for students to develop public policy solutions for external organizations; the Murty Sunak Quantitative and Computing Lab to guide students in applying data tools to liberal arts coursework and research opportunities; and the Open Academy to reinforce CMC’s longstanding commitments to freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity, and effective dialogue.
Based on these investments, Claremont McKenna College is highly accomplished across a wide range of measures: selectivity in admissions and resources for students on financial aid; social mobility, post-graduate success, and job satisfaction; open inquiry and viewpoint diversity (1st among liberal arts colleges and 2nd among all universities and colleges); Model UN (world champions last 4 of 5 years); competitive athletics (3rd in Division 3); and many other signature programs.
President Chodosh received his B.A. in history from Wesleyan University in 1985 and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1990. He entered law practice at the New York City headquarters of the international firm Cleary Gottlieb, where he specialized in transnational practice. In 1993, he left the firm to join the faculty at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland.
President Chodosh became dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah in 2006. During his tenure, he served as the Dean, the Hugh B. Brown Endowed Presidential Professor of Law, and the Senior Presidential Advisor on Global Strategy. In that capacity, he helped establish several new university centers to address law and bioscience, global justice, educational innovation, and research on veterans.
President Chodosh has worked on projects or studies in more than a dozen countries. He has played a central role in the growth of mediation in India, where he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in 2003. He founded and directed Global Justice Project: Iraq under a $10.4 million grant (2008–10) from the U.S. Department of State. He has served in advisory positions on justice reform for the World Bank Justice Reform Group, the International Monetary Fund Legal Department, and many court systems, non-profit organizations, and national commissions. In 2011, Chodosh was named a recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award, and in 2013 he was recognized as one of the 25 most influential legal educators in the country.
President Chodosh’s publications include Uniform Civil Code of India: A Blueprint for Scholarly Discourse (with Shimon Shetreet, 2016), Law in Iraq: A Document Companion (with co-editor Chibli Mallat, 2013), both published by Oxford University Press, and Global Justice Reform: A Comparative Methodology (2005, NYU Press).
He is married to Priya Junnar, director of CMC’s Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.
Website: https://www.cmc.edu
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