According to her email, Gann will be taking a year’s leave during the 2013-2014 academic year before returning to CMC for the 2014-2015 academic year as a Professor of Legal Studies. During her final year as President, Gann says she intend to focus on “completing The Campaign for Claremont McKenna and be involved with moving forward several building projects, as well as the recruitment of our exceptional faculty and students.”

The email was sent to the student body on May 15, 2012. It was accompanied by a letter by Harry McMahon, President of the Board of Trustees, thanking President Gann for her service. Gann’s email is reproduced below.

May 15, 2012

Dear Members of the CMC Community,

About a year ago, I discussed with Harry McMahon, the Chair of the CMC Board of Trustees, my intention to step down as your President upon the completion of The Campaign for Claremont McKenna, as well as my interest in returning to teaching. It has recently become clear that our highly successful Campaign will wrap-up next year, so it feels like the time is right for the College and for me, personally, to move forward with a leadership transition. I therefore officially notified the Trustees at their meeting last Saturday of my plan to step down as your President on June 30, 2013, following 14 years of service. I write now to inform you of this decision, and to thank you for the privilege and honor of serving as the President of this splendid institution.

Leadership changes are healthy for all organizations, and they provide an opportunity for the community to come together to reflect seriously and intelligently upon its future. This leadership change will also come at a time when the College is well positioned to attract an exceptional new President.

I am very proud of the advances made in all aspects of the College over the past several years. The faculty has never been stronger in teaching and research, and it has grown substantially in overall size. It is a faculty that cares very deeply about the central role that it plays in the aims of all outstanding institutions of higher education. Along with our exceptional academic programs, our expanded financial aid policies help us recruit a talented student body nationally and internationally. Our students benefit from an ever larger set of co-curricular, internship, and off-campus study opportunities. Our physical surroundings are being transformed by a set of Master Plan principles that not only take advantage of our exceptional geography and climate, but also reflect, architecturally, the quality and significance of the educational work that takes place here. As a result of this progress, the College continues to contribute to and strengthen The Claremont Colleges. These advances are made possible through the leadership of our Board of Trustees, hard-working staff, faculty and students who care about our College, as well as through the generosity in service and philanthropy of our alumni, parents, and friends.

On a personal level, I will have had the special opportunity to serve in leadership roles at two fine institutions: first, as Dean of the Duke University School of Law for 11 years, and then, as President of CMC for 14 years. It has been a personally rewarding career to be involved as a professor and administrator for more than 37 years in the higher education of so many fine young people. I very much look forward to returning to the activities that drew me to academic life in the first place, particularly teaching and research. After a year’s leave, I will continue to be a part of the CMC community as a College Professor of Legal Studies, which presents a fantastic opportunity to teach our outstanding students.

During the coming year, I will focus on completing The Campaign for Claremont McKenna and be involved with moving forward several building projects, as well as the recruitment of our exceptional faculty and students. I also will work with the Board of Trustees to ensure a successful transition to the next President.

It is a rare opportunity to be asked to serve such a fine liberal arts college, and I will forever be grateful to be a part of this special place of higher education.

With personal appreciation,

Pamela B. Gann
President

 

1) I have to add Claremont Cash to pay for that extra cup of coffee my Flex can no longer cover.

2) The occasional “study break” for Collins snack becomes a 5-C snack challenge.

3) I take the time to read the self-promoting posters around campus.

Upon allowing my eager eyes to wander, I came across one poster that caught my attention:

If the site itself was as provocative as the poster, I thought, I should see what this proposed solution to sex hair is all about. It would be, at least, a source for further procrastination. What I found on the website, located at HerCampus.com/CMC, was even more disturbing than the posters. I was appalled to find not only an inaccurate representation, but, more importantly, a superficial portrayal of CMC women.

“Don’t make yourself too available, but throw out hints like ‘I really enjoy hanging with you’ so you can boost his confidence,” the dating tip reads.

“Build up his confidence a little, stroke his ego (and maybe a little more),” a sex column advises.

Statements such as these ask women to succumb to a behavior just “get the guy.” Not only do the sex and dating articles suggest that a woman’s self-confidence is dependent on male approval and physical appearance, but it also assumes a solely heterosexual student body. Placing such a heavy emphasis on dating, exercise, partying, and senior crushes simply reinforces the superficiality from which the women’s movement continuously works to distance itself.

It would be one thing if the alcohol-induced girls running after the boys in bro tanks were an accurate depiction of the women here. But it’s not. My time here has presented me with women that are not only remarkably intelligent, but also independent thinkers and leaders. As a woman at CMC, I can confirm that we spend our time discussing issues of greater substance than those the Her Campus website would imply. Like most college girls, we still talk about our weekend hookups and our Pilates workout schedules, but that just barely skims the surface of what I have come to know in the women around me. Contrary to what the site may demonstrate, we are more than a group of diet-frenzied, boy-crazy, party-hopping women, grasping onto our days as love-struck tweens who watched Degrassi.

And we don’t want to go back to those days either. While we may occasionally fall victim to Leonardo DiCaprio’s love sonnets in Titanic 3-D, we are in no way trying to become the desperate-to-find-Prince-Charming Bridget Jones, despite what this statement from the Her Campus website may imply:

“All that is left are girls hopelessly waiting for guys to sweep them off their feet and take them to their fairytale love story.”

This summer, in the absence of TNR and Wednesday afternoon party informs, CMC students could easily take the time to sit back and relax. Instead, women at this campus have found interesting opportunities outside the world of Pilates and dating. Lauren Callahan ’14, for example, will be working for the Institute for Science and International Security, researching nuclear weaponry and diplomacy in the Middle East while attending meetings with other related think tanks. Across the globe in Mysore, India, Amy Hershberger ’14 will be interning at the Public Health Research Institute of India, researching antibiotic resistance of UTI’s and traveling to various hospitals in India to compile data for the research. And freshmen Elise Hansell ’15 will be working for the Human Rights Initiative in Dallas to help refugees seek asylum by organizing cases with pro bono attorneys.

These are only a few of the responses I received from asking just 30 girls about their summer plans. So perhaps for the next “CMC Celebrity,” the Her Campus writers will, for example, choose to highlight a student’s ambitious summer plans instead of glorifying the popularity of a so-called iconic male student.

Her Campus has the potential to be a great resource for students. It serves as a way to individualize CMC women from those of other colleges across the country, and if you couldn’t tell from this article, I am all in favor of more spaces for women on this campus. The problem is that, even with one recently posted article about CMC women, Her Campus is still a poor representation of the student body.

Right now, the site undermines the character and achievements of the women on campus while exacerbating stereotypes that uphold sexism. Interestingly, I looked at other Her Campus college branches only to find myself engaged and impressed with the information presented. This is not a criticism of the brand, but rather a criticism of the majority of the content on the CMC portion of the site.

All this being said, I write this article understanding that this is a fairly new undertaking. For this reason, I urge whoever decides to write, or continues to write, for Her Campus to take a step back and really take a few minutes to think about the women at Claremont McKenna. Think about your friends, your girlfriend, and your classmates; think about the people they are because I can bet my cup of coffee that they are more than what this says about them. This is not simply a message to Her Campus, but rather a message to the student body to remember that, when utilizing our voice, we have the power to collectively construct an image of CMC that is truly representative of who we are.

“I mean, I feel like I should be. I’ve followed the prescribed CMC regimen pretty closely, and from what I know about CMC alumni, it seems reasonable to think that things are going to be OK. I did fairly well in my classes at CMC. I got involved on campus. I’ve made an incredible group of friends here. I had some cool internships during the summer. I went to TNC. I’ve been ponded. I’ve been to Baldy. I’ve been to the Ath so many times I can pretty much generate the taste of the salmon in my mouth at will.

“And it looks like I’ve got a lot to look forward to. There’s a great job and great friends waiting for me in San Francisco.

“All these things make it pretty easy to project an outward appearance to my parents and others that I’m ready. And to laugh and tell all my classmates and fellow CMCers that ‘I’m not ready! I could never leave. I LOVE CMC!’ But the reality is somewhere in between, and it involves a lot of introspection.”

I guess that’s a lot for Google to squeeze into one button. The beauty of college is that I don’t get to waffle in real life. Senior week flew by, and tomorrow, May 12, Dean Hess is going to call my name, and that’ll be it. The rest of my life is real life, whether I like it or not.

My favorite quote of all time is from Robert Louis Stevenson’s first book, An Inland Voyage. To close the book, he writes,

The most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek.

One last piece of advice. I have loved writing about technology for the Forum for the past year, and I hope that I’ve shared at least one thing you’ve found helpful. I love my computer, my phone, and my iPad. But I love my time away from them even more. Leaving my phone at home when I go to my girlfriend’s, leaving it in the car when I go to the gym, not getting reception up on Baldy—those are the peaceful moments with which no amount of Netflix or Reddit can compete. Don’t become a Luddite, but make sure you spend some time unplugged.

Time Management:

The first step of getting a hold of your life is to make a game plan.  You should make at least a rough schedule for yourself between now and your departure. In order to stay on top of your tasks in the coming days, use calendars and to-do lists religiously. Keep a pad of paper with you, make a list on your phone, keep a doc on your computer up, whatever. Each time you remember something you need to do, big or small, instantly put it on your list. Set aside five to ten minutes later in the day to schedule all your tasks somewhere in your calendar.

For more thoughts on time management, here is a synopsis I wrote last year of some helpful time management strategies from Peter Drucker’s book The Effective Executive.

One Step at a Time:

Now that you’ve got a plan, get yourself into an appropriate mindset. Nothing makes a big task seem more daunting than seeing the task as one big, impossible challenge. Consider climbing a mountain; if you start out by thinking, “I have a whole mountain ahead of me,” you’ll feel defeated before you even begin. But when you break it down and focus on the present, you find that no individual step is actually that difficult.  By focusing on each individual step–by methodically putting one foot after the other over and over again–you will reach your goal. In the coming days, instead of thinking, “I have SO MUCH to do between now and the end of school!” and stressing yourself over the whole, break it down piece by piece and take it one step at a time. Remember that there is no particular piece of the whole that you can’t handle.

Stay Healthy:

It’s tempting, I know, but try not to let go of healthy habits. When things get hectic, you fall into the trap of skipping out on exercise, you order perpetual Mix-Bowl and pizza, you opt to have a working dinner in Poppa consisting of only a 5-Hour Energy. You are so focused on what you need to do and where you are going that you neglect the vehicle that’s supposed to get you there. Remember, healthy habits are not only good for your body, but they also fuel your brain. There are specific foods you can eat that will set you up for success this week. Simple diet choices can give you energy, increase focus, and improve memory. Good brain foods include foods high in Omega-3’s (salmon, avocado, fish oil), whole grains (oatmeal, granola), and proteins (mixed nuts). Along with staying on top of your diet, remember to exercise. It has long been accepted knowledge that exercise improves both mood and academic performance. Even a quick walk outside could tremendously help you with your ability to study or write. You’ll feel happier, healthier, and have more brain power by treating your body well.

Remember to Celebrate! 

This one is big. Take a second to enjoy the view and note your progress. Each time you finish a substantial step on your way to the end, take a moment to reflect and be really proud of yourself; You just accomplished something big, you learned a lot, you did good.  You know so much more right now about [insert class subject here] than you did four months ago. You are allowed to be proud of yourself and give yourself a little time to celebrate your successes–maybe treat yourself to some 21 Choices–before getting back to the grind.

Hope this helps, CMC! Happy finals week!  You are almost there, you can do it! 

The event was run by ASCMC Student Life Chair Mohammad Abdul-Rahim ’15.

Vocabulary of the Week: Bro Portmanteaus

portmanbro

Update your brocabulary with the most popular and latest portmanbros. For the Econ majors, a portmanteau is a combination of two (or more) words into one new word.

Music Discovery Tool of the Week: Band of the Day (iPhone/iPad)

Band of the Day

A free app that brings you a new band each day in a digital magazine form, along with reviews of the band’s music and full streams of its top songs and videos. It’s a great app for keeping in the know of which bands are currently cool to know.

Smart Move of the Week: Mac Rumors Buyers Guide

Apple Buyers Guide

This website provides an easy to understand product summary for the current product cycle of each Apple product and provides a summary of currently available rumors for each model. What this means is, you check this site before buying your next MacBook or iPad so that you aren’t the chump with the obsolete model one month later.

YouTube Channel of the Week:

Beardyman

It’s hard to determine whether this man is brilliant or crazy. Either way, the beatbox-based music he makes is entertaining, spontaneous, and complex. Watch this one to understand his process, and then go back to the link above to get your fix.

Student Photograph of the Week: Sean McQueen ’13

Best Person to Share a Desert Island With: Michael Lapadot

Most Dreamed About: Katie Bonneau

Friendliest: Taylon Johnson

Most Likely to Have a CMC Building Named After Them: Alex Berman

Poppa Power Couple: Mark Munro & Erica Libby

Most Likely to Become a CMC Professor: Jake Petzold

 

 

Most Likely to #OccupyWallStreet: Dan Evans

Most Likely to Take Over the World: Dana Staley & Drew Oetting (together)

Best All-Around: Kevin Macpherson & Elena Davert

Most Nominated: Alex Wheatley

After the dinner, the Senior Class went across Foothill Blvd. to local piano bar Piano Piano, where the above mentioned winners enjoyed free drink coupons. But what were some category suggestions that didn’t make the cut? Here are some “more inspired recommendations coming from the broader Senior Class,” as Class of 2012 President Mary Doyle puts it:

Featured image credit goes to John Faranda.

ASCMC’s Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Sullivan ’12 noted that the original target, set in September, was a $4000 expense.  A few weeks before the party, in late February, party planners realized it was going to cost more than expected and adjusted target expenses to around $8000.

To account for the unexpected extra $12,000 in expenses, Sullivan explained that the lighting for AN21’s set cost $6000 more than anticipated and that the artist fees to bring AN21 were $2,000 more than originally expected. Additionally, ticket revenues were $6000 lower than expected, with about 400 fewer tickets sold than initially intended.

Overall, the White Party resulted in a $20,000 net expense: roughly $36,200 in total expenses while the total revenue was $16,200.

Last year’s ASCMC sponsored concert featuring LMFAO resulted in a $25,000 expenditure, and the year before that Lupe Fiasco’s performance ended in a $50,000 expense. Though each year marks a decrease in expense, the high annual cost raises the question of whether or not this type of event should continue on or, at the very least, be scaled back.  “The White Party was a very expensive success,” said ASCMC President Aditya Pai ’13.  ”It provided great benefit to students, but at great cost. The question going forward for everyone to consider is whether the benefit justifies the cost – or whether we should pursue other options.”

ASCMC conducted a poll to gauge student body’s response that indicated that over 60% of all respondents considered White Party among their top two favorite parties of the year.

“Undoubtedly the White Party was a success,” said Steven Limandibhratha ’14, Social Affairs Chair (SAC), “According to the responses on the survey, over 30% placed the White Party as their favorite party of the year, and over 60% placed the party in their top two parties.

A Breakdown of the White Party Expenses, Totaling Around $36,2000, Provided to the Forum by ASCMC

“Regarding the significant expense of the party, I believe working with the new board, we will be able to reduce these expenses in the future,” Limandibhratha commented,

When asked if the party was worth the money, freshman Liza Farr responded, that depends on what one’s priorities are. “White Party was really fun, a bunch of people went out for it and danced like crazy in a cool location with awesome lights and a fantastic DJ,” she said. “However, it did cost [ASCMC] a lot of money while it didn’t seem all that different from any of other, much cheaper parties.  I don’t think it was worth the immense amount of money spent on it.”

5C Emails

One thing that CMC has down is simple email addresses. If you know someone’s name and class at CMC, you’ve got a pretty good shot at guessing their email correctly. The same cannot be said for some other members of the consortium. So without further ado, email addresses explained, in order of most logical to most absurdly complicated.

Harvey Mudd: [First Name] + [_] + [Last Name] @hmc.edu
Example: David_Meyer@hmc.edu

CMC: [First Initial] + [Last Name] + [Class Year] @cmc.edu
Example: dmeyer12@cmc.edu

Pitzer: [First Name} + [_] + [Last Name and Class Year] @pitzer.edu
Example: david_meyer12@pitzer.edu

Scripps: [First Initial] + [Last name (cut off at 7 characters)] + [Last 4 digits of student ID number] @scrippscollege.edu
Example: dmeyer3633@scrippscollege.edu

Pomona: [First Initial] + [Middle Initial] + [Last Initial] + [ a zero, UNLESS there’s someone else with your initials, in which case it could be a 1, or 2, or 3, or 4...] + [the FULL year you entered Pomona]@pomona.edu
Example: dwm02008@pomona.edu

The Claremont-WPA Network

This mysterious network is every CMCer’s dream. Log in once, the Wi-Fi network remembers you forever! Imagine the time savings when you don’t have to log in to CMCNet or Claremont every time. You’ll probably have your term papers done before spring break! So why does it tantalizingly appear on the list, but we can’t get on? I asked Jeremy Whaley, Director of Information Systems and Network Services. Here’s what he said:

The Claremont-WPA network has not officially launched. As you know it has existed for a while now and has been tested by IT folks and some users throughout its pre-release.

If you are inclined to try it out, when selecting the Claremont-WPA SSID you will be prompted for your user name and password. Similarly to the Claremont SSID login process, you will need to enter your user name with a qualifier (example: jwhaley@cmc) where the @cmc lets the system know I am affiliated with CMC. The password is your CMC Network Password—no surprises there.

This summer we will officially roll out this network, as well as a separate network, Claremont-ETC, which will serve the game consoles and other secondary devices that do not support WPA2 Enterprise.

To encourage adoption of the Claremont-WPA network, an auto-configuration tool will be provided that supports a wide variety of platforms (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, etc.).

Wi-Fi Access

As in, why doesn’t the Wi-Fi work in my bedroom/dorm room/lawn chair/shower? The fact is, Wi-Fi networks are really hard to set up. As the library has demonstrated this year, adding more hubs can actually make the network worse. Let me solve your problem: Ask one of the alumni you met last weekend what they thought of the Wi-Fi network when they went to CMC.

Things about CMC’s technology infrastructure that are awesome

• free printing
• fast Wi-Fi
• dual monitors, everywhere
• computer labs usually have space
• you can mostly use BitTorrent without getting a letter from the RIAA
• our course evaluations are finally online

Ok, I’m losing steam…

Things you should download or sign up for

• Skitch – take better screenshots on your Mac.
• Chrome Beta – Google actual releases three different versions of Chrome. This one strikes a balance between getting new features sooner and having fewer bugs.
• Flipboard – for iPhone and iPad, an awesome way to read…anything.
• Swift Key – if you have an Android phone, this keyboard will make your life better.
• The Week – a website for people who like the Economist, but don’t have time to read it/get annoyed with British people.
• Sublime Text – if you write any code at all, even just HTML and CSS, this is a beautiful, dead-simple text editor.
• Asana – shared to-do lists for teams. Use it for your next group project.
• Google Calendar – unlike a planner, you can’t lose it. And unlike a planner, it syncs with your phone. And iPad. And every computer. And it sends you reminders.
• Prezi – I’ve covered this.
• Doodle – a better way to do sign-up sheets.
• Google Music/iTunes Match – put your entire music collection on your phone and throw your iPod in the trash. Store the songs you listen to a lot locally; stream everything else. Don’t worry about data. I use it every day and stay under 2 gigabytes per month.
• Text-Only Instagram – the new #whatshouldwecallme.

The grand prize went to freshman Chris Rama ’15. The event raised $586 for Rama’s charity, the Red Cross.