Update from HMC President Maria Klawe

Dear Harvey Mudd College Community,

As we close out the 2020–2021 academic year and begin looking ahead to summer and our plans to reopen the campus for in-person activities this fall, I have been reflecting on my 15 years as president of Harvey Mudd College.

As you know, the board of trustees held its May meetings this past weekend. During those meetings, I officially informed the board of my decision not to seek an extension of my current contract as president of the College. This means that I will leave the presidency at the end of June 2023 when my current term ends.

I want you all to know that serving as president of Harvey Mudd College is now—and has been—the greatest honor of my academic career, and I am incredibly proud and grateful for everything we have accomplished together. Our endowment has grown more than 80% since 2005–2006, which has helped us increase student financial aid, renovate our physical plant, and build state-of-the-art facilities like the R. Michael Shanahan Center for Teaching and Learning, the Wayne ’73 and Julie Drinkward Residence Hall and now, the Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center.

Over the years many amazing faculty and staff have joined the College, further diversifying our community and bringing tremendous energy, enthusiasm and ideas for new ways we might accomplish the College’s important mission. Our percentage of women students has grown more than 60% since 2005 and our number of students underrepresented in STEM has grown more than 207% over the past 10 years. Our faculty members have developed and shared proven strategies for improving learning outcomes in STEM fields among women and students of color that are now being used by institutions of higher education around the world. Our most recent comprehensive campaign, the first in more than 25 years at Harvey Mudd, ended well above its $175 million goal and provided a much-needed infusion of resources to support the critical work of our faculty, students and staff.

As I reflect back on my time here, now seems like an opportune moment for our community to begin the important conversation about who should lead the College in the next phase of its development. I plan to continue serving as your president for the next two academic years with all of the focus and energy that I brought with me in 2006 so that together, we can best position the next president of Harvey Mudd College to be even more successful.

I expect that there will be many opportunities to celebrate all that we have accomplished together, but I do want to thank you all for your friendship, advice, hard work and dedication over the last 15 years. Harvey Mudd is a truly unique place, with a tremendously supportive community. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here with you, and I look forward to our continued work together over the next two years.

Sincerely,
Maria