Campus News 2003-2004 Academic Year

Pitzer College Joins Consortium for Strong Minority Presence

Claremont, Calif. (Sept. 25, 2003) – Pitzer College has joined the Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence (CSMP). The 35 member colleges of CSMP are committed to providing mentoring support in a liberal arts environment to predoctoral and postdoctoral minority fellows who aspire to careers as teachers/scholars in the liberal arts.

The Pitzer junior scholars program funded by an Irvine Diversity grant, which is a 3 ½-year grant from the James Irvine Foundation to support campus diversity issues, was modeled on the CSMP program.

“The most significant benefit of membership in CSMP is that the Claremont Colleges Consortium annually recruits an outstanding pool of applicants for junior scholar positions that Pitzer will now be able to draw on in its recruitment efforts,” Pitzer Dean of Faculty Alan Jones said.

The CSMP says its program grows out of the conviction that a strong representation of minority scholars on the faculties of liberal arts colleges is essential. The presence of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American scholars has a twofold effect: First, it provides greater diversity of experience and perspective within the faculty and in the curriculum; and second, minority scholars provide necessary role models, especially for minority students. They help attract minority students to liberal arts colleges and enhance their experience once there.