For Immediate Release

Contact: 	
		Director, Public Relations
		(909) 621-8219
		ninae@pitzer.edu

Pitzer College Receives Hewlett Grant to Explore
'Habits of Mind' of a Liberal Arts Education

Claremont, Calif. – Aug. 9, 2000 – Pitzer College has been awarded $150,000 by the 
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to support a three-year campus-wide study of the 
"habits of mind" of a liberal arts and sciences education, it was announced recently by 
President Marilyn Chapin Massey.
Over the next three years, Pitzer College will examine the form and substance of 
its learning experience.  Using faculty study groups and workshops, guest-speaker 
programs, a study of best practices at other institutions and dissemination of findings at 
all levels—from the microcosm of the individual classroom to the macrocosm of the 
overarching curriculum—faculty from every discipline will examine how the learning 
experience aids in the development of habits of mind and tools for effective, socially 
responsible participation in today's multi-faceted world.
"The grant will provide an excellent resource for the College in its endeavor to 
more clearly articulate and ensure the quality of the education it is committed to 
delivering," President Massey said. "The Hewlett Foundation's support signals the 
importance of the work and the need to ensure that sufficient time and care are allotted to 
achieve meaningful outcomes and broad, campus-wide commitment to the project's goals 
and objectives."
The "habits of mind" the project will explore include, among other possibilities, 
the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, to collaborate with others and to solve 
problems of communication, to work hard and well without supervision and to gather and 
analyze evidence and ask pertinent questions.
"Through identifying the habits of mind that comprise a Pitzer education, our 
faculty will come to appreciate better their individual and collective contributions as 
teachers," said Massey.  "Our students and their parents will know better how four years 
at Pitzer might benefit them and what they will need to do to realize that benefit."
Pitzer College—a private, undergraduate, coeducational liberal arts institution—is 
consistently ranked among the best such colleges in the country. Located in Claremont, 
Calif., a city about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, Pitzer is an intimate college backed by 
the resources of The Claremont Colleges. Blending classroom instruction with fieldwork, 
Pitzer engages a student's mind, heart and spirit by integrating educational resources on-
campus, abroad and in the local community. Pitzer offers a curriculum that spans 40 
major fields and focuses on interdisciplinary, intercultural education with an emphasis on 
social responsibility and community service. 

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