Engineering, science and mathematics continue to be exciting, satisfying and lucrative for those prepared to work in these fields. Since 1957, Harvey Mudd College has sought high-ability students with the potential to develop thoughtful and creative solutions to the world’s challenging problems. Those who attend HMC learn that technology divorced from humanity is worse than no technology at all. They commit to intellectual honesty. They learn humility. And they leave with a broad scientific and technological perspective that is applicable to many vocations.
Undergraduate Focus
The opportunities offered by HMC’s exclusive undergraduate focus give the college’s students access to some of the top undergraduate engineering, science and mathematics faculty in the country. More than 95 percent of all faculty (full-time, part-time and instructors) hold a Ph.D., and courses taught by graduate students are extremely rare. Students enjoy a faculty dedicated to their education. They study and work in facilities that are comparable to what graduate students enjoy at research universities. Students at Harvey Mudd College learn both theory and practice. All students conduct research or do engineering design; all have the opportunity to work on the real-world problems of corporate and not-for-profit clients through the college’s Clinic Program. These opportunities for hands-on learning give Harvey Mudd College graduates an advantage that has resulted in a high placement rate of its job-seeking graduates. HMC is also an outstanding setting in which to prepare for an advanced degree.
Additionally, Harvey Mudd College recognizes the importance of preparing its graduates to live and work in a multicultural world. Students have the opportunity to participate in a community that values diversity and promotes cultural competence. The social environment is also shaped by an Honor Code that sets a tone of trust and collaboration and minimizes the intense competition that is often the by-product of bringing together exceptionally accomplished individuals.
Historical Overview
Harvey Mudd College was founded in 1955 and began operations in the fall of 1957, less than one month before Sputnik I launched the Space Age, making technical education a priority in the United States. Forty-eight students and seven faculty were the pioneers who shaped this unique, highly selective institution born of the generosity of businessman and philanthropist Harvey S. Mudd and the vision of Joseph B. Platt, the nuclear physicist who served as the college’s first president. Harvey Mudd College became the fifth autonomous member of a much larger center of learning, The Claremont Colleges, an affiliation that broadens both academic and social opportunities for its students.
College Mission
HMC’s founders had a good basic idea, one that had gone untried. This “good basic idea” has been expressed a dozen different ways, but the simplest is the college’s mission statement:
Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists and mathematicians well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.
Harvey Mudd College pioneered—and put into practice—the idea of relating human needs to engineering and science education. It was able to do so because, as a new institution, it had no particular tradition to uphold or other barriers to innovation. And the school’s innovation and spirit of educational adventure—qualities that attract superior people—appealed to new faculty, staff and students. Ever since its founding, the college’s faculty has been made up of top-flight professionals—humanists who are not dissuaded by technology, and engineers and scientists who have an abiding faith in liberal learning.
Dedicated Faculty
All of Harvey Mudd College’s full-time faculty (about 80) have Ph.D.s or a terminal degree in their field of study, and all are engaged in research. Each faculty member’s focus, however, is teaching the approximately 750 students at the college. For the college as a whole, upper-division classes and laboratory sections average between 10 and 15 students. Faculty-student interaction is particularly good as students take advantage of the extensive research and design opportunities.
A Proven Curriculum
In the beginning, the courses and curriculum of Harvey Mudd College were formulated under a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, and featured a rigorous Core designed to graduate engineers, scientists and mathematicians with grounding in all of these fields as well as an understanding of their social context. This Core is still at the heart of the modern curriculum that fully integrates the humanities and social sciences. Now, as at the institution’s inception, all Harvey Mudd College students receive general education in the humanities and social sciences (nearly one-third of all course work, more courses, in fact, than at any engineering college in the country) and basic work in biology, computer science, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and physics—the departmental major programs that the college offers. Students may also design individual programs of study outside of these majors, or major in an area of study offered at one of the other Claremont Colleges.
Graduate Success
The curriculum developed by Harvey Mudd College is effective—the proof is in the college’s graduates. About three out of four eventually enter graduate schools, most in the top graduate programs in their fields, be it at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Caltech, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley or other prestigious graduate schools. Eventually, most graduates go to work in industry, typically for firms such as Boeing, ESRI, Fair Isaac, Microsoft, Northrop-Grumman, and Raytheon. HMC graduates far more than its share of leaders in the pure and applied sciences. Within five years of graduation, alumni have usually reached such jobs as project engineer, research scientist and systems engineer. Those out more than five years are more likely to be chief engineers, division managers, senior scientists or even vice-presidents or general managers. An increasing number are entrepreneurs and are founding their own companies—some while still in school.
Many Harvey Mudd College alumni with advanced degrees work for “think tanks” or industrial research centers like RAND, the Aerospace Corporation, Bell Laboratories, IBM’s Watson Research Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and NASA. Others are on the faculties of Yale, MIT, the University of California (Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Cruz), Columbia University, the University of Washington, Dartmouth, Purdue, Claremont McKenna College and Harvey Mudd College-not all teach engineering, mathematics and science. Included among our graduates are doctors in small towns and at research hospitals like the Mayo Clinic, artists, vintners, entrepreneurs, economists, historians, philosophers, oceanographers, actuaries, and even a few astronauts. The bottom line is that Harvey Mudd College graduates are able to seek out satisfying places for themselves in a wide variety of fields.
Home to Top Students
The Harvey Mudd College student body of approximately 750 students come from many different places and backgrounds, but they are alike in one way: They have a deep dedication to engineering, science and mathematics and are also interested in the role of these fields in society. More than that, they are good in these fields, and they like to be around others who share their interests. They spend a great deal of time in classrooms and laboratories, in conference with faculty members, and in study—and like most of their work. They make time to participate in college and community life through volunteer service work, student government, or student publications. They compete on athletic teams or participate in club sports. They enjoy going to concerts, art exhibits and parties. Many play musical instruments and participate in Claremont Colleges performance groups. They are involved and engaged students who are intellectually gifted with a strong ability in engineering, science and mathematics.
Campus Facilities
The Harvey Mudd College campus is a pleasant combination of beauty and efficiency. The buildings—residence halls, dining hall, classrooms, office buildings, laboratories, library and athletic center—are of a single, carefully planned architectural design, and the grounds have many tree-shaded paths, grassy slopes, flower beds, patios and plazas. Of course, the vast central facilities of The Claremont Colleges are open to everyone at Harvey Mudd College.
The Harvey Mudd College campus includes:
Residence Halls—Living accommodations for students are provided in eight residence halls: Mildred Mudd, West, North, Marks, Atwood, Case, Linde and Sontag. North Hall and Mildred Mudd Hall constitute the Seeley W. Mudd Memorial Quadrangle. Marks, Atwood, Case, Linde, and Sontag Halls are named in honor of David X. Marks, J.L. Atwood, Florence H. and Gerald R. Case, Ronald and Maxine Linde, and Frederick (’64) and Susan Sontag, respectively.
Joseph B. Platt Campus Center—This two-story building was named for the founding president. The Campus Center houses many student services, including the Dean of Students, Residential Life, Student Emotional Health, Student Activities, the Registrar, Academic Affairs, Career Services, Study Abroad, Institutional Diversity, and Facilities and Maintenance. The facility also includes a mailroom, lounges, music practice rooms, Jay’s Place (a late-night dining and gathering place in memory of Jay Wolkin ’99), a game room, offices for student organizations and the Green Room, a large meeting area.
Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons—Completed in 2005, this dining facility, certified under LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines, can hold 466 diners. It is home to the Aviation Room, which celebrates the college’s former Bates Aeronautics Program and its graduates, and has a number of meeting rooms and patio areas. The building was named for trustees Richmond J. Hoch ’63 and his wife, Diane, and R. Michael Shanahan and his wife, Mary.
The Norman F. Sprague Memorial Building—The building houses new Digital Learning Studios on the first floor. The offices of the Dean of Faculty are on the fourth floor, and work spaces for the Computer Science and Mathematics Departments are located on the second and third floors, respectively. The building was a gift of Dr. and Mrs. Norman F. Sprague Jr. in memory of Dr. Sprague’s father.
The Parsons Engineering Building—Named in honor of Ralph M. Parsons, this three-story building houses the Department of Engineering, the Engineering Clinic, the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts, and the Office of Computing and Information Services.
The F.W. Olin Science Center—A gift of the F.W. Olin Foundation, this three-story building, completed in 1992, houses the Departments of Biology, Computer Science, and Mathematics, instructional facilities, and research and teaching labs.
The Jacobs Science Center—A gift of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph J. Jacobs, this three-story building houses offices and laboratories for the Departments of Chemistry and Physics.
W.M. Keck Laboratories—A four-story building developed with a gift from the W.M. Keck Foundation, this facility houses a portion of the Departments of Chemistry and Physics, classrooms, laboratories, and a computer terminal room.
Beckman Hall—Built with a gift from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, this facility houses classrooms, laboratories, computer facilities for the computer science, mathematics, biology and other departments, and a 75-seat auditorium.
Galileo Hall—This facility is a combination of a lecture/demonstration hall and workshops. It contains a concourse of workshops for the fabrication of instructional and research apparatus. The facility was named for the Galileo Society, an organization of area residents who support the college.
Hixon Court—In front of Galileo Hall is a stunning European fountain and koi pond, a gift from the Alexander Hixon family.
Linde Activities Center—The Linde Activities Center provides a central recreation area for the Harvey Mudd College community. It houses a full-length basketball court with six retractable hoops and is also suitable for volleyball, badminton and special events. The center also has a computing lab, an aerobics workout area, a fitness area with a full range of conditioning equipment, shower and locker facilities, a lounge area equipped with a big-screen television, and two large multipurpose rooms.
Information Technology
Harvey Mudd College provides extensive computing resources to the campus community; the Computing and Information Services Department (CIS) is responsible for many of them. The department provides many services as well as opportunities for students to get involved in developing the college's computing infrastructure.
Students at The Claremont Colleges abide by the Claremont-wide acceptable use policy. Use of HMC information technology resources constitutes acceptance of this policy.
CIS manages the computing labs on campus—one in the Sprague Building, first floor, and one in the Linde Activities Center (LAC). All students have access to the labs 24 hours a day. In Fall 2009, new Digital Learning Studios opened on the first floor of the Sprague Building. The Learning Studios are comfortable, flexible spaces for instruction, drop-in computing, group work and high performance computing. News about the labs and studios can be found at the CIS news site.
CIS operates an equipment loan program which allows students to borrow laptops or projectors for short periods. The department also manages printers for student use in the Linde Activities Center, Platt Living Room and the Digital Learning Studios.
Sakai is The Claremont Colleges online learning environment. It is in use at all the colleges and many professors use it regularly to post quizzes, readings, class schedules and discussions. Information about Sakai can be found at http://sakai.claremont.edu.
E-mail accounts are offered to all students. The e-mail service is currently built on a system called Zimbra, a web-based collaboration suite.
CIS operates a Help Desk located in Parsons B142 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Help Desk is students’ first point of contact for all CIS services; and the staff can assist with hardware and software installation, configuration, troubleshooting, repair or advice. Students may drop by or contact the Help Desk via e-mail helpdesk@hmc.edu or via phone at 909.607.7777.
The department operates the campus wireless network which was extensively upgraded in summer 2007. HMC resources can be accessed via the wireless network at any of The Claremont Colleges.
CIS offers a program that allows students to explore new technology, such as Tablet PCs or the Apple iPod Touch. Students can borrow hardware for up to a semester and are asked to report on their experiences using the technology.
Visit the CIS website for more information about services.
Central to Mountains, Oceans, Deserts
The college is in Claremont, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, in a suburban area that was once broad stretches of citrus groves. It is at the foot of Mount San Antonio (Mount Baldy), the highest peak in the San Gabriel Range—10,064 feet.
Claremont’s population of about 34,000 live in well-tended homes on tree-covered streets. Freeways provide easy access to desert wilderness areas, Pacific Ocean beaches, the local mountains (snow-covered in the wintertime), Colorado River country, Pasadena (home of the Rose Parade), Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, San Diego and its wilderness and marine parks, Los Angeles and the many attractions of Hollywood—all within a few hours’ drive.
Copyright 2010 Harvey Mudd College