The Campaign: PILLAR 5 Experiential Learning
Pillar 5
Our students don’t wait until graduation to change the world. We give them the tools to do it from their first year on campus.
Since its founding 70 years ago, Harvey Mudd College has operated on a revolutionary premise: that the world’s most complex challenges cannot be solved by technical expertise alone. From the very beginning, we’ve focused on educating scientists, engineers and mathematicians who deeply understand the impact of their work on society. To do this, our faculty pioneered a collaborative approach to STEM-focused, liberal arts education long before “experiential learning” entered the higher education lexicon. By integrating rigorous coursework with hands-on application, Harvey Mudd empowers our students to roll up their sleeves, test their hypotheses, and learn by doing. This commitment to active problem-solving is not just a feature of a Harvey Mudd education—it is its very foundation.
An important aspect of this legacy is our internationally recognized Clinic Program. Established in 1963, Clinic was inspired by the medical school residency model and was one of the first programs of its kind to partner teams of undergraduate students with industry sponsors to solve real-world, open-ended technical challenges. Today, this capstone experience—alongside the College’s robust, graduate-level undergraduate research opportunities—ensures that every student graduates having already tackled real-world projects. Looking ahead, sustained investment in these and other experiential learning programs is an essential part of our goals for educating the next generation of STEM leaders. Your support directly funds the equipment, project sponsorships and faculty mentorship that transform our students into the compassionate innovators this world so urgently needs.
The Entrepreneurship Engine
High-potential ideas emerge from our labs, Clinics and courses. We catalyze this energy by providing a yearlong entrepreneurship practicum course, connecting students to alumni entrepreneurs to provide mentorship opportunities, and helping them use their summers to develop solutions to real-world challenges. Entrepreneurship built on this STEM strength will propel the launch of impactful, STEM-driven startups.
Learn more about how Harvey Mudd is addressing today’s challenges through creativity and innovation at Entrepreneurship.
Supports
Strategic Plan Goal 1: Innovative Education
Strategic Plan Goal 2: Transformative Partnerships
Career Treks
“Career Treks” are faculty- and staff-led experiential learning opportunities that take students off-campus to engage directly with employers, alumni and industry leaders through site visits, panels and networking conversations. We are expanding Career Treks to provide immersive field experiences. Philanthropy ensures every student—regardless of their financial background—can connect their academic passions to professional networks in Silicon Valley, D.C., NYC and beyond.
Supports
Strategic Plan Goal 1: Innovative Education
Strategic Plan Goal 2: Transformative Partnerships
Strategic Plan Goal 4: A Thriving Community
Clinic Program
For 60+ years, our Clinic Program has connected student teams with corporate, nonprofit and government sponsors to solve real-world problems. It is the national model in experience-based, undergraduate STEM education. Philanthropy allows us to create partnerships with emerging tech leaders and government agencies as well as to broaden the reach and impact of Clinic partnerships to benefit under-resourced organizations and communities.
Learn more about the Harvey Mudd Clinic Program.
Supports
Strategic Plan Goal 1: Innovative Education
Strategic Plan Goal 2: Transformative Partnerships
Strategic Plan Goal 4: A Thriving Community
Civic and Community Engagement
At Harvey Mudd, we are advancing a visionary commitment to the intersection of science, technology and civic life by ensuring our students recognize their technical expertise as a vital instrument for societal contribution. This philosophy is the cornerstone of our membership in the national College Presidents for Civic Preparedness initiative. We believe that a world-class STEM education is incomplete without a profound understanding of democratic values, ethical reasoning and public purpose.
These and other ongoing initiatives ensure that the Harvey Mudd experience remains rooted in the belief that the world’s most complex problems require leaders who value human connection alongside analytical thinking. By integrating the technical with the civic and the relational, we are equipping our students to lead with a profound sense of purpose. Your philanthropy ensures that Harvey Mudd continues to set the national standard for a human-centered STEM education that truly serves the common good.
Designing for a Robust Democracy
An important element of this commitment is an ambitious interdisciplinary initiative that explores what happens when the structures of democracy are treated as a complex design challenge at the intersection of art, engineering and mathematics. Student-led projects explore how we build and strengthen the systems that govern and sustain our society.
Supports
Strategic Plan Goal 1: Innovative Education
Strategic Plan Goal 4: A Thriving Community
Learn more:
Relational Intelligence in a Technical Age
We are reimagining how our students lead with a civic mindset through a new standard for connection. This initiative reframes leadership as a practice of intentional connection, moving beyond traditional performance pressure to cultivate relational intelligence and deep, reflective learning. Through a structured pedagogical framework, our future innovators learn to navigate the unique ethical dilemmas of the algorithmic age with empathy and resilience.
Supports
Strategic Plan Goal 1: Innovative Education
Strategic Plan Goal 4: A Thriving Community