Hiram Chodosh

Recognized for his innovations and scholarship across several domains within higher education, global justice reform, and comparative law, Hiram Chodosh is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Yale Law School. In his work with the IMF, World Bank, U.S. State Department, and national ministries and court systems, Chodosh spearheaded institutional justice reform projects in more than a dozen countries, most notably in India (mediation), Indonesia (anti-corruption and judicial independence), and Iraq (constitutional and legislative priorities). The author of nine books, he received the Gandhi Peace Award in 2011 and was recognized as one of the 25 most influential legal educators in the country in 2013. Over the past decade as president of Claremont McKenna College (CMC), Chodosh has led the College’s commitment to expand student opportunities through the Student Imperative, Kravis Opportunity Fund, CARE Center, Presidential Initiative on Anti-Racism and the Black Experience in America, and the Soll Center for Student Opportunity. This resulted in a 70% increase in the enrollment of Pell-eligible students, more than a 100% increase in the enrollment of first-generation college students, and a Forbes number one ranking for the highest return on investment in liberal arts education. Chodosh has guided the College’s commitments to reinforce freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity and constructive dialogue through The Open Academy, resulting in the institutional excellence award from Heterodox Academy in 2019 and a number one free speech ranking from FIRE in 2021. Chodosh has also led the College’s approach to revolutionizing undergraduate science education, with the new Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences and its new home in a Bjerkes Ingles facility, the Robert Day Sciences Center. Under his leadership, the College also opened the Roberts Pavilion, a state-of-the-art athletics facility that supports a top-ten program, with six national championships since 2016 in the NCAA Division III, where Chodosh serves on the President’s Council. The College recently doubled the size of its residential campus with plans for The Roberts Campus, nearly doubled its endowment in the last decade, and recently completed a $1B+ philanthropic campaign (the largest in liberal arts history): the Campaign for Responsible Leadership. In 2022, Forbes ranked CMC at the top of its A+ list for financial strength among 900 institutions evaluated in higher education. According to Moody’s, the College ranks second nationally in its three-year average for fundraising per student.