CMC appoints two new vice presidents, includes one new senior position

The Claremont McKenna College Board of Trustees appointed two new vice presidents, CMC President Hiram Chodosh announced in an email Feb. 18.

Professor Heather Antecol will be stepping into the shoes of vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, the position whose vacancy originally launched the search. Pitzer College professor and former dean Muriel Poston was appointed vice president for strategic initiatives, a new senior position that “focuses on implementing CMC’s integrated sciences and computation strategy,” the email said.

These appointments are occurring at a “critical moment” in CMC’s history, Chodosh wrote. The new vice presidents will be responsible for the expansion of “student opportunity” to remove “formidable obstacles to social mobility through higher education.”

Chodosh expressed his faith in Antecol’s extensive academic experience at the college as the current Boswell Professor of Economics, the most recent chair of CMC’s Administration Committee and a member of the faculty since 2001.

Poston’s position will reinforce and expand CMC’s Open Academy commitments to freedom of expression and viewpoint diversity while also advancing the Presidential Initiative on Anti-Racism and the Black Experience in America.

Chodosh praised Poston’s past leadership roles at Skidmore College, Howard University and Pitzer, as well as her efforts to “broaden the participation of underrepresented students and faculty in STEM disciplines.” 

These new appointments are the fruits of a process led by a 10 member search committee consisting of various faculty and one CMC senior and chaired by Eric Helland, the William F. Podlich Professor of Economics and George R. Roberts Fellow. 

Chodosh thanked the committee, along with Co-Interim Deans Shana Levin and Emily Wiley and Associate Deans Ellen Rentz and Drew Schroeder, for their leadership and support.

While Antecol is to assume her new responsibilities immediately, Poston will serve part-time before transitioning into her full-time role June 1. 

“Our search process revealed the need and opportunity to make a greater investment in our faculty, students, and staff to persist through COVID-19 and simultaneously tackle these major strategic initiatives,” Chodosh said. “We are thrilled to have each of these impressive academic leaders on our team.”