In an email to the Claremont McKenna College community on July 10, Chair of the Board of Trustees Kenneth J. Valach CM ’82 announced that a Presidential Search Profile has been created to aid in the search for CMC’s next president. The search is also opening to community input with four community forums held in early September to allow faculty, students and staff to share their opinions about the profile.
“We now have this excellent document to help define the search,” Valach said. “It is in draft format pending feedback received at the fall Community Forums.”
CMC President Hiram Chodosh announced in March that he will be stepping down from his position at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year. He will complete his 13-year presidency on June 30, 2026, with the Board intending to have a new president in place by July 1, 2026.
The Presidential Search Committee was formed in May to help identify the best candidate for CMC’s next president. The committee is made up of eight Trustees, five professors, the president of the CMC Alumni Association, Executive Vice President Sharon Basso and ASCMC Student Body President Kylee Tevis CM ’26.
Though the committee will help select the sixth president of CMC, the Board of Trustees will make the final decision of who to appoint.
The presidential profile includes an anticipated salary range of $600,000 to $700,000 for the president position. It also states that a key pillar of CMC is its “focused curriculum,” which is primarily centered around economics and government.
Jason Bao CM ’27 said that it was “a little bit disheartening” to see CMC’s academic priorities so clearly laid out in the profile.
“I wish the school could recognize and promote CMC’s non-economics and non-government aspect[s],” Bao wrote in a statement to TSL.
A philosophy and psychology major, Bao hopes the presidential search committee will keep all students’ academic interests in mind.
“Please do consider the sides of CMC that you can’t see upon first glance,” he said. “We do exist, we do make the college better, and we do want our new president to be someone who looks out for us.”
The committee is working with Isaacson, Miller, an executive search firm that helps organizations with the recruiting process. They have helped CMC with previous searches, including CMC’s current Dean of Students, Jimmy Doan.
Isaacson, Miller did not respond to TSL’s request for comment on the search process.
Individuals can nominate a candidate online through an online form run by Isaacson, Miller. You can also provide your input on expectations for the incoming president at the Search Committee’s President Scoping Survey. Community members can also send a confidential email directly to the Search Committee at pressearch@cmc.edu.
Bao said he would be sure to attend one of the community forums in early September.
“I want to see how many people actually are there compared to my expectation,” he said. “It was quite eye-opening and kind of funny that the forum right after Chodash announced his departure had like 10 percent of the amount of people I expected.”
Community forums will be held at the following locations in early September.
Students are invited to attend the ASCMC Senate meeting in Freeberg Forum on Monday, Sept. 8, at 8 p.m. A second session will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at the Founders Room in Bauer North from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
For faculty, this meeting will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum from 12 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. For staff, it will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at the Founders Room in Bauer North from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
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