Claremont McKenna College’s Gould Center for Humanistic Studies celebrated its 40th anniversary last Monday, Feb. 23, hosting an open house, speeches and a Q&A panel for more than 50 attendees.
The Gould Center, located in CMC’s Kravis Lower Court, provides humanities-centered research and project opportunities for CMC students.
Four decades since its establishment, the center continues to expand programming in alignment with their misson: “At its founding, the center concerned itself with understanding contemporary problems from a humanistic and historical perspective, with its research focusing on the major forces, attitudes and values that have formed the modern world,” the event’s pamphlet read.
The center invited 5C community members and alumni to engage in conversations about its growth at the celebration. There, a panel of alumni — Will Grant CM ’94, Rev. Canon Norman S. Hull CM ’85, Hon. Susan H. Segal (Ret.) CM ’82 — offered insight into the value of humanistic research, and current students presented research projects at the event’s open house.
In addition to sponsoring lectures, seminars and artistic performances, the center offers summer, winter and semester-long passion project opportunities for students.
Gould Humanities Passion project fellow Sydney Nate CM ’28 conducted a winter break project in 2025, where she researched and interviewed women in her family about the evolution of religious and cultural practices across generations. She created a mixed-media collage and wrote a paper synthesizing her findings.
Nate, who presented her project along with other fellows at the open house, noted how the center’s support helped her craft and pursue a project that felt authentic and meaningful.
“I think the Gould Center was amazing about letting me do both that personal and generalized research and representing it in the way I want,” she said. “I got to do interviews, but also photographs, art, writing.”
In addition to student funding, the center also offers opportunities for CMC students to participate in cultural and humanities-related excursions through their Gould Fellowship program.
This year, 12 first-year and sophomore fellows have attended plays, museums and concerts, and have connected with speakers with careers in the humanities. According to fellow Crystal Qin CM ’29, the Gould Fellows get exclusive opportunities to network and enhance their learning, such as meeting Athenaeum speakers before their talks.
“It’s a much more intimate experience getting to talk to [Ath speakers] and being able to have one-on-one conversations with them,” Qin said.
Amalie Wong CM ’28, student manager of social media and publicity at the Gould Center, highlighted the importance of providing humanities-centered resources to students at a school where most students study social sciences.
“I feel like CMC is a very social sciences-specific school, so I love that there’s a space for humanities [students] to both find each other and find a space where their voices are amplified and given projects to work on and opportunities,” Wong said.
Amy Kind, Director of the Gould Center and Professor of Philosophy at CMC, said she hopes to expand the center’s reach by increasing opportunities for student-faculty relationships on campus and continuing to provide opportunities to explore local cultural events.
“I’ve noticed that some of the other research institutes run various networking tracks, and I would love to put together some kind of humanities networking track,” Kind said. “[It’s] an opportunity both to meet with industry professionals in a variety of industries, but also to soak up in art and culture and city and music, which are also things that the Gould Center really cares about.”
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