William Dudley took on the mantle of president at Claremont McKenna College in July, officially succeeding Hiram Chodosh. Originally a philosophy professor and most recently the president of Washington and Lee University (W&L), Dudley will be the college’s sixth president.
In an exclusive interview with TSL, Dudley said he plans to take a year or two to get to know CMC before jumping into new initiatives.
“I didn’t come here with an agenda and a list of projects,” he said. “My job, the way I see it, is to help CMC become an even better version of itself over time — we don’t want to become some other school that we’re not.”
Dudley also emphasized his goals of improving access and affordability.
“One of the most important things to raise money for is financial aid, to make it possible for the best students from all financial backgrounds to come to the college,” he said.
Last May, more than 600 colleges and universities co-signed a statement opposing the Trump administration’s overreach in higher education. Dudley’s former school, W&L, did not sign onto the letter, and neither did CMC, making them two of the only prominent liberal arts colleges in the country not to sign.
Dudley said he did not sign onto the letter in his role at W&L because it was more of a “symbolic” gesture.
“Statements like that rarely have a practical impact,” he said.
Instead, Dudley said he was focused on petitioning against an increase on the tax on university endowments in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, even spending two days in Washington, D.C. to convince senators to oppose it.
“I was in there fighting for an issue that really mattered, and I thought that was more effective than signing a statement,” he said.
Dudley graduated from Williams College in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and philosophy. After earning both a Master of Science and doctorate in philosophy from Northwestern University, he returned to Williams as a professor of philosophy in 1998. In 2011, he was promoted to provost, before moving to Virginia to serve as president of W&L in 2017.
Dudley’s predecessor at CMC, Chodosh, oversaw the construction of the Robert Day Sciences Center and Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences, doubled CMC’s footprint under an expanded campus master plan and led a record-breaking fundraising campaign that surpassed $1 billion.
Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College President Amrit Dhaliwal CM ’27 has worked with both Chodosh and Dudley in her time in student government.
“They’re very different people, but I think CMC’s very lucky to have President Dudley here,” Dhaliwal said. “He brings a really warm, inviting energy to campus. He is so ready and willing to listen to students.”
Dudley said his main goal now is to listen to students, faculty, staff, trustees and alumni to learn about their “collective hopes and dreams” for CMC. In the past few weeks, he’s met with resident assistants, first-year guides and tour guides and attended his first faculty meetings.
CMC government professor John Pitney is entering his 40th year teaching at CMC, and has seen the tenures of four CMC presidents. He said he is optimistic about Dudley as president, particularly because his friends at W&L “speak very, very highly of him as a leader.”
“Not everybody in academia can be a successful college president,” Pitney said. “But [Dudley] was very successful at Washington and Lee, and that bodes very well for his prospects at CMC.”
Roman Williams CM ’30 sat with Dudley during a dinner event for his class and said he seemed like a strong leader who will bring positive change to CMC.
“He was very articulate and good at driving conversation,” Williams said.
At W&L, Dudley taught philosophy classes alongside managing his presidential responsibilities. He said he hopes to eventually teach classes at CMC as well.
“It sends a really good signal to the community about the importance of teaching … and selfishly, it’s why I got into [higher education] in the first place,” Dudley said.
The new president said he looks forward to helping CMC grow into a “really excellent version” of itself.
“I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t think it was a really excellent place,” Dudley said. “But I also wouldn’t have come if I didn’t think I [could] help it continue to get better.”
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