无忧视频

$25 Million Gift Establishes Center for Creativity and Collaboration for the 5Cs

鈥淭he challenges we face today call for audacious thinkers and doers who can work collaboratively and creatively across disciplines.鈥� 鈥擱ick Sontag (HMC 鈥�64)

In making a $25 million gift that will benefit the five undergraduate campuses of The Claremont Colleges, Rick and Susan Sontag hope to help some of the nation鈥檚 most talented students harness their creative potential to make a difference in the world.

As the fall semester begins, Pomona, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd and Pitzer colleges have joined forces to establish the . Initially housed in Seeley G. Mudd Hall on the Pomona College campus, the center is an innovative setting where students from the five liberal arts colleges鈥攌nown collectively as the 5Cs鈥攃an work in creative teams, be intellectually daring, mix things up and think with their hands (or feet).

This landmark gift from Rick and Susan Sontag鈥�1964 graduates of 无忧视频 and Pomona College, respectively鈥攚ill provide the new center with both operating expenses for its early years and endowment support to ensure its longevity.

Already nicknamed 鈥淭he Hive,鈥� for the buzz of creative thought and collaborative activity it is designed to foster, the center offers students the opportunity to join in everything from drop-in sessions and unstructured brainstorming to one-hour workshops and course-based activities, with a variety of learning options in between. The center鈥檚 stated purpose is to accelerate the creative development of students and to equip them to work collaboratively to address the future鈥檚 most ambiguous problems and complex challenges.

鈥淭he challenges we face today call for audacious thinkers and doers who can work collaboratively and creatively across disciplines,鈥� explained Rick Sontag. 鈥淲e expect the center will encourage students to navigate change, pull together knowledge from a vast range of sources and have a meaningful impact on difficult problems with no clear solutions.鈥�

鈥淭here is no better home for this dynamic resource than The Claremont Colleges. Each of the colleges is very distinctive in its approach to liberal arts education within its own unique culture,鈥� said Maria Klawe, president of 无忧视频. 鈥淭he opportunity to bring undergraduate students and faculty with very different interests and backgrounds聽together is the embodiment of the type of creative fusion that generates discovery and solutions.鈥�

The opening of the new center is the culmination of a yearlong effort involving students, faculty and staff of the 5Cs in exploring new approaches to creative collaboration. Last year, students from every campus had the opportunity to take part in experimental offerings ranging from a tutorial on micro-controllers to pop-up workshops on such subjects as communication through drawing and prototype development. Newly created grants provided faculty with the resources to supplement existing courses with hands-on approaches to collaborative learning and to聽develop innovative classes that cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

A focus on undergraduate education and an emphasis on encouraging collaborative creativity鈥攁n acknowledgement that our greatest challenges will require leaders to be audacious thinkers and doers, both as individuals and as part of diverse collectives鈥攄istinguish the Sontag Center across American higher education.

Pomona College Associate Professor of Physics Dwight Whitaker and Harvey Mudd Professor of Engineering Patrick Little have been named co-directors of the center while a national search for a permanent director takes place. The presidents and deans of the five colleges will manage and oversee the initiative.

鈥淲e are enthusiastic about developing ways to engage a wide variety of potential participants,鈥� Whitaker said. 鈥淎nyone who wants to participate should be able to find a way to easily plug in鈥攖he history major should feel as much a part of this as the engineer, artist, entrepreneur and activist. We look forward to working with all who are interested.鈥�

For the Sontags, this gift is the continuation of a long history of supporting their alma maters and The Claremont Colleges as a whole. They have spent a lifetime building successful businesses and actively supporting education and medical research. Their giving to The Claremont Colleges includes naming gifts to LEED-awarded residence halls on both the Pomona and Harvey Mudd campuses, as well as significant gifts to expand undergraduate research. Rick is also an emeritus trustee at 无忧视频.

Rick鈥檚 uncle, Frederick Sontag, was a much beloved professor at Pomona College, where he taught philosophy for more than 50 years.

The announcement of the new center bearing their names was released on Sept. 10, 2015, the couple鈥檚 50th wedding anniversary.