Harvey Mudd College
{{Short description|Private liberal arts college in Claremont, California, U.S.}}
{{Infobox university
| name = Harvey Mudd College
| image = Harvey Mudd College seal.svg
| image_upright = .9
| caption =
| established = {{start date and age|1955}}
| type = Private liberal arts college
| president = Harriet Nembhard
| city = Claremont, California
| country = U.S.
| colors = {{color box|black}}{{color box|#eaaa00}} Black & gold
| athletics_affiliations = NCAA Division III – SCIAC
| sports_nickname = Stags (men) / Athenas (women)
| mascot = Official:
Men's, Stag
Women's, Athenas
Unofficial:
Wally the Wart
| academic_affiliations = Claremont Colleges
NAICU{{Cite web|url=http://www.naicu.edu/member_center/members.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109231238/http://www.naicu.edu/member_center/members.asp|title=NAICU - Membership|archive-date=November 9, 2015}}
Oberlin Group
Annapolis Group
CLAC
| campus = Suburban, {{convert|38|acre|ha}}
| endowment = $413 million (2023){{Cite web |date=2023-11-17 |title=Institutional Statistics Fall 2023 |url=https://www.hmc.edu/institutional-research/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2023/11/2023-Facts-and-Figures.pdf |access-date=2024-10-05 |website=Harvey Mudd College}}
| budget = $72 million (2019){{cite web |title=Harvey Mudd College Form 990 for period ending June 2018 |url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/951911219 |website=ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer |date=9 May 2013 |access-date=28 May 2020}}
| website = {{URL|https://www.hmc.edu}}
| logo = Harvey Mudd College logo.svg
| logo_upright = .5
}}
Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolled 902 undergraduate students {{as of|2021|lc=y}} and awards the Bachelor of Science degree. Admission to Harvey Mudd is highly competitive, and the college maintains an intense academic culture.
The college was funded by the friends and family of Harvey Seeley Mudd, one of the initial investors in the Cyprus Mines Corporation.{{cite web| url= https://www.hmc.edu/about-hmc/history/| title=History of Harvey Mudd College|publisher=Harvey Mudd College|access-date=2015-04-24}} Although involved in the planning of the new institution, Mudd died before it opened in 1955. The campus was designed by Edward Durell Stone in a modernist brutalist style.
History
{{Expand section|date=January 2021}}
Harvey Mudd College was founded in 1955.{{cite book |last1=Platt |first1=Joseph B. |title=Harvey Mudd College: the first twenty years |date=1994 |publisher= Fithian Press |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=1564741001 |url= https://scholarship.claremont.edu/hmc_facbooks/2/ |access-date=17 September 2020}}{{cite web |title= History of Harvey Mudd College |url=https://www.hmc.edu/about-hmc/history/ |website= hmc.edu | publisher= Harvey Mudd College |access-date=17 September 2020}} Classes began in 1957 with a class of 48 students, 7 faculty and one building–Mildred E. Mudd Hall, a dormitory. Classes and meals took place at
Claremont Men's College (Claremont McKenna College), and labs in the Baxter Science Building until additional buildings could be built: Jacobs Science Building (1959), Thomas-Garett Hall (1961) and Platt Campus Center (1963). By 1966, the campus had grown to 283 students and 43 faculty.
Under the presidency of Maria Klawe as of 2006, Harvey Mudd became a leading advocate for women in STEM in higher education.{{cite book| last1=Fiske|first1=Edward B.|title=Fiske Guide to Colleges 2020|date=15 June 2019| publisher=Sourcebooks| isbn= 978-1-4926-6494-9|edition= 36th| location=Naperville, Illinois| publication-date=June 15, 2019|pages=150–151}}
In April 2017, all classes were cancelled for two days in response to tensions on campus over workload, race issues, and mistrust of faculty.{{cite web |last1= Bauer-Wolf |first1=Jeremy |title= Ground to a Halt |url= https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/18/harvey-mudd-cancels-classes-after-student-protests-over-issues-race-workload-and |website= Inside Higher Ed |access-date=23 November 2020}} Contributing events included the deaths of two Mudd students and a Scripps student that year and the leak of the Wabash Report on teaching, learning, and workload at Mudd.{{cite web |last1=Kamenetz |first1=Anya |title=A College President On Her School's Worst Year Ever |url= https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/08/02/540603927/a-college-president-on-her-schools-worst-year-ever |website=NPR |date=2 August 2017 |access-date=23 November 2020}}
On July 1, 2023, Harriet Nembhard became the sixth President of Harvey Mudd College.{{Cite web |title=Harriet Nembhard Named Sixth President of Harvey Mudd College {{!}} About {{!}} Harvey Mudd College |url=https://www.hmc.edu/about/presidents-office/presidential-search/ |access-date=2022-12-06 |language=en-US}}
Campus
File:Harvey Mudd College outdoor class.jpg
The original buildings of the campus, designed by Edward Durell Stone and completed in 1959,{{cite news|last1=Sutton|first1=Frances|date=13 November 2020|title=Framed: Why is Harvey Mudd College's campus so brutal?|work=The Student Life|url=https://tsl.news/art-column-harvey-mudd-college/|access-date=2 January 2021}} feature "knobbly concrete squares that students of Harvey Mudd affectionately call "warts" and use as hooks for skateboards."{{cite web |author=Ivan Spencer |date=October 2013 |title=America's Ugliest College Campuses |url=https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/americas-ugliest-college-campuses-204542557.html |work=Travel + Leisure}} The school's unofficial mascot "Wally the Wart" is an anthropomorphic concrete wart.
In 2013, Travel and Leisure named the college as one of "America's ugliest college campuses" and noted that while Stone regarded his design as a "Modernist masterpiece", the result was "layering drab, slab-sided buildings with Beaux-Arts decoration."
= Academic buildings =
The official names for the academic buildings of Harvey Mudd College are:
- F.W. Olin Science Center ("Olin") - 1992{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1993-02-07 |title=Harvey Mudd Science Center Dedication |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-07-ga-1775-story.html |access-date=2025-01-18 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}
- Parsons Engineering Building ("Parsons") - 1972
- R. Michael Shanahan Center for Teaching and Learning ("Shan") - 2013{{Cite web |title=HMC Completes Innovative, Energy-Efficient Teaching & Learning Center {{!}} Harvey Mudd College News |url=https://www.hmc.edu/about/2013/07/29/hmc-completes-innovative-energy-efficient-teaching-learning-center/ |access-date=2023-12-08 |language=en-US}}
- Jacobs Science Center ("Jacobs") - 1959
- W.M. Keck Laboratories ("Keck")
- Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center ("Greg") - 2021{{Cite web|last=Krishnan|first=Anuradha|date=2021-10-15|title=Harvey Mudd opens doors to new Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center|url=http://tsl.news/hmc-opens-new-computer-science-building/|access-date=2021-11-17|website=The Student Life|language=en-US}}
=Dormitories=
The official names for the dormitories of Harvey Mudd College are (listed in order of construction):{{cite web|title=Campus map|url=https://www.hmc.edu/map/|publisher=Harvey Mudd College}}{{Cite web|title=Residence Halls|url=https://www.hmc.edu/student-life/housing-residential-life/residence-halls/|access-date=2021-11-17|website=Harvey Mudd College|language=en-US}}
- Mildred E. Mudd Hall ("East") - 1957
- West Hall ("West") - 1958
- North Hall ("North") - 1959
- Marks Residence Hall ("South") - 1968
- J. L. Atwood Residence Hall ("Atwood") - 1981
- Case Residence Hall ("Case") - 1985
- Ronald and Maxine Linde Residence Hall ("Linde") - 1993
- Frederick and Susan Sontag Residence Hall ("Sontag") - 2004
- Wayne and Julie Drinkward Residence Hall ("Drinkward"){{cite news|date=July 14, 2015|title=New Harvey Mudd Residence Hall Named for Alumnus, Board Chair|work=Harvey Mudd College News Archive|url=https://www.hmc.edu/about-hmc/2015/07/14/new-harvey-mudd-residence-hall-named-for-alumnus-board-chair/|access-date=2015-11-15}} - 2015
- Garrett House - completed in 1959 as the president's house, converted to a dorm in 2023
Until the addition of the Linde and Sontag dorms, Atwood and Case dorms were occasionally referred to as New Dorm and New Dorm II; Mildred E. Mudd Hall and Marks Hall are almost invariably referred to as East Dorm and South Dorm.
During the construction of Case Dorm some students decided as a prank to move all of the survey stakes exactly six inches in one direction.{{cite news|author=Stephanie L. Graham|date=Winter 2005|title=A Treasured Friendship|work=Harvey Mudd College Bulletin|url=http://bulletin.hmc.edu/archives/2005/winter/a_treasured_friendship.html|url-status=dead|access-date=2006-12-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903020634/http://www.bulletin.hmc.edu/archives/2005/winter/a_treasured_friendship.html|archive-date=2006-09-03}}
"East" was the first dorm, but it wasn't until "West" was built west of it that it was actually referred to as "East". Then, "North" was built, directly north of "East". When the fourth dorm, Marks Hall, was built, there was one corner of the quad available (the northwest) and one directional name, "South", remaining.{{cite news|date=Winter 2005|title=Mysteries of Mudd|work=Harvey Mudd College Bulletin|url=http://bulletin.hmc.edu/archives/2005/winter/mysteries_of_mudd.html|url-status=dead|access-date=2006-12-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903020638/http://www.bulletin.hmc.edu/archives/2005/winter/mysteries_of_mudd.html|archive-date=2006-09-03}} To this day, "South" dorm is the northernmost HMC inner dorm.
The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth dorms built are Atwood, Case, Linde, Sontag, and Drinkward, respectively. They were initially referred to as "the colonies" by some students, a reference to the fact that they were newer and at the farthest end of the campus; these dorms are now more commonly referred to as "the outer dorms", with the four directional dorms referred to as "the inner dorms". The college had initially purchased an apartment building adjacent to the newer dorms to house additional students, but it was demolished to make room for Sontag.
Since any HMC student, regardless of class year, can live in any of the dormitories, several of the dorms have accumulated long-standing traditions and so-called "personalities".{{cite news|author=Nisha Gottfredson|date=March 2004|title=Thy Name is Mudd: The Hidden Mudder mythos – it's more than you think.|work=Claremont Student|url=http://www.cstudent.org/issues/2004/mar/feature/|access-date=2006-12-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050301003951/http://www.cstudent.org/issues/2004/mar/feature/|archive-date=March 1, 2005}}
Academics
Image:Hmc-dartmouth entrance.jpg
HMC offers four-year degrees in chemistry, mathematics, physics, computer science, biology, and engineering, interdisciplinary degrees in mathematical and computational biology, and joint majors in computer science and mathematics; computer science and physics; physics and mathematics; and biology and chemistry. Students may also elect an Individual Program of Study (IPS) or an off-campus major offered by any of the other Claremont Colleges, provided one also completes a minor in one of the technical fields that Harvey Mudd offers as a major.{{cite web|url=https://www.hmc.edu/registrar/academic-catalogue/|title=Harvey Mudd College Catalogue|publisher=Harvey Mudd College|access-date=2015-04-24}}
All HMC students are required to take the college's Common Core Curriculum,{{Cite web|title=Common Core Curriculum|url=https://www.hmc.edu/academics/common-core-curriculum/|access-date=2021-01-01|website=Harvey Mudd College|language=en-US}} typically throughout their freshman and sophomore years. This includes courses in computer science, engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, writing, a critical inquiry course, and a social impact course.
Its most popular majors, by 2023 graduates, were:{{cite web |title=HMC Graduates By Major Fall 2023 |url=https://www.hmc.edu/institutional-research/institutional-statistics/institutional-statistics-graduates-and-alumni/majors-by-class-year/ |access-date=January 16, 2024 |website=hmc.edu |publisher=Harvey Mudd College}}
- Computer Science (55)
- Engineering (53)
- Computer Science & Mathematics (44)
- Mathematics (16)
In 2018, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that in response to student "complaints first to mental-health counsellors and then to outside evaluators," the college was "considering how to ease pressure on students without sacrificing rigour."{{Cite news|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-a-Liberal-Arts-College-Is/244383?cid=at&elqTrackId=8535e5562e2c4cfaa560aac73abd35e2&elq=08c3e76c059f43ae94ef375b9959d3b4&elqaid=20617&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=9711|title=How a Liberal-Arts College Is Rethinking Its 'Soul Crushing' Core Curriculum|last=Mangan|first=Katherine|date=August 28, 2018|work=Chronicle of Higher Education|access-date=October 3, 2018}}
= Admissions =
For the class of 2026, the college received 4,440 applications and admitted 593 applicants (a 13.4% acceptance rate). Of the 237 freshmen who enrolled, the middle 50% of SAT scores reported were 760–790 in mathematics and 720–770 in reading and writing, while the ACT Composite range was 34–36.{{cite web |title=Harvey Mudd College Common Data Set 2022-2023 |url=https://www.hmc.edu/institutional-research/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2023/01/CDS_2022-2023.pdf |publisher=Harvey Mudd College}}
Harvey Mudd, along with Wake Forest University, long held out as the last four-year colleges or universities in the U.S. to accept only SAT and not ACT test scores for admission.{{cite news |first= Mary Beth |last=Marklein |title=All four-year U.S. colleges now accept ACT test|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-03-18-life-cover-acts_N.htm |newspaper=USA TODAY |date= 2007-03-19|access-date=2007-03-18 }} In August 2007, at the beginning of the application process for the class of 2012, HMC began accepting ACT results,{{cite web | url = http://www.hmc.edu/headline/ACT.htm | title = Harvey Mudd College Begins Accepting ACT Scores for Admission | publisher = Harvey Mudd College | date = January 25, 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071011185142/http://www.hmc.edu/headline/ACT.htm | archive-date = October 11, 2007 }} a year after Wake Forest abandoned its former SAT-only policy.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Harvey Mudd waived the requirement for SAT or ACT scores for the graduating classes of 2021 or 2022.{{cite web |title=Harvey Mudd eliminates SAT/ACT requirement for Fall 2021, Fall 2022 applicants |url=https://www.hmc.edu/admission/2020/06/19/harvey-mudd-eliminates-sat-act-requirement-for-fall-2021-fall-2022-applicants/ |publisher=Harvey Mudd College |access-date=17 November 2021}} This policy was extended to the classes of 2023 and 2024.{{cite web |title=Harvey Mudd Extends Test Optional Pilot Through 2024 |url=https://www.hmc.edu/about/2022/11/14/harvey-mudd-extends-test-optional-pilot-through-2024/ |access-date=17 November 2021 |publisher=Harvey Mudd College}}
The college is need-blind for domestic applicants.{{cite web |title=Counselor Page |url=https://www.hmc.edu/admission/counselor-page/ |publisher=Harvey Mudd College |access-date=4 May 2023}}
=Rankings=
{{Infobox US university ranking
| Forbes = 184
| USNWR_LA = 29
| Wamo_LA = 2
}}
Washington Monthly ranked Harvey Mudd second in 2024 among 194 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.{{Cite web |title=2024 Liberal Arts Colleges Ranking |url=https://washingtonmonthly.com/2024-college-guide/liberal-arts/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Washington Monthly |language=en-US}} Money magazine ranked Harvey Mudd 136th out of 744 in its "Best Colleges For Your Money 2019" report.{{Cite web|date=August 12, 2019|title=Harvey Mudd College|url=http://money.com/money/best-colleges/profile/harvey-mudd-college/|language=en-us|magazine=Money}}
In U.S. News & World Report{{'s}} 2025 "America's Best Colleges" report, Harvey Mudd College is tied for the 12th best U.S. liberal arts college, and is third among undergraduate engineering schools in the U.S. whose highest degree is a Master's.{{Cite web |title=us news and world report national liberal arts college rankings |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc |website=us news and world report}} Forbes in 2019 rated it 23rd in its "America's Top Colleges" ranking of 650 military academies, national universities and liberal arts colleges.
Harvey Mudd is ranked 1st nationally for Return on Investment for Students by PayScale's 2024 rankings{{Cite web |title=Harvey Mudd College Salary {{!}} PayScale |url=https://www.payscale.com/research/US/School=Harvey_Mudd_College/Salary |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=www.payscale.com}}
Tuition and other costs
For the 2024–25 academic year, Harvey Mudd's total annual cost of attendance (tuition, fees, and room and board) was $93,131.{{Cite web |title=Tuition and Fees {{!}} Division of Campus Operations {{!}} Harvey Mudd College |url=https://www.hmc.edu/dco/student-accounts/charges/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |language=en-US}} About 70% of freshmen receive financial aid.Katie Lobosco, [https://money.cnn.com/gallery/pf/college/2016/11/11/most-expensive-college-tuition/index.html The 10 most expensive colleges this year], CNN Money (November 11, 2016).
Student life
File:Duck! improv show at Harvey Mudd College.jpg show by Harvey Mudd's "Duck!"]]
{{Stub-section|date=May 2023}}
= Athletics =
{{Main|Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags and Athenas}}
Athletes from Harvey Mudd compete alongside athletes from Claremont McKenna College and Scripps College as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags and Athenas (CMS).{{Cite news|url=http://www.cmsathletics.org/quick_facts/index|title=CMS Quick Facts|work=Claremont Mudd Scripps|access-date=May 30, 2017|language=en}} The teams participate in NCAA Division III in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). The mascot for the men's teams is Stanley the Stag, and the women's teams are the Athenas. Their colours are cardinal and gold.
According to the Division III Fall Learfield Director's Cup Standings for the 2016–2017 year, CMS ranks 12th among all Division III programs, and first among SCIAC colleges.{{cite web|title=2016-17 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup|url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/Dec22DIIIConference.pdf|publisher=NCADA|access-date=2017-05-30|archive-date=2017-02-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228081153/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/Dec22DIIIConference.pdf|url-status=dead}}
The other sports combination of the Claremont Colleges, and CMS' primary rival, is the team made up of Pomona College and Pitzer College known as the Pomona–Pitzer Sagehens (PP). This is known to students as the Sixth Street Rivalry.{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Miller |date=2 December 2011 |title=CMS Bans Puck Fomona Shirts at Homecoming |url=https://tsl.news/news572/ |access-date=2 December 2011 |website=CMS Bans Puck Fomona Shirts at Homecoming |publisher=The Student Life}}
== Athletic facilities ==
- Baseball — Bill Arce Field
- Basketball and Volleyball — Roberts Pavilion
- Football and Lacrosse — John Zinda Field
- Softball — Softball Field
- Soccer — John Pritzlaff Field
- Aquatics — Matt M. Axelrood Pool
- Tennis — Biszantz Family Tennis Center
- Track and Field — Burns Track Complex{{cite web |title=CMS Athletic Facilities |url=https://cmsathletics.org/sports/2024/5/23/cms-athletic-facilities.aspx |publisher=cmsathletics.org}}
= Relations with Caltech =
The California Institute of Technology (Caltech), another university with strength in the natural sciences and engineering, is located {{convert|26|mi}} away from Harvey Mudd College. Mudders occasionally amuse themselves by pranking Caltech. For example, in 1986, students from Mudd stole a memorial cannon from Fleming House at Caltech (originally from the National Guard) by dressing as maintenance people and carting it off on a flatbed truck for "cleaning".{{Cite web|url=http://people.bu.edu/fmri/somers/cannon.html|title=The Caltech Cannon Heist|website=people.bu.edu}}{{cite web |author1=Harvey Mudd College |author-link=Harvey Mudd College |title=Harvey Mudd's Caltech Cannon Heist |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amrKGixXEvg | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/amrKGixXEvg| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|website=YouTube |access-date=14 August 2020 |date=8 July 2015}}{{cbignore}} The students eventually returned the cannon after Caltech threatened to take legal action. In 2006, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) replicated the prank and moved the same cannon to their campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.{{cite web|url=http://www.howeandser.com/|title=Howe & Ser Moving Co.|access-date=2006-04-16}}
Notable alumni
{{Main|List of Harvey Mudd College people}}
Notable Harvey Mudd College alumni include:
- Donald D. Chamberlin, co-inventor of SQL
- Jonathan Gay (1989), creator of Adobe Flash software
- Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech
- Richard H. Jones, diplomat, U.S. ambassador to Israel
- Stan Love, astronaut
- George "Pinky" Nelson, astronaut
- Sean "Day9" Plott, esports commentator and game designer
- Tom Preston-Werner (dropped out), co-founder of GitHub, creator of Gravatar
See also
{{Portal|Greater Los Angeles}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book |last1=Platt |first1=Joseph B. |author1-link=Joseph B. Platt |title=Harvey Mudd College: The First Twenty Years |date=1994 |publisher=Fithian Press |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-1-56474-100-4 |url=https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=hmc_facbooks}}
{{refend}}
External links
{{Commons category|Harvey Mudd College}}
- {{Official website | https://www.hmc.edu/ }}
- [http://www.tsl.news Website of The Student Life, the 5C newspaper]
- [http://www.cmsathletics.org/ Official athletics website]
- {{College-navigator|115409}}
{{Harvey Mudd College}}
{{Claremont Colleges}}
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Category:Claremont, California
Category:Universities and colleges in Los Angeles County, California
Category:Liberal arts colleges in California
Category:Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges
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