2007 Annual Report

Pitzer College offers an innovative
liberal arts education focused on a deeper
understanding of humankind within a
governance structure that allows every
voice to be heard equally and fully.
Pitzer College creates a purposeful and
meaningful environment in which students
learn to lead proactive and exemplary lives
within the global community. Pitzer’s
interdisciplinary approach to the applied
liberal arts serves as an exemplar of
educational ingenuity. Pitzer’s excellence
is recognized, praised and supported by
educational leaders, college guides and
philanthropic foundations nationwide.
Featured on the Cover
The orange is an iconic symbol of Pitzer College, which was
founded by citrus grower and philanthropist Russell K. Pitzer.
Pitzer College | 3
our
Mission
p i t z e r c ol l e g e
Core Values
Academic Excellence
Social Responsibility
Diverse Community
Intercultural Understanding
Pitzer College produces engaged, socially responsible citizens of
the world through an academically rigorous, interdisciplinary
liberal arts education emphasizing social justice, intercultural
understanding and environmental sensitivity. The meaningful
participation of students, faculty and staff in college governance
and academic program design is a Pitzer core value. Our
community thrives within the mutually supportive framework
of The Claremont Colleges, which provides an unsurpassed
breadth of academic, athletic and social opportunities.
one of a m e r i c a’s
Best Colleges
Pitzer College is ranked 40th in the top tier of
125 liberal arts colleges in academic reputation
and as having the 35th lowest acceptance rate
among all 248 liberal arts colleges, according to
U.S.News & World Report.
Laura Skandera Trombley
President of Pitzer College
Pitzer College completed the first of a three-phase construction
project, the largest since its founding, with new residence halls
that are socially and environmentally responsible. The College
stands positioned to become one of the first colleges in the
nation to replace all of its residence halls with LEED
(Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) gold-certified
residence halls.
Fifty-two Pitzer College students received prestigious Fulbright
Program Fellowships from 2001-07, setting a national record
for colleges its size for four consecutive years. Other student
awards for 2007 included a Thomas J. Watson fellowship, two
Robert E. McNair scholarships, a Coro fellowship, a Kemper
Foundation scholarship, a USA Freedom Corps Volunteer
Service Award, a Princeton-in-Asia fellowship, and a Rotary
International Ambassadorial scholar. >>>
Pitzer College | 5
m or e on one of a m e r i c a’s
Best Colleges
Pitzer College has the nation’s third finest faculty, eighth most
politically active students, and was ranked eighth for lots of
race/class interaction in The Princeton Review’s The Best 361
Colleges.
Pitzer ranks as the fifth most diverse private coeducational toptier liberal arts college in America by U.S. News, with
students of color representing 30 percent of the student body.
According to U.S. News, Pitzer ranks 28th in the top tier of 125
liberal arts schools for the percentage of students studying
abroad. The College’s thirty-five international and domestic
exchange programs make it possible for students to study
abroad for two semesters in two countries.
Pitzer is one of seventy-six colleges or universities that has been
selected by the Carnegie Foundation for their elective
Community Engagement Classification.
Pitzer is included in The Princeton Review’s The Best 361
Colleges, which named the College as one of the “Best in the
West.” Pitzer was one of 129 schools profiled in the first edition
of The Best Western Colleges, and one of five profiled in the
regional guidebook series.
Pitzer is one of the nation’s most effective schools fostering
social responsibility and public service, according to The
Princeton Review and Campus Compact. Pitzer is one of
eighty-one institutions in thirty-three states that The Princeton
Review commends and features in its book, Colleges with a
Conscience: 81 Great Schools with Outstanding Community
Involvement.
6 | Report of Excellence
In Kaplan Publishing’s The Unofficial, Unbiased Insider’s Guide
to the 328 Most Interesting Colleges, Pitzer is cited as offering
“the most creative curriculum of all The Claremont Colleges.”
The College is a member of the Consortium for Innovative
Environments in Learning (CIEL), a group of the most progressive colleges working to reinvigorate American higher education.
Pitzer is cited by the National Wildlife Foundation as one of
the foremost schools in the country for Environmental Studies.
The Fiske Guide to Colleges lauds Pitzer’s strong Media Studies
program.
The Claremont Colleges Debate Union, in which Pitzer students
actively participate, is among the top-ranked debate programs
for the past fifteen years, including top five rankings for the past
five years. At last year’s U.S. national championship, the Debate
Union placed fifth amongst 275 teams.
o u t s ta nd in g
Joint Science Program
Pitzer, Claremont McKenna and Scripps Colleges share an interdisciplinary Joint Science Department housed in the state-of-theart W. M. Keck Science Center. From 2002 to 2007, nearly 78
percent of Joint Science students who applied were admitted to
medical school. By contrast, the national average acceptance rate
is 43 percent.
e xc e p t i on a l
Media Studies Program
Pitzer College’s Media Studies program appeals to socially committed artists and showcases grass-roots filmmaking at its best.
Professor Jesse Lerner was awarded a Fulbright-Garcia Robles
Fellowship for 2006–07. Films by three Pitzer Media Studies
professors have been featured at the Sundance Film Festival.
Other works by Pitzer professors: Alexandra Juhasz and Jesse
Lerner co-edited F is for Phony, a study on fake documentary
practice and theory (University of Minnesota Press); Professor
Juhasz made “Video Remains,” an experimental video in the film
festival circuit; and Jesse Lerner released “Magnavoz,” an experimental work circulating on the film festival circuit. Professor
Juhasz taught the first-ever college course on and about
YouTube.
TOP: A student conducts research in a laboratory in the W. M. Keck Science Center.
BOTTOM: CNN American Morning anchor Kiran Chetry interviewed Professor Alex Juhasz and
Miranda Perry ’08 in September 2007.
8 | Report of Excellence
Pitzer College | 9
m a j or
Student Awards
Pitzer College student awards earned from 2001 to 2007:
Fifty-two Fulbright Program Fellowships
Five Thomas J. Watson Fellowships
One Harry S. Truman Scholarship
One Princeton-in-Asia Fellowship
Two Freeman Foundation Asia Fellowships
Five Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships
One Woodrow Wilson Foundation Fellowship
One Morris K. Udall Foundation Native American
Congressional Internship
Five Coro Fellowships
Four Kemper Foundation Scholarships
One Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship
Two American Sociological Association Minority Fellowships
Two Teaching Assistantship Fellows from the French government
(selected by the Institute of International Education)
Two Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarships
One Rudolph Polk Memorial Award in Music
Pitzer students enjoy a strong tradition of receiving major fellowships and scholarships. One Pitzer student has received the
Rhodes scholarship and eight additional students have been
finalists. Since 1997, Pitzer students have won six Thomas J.
Watson Fellowships, eight Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships,
six Freeman Foundation Asia Fellowships, five American
Sociological Association Minority Fellowships (the highest
number among colleges and universities in the U.S.), one
Morris K. Udall Foundation Native American Congressional
Internship and one Woodrow Wilson Foundation Fellowship.
The Grove House, a California Arts and Crafts bungalow, was saved from potential demolition
when it was moved to Pitzer College in 1977 as a class project. Now the Grove House serves
as a popular gathering place.
10 | Report of Excellence
Pitzer College | 11
hi g hly
Selective
Pitzer College had the 35th lowest acceptance rate among the
top-tier liberal arts colleges for its Fall 2006 entering class,
according to U.S.News rankings. Fewer than thirty-five liberal
arts colleges have acceptance rates less than 38 percent as Pitzer
did in Fall 2006. The 2006–07 academic year set an all-time
record for number of applications to Pitzer, and showed an
increase for the ninth consecutive year.
y e a r in r e v ie w
Sports
The women’s and men’s water polo teams won SCIAC
Championships with the women’s water polo team advancing
to the National Collegiate Water Polo Championship. In
women’s soccer, three Sagehens were honored with All-SCIAC
selections.The softball team won fifteen total games and eight
conference wins; eight of the fifteen wins were shutouts. Men’s
baseball won their first SCIAC Championship with a 30-11
overall record and a 16-5 record in conference. Women’s tennis
won the SCIAC Championship and reached the quarterfinals
during the NCAA National Championships, finishing sixth in
the country. The men’s tennis team ranked 29th in the country
with one student named as Division III doubles All-American,
finishing the season and 10th in the country for doubles. In
men’s golf, a student was named to the All-SCIAC First Team.
The women’s lacrosse team finished with a 10-2 record overall
in their first year as a varsity sport.
TOP: Students enjoy studying outdoors in the beautiful Southern California weather.
BOTTOM LEFT: The Sagehen baseball team won their first SCIAC Championship with a
30-11 overall record and a 16-5 record in conference.
BOTTOM RIGHT: The Sagehen women’s soccer team won fifteen total games and eight conference wins in 2007.
Pitzer College | 13
inn o vat i v e
Community Service & Outreach
Pitzer College’s focus on social responsibility and community
service provides students with a plethora of volunteer opportunities on and off campus. Among the many programs offered
through the Center for California Cultural and Social Issues
(CCCSI), Pitzer students have the opportunity to conduct
reading groups with women in recovery, tutor homeless and
at-risk young children, or help juvenile offenders improve their
literacy skills at area probation camps. CCCSI is also home to
the Pitzer in Ontario (California) program, which offers a
fifteen-hour per week internship, rigorous training in applied
research methods, and a theoretical and topical framework
through which to understand pressing social and urban issues
in the Southern California region.
Pitzer faculty offer course-related projects in community-based
Spanish; early academic outreach; and the Leadership in
Environmental Education Partnership (LEEP). Another
community service program is Jumpstart, a national nonprofit
outreach program that pairs college students with preschool-age
children struggling in the areas of communication, literacy and
social skills. The highly successful Jumpstart pilot program
begun at Pitzer in 1999 has become the model for other
programs at universities throughout the United States.
Pitzer is also one of fifteen California International Studies
Project (CISP) locations, funded by the State of California to
support the development of public school teachers through
collaboration with faculty in social sciences and world history.
There are forty-two current and former Peace Corps volunteers
who are alumni of Pitzer. Pitzer was invited to become one of
ten colleges forming the founding core of the national Project
Pericles, which encourages liberal arts colleges to turn rhetoric
into action by training students to be responsible citizens.
Pitzer students volunteer with the Jumpstart program, which pairs college students with
preschool-age children to help improve their communication, literacy and social skills.
Pitzer College | 15
Class of 2007 Majors
Class of 2007 Attending Graduate
and Professional School by Fields of Study
Other*10%
Government/
Politics/Law
7.5%
Humanities
30%
Sciences/Math
8%
Social Services
7.4%
Other/Undecided
25.2%
Medicine/Health
6.1%
Sciences/
Engineering
5.6%
Social Sciences
52%
*Other includes self-designed majors
Business
13.6%
Media/Arts/
Entertainment
13%
Education 21.7%
Class of 2007 Top Ten Majors
Class of 2007 Who Are Employed
by Field of Employment
Other
2.3%
Social Science
25%
Education
29.5%
Fine/Performing
Arts 9.1%
Business
4.5%
Sciences
4.6%
Law
9.1%
16 | Report of Excellence
Medicine
16%
Pitzer College | 17
a l um ni
Doctorates
In the most recent data reported by the National Science
Foundation, Pitzer College ranked 6th in the number of alumni
who pursued a PhD in psychology, 19th in the number of
alumni who pursued a PhD in anthropology, and 20th in the
number of alumni who pursued a PhD in sociology out of 122
private colleges and universities.
a l um ni at t e nd p r e s t i g i o u s
Graduate Universities
Pitzer College graduates have been accepted at the following
prestigious institutions: Cambridge University; Columbia
Medical School; Cornell University; Duke University;
Georgetown University; Harvard University; London School of
Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Northwestern University; New York University; Princeton
University; Rice University; Rutgers University; Smith College;
Stanford University; Tufts University; University of California,
Berkeley; University of Chicago; University of California,
Davis; University of California, Los Angeles; University of
Michigan; University of Southern California; Vanderbilt
University; Washington University; and Yale University.
nota bl e
Alumni
Pitzer College graduates are prepared to take on life’s challenges
while making a difference in their communities. Pitzer’s many
impressive alumni include diverse individuals with varied
careers such as:
Arts
Susan Patron ’69, Winner of the American Library
Association’s John Newbery Medal for her children’s book
The Higher Power of Lucky;
Matt Baer ’86, Producer of films such as City by the Sea,
Jack Frost and The Replacement Killers;
Matthew Cooke ’96, Editor and Producer of the Academy
Award nominated documentary film Deliver Us from Evil;
Jessica Hurley ’92, Emmy Award winner of Best
Documentary for A Dose of Reality and Gold Mike Award winner for Best Documentary as producer, writer and host of Life
Lessons, Truths and Consequences;
Deborah Shelton ’78, Co-producer for CNN and 2006
recipient of the National Headliner Award for her article
“Lives on the Line.”
Science and Research
Stuart Goldstein ’86, Medical Director of the Renal Dialysis
Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of
Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine;
Sue Celniker ’75, Research Scientist and Co-director of the
Drosophila Genome Center at Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratories;
Thomas Perls ’82, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of
Medicine and Geriatrics at Boston University’s Alzheimer’s
Disease Center. >>>
18 | Report of Excellence
Pitzer College | 19
Nonprofit
n at i on a l
Hunter Lovins ’72, President and Founder of Natural
Capitalism, Inc. and named “Hero of the Planet” by Time
Magazine in 2000;
Kirsten Grønbjerg ’68, Recipient of the 2005 Award for
Distinguished Achievement and Leadership in Nonprofit and
Voluntary Action Research from the Association for Research
on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA);
Thomas Brock ’83, Director of Young Adults and
Postsecondary Education Policy Area for Manpower
Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC);
Judith Treas ’69, President-elect of the Pacific Sociological
Association (PSA).
Public Service
Fabian Núñez ’97, Speaker of the California State Assembly;
Robin Kramer ’75, Chief of Staff, Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa;
Emily Stevens ’71 and Yvonne Sanchez ’78, L.A. Superior
Court judges;
Kevin de León ’03, California State Assemblyman representing the 45th Assembly District.
Business
Lance Auer ’87, Vice President of the Bank
Supervision Group for the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York;
Bridget Baker ’82, President, NBC
Universal, Television Networks Distribution;
Nancy Goldfarb Pope ’78, Vice President of
Human Resources for EMI Music Marketing;
John Landgraf ’84, President and
General Manager of FX Networks;
JoAnn Copperud ’73, CEO of RGA
Environmental, provider of environmental and health and safety services.
20 | Report of Excellence
Bridget Baker '82 was named
the 25th Most Powerful Woman
in Entertainment
Grants
Pitzer College has received grants and contributions from
foundations, corporations and government agencies, among
which are the Ahmanson Foundation, the Annenberg
Foundation, the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation,
California Campus Compact, the California Council of
Humanities, Edison International, the Christian A. Johnson
Endeavor Foundation, the Lisa and Maury Friedman
Foundation, the Glikbarg Foundation, Jonescape, Inc., the
James S. Kemper Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Bernard
Osher Foundation, Pacific Gas & Electric, Inc., the Ann
Peppers Foundation, Project Pericles, Verizon, Inc., the Mabel
Wilson Richards Scholarship Fund, and the Weingart
Foundation.
se l e c t e d fa c u lt y
Publications
David Bachman (Mathematics), Advanced Calculus Demystified,
(McGraw-Hill, 2007).
Nigel Boyle (Political Studies), “Neo-liberalism and Labor
Market Policy in Britain and Ireland: Ideational Coalitions and
Divergent Policy Trajectories” in A. Denzau, T. Willett and R.
Roy (eds.) Neo-Liberalism: Ideas, Interests and Global Economic
Change, (Routledge, 2007).
José Calderón (Sociology & Chicano/a Studies), Race, Poverty,
and Social Justice: Multidisciplinary Perspectives Through Service
Learning, Editor, (Stylus Publishing, 2007).
Scot Gould (Physics), “Tensile Properties of Silk from Endemic
New Zealand Spiders,” Textile Research Journal (2007).
Judith V. Grabiner (Mathematics), “Why Should Historical
Truth Matter to Mathematicians? Dispelling Myths and
Promoting Maths,” Bulletin of the British Society for the History of
Mathematics (2007).
Laura Harris (Black Studies & English and World Literature),
“Queer Black Feminism: The Pleasure Principle,” Feminist
Review 54 (1996) was translated and reprinted in (co-directrice
Hélène Rouch) la Bibliothèque du Féminisme, (Editions
L’Hartmattan, 2007).
“Confessions of the Pillow Queen: Sexual Receptivity & Queer
Femininities,” in Mary MCauliffe and Sonja Tiernan (eds.)
Tribades, Tommies, and Transgressives: Lesbian Histories, Volume I,
(Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007).
22 | Report of Excellence
Adrian Pantoja (Political Studies and Chicano Studies),
“Puerto Rican Exceptionalism?: A Comparative Analysis of
Transnational Ties Among Puerto Rican, Mexican, Salvadoran
and Dominican Migrants,” with Louis DeSipio, Latino Politics:
Identity, Mobilization and Representation (2007).
Norma Rodriguez (Psychology), “Unraveling the
Complexities of Familism and Acculturation: Central
Constructs for People of Mexican Origin,” American Journal of
Community Psychology, with C. Bingham Mira, N.D. Paez and
H.F. Myers, (2007).
Claudia Strauss (Anthropology), “Blaming for Columbine:
Conceptions of Agency in the Contemporary U.S.,” Current
Anthropology (2007).
Zhaohua Irene Tang (Biology), “Phosphorylation by SR kinases
regulates the binding of PTB-associated splicing factor (PSF) to the
pre-mRNA polypyrimidine tract.” FEBS lett 581(2), 223-32, with
Ching-Jung Huang, Ren-Jang Lin and Philip W. Tucker, (2007).
Rudi Volti (Sociology), An Introduction to the Sociology of Work
and Occupations: Continuity and Change in the Twenty-first
Century (Pine Forge Press, 2007).
Kathleen S. Yep (Sociology & Asian American Studies)
“Intellectual Praxes and the Politics of Analyzing Sport,”
Sociology of Sport Journal, (2007).
Phil Zuckerman (Sociology), “Atheism: Contemporary Numbers
and Patterns,” Michael Martin (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to
Atheism, (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Pitzer College | 23
fa c u lt y
Recognition
Bill Anthes (Art History) received a Rockefeller Humanities
Fellowship, “Theorizing Cultural Heritage,” Smithsonian
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, 2007.
Jennifer Armstrong (Biology) received an NSF grant: “RUI:
Analysis of the role of CHD1 in chromatin structure and transcription.” $303,878.00 funding recommendation. She also
received, in collaboration with Rayna Brooks, a Scripps
College Mellon Foundation Grant for their project titled “The
Fly Eye: The Role of the Brahma Complex in the
Development of the Fly Visual System.”
José Calderón (Sociology & Chicano/a Studies) was selected
to a three-year term on the American Sociological Association
(ASA) Practice of Sociology Committee; he was also elected
president of the ASA Latino/a Section and elected to a twoyear term to the ASA’s Committee on Sections. He received a
grant of $5,000 from the Gilkbarg Foundation for student
projects and a partnership with the Pomona Day Labor Center.
He was selected as “Democrat of the Year” by the 59th
Assembly District.
Paul Faulstich (Environmental Studies) was reappointed to the
National Screening Committee of International Education for
review of Fulbright Fellowship applications. He also was appointed
to the Board of Directors of the California Wilderness Coalition,
the only organization dedicated to protecting California’s wild
places and native biodiversity on a statewide level.
Judith V. Grabiner (Mathematics) was a Visiting Scholar at
the Department of History and Philosophy of Science,
University of Leeds, England, 2006-07. She is listed in Who’s
Who in America, 2007.
Jim Hoste (Mathematics) continues in his role as principal
investigator of the National Science Foundation Mathematics
REU Site at the Claremont Colleges, 2005-08.
He has also been appointed Chair of the Committee on the
Profession of the American Mathematical Society, 2007-08.
Leah Light (Psychology) received the 2007 Baltes
Distinguished Research Achievement Award from Division 20
(Adulthood and Aging) of the American Psychological
Association.
Ronald Macaulay (Linguistics) was appointed an Honorary
Senior Research Fellow in the Department of English Language
at the University of Glasgow for the next three years.
Don McFarlane (Biology) was awarded a Mellon Foundation
Career Enhancement Grant for his project titled “Creating
Inter-College Undergraduate Research Affiliations at the
Firestone Reserve, Costa Rica.”
Kathryn Miller (Art/Environmental Studies) was awarded a
public art commission for the City of Ventura for the design
and implementation of artwork for the Pepper Tree Corner
Park.
>>>
Pitzer College | 25
m or e fa c u lt y
Recognition
John Milton (Computational Neuroscience) as co-PI, was
awarded a $500,000 grant from the National Science
Foundation in support of their effort to develop an innovative
undergraduate curriculum in biology during the next five
years. With co-PIs Lissette de Pillis, T. Gregory Dewey, Art
Lee and Mario Martelli.
Adrian D. Pantoja (Political Studies & Chicano/a Studies)
received a Blais Challenge Fund Grant from Claremont
Graduate University, “The Effects of Media Framing on
Attitudes toward Undocumented Immigrants.” With Jennifer
Merolla.
Dan Segal (Anthropology & History) was elected to a threeyear term as secretary of the American Anthropological
Association.
Sharon Snowiss (Political Studies) has been appointed
Secretary-Treasurer of the Conference for the Study of Political
Thought.
Zhaohua Irene Tang (Biology) received additional funding
for summer student research to supplement her existing NSF
grant.
Anna Wenzel (Chemistry) was awarded an ACS-PRF Grant
to support her work in the asymmetric preparation of nitrogen
compounds.
PREVIOUS PAGE: Stuart McConnell, Professor of History.
RIGHT: Emily Wiley, Assistant Professor of Biology.
26 | Report of Excellence
Emily Wiley (Biology) received a National Science
Foundation CAREER Award (top 5 percent were funded) for
“Investigating Heterochromatin Assembly Through Histone
Deacetylases Principle Investigator.” This award, in the amount
of $654,000 for five years, will support her research on how
genetic information is turned on and off correctly, and establish
the Joint Science Department as a center for undergraduate
involvement in genome research.
Kathleen S. Yep (Sociology & Asian American Studies) was
selected as a Faculty Fellow for the California Campus
Compact–Carnegie Foundation Faculty Fellows ServiceLearning for Political Engagement Program.
Phil Zuckerman (Sociology) became an associate editor for
the journal Sociology of Religion.
n at i on a l ly r e c o g ni z e d
Intercultural & Language
Education Programs
Through the study of language, culture and firsthand experience in communities worldwide, Pitzer’s Study Abroad programs integrate constructive learning with social responsibility.
Beginning with the Pitzer in Nepal program in 1974, Pitzer
offers programs in Botswana, China, Ecuador, India, Italy,
Japan and Costa Rica. Pitzer College offers thirty-five exchange
programs in Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark,
England, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Ireland,
Japan, Korea, Latvia, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, Spain,
Thailand, Turkey and the United States.
The majority of graduating seniors in 2007 participated in
Study Abroad programs.
In 2006-07, 151 Pitzer students studied in twenty-six countries
and 87 percent of those going abroad studied one of sixteen
foreign languages.
In 2006-07, 77 percent of students studying abroad completed
an independent research project.
In 2000, Pitzer initiated the first community-based Spanish
program in the country. The program integrates intensive
classroom instruction with practical learning experiences in the
local Spanish-speaking community.
Pitzer offers individualized instruction in Less Commonly
Taught Languages (LCTL’s) before going abroad (Turkish,
Finnish, Zulu, and Thai).
Pitzer’s Program in American College English (PACE) trains
international students in intensive academic English and
American studies and is recognized by the American
Association of Intensive English Programs (AAIEP), the Japan
Foundation for International Education (JFIE), the Latin
American Scholarship Program for American Universities
(LASPAU at Harvard) and the Embassy of the United Arab
Emirates as one of the most effective language programs in the
United States.
A Pitzer College student chats with the grandmother of her host family during her Pitzer in
Darjeeling study abroad program.
Pitzer College | 29
a s t r ong
Financial Future
Pitzer College’s fundraising efforts continued to set records in
2006–07. Led by generous members of the Board of Trustees,
nearly 3,000 alumni, parents, faculty and staff, friends, and
organizations contributed to the College for a wide range of
vital projects. The number of donors at the President’s Circle
level ($1,000 and above) has increased by 50 percent during
the past six years, while total contributions to the Annual Fund
have increased by 32 percent, reaching an all-time high in
2006–07 of $1,481,000 raised in a single year.
Mirroring the financial security realized through a maturing
fundraising program, the College’s endowment has experienced significant growth during the past six years, increasing
by 136 percent to its current market value of $106 million in
spite of significant market volatility. This growth is attributed
to a combination of new gifts to support the endowment as
well as careful attention to prudent, long-term investment
strategies. Pitzer also realized substantial growth in 2006 when
it received its largest gift to date—$15 million from the estate
of Roger C. Holden, one of the College’s early trustees.
Collective gifts received throughout the year help the College
achieve key initiatives such as strengthening its academic programs and funding student scholarships.
30 | Report of Excellence