Welcome to Pitzer College
Founded in 1963, Pitzer College is a top-ranked liberal arts and sciences college. The College emphasizes environmental and interdisciplinary studies, the arts, humanities and social, behavioral and natural sciences. With approximately 1,100 students, Pitzer College is part of The Claremont Collegesa unique consortium of five undergraduate colleges and two graduate institutions. The contiguous campuses share numerous programs and facilities. At Pitzer, students have access to all the resources of a major university while enjoying all the benefits of a liberal arts college experience and its personalized approach to education.
Pitzer students shape their own college experience. Focused educational objectives guide undergraduates as they plan their academic careers. Students can work with faculty advisers to create their own special majors. They are encouraged to collaborate with community members on local projects and critically examine the effects of social and environmental policies. Students can actively participate in college governance by serving on Student Senate, on College committees or becoming voting members of College Council, the College’s decision-making body.
Pitzer College celebrates cultural diversity and intercultural understanding. Students from different socioeconomic, ethnic and geographic backgrounds come to Pitzer from across the globe. In addition to learning from one another, students are encouraged to participate in one of the many study abroad and international exchanges available through Pitzer’s study abroad programs, helping them learn a foreign language and deepening their appreciation of global diversity.
Pitzer is located in Claremont, a Southern California college town known for its eclectic restaurants and shops, close-knit community and network of trails and parks. Situated at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, Claremont is an hour’s drive to downtown Los Angeles, the Pacific coast, the desert highlands and some of the tallest mountain peaks in Southern California.
Core Values
At Pitzer, five core values distinguish our approach to education:
Social Responsibility: At Pitzer, students spend four years examining the ethical implications of knowledge and individual responsibility in making the world better. They learn to evaluate the impact of individual and collective actions manifested in social and political policies.
Intercultural Understanding: Individual perspective and approach to the world are informed by the culture in which one resides. Intercultural Understanding enables Pitzer students to comprehend issues and events from cultural lenses beyond their own. From Los Angeles to Botswana to Nepal, Pitzer students are educated to thrive and succeed in an ever-changing global community.
Interdisciplinary Learning: Pitzer College students are taught to challenge traditional ways of learning and to make immediate connections between academic disciplines. Faculty is organized by field groups instead of traditional academic departments. Scientists, sociologists, historians, writers and artists influence each other’s work and often teach courses together.
Student Engagement: Pitzer’s unique curriculum allows students the flexibility to direct their own educational and career paths by creating their own majors. In addition, students are active members of college governance - making decisions on everything from academic policies and faculty and staff hiring to public art displays and building design.
Environmental Sustainability: Sensitivity for and preservation of the environment is a key value of Pitzer College. Campus landscaping utilizes drought-resistant, native plants and the College is proud of its many LEED-certified sustainable buildings. Students shape their daily activities, programming and studies to ensure they leave the environment and the world stronger than how they found it. Students interested in environmental issues will find Pitzer an exciting living and learning laboratory.
Community Values
These aspirations for all members of our community are not enforceable requirements but rather ideals that promote ethical practices in a diverse community built upon trust.
Community - We come together to live and work in a shared learning environment where every member is valued, respected, and entitled to dignity and honor founded upon the following rights and responsibilities:
Diversity - We learn from the rich and complex histories, viewpoints, and life experiences in our community. We value and celebrate the synergy created by our differences and similarities.
Dialogue - We support the thoughtful exchange of ideas to increase understanding and awareness, and to work across difference without intimidation. We have the right to be heard and the responsibility to listen. Communication, even at its most vigorous, should be respectful and without the intent to harm.
Inquiry - We prize the powerful possibilities of learning and the principles reflected in our educational objectives including our dedication to access and justice, civic involvement and environmental sustainability, and our respect for pluralism, freedom of expression, and the sustained effort necessary for achieving academic excellence.
Action - These values are mere words until we practice them. We expect to see them evidenced, hear them named, debate their integrity, and demand change on their behalf. We are committed to the hard work and dedication this will demand.
|
