NEWS PAGE 2
NOVEMBER 2, 2018
THE STUDENT LIFE
HMC new computer science center to include collaborative workspace
COURTESY OF THE HARVEY MUDD OFFICE OF COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT
The McGregor Computer Science Center will be the first of Harvey Mudd College’s buildings to face away from the campus’ central walkway.
ANANYA SEN Harvey Mudd College will start constructing the McGregor Computer Science Center, a new computer science building, next year, according to the building brochure on HMC’s website. The new building will be located at the corner of North Dartmouth Avenue and Platt Boulevard. The project is expected to take 30 months in total, and the construction of the center itself will last up to 18 months, being completed in early 2021, according to the brochure. A defining feature of the McGregor Computer Science Center will be the building’s orientation away from the central walkway through campus, which distin-
guishes the new building from the inward orientation of most other Mudd buildings. This change in design symbolizes a gateway to accelerate the exchange of talent and resources between Mudd and the other 5Cs, the brochure states. “The designers for the building viewed it very much as a bridge into our campus,” Judy Augsburger, an HMC spokesperson, wrote in an email to TSL. She also noted that the new building will feature a Makerspace, a space with tools and resources for students to work on extra-curricular projects, encouraging students to collaborate. “We see the Makerspace as an extension of the work going on at The Hive — students and faculty can brainstorm solutions to real-
world problems at The Hive, then come to HMC’s Makerspace to prototype and test their solutions,” Augsburger wrote. The second and third floors of the 36,000-square-foot, three-story building will be dedicated to the college’s rapidly growing computer science department, according to the college’s website. McGregor will create room to grow from 16-25 faculty positions over time, and will include faculty offices, clinic and project studios, teaching and research laboratories and collaboration spaces, according to HMC’s website. The larger space will bring together previously scattered computer science spaces. The building will also include a variety of equipment, including a state-of-the-art AV production
room, laser cutters, 3D printers, large collaboration and fabrication spaces, paint booth, robotics labs, various computer science teaching labs, and new conference rooms, according to Augsburger. This new space will be linked with the repositioned Libra Complex, which currently houses engineering machine shops. The project is estimated to cost $30 million. According to the email sent by Augsburger, the building is being funded through gifts from the Harvey Mudd Board of Trustees, alumni, parents, staff, friends and foundations, as well as through debt financing included in HMC’s long-term operating budget forecast. HMC trustee Laurie J. Girand and her husband Scott A. McGregor gave a gift to the project, thus the
building will be in their name. Aditya Khant HM ’21, a computer science major, said he would like to see several changes in the new building. “One feature could be more labs, for doing hardware-software based projects, rather than just places with computers like Libra Complex,” which “does occasionally feel weird” because it lacks windows, he wrote in a message to TSL. Students were involved in the design of the building. The design team set up boards outside the Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons March 24 for students to vote on which design option they preferred, according to Augsburger. They also gave input on the types of spaces they would use in the conceptual floor plans and what
types of equipment they would use in the Makerspace, she wrote. Administrators hope the new building will meet increasing demands for computer science resources. Each HMC student takes at least one computer science course, and HMC’s entire first-year class takes the introductory computer science course, according to the college’s website. Augsburger said the new building is a stepping stone in HMC’s overall long-term planning for campus development, as outlined in the college’s amended Master Plan. Under this plan, the school hopes to grow its student body to 900 students while ensuring resources are in place beforehand to support the growth.
POMONA: Future of faculty adviser position still unclear Continued from Page 1 with the candidates the same days they would come to interview for the position and afterwards were surveyed for their thoughts on each one. “The CDO [presented us] the resumes of all the candidates who we were interviewing,” Kim said. “We’d read them, they’d take a lot of notes on what we prioritized — what the students really wanted — someone with experience, empathy, who was well-researched and competent for that position.” However, the search turned out to be unsuccessful, and no appropriate candidate was found. Lewis said the application pools from four years ago and recently have been “pretty weak,” partly because experienced pre-health advisers prefer to work in academic affairs. “They are pre-health specialists; they don’t necessarily know anything about careers beyond pre-health, and so we were not recruiting experienced pre-health advisers, even though that was the job description,” Lewis said. “When surveyed, this was one of the reasons they gave: They didn’t really see themselves being a good fit in career centers, and they preferred to work as part of academic advising.” Guerrero said that was when the pre-health liaisons first realized there was concern with pre-health advising overall. “Over the summer, we had no idea what was going on with that position. It was vacant. All we had known was that the first search didn’t go well,” Guerrero said. At this time, the CDO hired Chelsea Ahn, who had previously served as a graduate intern, Lewis said. Ahn’s post is currently the interim pre-health coordinator and career adviser, which she will hold until Jan. 1, 2019, according to Raymond. “She only sort of popped up,” Guerrero said. “None of us ever knew or were ever contacted. It wasn’t until we reached out with a strongly worded email about it that they started looping us more into it.” Though pre-health drop-in advising appointments are currently unavailable, according to Pomona’s website, students can still make appointments with Tony Jimenez, Chicano Latino Student Affairs dean of students, and Ahn. Jimenez previously worked in admissions for MD/PhD programs in the Midwest for many years before he took on the administrative role here, Raymond said. In addition, Lewis said last spring, Pomona “hired the former pre-health adviser to come out of retirement to help out [while Pomona] searched for a permanent replacement for the CDO pre-health adviser.” The CDO’s search will continue to involve the liaisons through this semes-
ter. At the start of October, a job posting for the title of Associate Director for Pre-Health Advising was posted on Pomona’s employment page. The current pre-health liaisons met with the CDO two weeks ago, according to Gonzalez. Gonzalez said “they were very focused on filling up this new job position and giving this position the value it deserves. It didn’t have a value originally, which is why we were getting not so qualified candidates, but now there’s an actual focus and priority, we’re seeing a brighter future ahead.” The future for the position of faculty pre-health adviser, however, is still unclear. Lewis had formerly served as the faculty pre-health adviser since 2000, when there also was another staff position that he said “was half-time pre-health adviser, half-time graduate fellowships.” Other than Lewis’ role in helping students navigate pre-health track and graduate admissions, Price said “[Lewis is] the first person everyone’s going to associate with knowing what to do,” since first-year pre-health students are introduced to the college’s programs by him during orientation. About 65 students from Pomona apply to MD programs each year, according to Lewis. However, the structure of the pre-health program shifted about four years ago, when the former staff pre-health adviser retired. “The [former] President David Oxtoby and [former Dean of Students] Miriam Feldblum wanted to move pre-health advising out of academic affairs and put it in the CDO,” Lewis said. “Faculty were not consulted about that move. I worked with that plan and really discovered that it was not a very good plan. It was not in students’ best interest, it was not efficient, it created inconsistencies in the advising, and so I thought it worked much better under academic affairs. Lewis said he believes that at a small school like Pomona, the prehealth program should be managed by faculty. “Academic advising is under the control of academic affairs, and I view pre-health advising as just being a specialized form of academic advising,” he said. There is not yet a confirmed successor for the position of faculty pre-health adviser. “Pomona needs to provide support for these students,” Associate Professor and Department Chair of Economics Michael Steinberger wrote in an email to TSL. “Otherwise, it could risk disproportionately hurting first-generation students and students who do not have a doctor in the family who may be able to help them through the requirement and process.”
Claremont Colleges’ Jewish student groups host solidarity Shabbat 5C Chabad, Claremont Hillel, Kehillah, Nishmat, AEPi, Associated Jewish Groups of the Claremont Colleges, and the Chaplains of The Claremont Colleges are partnering to host a remembrance ceremony and Shabbat dinner at Frank Dining Hall Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. in the wake of the Pittsburgh shooting. The event is open to everyone, according to an email Dean of Students Avis Hinkson sent out to all Pomona College students on behalf of the partnering organizations. “This week we are responding by joining together in remembrance, and a communal Shabbat dinner to lend one another support and join together against all forms of hate and violence,” the email stated. The Shabbat dinner does not require a meal swipe and has gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and Kosher options, according to the email. — Becky Hoving
QRC to host town hall on transgender erasure following leaked Trump memo The Queer Resource Center will be hosting a town hall Nov. 2 from 1-3 p.m. in response to the leaked memo from the Trump administration that outlines considerations concerning the transgender, intersex, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and genderqueer community. In addition, the QRC, along with student organizers and the Physics and Astronomy Department at Pomona College, has invited legal counsel to discuss the legal impact such a decision could have, according to an email sent out by Manuel A. Diaz, the QRC director. — Becky Hoving
The Golden Antlers apologizes for controversial ‘Juarez’ article The Golden Antlers, a 5C satirical publication, published an article titled “CMC Adds Networking Trip to Juarez, Mexico” Oct. 30., receiving significant backlash from many students. The satirical news piece was about Claremont McKenna’s Office of Student Opportunity adding Juarez, Mexico, as a location for a new spring break networking trip. “As Juarez is becoming a massive hub for international drug smuggling, it will provide valuable hands-on opportunities for students at CMC looking to break into an emerging and competitive field,” the article stated. Some students took issue with the article, claiming it was insensitive to the people of Juarez and the conditions they live in. Some also argued that the article was hypocritical due to the United States’ involvement with Mexico. “Why not write an article where you make fun of your own country’s problems?” Ricardo Mateos CM ’20 wrote in a comment on the article. “I don’t know, maybe something like ‘CMC Adds [Networking] Trip to Detroit, MI.” Jesus Munoz PO ’20, who was one of the initial and most outspoken critics, had other complaints. “It was a privilege to live in Ciudad Juarez. I think people in my city have a much better appreciation of life than most of us—because they have seen death in the face,” Munoz wrote in a message to TSL. “I’d much rather have the privilege to live that than to live in a perpetual state of ‘privileged’ ignorance.” The Golden Antlers issued an apology. “As a followed publication on the 5Cs, we understand that The Golden Antlers has influence,” they wrote. “We regret speaking on a topic we are clearly not equipped to address.” The Golden Antlers also stated they would be pausing production of new content temporarily until the end of November “to do an internal examination of how we got to this point.” — Jensen Steady
Pomona College welcomes two new faculty members to Student Affairs According to an email from Dean of Students Avis Hinkson, Pomona College is welcoming Mike Manalo-Pedro as the new Associate Dean and Director of the Asian American Resource Center and Daniel Caballero as the Assistant Director for First Generation Students Programs Nov. 5. Manalo-Pedro formerly was a Community Engagement Coordinator and adjunct faculty member for the Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies. He will supercede former Associate Dean and Director of the AARC Kehaulani Vaughn. Caballero will be the first full-time Assistant Director for First Generation Students Programs. According to Dean Hinkson’s email, Caballero aims to “continue Pomona’s commitment to supporting the unique needs of first generation and Undocumented/DACAmented students.” — Becky Hoving
Scripps College hires new associate dean of students Scripps Communities of Resources and Empowerment announced Adriana di Bartolo as the new associate dean of students for Scripps College Oct. 31 through its Facebook page. Prior to being hired at Scripps, di Bartolo earned her doctorate and master’s degrees at Claremont Graduate University and was the founding director of the Queer Resource Center from 2011-2016. She was also the associate dean of students at Pomona College at that time. Since 2016, she was dean of students at Vassar College and worked with the residential life and sexual assault and violence prevention offices as well as student health centers. Di Bartolo “is a passionate voice for inclusion and equity, and a strong advocate for students,” according to the post. She will report to Dean of Students Charlotte Johnson beginning Nov. 30. — Olivia Truesdale