Claremont McKenna College Celebrates the Inauguration of Hiram E. Chodosh on October 5, 2013

CLAREMONT, Calif., Oct. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Hiram E. Chodosh will be inaugurated as the fifth President of Claremont McKenna College (CMC) on Saturday, October 5th. The installation ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. in Bridges Auditorium, a historic venue at The Claremont Colleges.

The ceremony serves as the centerpiece of an exciting series of events in celebration of President Chodosh's inaugural year at CMC. Other inaugural highlights include signature presentations by statistician-extraordinaire Nate Silver (who headlined the first inaugural event on September 19), Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi (speaking today), and former legal advisor to the U.S. State Department Harold Koh (to speak on October 8).

In the spirit of the inaugural theme "Liberal Arts in Action," CMC faculty will lead public sessions on October 4, the day before Chodosh's installation ceremony, on the art and science of decision-making.This includes "Teach Out" sessions on how a liberal arts education harnesses many academic disciplines to help students develop a richer understanding of decision-making.

CMC faculty also will host afternoon panel discussions on "Theory of Decision Making: How do the disciplines of the liberal arts enrich our understanding of the effective framing of decisions and of their successful implementation?" and "Global Decisions: How can a multidisciplinary approach to decision-making help address pressing, global challenges?" Forum for the Future, a CMC alumni group for younger graduates, will host similar sessions on October 5 prior to the inauguration.

Hiram E. Chodosh became president of Claremont McKenna College on July 1, 2013, succeeding President Pamela B. Gann who served for 14 years in the position. He joined the College having already achieved distinction as an educator, an academic administrator, a legal scholar, and an internationally recognized advocate of judicial reform around the world.

Just prior to his arrival in Claremont, Chodosh served as Dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, where he was also the Hugh B. Brown Endowed Presidential Professor of Law and Senior Presidential Adviser on Global Strategy. During his seven-year tenure, he worked collaboratively to establish several new centers on law and bioscience, global justice, educational innovation, and veterans, and led efforts to begin construction of a new $60 million facility.

Chodosh received his B.A. in history from Wesleyan University in 1985, and his J.D. in 1990 from Yale Law School. He began his law career at the international firm of Cleary, Gottlieb in New York. In 1993, he left the firm to join the faculty of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio.

Recognized for designing and executing groundbreaking educational models to enhance leadership experiences for students, interdisciplinary research projects, the adaptive use of technology, and global education, Chodosh was recently named one of the 25 most influential legal educators by the National Jurist magazine.

He has published many articles, books, and essays on mediation, legal reform, and comparative law. His recent books include, Law in Iraq: A Document Companion (with co-editor Chibli Mallat) published this year by Oxford University Press, and Global Justice Reform: A Comparative Methodology, published in 2005 by NYU Press. His forthcoming book, The Uniform Civil Code of India: Blueprint for Scholarly Discourse (co-authored with Shimon Shetreet), will be published by Oxford University Press in 2014.

Beyond his scholarship and innovations, Chodosh has been recognized for the impact of his justice reform efforts, including his collaborative role in the growth of mediation in India (since 1996) and his leadership as director of the Global Justice Project: Iraq, a law and policy think tank (2007-2009) that advised the Iraqi government on legislative and constitutional priorities.

To view live streaming of the Installation ceremony, visit: https://new.livestream.com/claremontmckennacollege/inauguration

For information on individual inauguration events, visit: claremontmckenna.edu/inauguration

CMC is also using the Guidebook App for those attending. To download, go to your App Store.

Members of the news media should visit the following site for information and resources: https://www.claremontmckenna.edu/inauguration/news-media/

SOURCE Claremont McKenna College