Diamond in the Mudd: the many facets of Maria Klawe, Harvey Mudd College's new leader

University Business, July, 2006 by Melissa Ezarik

IT'S A NEW DAY AT HARVEY MUDD. KNOWN FOR ITS FOCUS ON engineering, science, and mathematics education, the 700-student liberal arts school--part of California's Claremont Colleges consortium--has done well in realizing its vision of attracting the brightest students. And with about 1,600 applications received each year, Admissions staff can be choosy when selecting each 175-student freshman class; about 90 percent of Mudd students were in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

The school's quirky culture is likely as much of a draw as the academics. On campus, "you see all sorts of crazy stuff," says Elaine Hart, a recent grad and immediate past president of the student body. There's the strong presence of unicyclists, for one; students have been known to unicycle the eight-mile route to a donut shop. During one walk through the quad, Hart recalls seeing a guy riding a bike with a giant parachute trailing behind, while up the pathway a bit there were a couple of sword fighters. Just another Mudder kind of day.

With half a century behind it, Harvey Mudd College's focus is on tomorrow. "Getting the next few years right is going to be important, not just for the near term but for the next 50 years," says Hal Van Ryswyk, a professor of Chemistry and the chair of faculty.

Bill Mingst, associate chair of the Board of Trustees, notes that HMC was founded during the Sputnik era. "Sputnik mobilized people to take a new vision, and I think globalization is mobilizing people today." Mudd needs "someone to take the college to new levels of preeminence in undergraduate education," he adds.

Maria Klawe, whose presidency at HMC began July 1, is considered more than up to the task. Mudd's first woman president, Klawe (pronounced KLAH-vey) realizes the importance of continuing the upsurge of women applicants to engineering and science programs, says Mingst. Mudd ranks second in the nation in percentage of women engineering faculty.

Gender aside, it was Klawe's appearance on paper that first caught presidential search committee eyes. She had been an academic department head, a vice president of student/academic services, and then a dean. She had worked at an IBM research center. When the search began a year ago, Klawe was taking Princeton University by storm. Beginning her third year there as dean of its School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, she was successfully making that academic area more welcoming and accessible to the rest of the university community, despite its physical location on the edge of campus. "It's a background that just covered everything we wanted to cover," sums up Mingst, co-chair of the search committee.

In the months to come, Klawe's enthusiasm, energy, and optimism along with her warm, casual demeanor--would win over members of that committee, which also included Hart and Van Ryswyk. No doubt, Klawe is multi-faceted in the roles she plays: creative collaborator, educator, problem solver, lifelong learner, leader, bridge builder, and now, of course, Mudder.

Creative Collaborator

If one walked by an all-day meeting in progress and just spotted Klawe, it might appear to be a class in watercolor painting. Only a closer room scan would reveal that Klawe is the lone paintbrush-in-hand participant. Besides any meeting notes, surrounding her are some brushes, paint tubes, a small mixing tray, and a watercolor block.

"I'm a better participant when I'm painting," she contends. "I'm listening to everything but it keeps me quieter. Usually in a meeting I want to say something about everything. If I'm painting, it brings me down to a much more normal level." Those who have been in both types of meetings with her have agreed.

For Klawe, that unconventional approach "simply makes sense," says Sarah Moore, a 2006 Princeton grad. "It fits with the rest of who she is, someone who incorporates many passions into her daily life, and who can make any setting comfortable and informal."

Van Ryswyk says Klawe "has a reputation for being disarmingly informal. I'd almost characterize her as sort of a 'Birkenstocks on the coffee table' kind of person." But he and others at Mudd see that "it's not at all a sloppiness. She's just very at ease with herself."

Educator

That sense of comfort may be why students going through an academic confidence crisis seek out Klawe. Assurances like "you can do this, you'll get through this" often help students to continue trying.

The emotional connection that develops with students is what she likes best as an educator. "You're getting to be part of their lives at a time when they're making choices and decisions about what they're going to try to do with the rest of their life," she says.

And Klawe does make a point to be part of students' lives. After a semester of work on a research project, Kenrick Kin remembers being invited to her home for ice cream along with the other student team members. "It's hard to get to know everyone, but Maria genuinely tries to," says Kin, who got encouragement from his dean and advisor when applying for graduate school.