Isabel V. Guerrero '27 sits down with Professor Stacey Doan to unpack the psychology of stress and resilience.

Professor Doan is the Norwood and Frances Berger Professor of Psychology, Business, and Society, and Director of the Berger Institute for Individual and Social Development. Her research explores the biological, social, and individual factors behind physical health and emotional well-being.

"Resilience comes at a cost," Professor Doan explains, arguing that individuals must learn to take care of the mind first and foremost.

Drawing on her research through Project PRISM, she explains how resilience is studied. Since we can't control the adversities that cause stress, she argues, our best strategy is to understand its underlying mechanisms and how to intervene effectively. Her advice for students who feel pressure to do it all: go deep, not broad.

Learn more about Professor Doan and the Berger Institute:

https://www.cmc.edu/academic/faculty/profile/stacey-doan

https://www.cmc.edu/berger-institute

What does responsible leadership look like in the world of sports? 🏀✨

In this episode of CMC Conversations—recorded live at the CMC Leads Summit—host Parishi Kanuga ’26 sits down with Dr. Vince Minjares ’04 from the Aspen Institute’s Sports and Society program.

Vince shares his inspiring journey from playing basketball at Claremont McKenna College and writing his senior thesis on sports economics, to taking a bold leap to launch a backyard basketball academy, completing his PhD in New Zealand, and leading national policy initiatives today.

In this episode, we dive into:

• Why sports must prioritize human development over commercialization 🏆

• Balancing high standards and supportive culture in coaching 🧠

• Addressing critical youth safety issues like ACL injury prevention in high school female athletes 🏥

• How a liberal arts background cultivates the generalist mindset needed to tackle complex, interdisciplinary challenges 📚

Whether you're a student athlete, coach, parent, or alumnus, this conversation offers powerful insights on leading with humility, passion, and care.

🔗 Learn more about Vince: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/people/vincent-minjares/

What does it mean to be a responsible leader in the modern business world? In this special episode of CMC Conversations, recorded live at the CMC Leads Summit, host Parishi Kanuga '26 sits down with distinguished alumnus Tom Linebarger '86, former Chairman and CEO of Cummins Inc.

Tom shares his unique journey from a 3-2 economics and engineering student and Head RA to leading a global power giant for nearly 30 years. With profound honesty, he opens up about the pivotal career moment that forced him to confront his blind spots, embrace executive coaching, and develop the emotional intelligence required for authentic leadership. He also dives deep into the 'Stakeholder Model' of capitalism—explaining why long-term corporate success requires optimizing value for employees, suppliers, and communities alongside shareholders.

Tune in to learn why true leadership means leaving a place better than you found it, and why showing your humanity is the ultimate leadership superpower.

Read more about Tom: https://www.cmc.edu/news/learning-live-purpose-driven-life

What does it mean to practice responsible leadership in a deeply polarized world? In this special episode of CMC Conversations, recorded live at the CMC Leads Summit, host Parishi Kanuga '26 sits down with Claremont McKenna College Trustee and former Congressman David Dreier '75.

Congressman Dreier served 32 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, making history as the first Californian to chair the powerful House Rules Committee. In this expansive dialogue, he shares foundational insights from his time on Capitol Hill—from shaping monumental trade policy like NAFTA/USMCA to defending minority party rights and fostering institutional respect across the political aisle.

He also discusses his post-congressional dedication to global trade, press freedom via the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation, and his commitment to nurturing the next generation of collaborative public servants through the Dreier Roundtable at CMC. Tune in to discover why institutional values, civil discourse, and bipartisan collaboration remain the ultimate bedrocks of modern democracy.

Learn more about the Dreier Roundtable at CMC: https://www.cmc.edu/drt

In this episode of CMC Conversations, host Parishi Kanuga ’26 sits down with Professor of Religious Studies Esther Chung-Kim to unpack some of today’s most complex societal issues. Moving past "the danger of a single story," Professor Chung-Kim explains how looking at problems through multiple vantage points is essential for tackling contemporary challenges—from inequities in healthcare access to the decline of communal structures.

She also shares powerful, personal reflections on her recent work with The Dialogue on Race and Faith Project, illustrating how historical research into the 1830s abolitionist movement and early integrated communities like the Oberlin Institute taught her what it truly means to build trust, lean into discomfort, and practice real empathy.

Check out the links below to explore The Dialogue on Race and Faith Project and Professor Chung-Kim’s work:

https://www.awakeningtojustice.com/

https://www.cmc.edu/academic/faculty/profile/esther-chung-kim

https://sites.google.com/site/profchungkim

During CMC’s Alumni Weekend 2025, members of the Class of 1980 gathered for their 45th reunion.

As the first four-year graduating class after the College adopted co-education in the fall of 1976, CMC Magazine asked six 1980 classmates—four women and two men—to join us for a campus conversation to reflect on the history of the landmark year, focusing on their arrival to then-Claremont Men’s College and all that followed.

With an eye on CMC’s 50 Years of Co-Education Anniversary celebration beginning in the fall of this year, the group shared memories and moments that were special to them individually—and with decades of additional life experiences and introspection, feel even more significant collectively.

Just days before they walk across the Commencement stage, our beloved senior podcast hosts, Parishi Kanuga ’26 and Natalie Chen ’26, settled into our studio —this time as interviewees. A full-circle moment.

Hosted by Lena Ciganer-Albeniz ’29, this special episode is a heartfelt reflection on the Claremont McKenna Collegeexperience. From the 'summer camp' feeling of freshman year to the intellectual depth of senior theses on love and microfinance, Parishi and Natalie share the CMC stories that shaped them.

Tune in for a beautiful 'passing of the torch' as we celebrate our graduates and the lifelong community they leave behind and carry with them.

President Hiram Chodosh has spent 13 years leading ClaremontMcKenna College by asking one question above all others: What are we here to do?

In this special episode of CMC Conversations — recorded inpartnership with CMC Leads — Parishi Kanuga ‘26 sits down with President Chodosh to explore what responsible leadership actually looks like in practice: not the professional title, not the authority, but the small acts, the hard questions, and the courage to face what you don’t know.

He shares about growing up in New Jersey with little interestin school, finding the same fundamental question across theater, law, and higher education, what it means to hold your own value system inside a world of professional incentives, the India mediation project that became something no one could have predicted, and how to develop the confidence to handle your own lack of confidence.

President Chodosh reflects on his final year at CMC, what CMCLeads: The Summit means to him, and what it’s like to face a new unfamiliar territory — just like the rest of us.

For 13 years, Priya Junnar has led the intellectual heart of Claremont McKenna College as the fifth director of the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum — one of higher education's most distinctive speaker series, where students, faculty, staff, and a spectrum of luminaries gather around a dinner table to wrestle with the essential ideas of our time.

In this episode, host Natalie Chen ’26 sits down with Priya — CMC's First Lady and outgoing Ath director — to explore what it takes to curate nearly four nights a week of intellectually rigorous programming, how she learned to read a community's hunger for ideas, and why sharing a meal together still matters in an age of screens and algorithmic echo chambers.

They also talk about Priya's philosophy of serendipity in leadership, her passion for historical fiction and podcasts, the Beyoncé suggestion that became a Rutgers scholar guest speaker, the legendary CMC campus dog Theo, and what she's carrying with her into the next chapter.

Learn more about Priya and the Athenaeum:

https://www.cmc.edu/magazine/fall-2025/end-of-an-era

https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum

What does it look like to build a career by running toward something — not away from it?

Jennie Kung ’04 has spent her career crossing sectors that most people never imagine connecting: capital markets, Deloitte Consulting, Disney Imagineers, Johnson & Johnson, UCLAHealth, and now the Mayo Clinic, where she leads one of the most distinctive healthcare innovation platforms in the world.

In this episode, Natalie Chen ’26 sits down with Jennie to explore how a CMC Gov and Legal Studies pivot became the foundation for a career reimagining what healthcare can feellike, and why the skills that matter most right now have nothing to do with what you majored in.

They discuss the aha moment that sent Jennie from Disney to hospital administration, what serve-first leadership actually looks like in practice, how AI is reshaping who gets to lead, and why the best advice she has for graduating CMCers is simply: just chill out.

This is a special episode of CMC Conversations in partnership with CMC Leads. The conversation continues at The Summit, April 24–25 on the CMC campus.

https://www.cmc.edu/cmc-leads