CMC Conversations

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-erahttps://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

What does it take to manage travel and logistics for one of the world's most famous baseball teams for over a quarter-century? In this episode, Parishi Kanuga ’26 sits down with Scott Akasaki '98, Senior Director of Team Travel for the Los Angeles Dodgers, to explore the "unseen" side of leadership. Scott shares how a homesick study abroad trip to Japan planted a seed that grew into a 26-year career in Major League Baseball, and why he believes the details are the true difference between winning and losing. He also reflects on what it means to watch Shohei Ohtani become the best player in the world, and why representation matters more to him now that his own kids are watching.Read more about Scott: https://www.cmc.edu/magazine/fall-2019/travelin-manhttps://www.cmc.edu/newsfeed/inside-baseball-careers-ath

In this episode hosted by Natalie Chen ’26, Professor Steven Zhou elucidates how his work offers us new ways to observe, quantify, and study leadership. By observing human behavior in various contexts, such as in escape rooms, Professor Zhou argues that we can develop innovative, data-driven approaches to analyzing leadership. He offers us a glimpse into the research he and his students engage in within his Stats Lab to further investigate this.  In addition, Professor Zhou offers insight into how AI can be leveraged as a useful tool in the classroom and investigates alternative modes of performance assessment, such as structured debates, to uphold assessment integrity. Finally, Professor Zhou explores vocational calling, considering how we can rethink our pursuit of fulfillment and meaning in our lives, as it exceeds the value of a paycheck, integrates into the communities we touch, and guides the kinds of lives we lead. Learn more about Professor Steven Zhou and the STATS Lab at Claremont McKenna College:https://www.cmc.edu/academic/faculty/profile/steven-zhou https://www.statslabatcmc.com/https://stevenzhou.us/media/

In this episode of CMC Conversations, host Parishi Kanuga ’26 sits down with Podlich Family Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow Hilary Appel to discuss the ongoing geopolitical complexities of the Russia-Ukraine war. Professor Appel shares her unique perspective on the "phantom limb" rhetoric of the Kremlin, the systemic shifts she witnessed at the end of the Cold War, and the challenges of teaching international politics during an active "hot war". The conversation explores the necessity of viewpoint diversity in the classroom, the importance of academic empathy, and how even the most contentious global issues can be discussed with constructive dialogue and a seriousness of purpose.Professor Appel's Faculty Profile: https://www.cmc.edu/academic/faculty/profile/hilary-appelProfessor Appel's Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=EBwl5GEAAAAJLearn more about the Keck Center for International & Strategic Studies: https://www.cmckeckcenter.org/

In this episode of CMC Conversations, Parishi Kanuga ’26 speaks with Professor Nishant Dass, Charles M. Stone Professor of Finance and Director of the Financial Economics Institute at CMC. They discuss how technology and AI are reshaping finance, from payments to investment banking, and how CMC is adapting its curriculum to prepare students for a rapidly changing world. The conversation also highlights what makes CMC finance education unique and explores emerging technologies such as blockchain, AI, and the Internet of Things (IoT).Professor Dass's Faculty Profile: https://www.cmc.edu/academic/faculty/profile/nishant-dassLearn more about the Financial Economics Institute at Claremont McKenna College: https://fei.cmc.edu/

Natalie Chen ’26 sits with Professor Amy Kind to discuss the importance of maintaining and developing our imagination in everyday life. Professor Kind addresses imagination as a human necessity, the ability of AI to imagine, and imagination’s connection to our sense of meaning and purpose in life. She also shares the impactful work she does both in the classroom, and as the director of the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies, guiding projects like “Celebration of Creativity” and “The Imagination Project.”Amy Kind, the Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy, joined the CMC faculty in 1997, and has served as Chair of the Department of Philosophy (2009 - 2012) and Associate Dean of the Faculty (2005 - 2008). At CMC, she teaches classes in philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and logic. Her research interests lie broadly in the philosophy of mind, though most of her published work has concerned issues relating either to imagination or to phenomenal consciousness.  Her most recent publications include What is Consciousness? A Debate (co-authored with Daniel Stoljar) and Imagination and Creative Thinking.  She has edited or co-edited four volumes: Epistemic Uses of Imagination (co-edited with Christopher Badura), Knowledge Through Imagination (co-edited with Peter Kung), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Imagination, and Philosophy of Mind in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries.  She has also written introductory textbooks on Persons and Personal Identity (Polity Press) and Philosophy of Mind: The Basics (Routledge).  In 2023-24, she served as Vice President of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, and is currently wrapping up her term as President in 2024-25.Professor Kind's Faculty Profile:https://www.cmc.edu/academic/faculty/profile/amy-kindProfessor Kind's Website: ⁠https://www.amykind.com/⁠Professor Kind's Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=B-q06DsAAAAJ&hl=enLearn more about the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna College: https://gouldcenter.org/⁠

Join Professor Albert L. Park and Natalie Chen ’26 as they discuss Professor Park’s multidisciplinary expertise in the environment, Korean history, and Japanese history. In this episode, Professor Park discusses how change can stem from a social and cultural point, rather than a political one. He surveys the impact that can come to pass locally, rather than politically, and brings us into the work he engages at CMC, through the classroom and the Envirolabs he leads. He also offers a new perspective into how we can remain curious about one another, and become empowered to make a difference on micro, rather than macro levels.   At CMC, Professor Park is the Associate Dean of the Faculty for Research; the Bank of America Associate Professor of Pacific Basin Studies in the History Department; and he’s also the Director of EnviroLab, a laboratory at the Claremont Colleges for cross-disciplinary research and experiential learning in science and technology and environmental issues. Professor Park is an expert in Design & Architecture, East Asian History & Political Economy, the Environment, Korean History, and Modern Japanese History. Professor Park also recently earned a grant from the Japan Foundation for a multi-disciplinary project he directed and wrapped up this summer on the relationship between Globalization, demographic changes, the rural and the elderly/elder care technology in Japan, U.S.A., and Asia.Professor Park's Faculty Profile: https://www.cmc.edu/academic/faculty/profile/albert-parkProfessor Park's Website: https://cmc.academia.edu/httpwwwclaremontmckennaeduacademicfacultyprofilephpFac510Learn more about EnviroLab at Claremont McKenna College: https://sites.cmc.edu/envirolab/

Parishi Kanuga ’26 sits down with Ella Brissett ’25, tennis athlete and president and founder of The Claremont Women Empowerment in Sports Club, and Erica Perkins Jasper, William B. Arce Director of Athletics, Physical Education, & Recreation and George R. Roberts Fellow, to discuss CMS Athletics, women in sports, and leadership within athletics.https://cmsathletics.org

Parishi Kanuga ’26 sits down with Ursula Diamond, Director for Student Opportunities, to discuss what career preparation looks like for a CMC student, her personal career path, and the invaluable resource Career Services provides for students and alumni.Ursula leads the Career Services team at Claremont McKenna College's Soll Center for Student Opportunity. She is passionate about helping students and alumni construct and navigate their own career paths.During the past 20+ years of her career, she has worked as a leader, administrator, and educator in the fields of higher education, healthcare, financial services, and consulting. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of London, and a Master of Arts degree in Psychology and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Higher Education from New York University. Learn more: https://www.cmc.edu/soll-center

Pieter van Wingerden ’24 sits down with host Parishi Kanuga ’26 to discuss his CMC experience, including his unique relationship with foreign policy. His academic success led him to be recently awarded the prestigious Truman Scholarship. Pieter is a 2023 Truman Scholar and studies Government and Asian Studies at Claremont McKenna. He is interested in political, economic, and military issues in the Indo-Pacific region. As an American who grew up abroad, he has experienced firsthand the important role our nation’s foreign policy plays in protecting and promoting international peace and security. While on campus, Pieter runs the Claremont chapter’s Alexander Hamilton Society, is a research assistant at the Rose Institute for State and Local Government, and pitches for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team. He has also interned with the Project 2049 Institute, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the United States Congress. Learn more:https://www.cmc.edu/washington-programhttps://roseinstitute.org/https://www.cmckeckcenter.org/https://cmsathletics.org

Former classmates at CMC, Dianna "DT" Graves ’98 and Amy Verity ’98, sit down with Parishi Kanuga ’26 to reflect on their friendship and favorite life lessons some 25 years later. From sports to dorms to classes, they share memories and their advice to current and future CMC students. Known lovingly as “DT” by the many CMC students who she has supported through the years in a variety of roles, Dianna Graves is the Vice President of Student Affairs. Come back to campus for Alumni Weekend. Learn more: https://www.cmc.edu/alumni-weekend

Host Parishi Kanuga ’26 sits down with Professor Ran Libeskind-Hadas, the founding chair of the new Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences (KDIS) at Claremont McKenna College. KDIS, through Professor Libeskind-Hadas' leadership, is designed without discipline-defined departments; the curriculum is structured around three grand challenges related to Health (Genomics, Systems Biology, and Health), Brain (Brain, Learning, and Decision Sciences), and Planet (Climate, Energy, and the Environment). CMC students will develop strong foundations in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, while also using observational and experimental methods coupled with computational and quantitative approaches. This also requires a deep engagement with issues of ethics, policy, economics, and culture, as well as skills in communicating to broad audiences both scientific outcomes and implications. Professor Libeskind-Hadas received a degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvard in 1987 and completed an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993. He has been with CMC since 2021. Learn more: https://www.cmc.edu/kravis-department-of-integrated-sciences

Host Parishi Kanuga '26 sits down with Sanaa Sondhi '25, who shares the valuable lessons she learned by cooking family dishes tied to her Indian roots. Sanaa recently published a cookbook thanks to her CMC Appel Fellowship. Entering its ninth year, the Appel Fellowship “provides first-year students with funding to support purposeful, independent experiences that culminate in a meaningful and substantial writing project.” Since its launch in 2015, the Appel Fellowship has sent 135 CMCers to 22 states and 48 countries, all thanks to philanthropic support from Joel Appel ’87 P’20. Read more about the Appel Fellowship: https://appelwritingscholars.com/CMC's mission is to prepare its students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions, and to support faculty and student scholarship that contribute to intellectual vitality and the understanding of public policy issues. Learn more about CMC: https://www.cmc.edu

Parishi Kanuga '26 sits down with CMC History Prof. Heather Ferguson and discusses her experience in deconstructing belief systems and cultivating critical thinking in history studies. Prof. Ferguson holds an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas- Austin and a Ph.D. from the University of California- Berkeley. Following her two-year postdoctoral work in Islamic Studies and History Departments at Stanford, she became an Associate Professor of Ottoman and Middle Eastern History at Claremont McKenna. Through her teachings, Prof. Ferguson encourages her students to think deeply about historical events and their interconnectedness, challenging them to rethink their established beliefs and assumptions. Read more about CMC's History Department: https://www.cmc.edu/history CMC's mission is to prepare its students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions, and to support faculty and student scholarship that contribute to intellectual vitality and the understanding of public policy issues. Learn more: https://www.cmc.edu

Host Parishi Kanuga ’26 speaks with Michael Gadinis ’24 on his passion for policy activism. A Government major with a Gender & Sexuality Studies sequence, Michael is the President of CMC Advocates for Survivors of Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence, and a member of CMC's Model UN team and the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC).He shares about his summers as a legislative intern on Capitol Hill and a congressional intern with the Victory Institute, and his recent award of the Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship, and the CMC resources that helped connect him to the opportunities.Read more about Michael: https://www.cmc.edu/newsfeed/cmc-student-wins-prestigious-obama-sponsored-scholarshipLearn about the Soll Center for Student Opportunity: https://www.cmc.edu/soll-centerThroughout its history, Claremont McKenna College's unwavering commitment to the founding liberal arts and leadership mission has provided the foundation for its evolution, growth, and success. Learn more: https://www.cmc.edu

Host Parishi Kanuga ’26 interviews Bertha Tobias ’24 about her summer initiative made possible through the Sponsored Internships and Experiences (SIE) program: producing a TV show highlighting young entrepreneurs of Namibia, her home country. She discusses key lessons learned from her interviews, the professional experience she has gained, and how this opportunity has shaped her experience as a CMC student. Learn more about CMC's Sponsored Internships and Experiences: https://www.cmc.edu/soll-center/sie-program

Host Parishi Kanuga ’26 sits down with Professor Marc Massoud P’89 who shares how he has created family in the classroom over his 43 years teaching at CMC. Professor Massoud is the Robert A. Day Distinguished Professor of Accounting at CMC's Robert Day School of Economics and Finance (RDS).Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, he came to the U.S. in 1967 to attend Graduate School at NYU, and came to CMC in 1980. His areas of expertise are accounting, accounting for non-profit organizations, banking, cost management, and international accounting.Read more about RDS: https://www.cmc.edu/robert-day-school Throughout its history, Claremont McKenna College's unwavering commitment to the founding liberal arts and leadership mission has provided the foundation for its evolution, growth, and success. https://www.cmc.edu