[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 48 (Thursday, March 25, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E568-E569]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING JACK STARK UPON HIS RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DAVID DREIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 25, 1999

  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, Jack Stark, the President of Claremont 
McKenna College, after nearly three decades of outstanding leadership, 
is retiring in July of this year. He will be succeeded by Pamela Brooks 
Gann, currently Dean of Duke University School of Law.
  For thirty years, the world of higher education has been roiled by 
change. The free speech movement of the 1960's, the first challenge to 
campus authority, was succeeded by demands for black and other ethnic 
studies, by the anti-war movement, by sit-ins and violent 
demonstrations against ROTC. Then came contests over affirmative action 
in admission and faculty hiring, the challenge to courses in Western 
Civilization, ``Gay Rights,'' and the passions aroused by ``political 
correctness.'' Throughout this turmoil, Claremont McKenna College, 
unlike so many other academic institutions, has held firmly to its 
founding mission--and it has prospered mightily.
  Jack Stark kept CMC on course through these stressful years, built 
its endowment, raised admission standards, and recruited distinguished 
faculty. If this were the sum of Jack Stark's achievement, we would 
honor him as one of the nation's great academic leaders. It is not only 
as a conservator, however, but also as an educational innovator that he 
deserves our attention.
  Jack Stark built on the campus of CMC--a small, private, 
undergraduate liberal arts college--nine research institutes, each 
different in its scholarly focus, but each contributing to the 
education of CMC's one thousand students.
  The first to be founded was The Henry Salvatori Center for the Study 
of Individual Freedom in the Modern World. The Salvatori Center 
supports the study of the conditions essential to the preservation of 
liberty, and under its directors, Ward Elliott, Ralph Rossum and 
Charles Kesler, has contributed vigorously to intellectual debate.
  The Rose Institute of State and Local Government, which was founded 
25 years ago this April, specializes in survey research, fiscal 
analysis, and database development. The Institute authors studies of 
political and demographic trends, and its student team is trained in 
many aspects of computer-aided research. Its Board Chairman, Al 
Lunsford, refers to it as an ``unmatched resource of data and analysis 
in its geographical area of focus,'' and under its long-time director, 
Dr. Alan Heslop, the Institute has built a formidable reputation.
  The third to be founded was The Institute of Decision Science, which 
provides practical experience in economic and mathematical modeling, 
decision-making, and risk analysis for industry, government and the 
professions. It sponsors research and presents conferences on topics in 
decision science. IDS and its director, Janet Myhre, are frequently 
consulted by government agencies and major industrial corporations.
  Next to be founded was The Lowe Institute of Political Economy. 
Initially under the direction of Dr. Craig Stubblebine, now headed by 
Dr. Sven Arndt, the Lowe Institute supports the study of major issues 
in economic policy. Recent work has focused on the North American Free 
Trade Agreement, APEC and on trade and regulatory policies.
  The Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies was founded 
to support the study of critical issues in world affairs by sponsoring 
lectures, fellowships, visiting scholars, conferences, publications, 
and student internships. Its director, Dr. C. J. Lee, is an expert on 
Asia and has led the center in studies on Korean affairs.
  The Family of Benjamin Z. Gould Center of Humanistic Studies, 
originally headed by Dr. Ricardo Quinones, now by Dr. Jay Martin, is 
dedicated to understanding vital issues of the modern world in light of 
the perennial values provided by literature, philosophy, and religion. 
Towards this end, it sponsors publications, visiting speakers, student 
and faculty research, and organized lecture series.
  The Roberts Environmental Center uses an interdisciplinary approach 
encompassing biology, chemistry, economics, and political science to 
analyze environmental problems and to evaluate policy alternatives. 
Under its founding director, the late Robert Felmeth, and now under Dr. 
Emil Morhardt, it conducts field research, trains students in the use 
of analytical software and sponsors the Environment, Economics, and 
Politics major.
  The Kravis Leadership Institute provides for the academic study of 
leadership and sponsors speakers, mentoring, internships, and the 
Leadership Studies Sequence. Its director, Dr. Ronald Riggio, has been 
one of the pioneers of leadership studies in psychology.
  Most recent is the newly formed Berger Institute on Work, Family, and 
Children--the ninth of the institutes to be fathered by Jack Stark.
  At their best, these nine CMC research institutes provide students 
and faculty with opportunities to engage together in the investigation 
of key public policy issues. Students get close, hands-on experience of 
the challenges--the chores as well as the joys--of scholarship. 
Typically, their work is not for academic credit: the students are 
paid, and as their responsibilities increase so does their 
remuneration.
  Research on important subjects, produced by small faculty-student 
teams, funded by outside grants and contracts, is achieving a solid 
reputation for CMC's institutes. CMC students are making important 
extra-curricular gains by working with faculty specialists in 
methodologies they are sure to encounter in their later careers and on 
the important subjects that face our society. Every one of those CMC 
students owes Jack Stark a debt of gratitude. The world of higher 
education, too, would be wise to note this pioneering achievement at 
Claremont McKenna College.

[[Page E569]]



                          ____________________