In a world increasingly shaped by science and technology, questions can often arise about the value and place of the humanities in higher education.

The Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna explores—and helps answer—these questions through meaningful opportunities that celebrate the humanities and make evident their instrumental role in navigating contemporary complexities with compassion, integrity, and historical wisdom.

This academic year, the Gould Center marks its 40th anniversary, ever committed to providing “research, study, and experience in art, literature, history, philosophy, and other fields as a means to understand and develop the power and use of the imagination.” Since its founding, the Center has sought to identify the critical intersections between the humanities and the pulse of the era— “science, industrialization, and changing values” during those early years (and perhaps not so different four decades later)—to prepare responsible leaders and help humanity flourish.

Leading the charge to promote and preserve the humanities today is Amy Kind, Director of the Gould Center and the Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy. A recognized scholar in the humanities who nurtured her initial interests thanks to a liberal arts education, Kind discovered a “wonderful synergy” in the Center’s distinct commitment to imagination. Her research—and the underpinning of her Gould Center leadership—illuminates the transformative power of imagination to teach us about the world and shape a more well-rounded future.

“Imagination underlies our empathetic connections with people. It has important consequences for our ethical engagement with others. It helps us understand our political opponents. Imagination plays a role in envisioning a better world and seeing the way to bring that about,” she said.

Kind’s philosophy on imagination pulses throughout the Center’s tremendous range of opportunities for students to pursue their personal and intellectual interests, including fellowships and leadership positions, research with faculty, internships, and self-directed special projects.

One such project, “The Impact of AI on the Humanities,” was spearheaded by Jason Bao ’27, a double major in Psychology and Philosophy, who led a team of fellow students through rigorous inquiry on this complex and timely topic.

“I believe our work exemplifies the diversity inherent in humanistic disciplines and the myriad intersections between AI and the humanities,” said Bao, whose involvement with the Center “has been an irreplaceable aspect of my time at CMC and instilled a respect for humanity that I hope will be unshakable.”

Kind has encouraged the inclusion of AI-related research in a swath of Gould Center projects, committed to preserving human imagination as an imperative for lives well led. The alternative, “offloading imaginative tasks to AI,” she said in a recent CMC Conversations podcast episode, would be a “problem for the future of humankind.”

Scott Kosch ’93 P’27 P’28, chair of the Gould Center’s Board of Advisors, emphasized that, in the AI era, employers will increasingly demand “the judgment, ethical reasoning, and communication skills that humanistic training develops.”

“The most sought-after hires at leading AI companies aren’t just engineers. They're philosophers working on alignment, linguists shaping how systems communicate, and ethicists deciding what machines should refuse to do,” said Kosch, managing partner of Kosch Capital. “Disciplines often dismissed as mostly academic—philosophy, history, literature, languages, religion, and creative arts—have become essential to the development of new technologies and scientific breakthroughs.”

Sarah Chen ’22, CMC’s third Rhodes Scholar, and its first female to earn the prestigious honor, is an embodiment of these ideas. Chen has carried the foundation she built and the “bravery to take the road less traveled” she discovered at the Gould Center into her post-CMC technology-centered endeavors.

“Since leaving CMC, I’ve built so much off all the work I start at the Gould Center,” said Chen. “I’ve flown to Germany to run a wargame with the Women’s Wargaming Network; I’ve presented a game prototype on artificial intelligence versus human friendship to an artist-academic collective in Copenhagen; I’ve helped write and run scenarios on technology so futuristic that it seems indistinguishable to magic.

“The explorative projects the Gould Center supported not only helped me win the Rhodes Scholarship but deeply shaped my experience at Oxford and beyond,” added Chen, who is completing a DPhil in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford’s Design Bioethics Lab.

Whatever a student pursues—a self-directed Creative Works Fellowship, an experiential Passion Project, a team-based Humanities Lab with a faculty mentor, or one of many other opportunities—they are encouraged to think beyond producing a traditional research paper.

“Instead, they’re finding other creative ways of bringing their rigorous research to bear on contemporary issues and problems. It might be a video game or tabletop game, a zine or a blog, a piece of art or a curated garden,” said Kind. “What I really love is unleashing the creative potential of students, bringing out their love for the humanities and their perspectives on so many different topics.”

Students can also serve as research and program assistants, often in cross-disciplinary projects with faculty and initiatives beyond the humanities. In a current collaboration with The Open Academy (OA), Violet Ramanathan ’27, an Economics and Political Science double major and Athenaeum fellow, serves as a Gould/OA program assistant, developing humanistic-based programming that explores OA’s commitments of freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity, and constructive dialogue.

As the Gould Center’s impact touches people and programs across the stretch of CMC, its brick-and-mortar home in Lower Kravis, anchored by Program Coordinator Jessika Cisneros, offers a lively, inviting space for all.

“The Gould Center is a spacious, grounded place filled with delight,” Bao said. “Scattered throughout it are the histories of our past projects, books by our humanities faculty, and a generous helping of snacks and coffee. It is a space that radiates the comfort of home and serves as the heart of the humanities at CMC.”