Pomona College and Claremont Graduate University (CGU) have agreed to a historic strategic partnership, signing an affiliation agreement that will establish Pomona as CGU’s parent institution. CGU will continue as a distinct graduate school, led by its own Board and senior leadership, with Pomona bringing its institutional strengths and expertise to support CGU’s transformation and long-term success. The strategic partnership underscores CGU’s continuing academic, financial and structural transformation as it builds a visionary new model for 21st-century graduate education, while addressing near-term operating deficits. The agreement was ratified by both the Pomona and CGU Boards following more than a year of extensive due diligence.
Building on a shared legacy
Located on adjoining campuses in Southern California, the two institutions have been closely affiliated for more than 100 years as part of The Claremont Colleges consortium, which was founded in 1925, the same year that then-Pomona President James Blaisdell founded what is now known as Claremont Graduate University. Today’s agreement builds on this shared legacy. It will preserve CGU’s distinct academic strengths, strengthen its role as an integral member of the consortium and create new opportunities for Pomona and other Claremont Colleges students to earn advanced degrees and pursue expanded career development.
“Pomona and CGU share a special relationship that goes back more than a century to the origins of The Claremont Colleges, and this partnership gives us an opportunity to build on that history together,” said G. Gabrielle Starr, President of Pomona College. “CGU’s distinctive graduate education has long enriched the intellectual life of the consortium, and we look forward to working together to strengthen the institution for its second century and beyond. I’m particularly excited about the new possibilities this partnership will create for students at Pomona and across the consortium to connect their liberal arts education with graduate study, career development and new professional pathways.”
Exploring opportunities for collaboration
Under the agreement, CGU will retain responsibility for its own operations, including decisions over academic programs, pedagogies, enrollments and student services. Together, the two institutions will explore opportunities for collaboration and efficiency, including where appropriate through shared infrastructure; greater coordination of select administrative functions; and more effective use of common technologies. As CGU’s parent institution, Pomona becomes CGU’s sole corporate member and assumes governance authority over major institutional decisions.
Throughout 2026, CGU has taken significant steps to begin to address its operating deficit, including a Voluntary Separation Plan for personnel; a comprehensive academic portfolio review; and reductions to its operating budget as well as its facilities and shared services costs. These measures are part of a broader transformation plan designed to bring CGU’s budget into balance by 2032, creating a stronger foundation for investment in its emerging vision for graduate education. The partners will build on this progress by supporting CGU’s efforts to develop new revenue opportunities, improving operating efficiency, lowering borrowing costs and providing access to Pomona’s investment-management expertise and strong long-term performance.
Supporting future sustainability and growth
As CGU advances through its intensive academic review and redesign, it is focusing on programs that are strategically positioned to support its future sustainability and growth. Moving forward, CGU will consolidate its current five schools, one institute and one center into three academic units, organized around Management and Technology; Education, Health and Psychology; and Arts, Humanities and Mathematics. Earlier this fall, more than 92% of CGU faculty endorsed this new academic model.
In addition, CGU is studying ways to better serve students with more flexible modalities by expanding online delivery and exploring nondegree and lifelong learning programs for working professionals—while continuing to focus on and strengthen a core set of master’s and doctoral degree programs.
“CGU is redesigning itself around what graduate education needs to become, not simply reorganizing around what it has historically been,” said CGU Interim President Michelle Bligh. “As we reimagine our academic portfolio and the administrative foundations that it’s built upon, we’re looking not only at where we need to focus our resources, but also where we can invest in new opportunities that meet students where they are. We have an exciting opportunity right now to create an innovation lab for graduate education, testing new approaches to academic programs, institutional operations and emerging technologies while tackling consequential problems that matter outside of academia. Our transformation is designed to preserve and strengthen this work, which is essential to what makes the CGU experience distinctive.”
Embracing leadership principles and innovation
Through this comprehensive redesign of its financial, academic and administrative operations, CGU is embracing the leadership principles created and championed by its own Peter Drucker, whose global reputation for innovation is at the heart of the institution. Recognizing how dramatically existing assumptions about graduate education have evolved, the University is focusing both on what must be changed and preserved for the institution to lead across this century.
“Organizations need to not only understand market realities but also shape their market context to remain relevant and thrive. That’s what Drucker taught, and that’s what we continue to teach our students,” said Bernard Jaworski, Peter F. Drucker Chair in Management and the Liberal Arts at CGU’s Drucker School of Management. “In our university’s case, that means having the courage to rethink long-standing assumptions while staying true to our mission. And that often means recognizing that institutions are better able to navigate profound change when they have the right partners. Pomona College brings the stability and shared commitment to higher education that can help us build a stronger foundation for the future.”
The affiliation agreement between Pomona and CGU is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close as early as June 2027. In the coming months, both institutions will begin implementing integration plans and the coordination of financial and administrative structures while continuing to keep students, faculty and staff informed.