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Director

Sara Hollar (PhD, Claremont Graduate University) is the Director for the Center for Teaching and Learning. Sara is passionate about how self-reflection and relational, low-stakes feedback can improve teaching and learning. Sara has been with the CTL since its founding in 2017. Prior to taking on the directorship role, she was the CTL’s Assistant director and led the CTL’s evaluation and assessment efforts, and coordinated the LEO program. Sara has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Hispanic Studies from Wheaton College (MA), and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from CGU.

Faculty Co-Director

Pete Chandrangsu (PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison) is an associate professor of Biology at Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges. He is a microbiologist fascinated by the many ways that microbes influence and shape the world around us, from a molecular to ecological scale. His pedagogical research focuses on the impact of transdisciplinary courses on student learning, storytelling in the sciences, and bringing course-based undergraduate research experiences and community engagement into the classroom.

Faculty Co-Director

Amanda Lagji (PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is an Associate Professor of English and World Literature at Pitzer College. She specializes in postcolonial literature and teaches classes on terrorism and literature, the postcolonial bildungsroman, counterinsurgency, and decolonial futures. Her pedagogical interests include active, learner-centered syllabi and activities, and helping colleagues build out a teaching portfolio that both charts past and enables future growth.

Faculty Co-Director

Jamel Velji (Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara) is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College. His work lies at the intersection of Islamic Studies and Religious Studies and is particularly concerned with the ways in which narratives, rituals, and symbols can effect social transformations. He has written extensively on various aspects of apocalypticism, and his book An Apocalyptic History of the Early Fatimid Empire was the inaugural volume of Edinburgh University Press’s series on Islamic Eschatology and Apocalypticism. In addition to work on classical Islamic eschatology, he is working on Islamic histories of coffee.

Academic Program Coordinator

Katie Ward (MA, Claremont Graduate University) is the Academic Program Coordinator for the  CTL, and a current Ph.D Student in CGU’s School of Educational Studies. Katie is committed to integrating disability studies across all academic departments and learning environments, enhancing educational spaces for students and faculty, and fostering co-learning communities. Before becoming coordinator, they worked with the CTL as a LEO (student worker) for two years. Katie received their Bachelors Degree from the University of Washington – Bothell (WA state) where they double majored in Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies, and American Ethnic Studies. They also hold dual Master of Arts degrees in Cultural Studies, and  Applied Gender Studies from CGU.

Our Advisory Board

The CTL Advisory Board consists of faculty representatives from each of the Claremont Colleges, along with two at-large faculty board members and representatives from the Claremont Colleges Library.

• Warren Liu (SCR)
• Pierangelo De Pace (POM)
• M. Gloria González Morales (CGU)
• Michelle Gibeault (Claremont Colleges Library)
• Elizabeth Hodas (HMC)
• Kathy Van Huevelan (HMC)
• Jason Keller (CMC)
• Sarah Gilman (PIT)

Our Context

The Claremont Colleges is a unique consortium of seven distinguished institutions, five undergraduate and two graduate institutions, located 35 miles from Los Angeles. Collectively, The Claremont Colleges constitute an academic community of roughly 6,000 students and 700 faculty. Each institution is autonomous, with its own students, faculty, administration, academic specialties, and educational philosophy. The adjoining institutions share a common library and other major facilities. These common resources provide students and faculty of the small individual institutions with the resources and advantages of a mid-size university.

• Undergraduate institutions of The Claremont Colleges:
  Pomona College | Claremont McKenna College | Harvey Mudd College | Pitzer College | Scripps College
• Graduate institutions of The Claremont Colleges:
  Claremont Graduate University | Keck Graduate Institute

Our Location

You can reach us at (909) 607-0942 or ctl@claremont.edu or at our office, located on the first floor of Honnold Library near the Library Cafe. Look for a hallway between the vending machines and Connection. We are at the end of that hall on your right.