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College president finds passion is academic.


I get up at about 6 o'clock and say hello to everyone at home--four children and my wife--and have breakfast. I don't read the newspaper or exercise in the morning. That is for later in the day or for weekends.

I walk three blocks to my office inside the university campus. Being the university president, I have a beautiful house fight near campus. Once I get in, I check my e-mails and make my phone calls before the tumult of the day begins.

My day typically starts with appointments at 8:30.

As the new president, I like to see one professor for at least an hour and a half each day and ask them about their research interests and their work. I have a Ph.D. from Harvard in public policy. I see professors from departments like management, philosophy, economics and business. They give me their articles to read. Part of my job is to know about them, their passion and ideas.

After that, I meet with the finance and academic people, mostly deans, provosts, dean of student affairs Student affairs staff are responsible for academic advising and support services delivery at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. The chief student affairs officer at a college or university often reports directly to the chief executive of the institution.  and so on. These meetings run for different lengths of time, depending on the day's schedule.

Once in two weeks I have breakfast with the graduate student council. I have a policy of seeing students so they feel I am approachable. Sometimes they come to me with their problems. For example, a student came to me to discuss a problem in the dissertation dis·ser·ta·tion  
n.
A lengthy, formal treatise, especially one written by a candidate for the doctoral degree at a university; a thesis.


dissertation
Noun

1.
 process. Other times they just want to discuss their research interests and ideas. Even professors do that sometimes and I like that.

An important part of my work is to read the research work of my new colleagues to understand what their passions are. This ranges from mathematics to literature. For example, I am currently reading a historical study of the 1950s, and last week I read an article about how virtual labs can be created using mathematical models
Note: The term model has a different meaning in model theory, a branch of mathematical logic. An artifact which is used to illustrate a mathematical idea is also called a mathematical model and this usage is the reverse of the sense explained below.
 and droplets.

I also make time to think. I need blocks of time to think through big issues.

For me, lunches are opportunities for business, except two days a week where I set aside a block of time from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to work out and have lunch with my wife. With university life come a lot of first lady issues and so my wife joins me for a lot of ceremonial functions.

We are building new student housing on campus after five years of work to get all permits and financing in order. Now that we have the approvals, I am involved in the final stages, though the day-to-day work is managed by other people.

I spend a significant amount of time outside at evening events, talks to alumni and friends of the university. Some days I spend the whole evening doing this.

I make sure that I spend time with my family. My four children are aged 7, 12, 17 and 19 and they all go to a public school nearby. I have dinner with them and we have a study table where the kids and I lay out our homework and do it together.

Over the weekends my family and I go out for walks with the dogs and I try to take each child out separately for cocoa.

My oldest just left for South Africa South Africa, Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa.  where she will be working with an AIDS organization for a year. I support that. Young people should definitely take time off and see what they want to do instead of blindly going to college or taking a job.

Job Posting

Robert Klitgaard Robert Klitgaard is the president of Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. He was appointed in March 2005 and began service in this position on July 1 2005.  

President Claremont Graduate University Claremont Graduate University (formerly The Claremont Graduate School) was founded in 1925 in the city of Claremont, California. It is one of two graduate institutions in the prestigious Claremont Colleges consortium, the other being the Keck Graduate Institute.  

On the Radio: BBC World Service
For the BBC television network, see BBC World.


The BBC World Service is one of the most widely recognised international broadcasters, transmitting in 33 languages to many parts of the world through multiple technologies.
 

Languages: Fluent fluent /flu·ent/ (floo´int) flowing effortlessly; said of speech.  in Spanish Spanish, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, issuing from Spanish Lake, S Ont., Canada, NW of Sudbury, and flowing generally S through Biskotasi and Agnew lakes to Lake Huron opposite Manitoulin island. There are several hydroelectric stations on the river.  and speaks some French, Portuguese, Hindi and Urdu

Eagles Fan: Plays "Hotel California" on the guitar for his wife

Family Fun: Snowboarding snowboarding: see under skiing.
snowboarding

Sport of sliding downhill over snow on a snowboard, a wide ski ridden in a surfing position. Derived from surfing and influenced also by skateboarding as well as skiing, snowboarding began to burgeon
 at Big Bear

Travels: Recent trips to China and to Sudan as an advisor on economics and government reform
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Article Details
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Author:Sivaraman, Aarthi
Publication:Los Angeles Business Journal
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Dec 5, 2005
Words:654
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