
The paramount obligation of a college is to develop in its students the ability to think clearly and independently, and the ability to live confidently, courageously, and hopefully.
Ellen Browning Scripps
Founder of Scripps CollegeHelp us bring the past 100 years alive by sharing photos and memories from your Scripps experience.
The paramount obligation of a college is to develop in its students the ability to think clearly and independently, and the ability to live confidently, courageously, and hopefully.
Ellen Browning Scripps
Founder of Scripps CollegeAmy Marcus-Newhall is appointed the College’s 11th president by a unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees.
Scripps’ ninth president, Lara Tiedens, resigns effective April 15. After 18 months of remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students return to campus for the fall academic semester.
The College’s new strategic plan, the Scripps Centennial Plan, is developed. The campaign for Scripps College: More Scripps is the most successful campaign in Scripps’ history, raising $179M.
The College embarks on a strategic planning process initiated by President Tiedens, advancing four themes: Inclusive Student Success, Mission-Driven Outreach, Distinctive Identity, and Innovative Learning Organization.
Lara Tiedens is appointed the College’s 9th president by a unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees. Scripps’ tenth residence hall, NEW Hall, opens to new and returning students.
Lori Bettison-Varga announces her resignation as Scripps College’s eighth president, effective October 2, 2015. The Laspa Center for Leadership welcomes its new director, Lisa Watson, and opens operations in fall. Construction on NEW Hall begins.
Lori Bettison-Varga is appointed eighth president of Scripps College. She and her family move into the Revelle House, the first president to live on campus since John H. Chandler.
The Sallie Tiernan Field House opens its doors to students, faculty, and staff.
Scripps’ sixth president, Nancy Y. Bekavac, announces her resignation, effective July 1, 2007. Frederick “Fritz” Weis” is appointed interim president and is named full president in 2009. An anonymous donor makes a $10 million gift to the College to support faculty initiatives on behalf of the Board of Trustees.
Sallie Tiernan Field House, a state-of-the-art recreational and athletic facility to be located next to the swimming pool on the east side of campus. The Board of Trustees approves the strategic plan, “Scripps College in the Next Decade: Leading with Excellence,” which focuses on academic excellence and women’s leadership.
Scripps celebrates its 75th anniversary with yearlong events.
The Ellen Browning Scripps Reading Room is added to Denison Library. The room was an existing space redone to house collected papers, books, and personal letters of the College’s founder.
Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Hall opens to students. Named for alumna Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler ’72, who provided key guidance to architects on this project in addition to supporting student scholarship programs, an endowed faculty chair in contemporary European studies, a lecture series at the European Union Center of California, as well as other..Read More
Supreme Court Judge Sandra Day O’Connor is awarded the second Ellen Browning Scripps Medal.
The W.M. Keck Science Department moves from its previous home in Steele Hall and the neighboring buildings. A two year renovation begins to develop a dedicated Scripps art center, and provide a permanent home for Scripps Information Technology Services and other administrative needs.
John H. Chandler is appointed president of Scripps College, serving until 1989. The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference begins sponsorship of women’s sports. The existing Claremont Men’s College/Harvey Mudd competitive athletics program expands to include students from Scripps. The new program, CMS, chooses the team names the Athenas (women’s teams).
In spring, Scripps’ student-run campus coffeehouse, The Motley to the View, opens its doors for business. Over the years, the Motley has changed venues from Balch Hall to the basement of Old Lang to the Frankel-Routt complex, and finally to its current location in Malott Commons.
Scripps honors its first president, Ernest J. Jaqua, by renaming the central grassed area Jaqua Court and Quadrangle. The primary green remains a gathering place for residents and visitors alike, and it is the site for several annual College events during Fall Orientation, Family Weekend, and Commencement, among others.
During the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Claremont feels the explosion of two bombs, one in Balch Hall and the other in Pomona College’s Carnegie Hall. The bombings happen concurrent with teach-ins regarding the development of a Black Student Union on campus.
To accommodate 200 new students, two new residence halls are built on the east side of campus, Frankel and Routt. Originally conceived as a single facility with three wings by architects Criley and McDowell, the structure was reconfigured to offer a greater variety of room arrangements (singles, doubles, triples, suites,..Read More
Mark H. Curtis becomes Scripps’ president, serving from 1964 to 1976.
Garrison Theater opens to provide a facility for all the Claremont Colleges to use for theatrical productions, concerts, movies, lectures, and other events. Longtime Scripps trustee Robert H. Garrison and his wife, Catherine Garrison, who graduated from Pomona College and Claremont Graduate University, provide the initial funding.
Scripps’ fifth residence hall, Mary Kimberly Residence Hall, opens to students. The hall is funded in part by gifts from friends and trustees of Harvey Mudd College, whose female students are housed in Kimberly from 1960-1980.
Designed by Smith and Williams of Pasadena, the Music Building opens with a recital hall seating 150, a music library, classrooms, practice rooms, and faculty offices. The hall is named in honor of pianist Lee Pattison, or “Mr. Pat” to students, a Scripps professor of music.
Distinguished Shakespearean scholar Frederick Hard is named Scripps’ new president. Hard serves the College for a period of 20 years, the longest tenure of any Scripps president.
With American involvement in World War II, the search for a new president of Scripps is temporarily halted and an interim female president is appointed: Mary Kimberly Shirk. Shirk, who was asked by the Board to “serve for a month or two,” remains in the position until the War concludes.
March 2, a flood occurs in Claremont, causing about $7,000 of damage to Toll and Clark Halls. Residents took refuge in Browning and Dorsey Halls, which are unaffected. Soon after, the famous floodwalls are erected to prevent further water damage.
Mrs. Florence Rand Lang makes an initial gift that will eventually become the anchor for the south campus.
The first swimming pool and units of the field house are completed at Alumnae Park, an area that eventually became part of Harvey Mudd College campus.
In fall, Susan Miller Dorsey Hall is ready for occupancy, and remains the youngest residence hall at Scripps for 30 years.
Designed by architect Sumner Hunt of Los Angeles, Janet Jacks Balch Hall is completed in fall and becomes the primary academic facility.
In fall, Grace Scripps Clark Hall is completed. It is the joint gift of Grace Scripps Clark and Ellen Browning Scripps, in memory of James E. Scripps, founder and editor of the Detroit Evening News and father and brother of the donors.
Ernest J. Jaqua, for whom Jaqua Quadrangle is named, is elected the first president of Scripps.
Ellen Browning Scripps endows a college for women as the first element in a coordinated system of affiliated colleges and graduate schools surrounding Pomona.