The Claremont Colleges were designed to incorporate the Oxford Model of higher education. Instead of one large university composed of several separate schools, the Claremont Colleges are made up of different institutions designed around differing theories of pedagogy. Claremont Graduate University was founded upon the principal that graduate education is separate and distinct from undergraduate education. Students discover and cultivate their disciplines during undergraduate course work; at CGU students continue cultivation of their own disciplines, but are also expected to augment this with research that incorporates other disciplines as well. This is called transdisciplinarity, and is an essential component of Claremont Graduate University’s functioning theory of pedagogy.

Claremont Graduate University’s 19 acre, tree-lined campus is located in Claremont, California (pop. 34,000) within Los Angeles County (pop. 9.95 million). Claremont Graduate University, also know as CGU, is a member of the Claremont Colleges, seven schools of higher education located in Claremont.