The history of CGU and the Claremont Conversation is inextricable from the history of the Claremont Colleges and the vision which spawned the institution. Thus, to more completely understand the context in which the faculty who participated in our study engage in the Claremont Conversation and the scholarly work of the mind, we must first examine the visionary, James Blaisdell as well the metamorphosis of the Claremont Colleges and CGU.