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Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the United States. Originally an all-graduate institution, Clark's first undergraduates entered in 1902 and women were first enrolled in 1942.
The university offers 46 majors, minors, and concentrations in the humanities, , , and engineering and allows students to design specialized majors and engage in pre-professional programs. It is a member of the Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts, which enables students to cross-register at other Worcester institutions including the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the College of the Holy Cross.
Clark is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". It was a founding member of the Association of American Universities, but departed in 1999. The university competes intercollegiately in 17 NCAA Division III varsity sports as the Clark Cougars and is a part of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference. Clark faculty, alumni, and affiliates have included business executives and inventors of the wind chill and the birth control pill.
Clark was a friend of Leland Stanford and was inspired by the plans for Stanford University, as well as Cornell and Johns Hopkins. Clark founded the university with an endowment of one million dollars, and later added another million dollars because he feared the university might someday face a lack of funds. Opening on October 2, 1889, Clark was the first all-graduate university in the United States, with departments in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology.
G. Stanley Hall was appointed the first president of Clark University in 1888. He had been a professor of psychology and pedagogy at Johns Hopkins University, which had been founded just a few years prior and was quickly becoming a model of the modern research university. Hall spent seven months in Europe visiting other universities and recruiting faculty. He became the founder of the American Psychological Association and earned the first PhD in psychology in the United States at Harvard. Clark has played a prominent role in the development of psychology as a distinguished discipline in the United States ever since. Franz Boas, founder of American cultural anthropology and adviser for the first PhD in anthropology which was granted at Clark in 1891, taught at Clark from 1888 until 1892 when he resigned in a dispute with President Hall over academic freedom and joined the faculty of Columbia University. Albert A. Michelson, the first American to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics, best known for his involvement in the Michelson–Morley experiment, which measured the speed of light, was a professor from 1889 to 1892 before becoming head of the physics department at the University of Chicago.
Jonas G. Clark died in 1900, leaving gifts to the university and campus library, but reserving half of his estate for the foundation of an undergraduate college. This had been strongly opposed by President Hall in years past, but Clark College opened in 1902, managed independently of Clark University. Clark College and Clark University had different presidents until Hall's retirement in 1920. Clark University began admitting women after Clark's death, and the first female PhD in psychology was awarded in 1908. Early PhD students in psychology were ethnically diverse, with several early graduates being Japanese. In 1920, Francis Sumner became the first African American to earn a PhD in psychology.
Clark University, along with Stanford and Johns Hopkins, was one of the fourteen founding members of the Association of American Universities, an organization of universities with the most prestigious profiles in research and graduate education, and was one of only three New England universities, along with Harvard and Yale University, to be a founding member. Clark withdrew its membership in 1999, citing a conflict with its mission.
The Graduate School of Management (GSOM) was founded in 1982. In 1997, Clark announced the first PhD program in Holocaust Studies in the United States. This after the university convinced Debórah Dwork to leave Yale University and become Clark's first professor of Holocaust studies in the prior year.
U.S. Secretary of State and former senator and democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke at Clark University on February 4, 2008, to an audience of approximately 3,500 in the Kneller Athletic Center.
In March 2009, Clark University convened a first-of-its-kind National Conference on Liberal Education and Effective Practice, co-sponsored by Clark's Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise and the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
In April 2009, then-President John Bassett denied Clark University Students for Palestinian Rights, a student group, permission to bring Norman Finkelstein to speak about the "Gaza Massacre" (2008–2009 Gaza War) because Finkelstein "would invite controversy and not dialogue or understanding". He also cited a conflict in scheduling regarding a conference on Holocaust and Genocide Studies presented by the university in the same month. However, following protests, which included a public protest in the center of campus, a petition campaign and outreach by alumni, students and faculty, Basset reversed his decision and allowed Finkelstein to speak on April 27, the last day of classes for the semester. Finkelstein spoke to around 400 students, faculty and community members in Atwood Hall.
In April 2010, Clark University received the largest gift in its 123-year history, a $14.2 million offering from the late head of Hanover Insurance, one of the nation's biggest property and casualty insurers. The gift from John Adam is intended to strengthen Clark's graduate programs in education, promote college-readiness among minority students and bolster its research profile related to urban education. This donation created the Adams Education Fund, which will enhance Clark's nationally recognized model for urban secondary education and reform, teacher-training, and community education partnerships.
On July 1, 2010, former provost David Angel became the ninth president of Clark, succeeding John Bassett, who went on to become president of Heritage University, located on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Toppenish, Washington.
Clark University has an ongoing renovation project that will cover several buildings. In the summer of 2010, overhauls occurred in Bullock and Wright Hall dormitories.
In summer 2012, Clark University underwent more renovations. The city of Worcester allowed the university to close Downing Street to unite the campus. The area was landscaped to become a pedestrian plaza. Johnson and Sanford halls were united to become the Johnson Sanford Center featuring new social, study, and multimedia spaces. The project included addition of an outdoor roof terrace and an elevator to all levels. The university has recently begun a project called LEEP to connect students and the world of academia to practical experience.
Summer 2016 saw the completion of a new Alumni and Student Engagement Center building, extending the campus across Main Street. The facility is a mixed-use building containing administrative offices, lecture halls, meeting rooms, and some retail space, and features a modern architectural look and a rooftop solar array.
In 2022, graduate students at the university organized as Clark University Graduate Workers United, a chapter of Teamsters Local 170. An NLRB-overseen election resulted in a 100–7 vote in favor of unionization, after which the union and university entered into negotiations. On October 3, 2022, the graduate workers' union began an indefinite strike over wages, benefits, and working conditions that continued until that Friday, October 7, when the union and the university announced a tentative agreement on a contract. On the following Wednesday, October 13, the union unanimously ratified the contract, which took effect immediately.
The center of campus is known as the Green. The Green is a hub for student activity, and is where most Clarkies spend their time during the warm months. It is the location of Spree Day, the welcome back BBQ, several clubs' events and graduation. The buildings surrounding The Green include Atwood Hall, Jefferson Academic Center, Higgins University Center, Jonas Clark Hall, and the Goddard Library.
Administrative offices are housed in small buildings along Woodland Street, as is the president's house. The new Shaich Family Alumni and Student Engagement Center, named in honor of a $5 million gift from the family of alumnus Ron Shaich, is across Main Street and houses meeting spaces and offices.
Estabrook Hall, located on Woodland Street, is the second oldest building on Clark's campus. Originally constructed as a dormitory, it now functions as the language center and the music center. The upper floors are primarily home to classrooms and offices for the Language, Literature, and Culture department, which includes Spanish, French, German, Latin, and Hebrew. The bottom floor and basement are practice rooms and music halls.
The Jefferson Academic Center houses various social science departments including Women's Studies, Geography, History, Geographical Information Sciences, Political Science, and Sociology.
Atwood Hall, attached to the Jefferson Academic Center, is the primary theater on campus and seats 658. Atwood Hall originally served as the chapel for the university, and in recent decades has been the scene for several notable concerts and speeches. The Grateful Dead (1967 and 1969), the Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968), Janis Joplin (1969), and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (1974) have all played here. A March 15, 1968, concert by the Jimi Hendrix Experience was professionally recorded and released in 1999 as Live at Clark University. In 1963, student D'Army Bailey invited Malcolm X to speak here. Noam Chomsky spoke here on the topic of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the Arab Spring April 12, 2011. It was the first-ever lecture given on a Spree Day at Clark. On October 16, 2014, President Bill Clinton spoke in Atwood as a supporter of Martha Coakley's run for Governor of Massachusetts.
The Lasry Center for Bioscience (named for hedge fund manager Marc Lasry and his wife Cathy, both alumni) houses the biology department. It received a LEED Gold certification for its energy efficiency.
The Little Center is the alternate performing arts venue, with its largest room, the Michelson Theater seating 120.
The Academic Commons, also known as the AC, acts as a study area and lounge for the students, and incorporates a Sodexo coffeehouse named Jazzmans, a quiet study area, a computer room, and the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprises. The Goddard Library is upstairs from the Academic Commons and houses more than 375,000 volumes.
Clark owns apartments that, while outside of the main campus area, exclusively house Clark students.
The first Clark "residence halls" (Wright and Bullock) opened in 1959. Before that time, Estabrook Hall was the men's dormitory and small women's dorms stood in the current location of Little Center and Bullock Hall. Blackstone, the newest of the halls, opened in 2007.
As of fall 2007, gender blind/neutral housing is an option at Clark, meaning that students of different genders can room together.
Clark University released its Climate Action Plan December 15, 2009, detailing strategies for the university to reduce its carbon footprint while strengthening many of its existing sustainability practices. The plan sets two goals with respect to climate neutrality: First is an interim goal of reducing emissions to 20 percent below 2005-levels by 2015. The second goal is to achieve climate neutrality (net zero greenhouse gas emissions) by the year 2030.
Clark has 212 full-time faculty, representing a 10:1 student-faculty ratio. Ninety-four percent of Clark's faculty have doctoral or terminal degrees. Clark University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
In recent years, Clark has received widespread media coverage for its "Fifth-Year Free" program. Under Clark's BA/MA program with the fifth year free, undergraduates who maintain a B+ average are eligible for tuition-free enrollment in its one-year graduate programs, meaning that they can get a Master of Arts degree for the price of a bachelor's degree. Students apply to master's degree programs in their junior year, begin meeting requirements in their senior year and typically complete those requirements in the fifth year. Bachelor's degrees are granted en route to the master's degree.
| +2022-2023 USNWR Other National Rankings | |
| Top Performers on Social Mobility | 98 |
| Best Value investing School | 42 |
| Best Undergraduate Teaching (tie) | 41 |
| Computer Science | 17 |
| Best Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects (tie) | 53 |
| +2022 USNWR Graduate School Rankings |
| 80 |
| 97 |
| 106 |
| 120 |
| 134 |
| 141 |
| 186 |
| 200 |
| 261 |
Undergraduate admission to Clark is rated "more selective" by U.S. News & World Report.
Clark University was featured on Princeton Review's 2021 list of best value colleges in the United States and in 2020 it was ranked No.3 of the Top 20 Best Schools for Making an Impact in the United States.
| Student body composition as of April 16, 2023 | |
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There is also a student-run internet radio station, Radio of Clark University (ROCU), with over 100 student DJs. "About" , Radio of Clark University. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
While Spree Day is a day of recreation, Clark University also holds the Academic Spree Day annually during Spring semester. This academic event is when Clark undergraduates present their research and creative work.
In 1997, Clark opened a secondary public school, the University Park Campus School (UPCS), that is also a professional development school for Clark's teacher education program. Because of its long hours and demanding curricula, UPCS has been lauded as a model for collaboration between a university and an urban district. Students are able to attend Clark University free of charge upon graduation, provided they meet certain residency and admissions requirements. In the May 16, 2005, issue of Newsweek, UPCS was named the 68th best high school in the nation. UPCS was featured in a page-one story entitled "Town-grown triumph: In poorest part of Worcester, Clark helps put children on path to college" of the November 22, 2007, edition of The Boston Globe.
The UPCS collaborative is one of several sponsored by Clark's Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education focused on urban teacher education and school reform.
The William and Jane Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise seeks to improve through the successful mobilization of use-inspired research the effectiveness of government and other institutions in addressing social concerns. The institute focuses on important social issues, including focal areas such as education reform, environmental sustainability, access to healthcare, human development, well-being and global change.
The George Perkins Marsh Institute conducts collaborative, interdisciplinary research on human-environment relationships and the human dimensions of global environmental change.
The Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies an interdisciplinary center, founded in 1998, which focuses on the causes and effects of Holocausts and Genocides around the world. (2025). 9780814798256, New York University Press. ISBN 9780814798256 It is housed in Lasry House, donated by investor Marc Lasry and his wife Cathy in honor of their fathers Irwin Cohen and Moise Lasry. Debórah Dwork is the founding director and also Rose Professor of Holocaust History at Clark.
The Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education develops models of urban schooling, teaching and teacher education through local partnership, in order to learn from these models and expand the knowledge-base of effective practice through research.
The Center for Risk and Security (CRS) at the George Perkins Marsh Institute conducts in-depth studies of homeland security issues using a risk-analysis perspective. The center's broad range of security issues includes: terrorism; disaster management; law and human rights; resource availability; and public health.
The Center for Technology, Environment and Development (CENTED), founded in 1987, is a center for the study of natural and technological hazards in the United States. Projects include theoretical work on hazard analysis, hazard taxonomies, vulnerability, environmental equity, corporate risk management, emergency planning and hazardous waste transportation.
Clark Labs is engaged in the research and development on geospatial technologies including the development of computer software and analytical techniques for GIS and remote sensing with an emphasis on monitoring and modeling earth system dynamics. Clark Labs continues to develop and distribute TerrSet (formerly IDRISI), a geographic information system (GIS) software package that is in use at more than 40,000 sites in over 180 countries worldwide. Its chief is Dr. J. Ronald Eastman, creator of IDRISI.
The university also offers a variety of club and intramural sports such as soccer, ice hockey, ultimate frisbee, quidditch, volleyball and basketball. This contributes to Clark's 65 percent student participation rate in athletics.
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