Hallmarks of a Clark Education
Clark's motto is "Challenge Convention, Change our World." Clark is a place where students and faculty learn and teach in a vibrant intellectual environment that embodies three signatures: Make a Difference, Learn through Inquiry and Experience Diverse Cultures. The three signatures are distinct but mutually reinforcing elements of a unified whole, represented visually as three overlapping circles. The Clark experience and the Clark graduate embody all three signatures.
Make a Difference describes Clark's mission as an institution that uses its intellectual capital to understand and address problems in the local and global communities of which it is a part. Because of Clark's status as a small research university, its urban location, and its long tradition of community partnerships, Clark is in an ideal position to make a difference in both local and global communities through the academic and extracurricular activities of its students, the scholarly activities of its faculty, and its partnerships with community organizations.
Learn through Inquiry describes Clark's commitment to hands-on learning and problem solving. The skills needed for problem solving in the discipline are developed sequentially, through a pervasive pedagogy of engagement. Throughout their Clark experience, students learn by actively working through real problems, issues and questions, mastering modes of inquiry, and acquiring the knowledge base required to ask and to answer important questions. Each student has an opportunity to participate in a culminating discipline-based experience in the context of senior seminars, research, or other capstone experiences.
Experience Diverse Cultures describes Clark's commitment to integrate the richness of many cultures into campus life and the student experience. Clark has melded its liberal arts focus and specific areas of research excellence to create educational programs with global reach, and has made a commitment to the value of diversity in the education of all students. Global opportunities and the intercultural character of the campus community provide a transformative experience for students.
