Clark University will celebrate the formal installation of David P. Angel as its ninth president during a public Presidential Inauguration ceremony beginning at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, on the campus green.
“Clark University is a special place where faculty members engage in cutting-edge scholarship and meaningful research that empower action on critical human concerns and where students are distinctively enabled to pursue their passion in the world,” said Angel, who from the start has urged the University administration to plan an inauguration week that spotlights the efforts of Clark’s students, faculty and alumni to create positive change. “I look forward to building on these great strengths in ways that elevate the visibility, reputation and impact of Clark University in our community, across the country, and around the world.”
On Sept. 21, the Clark campus community will kick off the inaugural celebration with a “Passport Dinner,” a social event featuring foods from Haiti, Austria, Greece, England and Thailand.
Later in the week, Rajendra K. Pachauri, chair of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will be President Angel’s special guest and speaker at an inauguration dinner. Pachauri became head of the IPCC in 2002 and was re-elected in 2008.
An Inaugural Symposium , Sept. 22-24, will explore some of the most pressing challenges facing society today. A series of panel talks will feature noted Clark scholars and alumni who will share their passions, knowledge and experience on the following topics: Sustainability in the 21st Century; Creativity and Leadership for the New Century; Challenges and Opportunities in Today’s Global Economy; and The Great Recession and its Impact on Families.
President Angel and the University have also arranged to host guests at a special performance by Blue Man Group in Boston. Clark alumnus Matt Goldman ’83, M.B.A. ’84 is a founding member of the popular creative performance group.
Angel assumed the Clark University presidency on July 1. He served as Clark’s provost since 2003, overseeing all undergraduate and graduate academic programs, as well as admissions, student affairs, sponsored research, and University libraries. During his tenure, Clark strengthened its undergraduate programs, raised the research and graduate profile of the University, and invested in new academic facilities. With Angel’s leadership, Clark conducted a major review of its undergraduate liberal arts curriculum and has begun distinctive program changes in fall 2010 to better prepare students with the intellectual, social and practical skills required to address the complex challenges of a rapidly changing world.
Angel succeeds John E. Bassett, who, after a decade at Clark, became president at Heritage University in Washington State.
“As the internal candidate, David Angel went through an exhaustive and comprehensive evaluation process unparalleled in the University’s history,” said Board of Trustees Chair William Mosakowski, who announced Angel’s selection, by unanimous vote of the Board, on Dec. 30, 2009. “He is an innovative thinker, a disciplined executive, a passionate teacher and a continual learner, an articulate presenter, and the embodiment of the values we hold for the University.”
President Angel, age 52, joined the Clark University faculty in September 1987. He received a B.A. at Cambridge University and his Ph.D. at UCLA. His background and training are in economic geography. He holds two academic appointments as Professor of Geography and Leo L. and Joan Kraft Laskoff Professor of Economics, Technology and the Environment. As a pioneering researcher on industrial environmentalism and clean technologies, Angel has helped steer Clark’s many innovations in campus sustainability.
Registration is required for many of the Clark Presidential Inauguration events. For information, contact 1-800-793-6246, or visit online, at www.clarku.edu/inauguration.
Since its founding in 1887, Clark University in Worcester, Mass., has a history of challenging convention. As an innovative liberal arts college and research university, Clark’s world-class faculty lead a community of creative thinkers and passionate doers and offer a range of expertise, particularly in the areas of psychology, geography, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. Clark’s students, faculty and alumni embody the Clark motto: Challenge convention. Change our world. www.clarku.edu