November 4, 2009
Dear Members of the Clark Community:
Many of you have asked me what Kay and I intend to do after our retirement from Clark next summer. Well, now we can answer your question. Around the time I was telling the Board of Trustees, and later all of you, about my intention to step down as President, I received a contact from a small university in Yakima, Washington. Heritage University is a small private institution located on land that is part of the Yakama Nation, near Yakima in southcentral Washington. The trustees have asked me to come out there as President. Kay and I have agreed to make that move, when we leave Clark next summer.
Some of you know that I once said whatever I did it would not be to serve as president of another college. The unique features of Heritage and its inspirational story are the things that changed my mind. I cannot, moreover, imagine myself making this decision without the ten years spent at Clark, for truly to go there is to challenge convention and to try to change the world, to try to make a difference.
If you could imagine the uniquely successful University Park Campus School as a college, not a high school, then you have Heritage. Its student body is just about entirely low-income, first-generation college students pretty much outside of the path that leads through college to success. Some are Yakama people, most are from Latino farm-worker families, but many ethnic groups are represented. Founded by two Yakama women and non-sectarian, it has been led for all of its 27 years by one President, Dr. Kathleen Ross, s.n.j.m. Sister Kathleen has been a MacArthur Fellow and has won numerous other awards for her work. The stories told by the young people graduating from Heritage, following many struggles but also with the help of a dedicated faculty, are incredible. As Sister Kathleen retires, the University has asked me to help move it to its next level.
Her leadership has been in some ways like that of two of my heroes in Worcester, Donna Rodrigues and June Eressy, who have led UPCS to remarkable successes and national prominence. But I also want to acknowledge the influence of so many students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Clark University, who continually set a standard of high-quality involvement in and commitment to positive change in their world. Like Clark’s benefactor Jack Adam, I think it crucial to give all young Americans the chance through education to seek success in their career and life. Heritage University, without either a large endowment or the full-paying students that allow a college to offer plentiful financial aid, has closed the gap for its students through philanthropy, generous gifts from foundations and people who believe in its missions and are persuaded by its successes. As Kay and I try to make a difference there in the future, we will surely be guided by the values of Clark and by our positive experiences here; and we will always be part of Clark University!
Sincerely,
President
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