{"id":13,"date":"2026-02-26T13:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/employee-handbook\/?page_id=13"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:57:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:57:47","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/employee-handbook\/about\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Clark University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Clark University is a teaching and research institution founded in 1887. Clark is the oldest graduate institution in New England and the second oldest in the nation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark’s first president was G. Stanley Hall, founder of the American Psychological Association, who earned the first Ph.D. in psychology in this country at Harvard. Clark has played a prominent role in the development of psychology as a distinguished discipline in the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark was the location for Sigmund Freud’s famous “Clark Lectures” in 1909, introducing psychoanalysis to this country. Clark also has played an important role in the development of geography as a discipline. Clark has granted more Ph.Ds. in this environmentally related area than any other school in the nation. The George Perkins Marsh Institute was the first research center created to study the human dimensions of global environmental change. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers who have held Clark appointments include A. A. Michelson, the first U.S. Nobel Prize winner in the sciences; and Robert Goddard, the father of the space age and the inventor of rocket technology. Other researchers at Clark, for instance, measured the wind-chill factor, defined chemical double bonding, developed research leading to the birth control pill, and made the first breakthrough in understanding how brain tissue regenerates itself. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may find it interesting to take a cyber tour at <\/em>History | Clark University<\/a> which is a historical timeline tour by each decade at Clark. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education<\/a>.
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