{"id":350,"date":"2024-12-12T10:31:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T15:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T21:37:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T01:37:28","slug":"david-fithian","status":"publish","type":"cu_faculty","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/","title":{"rendered":"David Fithian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fithian, a 1987 graduate of Clark who earned two master\u2019s degrees and a doctoral degree from Yale University, came to Clark from the University of Chicago, where he served as executive vice president. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/offices\/next-president\/announcement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read more about his accomplishments at Chicago<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Before joining Chicago in 2007, Fithian served for 12 years at Harvard, holding increasingly elevated responsibilities. As assistant dean of freshmen and, later, the Allston Burr Senior Tutor (resident dean) of Adams House, he oversaw the academic standing and personal well-being of more than 500 first-year and 400 upper-class students each year. As associate dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, he coordinated all aspects of faculty governance, including the monitoring and coordination of faculty-related policies, procedures, and legislation.<\/p>\n<p>A New York City\/Westchester County native, Fithian graduated from Clark as a sociology and English major with a passion for art and architecture and earned his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from Yale. His dissertation, \u201cA Dark and Shining Stone: Symbol Contests and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial,\u201d received the Theron Rockwell Field Prize, the first time a social science dissertation received this distinguished literary award. He has lectured in the departments of sociology at Yale, the University of Connecticut, and Harvard, where he also taught seminars for the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies.<\/p>\n<p>Fithian and his husband, Michael Rodriguez, Ph.D., recently celebrated their 25th anniversary together and their 15th anniversary of legal marriage. They met in graduate school at Yale, where Michael received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. He completed his clinical and post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School before serving as the Resident Dean of Adams House and teaching innovative and influential courses in the Department of Psychology at Harvard. He and Fithian raise and breed Friesian horses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1869,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"cu_faculty_f180_userid":"C70000685","cu_faculty_first_name":"David","cu_faculty_last_name":"Fithian","cu_faculty_employment_status":"Full Time","cu_faculty_rank":"Professor of Practice","cu_faculty_position":"Professor of Practice","cu_faculty_phone":"","cu_faculty_email":"DFithian@clarku.edu","cu_faculty_location":"","cu_faculty_about":"<p>Fithian, a 1987 graduate of Clark who earned two master\u2019s degrees and a doctoral degree from Yale University, came to Clark from the University of Chicago, where he served as executive vice president. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/offices\/next-president\/announcement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read more about his accomplishments at Chicago<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Before joining Chicago in 2007, Fithian served for 12 years at Harvard, holding increasingly elevated responsibilities. As assistant dean of freshmen and, later, the Allston Burr Senior Tutor (resident dean) of Adams House, he oversaw the academic standing and personal well-being of more than 500 first-year and 400 upper-class students each year. As associate dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, he coordinated all aspects of faculty governance, including the monitoring and coordination of faculty-related policies, procedures, and legislation.<\/p>\n<p>A New York City\/Westchester County native, Fithian graduated from Clark as a sociology and English major with a passion for art and architecture and earned his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from Yale. His dissertation, \u201cA Dark and Shining Stone: Symbol Contests and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial,\u201d received the Theron Rockwell Field Prize, the first time a social science dissertation received this distinguished literary award. He has lectured in the departments of sociology at Yale, the University of Connecticut, and Harvard, where he also taught seminars for the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies.<\/p>\n<p>Fithian and his husband, Michael Rodriguez, Ph.D., recently celebrated their 25th anniversary together and their 15th anniversary of legal marriage. They met in graduate school at Yale, where Michael received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. He completed his clinical and post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School before serving as the Resident Dean of Adams House and teaching innovative and influential courses in the Department of Psychology at Harvard. He and Fithian raise and breed Friesian horses.<\/p>","cu_faculty_degrees":"<span>Ph.D. in Sociology,<\/span> Yale University, 1994\n<span>M.Phil. in Sociology,<\/span> Yale University, 1990\n<span>M.A. in Sociology,<\/span> Yale University, 1988\n<span>B.A. in Sociology,<\/span> Clark University, 1987","cu_faculty_cv":"","cu_faculty_links":"[]","cu_faculty_scholarly_interests":"","cu_faculty_scholarly_works":"","cu_faculty_awards_and_grants":"","cu_faculty_title":"Professor of Practice, SPS","cu_faculty_department":"SPS","cu_faculty_affiliated_departments":"SPS","footnotes":""},"cu_faculty_group":[],"cu_faculty_department":[34],"cu_faculty_position":[],"class_list":["post-350","cu_faculty","type-cu_faculty","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_faculty_department-sps"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>David Fithian | Faculty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"David Fithian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fithian, a 1987 graduate of Clark who earned two master\u2019s degrees and a doctoral degree from Yale University, came to Clark from the University of Chicago, where he served as executive vice president. (Read more about his accomplishments at Chicago.) Before joining Chicago in 2007, Fithian served for 12 years at Harvard, holding increasingly elevated [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faculty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-25T01:37:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/12\/david-fithian-720x720-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/profiles\\\/david-fithian\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/profiles\\\/david-fithian\\\/\",\"name\":\"David Fithian | Faculty\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/profiles\\\/david-fithian\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/profiles\\\/david-fithian\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/david-fithian-720x720-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-12T15:31:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-25T01:37:28+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/profiles\\\/david-fithian\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/profiles\\\/david-fithian\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/david-fithian-720x720-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/david-fithian-720x720-1.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"David Fithian\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/cu_faculty\\\/350#breadcrumbs\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":0,\"name\":\"ClarkU\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Faculty\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Profiles\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/wp-json\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Profiles\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Profiles\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Profiles\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/cu_faculty\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":6,\"name\":\"Profiles\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/cu_faculty\\\/350\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/\",\"name\":\"Faculty\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"David Fithian | Faculty","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"David Fithian","og_description":"Fithian, a 1987 graduate of Clark who earned two master\u2019s degrees and a doctoral degree from Yale University, came to Clark from the University of Chicago, where he served as executive vice president. (Read more about his accomplishments at Chicago.) Before joining Chicago in 2007, Fithian served for 12 years at Harvard, holding increasingly elevated [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/","og_site_name":"Faculty","article_modified_time":"2026-04-25T01:37:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/12\/david-fithian-720x720-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/","name":"David Fithian | Faculty","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/12\/david-fithian-720x720-1.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-12T15:31:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-25T01:37:28+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/david-fithian\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/12\/david-fithian-720x720-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/12\/david-fithian-720x720-1.jpg","width":720,"height":720,"caption":"David Fithian"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty\/350#breadcrumbs","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":0,"name":"ClarkU","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Faculty","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Profiles","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Profiles","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Profiles","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Profiles","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":6,"name":"Profiles","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty\/350"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/","name":"Faculty","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty\/350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_faculty"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty\/350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty\/350\/revisions\/398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_faculty_group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty_group?post=350"},{"taxonomy":"cu_faculty_department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty_department?post=350"},{"taxonomy":"cu_faculty_position","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_faculty_position?post=350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}