Clark University President David P. Angel recently announced the appointment of Professor Douglas Little as the first holder of the new Robert H. and Virginia N. Scotland Endowed Chair in History and International Relations at Clark University and the appointment of Professor of Political Science Sharon Krefetz as the next holder of the Andrea B. and Peter D. ’64 Klein Distinguished Professorship.
The Scotland Endowed Chair has been established through the generosity of Robert Scotland, a member of Clark’s Class of 1942, and his wife Virginia to support scholarship and teaching in history and international relations.
Professor Little joined the Clark University faculty as assistant professor of history in 1978 and was promoted to associate professor in 1985 and full professor in 1994. He served as Dean of the College and Associate Provost from 2000-07, as well as Chair of the History Department from 1996-2000. He received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and an M.A. and Ph.D. at Cornell.
As a scholar, Professor Little specializes in 20th-century American foreign relations with the Middle East. His book “American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945” is now in its third edition and has been translated into Italian and Arabic. His research on America and the Middle East since 1900 and on multinational corporations and U.S. foreign policy has appeared in numerous books and journals such as Journal of Cold War Studies, Diplomatic History, Middle East Journal, Journal of American History, and American Quarterly. He also authored “Malevolent Neutrality: The United States, Great Britain and the Origins of the Spanish Civil War.” His current research focuses on the U.S. response to radical Islam between the 1967 Six Day War and the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Little’s teaching specialty is American diplomatic history. He contributes to many of Clark’s innovative undergraduate programs, such as the International Studies Stream, Asian Studies, and the First-Year Seminar program. He teaches courses on the Vietnam War and American foreign policy in the Middle East.
“Students benefit from Doug’s commitment to student learning, his research expertise, and his wit and good humor,” said President Angel. “Professor Little is a passionate and dedicated scholar-teacher.”
Professor Krefetz was named the next holder of the Klein Endowed Chair, which rotates among tenured faculty from all departments. Each recipient holds the chair for four years.
Professor Krefetz joined the Clark University faculty in 1972 and became Associate Professor of Government in 1978. She is Chair of the Department of Political Science (formerly Government) and is Director of the Steinbrecher Fellowship Program. She was named one of the American Association for Higher Education’s 125 “Outstanding College and University Teachers.” Her scholarship has centered on affordable housing policies in the United States.
President Angel called Krefetz’s Urban Policy seminar course “a powerful demonstration of the ways in which cutting-edge scholarship and community engagement at Clark link synergistically with transformative teaching and student learning.”
As the Dean of the College from 1992-2000, and Associate Provost from 1994-2000, Krefetz led the planning and establishment of several new academic initiatives, including the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, the Urban Development and Social Change (UDSC) Program, the Anton and Steinbrecher Fellowship programs and the academic components of New Student Orientation. Professor Krefetz was one of the founders of Clark’s Women’s Studies Program, and served as Director of the UDSC Program. She has been a Fellow at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and a Visiting Scholar at Brown University’s Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Political Institutions and at the Housing Affordability Initiative at MIT’s Center for Real Estate.
Professor Krefetz received an A.B. at Douglass College (Rutgers, NJ), and an M.A. and Ph.D. at Brandeis University.
Andrea and Peter Klein are longstanding Clark University supporters. Peter Klein graduated from Clark in 1964 and is a member of the University’s Board of Trustees. The Kleins funded a permanent endowment for the chair in order to recognize and honor distinguished scholarship, teaching and service by Clark faculty members.
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
