Stories

  • Candles in September

    Candles in September

    My mother’s birthday is Sept. 11 and I was across the street at the pharmacy buying her a belated birthday card when I heard that American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed into the World Trade Center. I returned to my dorm, Sanford Hall, and went down to one of the common suites on my floor…

  • Dan Trant ‘never backed down’

    Dan Trant ‘never backed down’

      Wally Halas wasn’t just Dan Trant’s basketball coach. He was also a fan. “I loved the way he played the game,” Halas says. “He was bold, he was skilled, and he challenged everybody. If Dan could have played 10 hours a day, he would have.” Halas was far from alone in his assessment. In…

  • ‘It felt like a giant shaking a tin can’

    ‘It felt like a giant shaking a tin can’

      Neil Lucente ’97 works on the sixth floor of a 10-story building, and it’s unlikely he’ll choose to travel any more vertically than that for a job. His sole reminder of his time in a high-rise is the bathroom key from the 81st floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower that he keeps…

  • My father. My hero.

    My father. My hero.

      On a perfect late-summer morning, New York firefighter Salvatore Torcivia declined an overtime shift so that he could accompany his 3-year-old daughter, Mariah, to her first day of preschool at a YMCA near their Staten Island home. Not long after they arrived, a thick plume of dark smoke rose over the city. It was…

  • A New Yorker never forgets

    A New Yorker never forgets

      This essay appeared in the Oct. 2019 issue of the Clark English Department newsletter, The Next Chapter. This is the first day in 18 years that I didn’t spend 9/11 in New York City. It was the first time nothing took place at my school. The first time people didn’t even bring it up.…

  • Clark University appoints Margo R. Foreman as vice president and chief officer of diversity, equity, and inclusion

    Clark University appoints Margo R. Foreman as vice president and chief officer of diversity, equity, and inclusion

    Foreman will oversee DEI programs and initiatives, serve as key adviser to president

  • Clark University appoints Kendall Isaac as first general counsel in school’s history

    Clark University appoints Kendall Isaac as first general counsel in school’s history

    Will serve as vice president, secretary of the University, and assistant secretary of the Board of Trustees

  • Connecticut River Museum internship lets Olivia Blaney ’23 combine her passions

    Connecticut River Museum internship lets Olivia Blaney ’23 combine her passions

    Environmental science major conducts critical invasive species research

  • Manuscript lost in WWI fire turns up in Clark Archives

    Manuscript lost in WWI fire turns up in Clark Archives

    Clark intern unlocks mystery of nearly destroyed document, arranges for its safe return to Belgium

  • John Blydenburgh, professor emeritus who directed polling center at Clark, has died

    John Blydenburgh, professor emeritus who directed polling center at Clark, has died

    John Blydenburgh, professor emeritus of political science at Clark, passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. Born in Islip, New York, Blydenburgh played sports and performed in school plays throughout high school. The pinnacle of his high school athletic career was during a baseball game against rival Bridgehampton School, when he struck out Carl Yastrzemski.…