Clark University

Clark University on Saturday launched a comprehensive campaign that honors its storied past, celebrates its vibrant present, and accelerates toward a future of promise, passion, and purpose.

“Plan and Purpose: Our Campaign for What Matters Most” is the most ambitious campaign in Clark’s history, with a goal of raising $250 million to support and build on the institution’s mission of educating students to be thoughtful and compassionate leaders and citizens, promoting the discovery of new knowledge, and being a relentless and prominent force for the advancement of humankind.

The campaign theme is inspired by the words of founder Jonas G. Clark, who, in 1889, expressed his vision for the then-young Clark University — that it would ever be guided by “a well-defined plan and purpose.”

“Clark matters because we connect ideas to consequences — because we insist that knowledge be used in service to society.”

President David Fithian ’87

More than a century later, at a launch event held inside a packed Kneller Athletic Center, President David Fithian ’87 noted that Clark University was “designed to be different — to be very focused, to work across disciplinary boundaries, and to be rooted in Worcester, a city defined by resilience, reinvention, and the conviction that institutions should serve their communities and help move the world forward, not merely study it.” 

At a time of significant challenges to higher education, he said, “standing still is the riskiest move of all.” The moment calls for Clark to follow through on its plan to “achieve greater focus, coherence, and reach.” The “Plan and Purpose” campaign is shaped around three major imperatives concentrated in areas of “recognized strength, clear demand, and true relevance — so that students, faculty, and partner institutions can plainly see what Clark excels at and why it matters,” President Fithian said.

Fithian said Clark works at the “intersection of these forces, in part because of our size and the way we work across disciplines. We can adapt and lead in ways others can’t or won’t. … This is a campaign grounded in a core belief that talent is universal, even when opportunity is not.”

He cited several examples of Clark’s positive momentum, including the launch of the School of Climate, Environment, and Society; the reshaping of undergraduate education into The Clark Experience; the recently announced 35% increase in undergraduate deposits; and a 20% increase in the number of philanthropic gifts to the University over the past year.

“We are investing in financial aid, experiential learning, and a campus experience that helps students turn ability into accomplishment,” he said.

In his remarks, Roy DiNicola ’90, chair of the Board of Trustees, said the campaign will invest in scholarships and access, faculty excellence, experiential learning, ethical technology and innovation, campus renewal, the University endowment, and the five schools under which Clark academics have been reorganized: the School of Climate Environment and Society, the School of Business, the School of Media Arts, Computing, and Design, the School of Science, Health, and Human Development, and the School of Civic and Global Engagement.

“Today is a moment to celebrate the next iteration of Clark as a positive force for change, where thinking unconventionally is the norm, and where impact on the world remains deeply ingrained in our DNA as an institution,” DiNicola said.

Trustee Vickie Riccardo, who with her daughters, Jocelyn Spencer and Alyssa Spencer ’17, made a foundational $10 million gift to establish the School of Climate, Environment, and Society (CES), told the audience that with the school’s launch, “Clark is at the forefront of an interdisciplinary approach to preparing the coming generations of leaders who will confront global issues and concerns about our planet, and all who live upon it.

“You and I, and all of us, have the power to advance education, expand opportunities, and preserve and create spaces for learning now and into the future.”

Professor Ellen Foley, associate dean of CES and chair of the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice, recalled that she chose to teach at Clark because of the value Clark placed on a student-centered liberal arts education.

“The world needs Clark,” Foley said. “It needs the education that Clark offers, and it needs the people that Clark students will become more than ever. All of higher education is at a pivotal moment. It holds countless challenges. It’s a moment where our relevance is being questioned. What inspires me at this precarious time is seeing how Clark — all of us at Clark — is meeting this moment.”

Thomas Hicks ’93, outgoing president of the Alumni Council, invited the alumni community — 35,000 strong from across 149 countries — to support the “Plan and Purpose” campaign in any way they can. “Through our interactions, we drive positive, lasting change that redefines what it means to be a Clarkie,” he said. “The generations before us invested in Clark so we could become who we are. Together, it is now our turn to invest in those who follow.”

“The generations before us invested in Clark so we can become who we are, and together it is now our turn to invest in those who follow us.”

Thomas Hicks ’93

When the speaking portion of the program was completed, attendees were inspired by a surround-sound immersive experience that moved through Clark’s history to the present with stunning imagery and content. The experience included a photographic timeline of Clark history and three giant screens projecting video and still images depicting scenes of students’ academic, creative, and athletic pursuits, faculty research and classroom interactions, and joyful celebrations, from Spree Day to Gala. The display evoked clear wonder, and even some tears, from those who entered the immersion space and were surrounded by all things Clark in a larger-than-life format.

In his earlier remarks, President Fithian quoted the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who wrote, “Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it.”

Education, Arendt said, was about more than accruing knowledge; it was about “choosing to care and to act.”

“And that is why Clark still matters to the world,” Fithian said. “Clark matters because we connect ideas to consequences — because we insist that knowledge be used in service to society. Clark matters because we engage people as individuals. Clark matters because we understand that human progress is inseparable from the health of our environment and planet. And Clark matters because we reject the idea that technology is simply destiny.”

He invited all those who believe in Clark to “imagine boldly, to give generously, and to help Clark do what our founders imagined from the very beginning — to be different by design, not ordinary; to be consequential by choice; and devoted always to engaging in the world and changing it for the better.”

“The future will not wait for institutions uncertain of their purpose. Yet Clark, being Clark, is ready!”