{"id":112,"date":"2023-06-08T14:32:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T18:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/06\/08\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T10:46:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T14:46:02","slug":"advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/06\/08\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\/","title":{"rendered":"Advancing an Undergraduate Honors Program at Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-06-08T14:32:03-04:00\">June 8, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n\n<p>Dear Faculty and Staff,<\/p>\n<p>I am very pleased to announce that Clark University will receive a $1 million gift to support the work of designing, developing, and launching an undergraduate honors program. The donor, a Clark alumnus who has asked to remain anonymous, saw the potential of an honors program \u2014 a set of courses and cocurricular offerings still to be determined \u2014 to amplify Clark\u2019s reputation for academic excellence in an exceedingly competitive higher education landscape and offer a broadly-sought-after experience for our undergraduate students that will enhance enrollment. The donor was compelled by the research and data we shared that demonstrated how powerfully an honors program can move us forward toward the goals articulated in our strategic framework, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/inspired\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"Clark Inspired\">Clark Inspired<\/a>. The gift is a testament to the notion that aspirational ideas and bold plans pursued with determination will attract investment in our University.<\/p>\n<p>A proposal for an honors program at Clark emerged through the Liberal Arts and Undergraduate Education Strategic Framework Team, which identified it as essential to enhancing the Clark student academic experience and bolstering student recruitment. This work has and will continue to be led by Professor Mary-Ellen Boyle \u2014 who served as interim Dean of the College for the past academic year \u2014 and a faculty and staff working group.<\/p>\n<p>Already, the Undergraduate Academic Board has approved a pilot honors program for the coming fall semester. The pilot would invite select academically energized and intellectually curious rising sophomores and, perhaps, some first-year students to participate in a \u201cdesign year,\u201d in which our students, with faculty collaboration and guidance, will explore and refine the experiences and opportunities of an honors program. Based on what we learn through the pilot, a more detailed outline of the program would move to faculty governance committees and Faculty Assembly for further refinement and input.<\/p>\n<p>Provost Sebast\u00edan Royo and I anticipate that a Clark honors program will foster academic excellence and community across disciplinary boundaries and provide rich, immersive, and collaborative learning opportunities inside and outside of the classroom. Further, we expect that the honors program will work in tandem with departmental-level honors programs currently offered. It also is likely that the honors program will include, along with honors-level coursework, a service-focused program and other cocurricular opportunities such as workshops, student-organized events, and support for summer programming.<\/p>\n<p>A few weeks ago, I shared with you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/offices\/president\/2023\/05\/18\/a-vision-for-our-university\/\" aria-label=\"my vision\">my vision<\/a> for the future of our University, which is built upon our collaborative effort to create and realize a number of strategic initiatives that advance Clark with determination and speed. What I hope you see in this vision is a Clark University that not only is grounded in core aspects of what has distinguished us since our founding, but also prescribes the necessity of evolving \u2014 and quickly \u2014 into an ever more distinctive and relevant institution. I also hope you share my confidence that we can and will achieve the goals we have set for ourselves as long as we remain focused and determined, work together, and prioritize our efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Provost Royo and I are very excited about what lies ahead, including the realization of this undergraduate honors program. We deeply appreciate the partnership with faculty and staff to create what will be a very compelling and attractive opportunity for our students. This is precisely the kind of effort that will help secure Clark\u2019s place as an institution of distinction.<\/p>\n<p>I am exceedingly grateful to our donor who so quickly recognized the importance and value of this initiative and its potential to significantly advance our University.<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p>David Fithian \u201987<br \/>\nPresident<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Faculty and Staff, I am very pleased to announce that Clark University will receive a $1 million gift to support the work of designing, developing, and launching an undergraduate honors program. The donor, a Clark alumnus who has asked to remain anonymous, saw the potential of an honors program \u2014 a set of courses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"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>Advancing an Undergraduate Honors Program at Clark | Office of the President | Clark University<\/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\/president\/2023\/06\/08\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advancing an Undergraduate Honors Program at Clark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Faculty and Staff, I am very pleased to announce that Clark University will receive a $1 million gift to support the work of designing, developing, and launching an undergraduate honors program. The donor, a Clark alumnus who has asked to remain anonymous, saw the potential of an honors program \u2014 a set of courses [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/06\/08\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Office of the President\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-08T18:32:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-31T14:46:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Pennypacker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/08\\\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/08\\\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\\\/\"},\"headline\":\"Advancing an Undergraduate Honors Program at Clark\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-08T18:32:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-31T14:46:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/08\\\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":599,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/08\\\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/08\\\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\\\/\",\"name\":\"Advancing an Undergraduate Honors Program at Clark | Office of the President | Clark University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-08T18:32:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-31T14:46:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/884237452632ee846930bad1d6a6d61d\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/08\\\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/posts\\\/112#breadcrumbs\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":0,\"name\":\"ClarkU\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Office of the President\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/\",\"name\":\"Office of the President\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/?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":"Advancing an Undergraduate Honors Program at Clark | Office of the President | Clark University","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\/president\/2023\/06\/08\/advancing-an-undergraduate-honors-program-at-clark\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Advancing an Undergraduate Honors Program at Clark","og_description":"Dear Faculty and Staff, I am very pleased to announce that Clark University will receive a $1 million gift to support the work of designing, developing, and launching an undergraduate honors program. 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