{"id":525,"date":"2025-09-16T13:01:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/?p=525"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:52:16","slug":"gift-of-1m-to-support-endowed-scholarships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2025\/09\/16\/gift-of-1m-to-support-endowed-scholarships\/","title":{"rendered":"Gift of $1M to support Endowed Scholarships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 16, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am very pleased to announce that Clark has received a $1M gift from current trustee Erica J. Penn \u201984 and her husband, Kevin Penn, to support merit scholarships through an expansion of the Penn Family Scholarship Fund which the Penns established in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demonstrating the depth of their dedication, their latest gift creates tremendous new opportunity for Clark students. Penn scholarships will support students with broad interests in the evolution of business and technology with a focus on entrepreneurship and artificial intelligence. In 2022, the Penns gave a generous gift to support students in the sciences, with preference for females pursuing undergraduate or graduate courses, in honor of Erica\u2019s own journey at Clark as a biology major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In everything we do, increasing access and affordability for our students remains a priority. I am particularly grateful to the Penns for taking this decisive action now as we focus intently on strengthening undergraduate enrollment while also leading the University towards transformative change in key areas of focus and institutional operations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With sincere appreciation, I acknowledge Erica and Kevin and their sustained commitment to Clark. I hope you\u2019ll join me in thanking the Penns for their thoughtful philanthropy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Fithian \u201987
President<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 16, 2025 Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff, I am very pleased to announce that Clark has received a $1M gift from current trustee Erica J. Penn \u201984 and her husband, Kevin Penn, to support merit scholarships through an expansion of the Penn Family Scholarship Fund which the Penns established in 2022. Demonstrating the depth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-presidential-communication"],"yoast_head":"\nGift of $1M to support Endowed Scholarships | 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\/2025\/09\/16\/gift-of-1m-to-support-endowed-scholarships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gift of $1M to support Endowed Scholarships\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"September 16, 2025 Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff, I am very pleased to announce that Clark has received a $1M gift from current trustee Erica J. 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