2010-2011 Academic Catalog 
    
    Dec 13, 2024  
2010-2011 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Departments, Offices and Special Programs



Academic Department Listing

Academic Departments & Programs

At Clark, undergraduates can choose from among 31 majors (which includes a self-designed major), 30 minors and ten interdisciplinary concentrations, and can also take advantage of Clark’s Accelerated B.A./Master’s Degree Program, with the fifth year of study free to qualified students. Graduate students can choose from seven doctoral and 12 master’s degree programs.

Undergraduate Programs and Departments

Graduate Programs and Departments

Legend

red leaf icon = Undergraduate concentration

green leaf icon = Undergraduate concentration and Ph.D. program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Academic Support Services

Academic Advising

The Academic Advising Center helps students plan their academic programs through a coordinated set of activities and services. All new students are assigned a faculty adviser who helps them select courses and programs. Once a student has chosen a major, academic advising is coordinated by faculty within the student’s major department.

Among the Academic Advising Center’s support services are:

  • The Writing Center: Recognizing the importance of writing in all fields, Clark offers cross-disciplinary, departmental and special writing-center programs. Supplementing the curriculum, Clark’s Writing Center provides individual tutoring and noncredit workshops for all interested students. Writing-center offerings are flexibly designed to help students at all levels achieve clear, correct, graceful writing.
  • Disability Services: These services are designed to foster functional independence for students with disabilities. The coordinator of disability services offers advising and helps students, who have submitted appropriate documentation, negotiate reasonable accommodations. An early orientation for eligible first-year students is also part of these services.

English as a Second Language: American Language and Culture Institute (ALCI)

Clark University’s American Language and Culture Institute, known to students around the world as ALCI, offers intensive ESL programs for students who want to improve their English-language skills for academic or professional reasons. Through experiential learning, students receive a thorough orientation into American culture. ALCI serves as a resource for international undergraduates, graduate and Worcester-area community students for whom English is a second language, providing further opportunities in the training of speaking the English language, orientation to American life and culture, and preparation for successful university study.

Instruction is offered at up to five levels of proficiency, beginning through academic preparation. Dedicated, trained professionals provide 20 or more hours per week of intensive ESL instruction, as well as private tutorial sessions. Students are entitled to many services offered by the University including the Goddard Library, computer laboratories, athletic facilities, social activities, campus lectures and day trips to local and regional places of interest.

For more information about ALCI classes and/or programs, call ALCI at 508.793.7794.

Additional Academic Opportunities

Study Abroad

Clark University is well known for its international character and is committed to encouraging a strong Clark presence abroad, and an international presence on campus. The Office of Study Abroad Programs coordinates international study programs.

Clark offers 32 semester or year-long programs in Australia, Chile, China, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, England, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Namibia, South Africa, Scotland, Spain, the Netherlands, Senegal, Turkey, Czech Republic, Ireland, and Turks and Caicos.

Our programs range from internships to academic programs conducted by foreign universities, and from culturally intensive to major-oriented curricula. Clark also offers two internship programs in Washington D.C.

Students may also take a leave of absence to study abroad on pre-approved programs in locations where Clark has no program of its own. Students may earn up to two units of transfer credit for pre-approved study abroad programs during the summer.

Students may earn up to a full year of credit through study abroad. Students interested in study abroad should contact the Office of Study Abroad Programs at Dana Commons or call (508) 793-7363 for more information.

Leir Program

The Henry J. Leir Luxembourg Program (LLP-CU)

The LLP-CU offers students and faculty additional opportunities for study and research abroad. In addition to the May term, which offers students a four-week course in Luxembourg, the LLP-CU offers students internships with key Luxembourg institutions, such as the European Headquarters of iTunes and the nations leading scientific institution in environmental science. For further information, please contact Uwe Gertz at (508)793-7634.

3/2 Engineering Program

The 3/2 engineering program consists of three years of studies at Clark followed by two years at an affiliated engineering school. The program leads to a bachelor of arts degree from Clark after four years and, after the fifth year, a bachelor of science in engineering from the engineering school. Clark offers 3/2 engineering programs with Columbia University and Washington University. For more information, contact program coordinator Professor Charles Agosta in the physics department.

Colleges of Worcester Consortium

Clark is a member of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, which means that Clark sophomores, juniors and seniors can enroll for one course a semester at any of the following schools:

Research Centers

The Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

The Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies provides vital national and international leadership in educating future generations of scholars. The center, in conjunction with Clark’s history department, offers North America’s first Ph.D. program specifically in Holocaust history and genocide studies. Clark also offers the richest interdisciplinary undergraduate program in Holocaust and genocide studies in the country. It includes courses in history, literature, psychology, government and sociology. A special feature of this program is the May Term in Prague and Terezin in the Czech Republic and Auschwitz, Poland, which, every other year, brings a group of Clark undergraduates to Central Europe for an intensive three-week course that includes visits to key Holocaust historical sites.

Clark is the first college or university anywhere to have two occupied fully endowed, full-time tenured professorships in Holocaust history, as well as a professorship dedicated to the study of the Armenian genocide.

The Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

Mission of the Institute

Universities conduct a great deal of research that seeks to both advance our knowledge and to enable us to make a positive difference in our world. Too often, however, this knowledge remains in the academy and does not find its way into the hands of those who could use it to improve public policies and programs and the lives of people they affect.

The mission of the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise is to improve through the successful mobilization of use-inspired research the effectiveness of government and other institutions in addressing social concerns. Learn more about use-inspired research.

Current Examples of Research

Socioeconomic Class and Educational Achievement in Massachusetts. It is well known that academic achievement is strongly correlated with socioeconomic class. However, some schools substantially surpass their demographic expectations for student performance. In this project, the Mosakowski Institute is exploring possible common elements contributing to the success of “outlier” high schools in Massachusetts. The first phase of this project is a detailed examination of statistical information from all Massachusetts’ public high schools; the project will then identify a subset of schools for more in-depth research.

Family Impact Seminar.  Clark University has been accepted as the Massachusetts affiliate in the national network of universities presenting Family Impact Seminars (FIS). FIS are nonpartisan seminars intended to better connect high quality research and public policy, and to promote policymaking that takes families into account. See www.familyimpactseminars.org. These annual seminars will take place at or near the State House and include 2-3 expert speakers, discussion sessions, and briefing reports. One timely topic will be covered each year. Denise A. Hines, Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, directs the FIS program.

Suburbanization and Water Use. Associate Professor Colin Polsky (Geography) is Principal Investigator for a major National Science Foundation-funded project that is exploring the interaction of human and natural systems that are vital to the environment and inhabitants of rapidly growing coastal areas. The study area comprises 26 Massachusetts towns in the Ipswich and Parker River watersheds. Suburbanizing watershed-estuary systems are a pressing national challenge for coastal zone managers and land owners. The Mosakowski Institute is supporting two Research Fellows (one graduate, one undergraduate) and advising the project on ways it can produce knowledge that will have maximum impact on various groups of potential users.

“University Research for the New Century.”  The Mosakowski Institute, in collaboration with Professor Nancy Budwig (Psychology), is currently preparing a book proposal based on several of the ideas relating to use-inspired research developed at our November, 2008 inaugural conference, “University Research and the American Agenda.”

Also in development: environmental research project with George Perkins Marsh Institute Director Rob Johnston (Economics); “Improving math and science education” project with Associate Professor Marianne Wiser (Psychology) and Professor Sarah Michaels (Education).