2017-2018 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 19, 2024  
2017-2018 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Facilities



Campus Libraries

The Robert Hutchings Goddard Library is named for the Clark physicist who invented the rocket technology that made space travel possible.  The Library, with the Academic Commons, is at the heart of the University.  The extensive 2008/2009 renovation of the 1969 architectural landmark added 11,000 square feet of user space with additional group study areas, a café, additional computer labs, and extended hours - 100 hours per week for the Library and 147 hours for the Academic Commons, bringing the building firmly into the twenty-first century.

Goddard Library offers four large and small fully electronic group study rooms; individual seating space on all floors; a dedicated quiet study room; 3 computer  labs with networked printing; an electronic classroom supporting a long established information literacy program; and on demand in-depth research assistance both electronic and personal.

The collections include more than 600,000 volumes, of which 350,000 are monographs, and 1,500 subscriptions to periodical titles.  There is access to more than 45,000 electronic books and over 3,000 e-journals.   The Library was the first building on campus to provide full wireless coverage.   As a member of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, Clark offers students borrowing privileges at eight academic libraries with a combined local collection of more than 3.8 million volumes.

The Guy Burnham Map and Aerial Photography Library, founded in 1921, is an active cartographic information center. The collection, global in scope, contains 250,000 maps and 7,500 aerial photographs, as well as atlases, journals, globes, map reference materials and tourist information. The library is located on the lower level of the Geography Building.

The Carlson Science Library, a branch of the Goddard Library, serves the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Located on the top floor of the Sackler Sciences Center, it houses selected science journals and a research collection of recent monographs.

Information Technology

Clark provides a robust computing infrastructure and environment. Clark’s high-speed data network connects all campus buildings including residence halls; wireless connectivity is available in residence halls, academic and outdoor spaces. Most classrooms are equipped with multimedia audio-visual systems and there are multiple small-group collaboration/study spaces for student use on campus. Computer labs and a high-performance computing cluster provide access to specialized software used in courses and certain disciplines. Campus licensing for a videoconferencing platform (Skype for Business) and cloud file storage connects the campus to other locations, universities and laboratories.

Clark students, faculty and staff routinely utilize the Clark computing and networking environment in their day-to-day activities. The University’s intranet portal (known as ClarkYOU) serves as a gateway to content, communications and web services for the Clark community and provides access to faculty, staff and student resources, including online registration, as well as many other campus services. Faculty and students utilize Clark’s online course management system (Moodle) to extend the classroom beyond traditional walls. Select campus events are webcast and archived for playback on demand.

Faculty and staff are provided with networked computers. Most students bring a personal computer to campus. The University has Help Desk assistance available for all members of the community. Help Desk services are available year-round, with hours during the academic year until 2:00 AM.

Science Facilities

Clark’s science facilities include the Cathy ‘83 and Marc ‘81 Lasry Center for Bioscience, as well as the Arthur M. Sackler Sciences Center, which links chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science. The Lasry Center for Bioscience is a 50,000-square-foot building that houses teaching laboratories, lecture halls, faculty offices and research laboratories used by faculty and students in biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, and physical geography programs. Completed in 2005, the Lasry Center received Gold certification by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.
The Sackler Sciences Center and affiliated buildings include many newly renovated research, teaching and office spaces used by faculty and their students in biochemistry and molecular biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science.

All the science facilities feature:
     • Research laboratories for faculty and their undergraduate and graduate students
     • Flexible teaching laboratories well-equipped with state-of-the-art technology
        and which accommodate a variety of instructional approaches
     • Classrooms and seminar rooms that incorporate modern technology and facilitate
        interactions among students and between faculty and students
     • Common use spaces that promote collaboration and collegiality

The science facilities house a centralized science library and computer facilities, including a parallel computing cluster. Additionally, the science research and teaching laboratories house a variety of shared-use state-of-the-art equipment including an electron spin resonance spectrometer, three high-field nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, multiple spectrophotometers, a Walz PAM-2500 fluorometer, a MX3000P real-time PCR machine, a Fuji FLA4000 imager, multiple gel documentation systems, a 50 tesla pulsed magnetic field, a 6 GHz oscilloscope, a SQUID magnetometer, a scanning tunneling microscope, a Varian Medical Systems micro-focus x-ray CT machine, a x-ray powder diffractometer, a gel permeation chromatograph, a thermogravimetric analyzer, and a multiplexing-capable impedance spectrometer. The Fairchild Imaging Facility houses scanning electron microscopes and an atomic force microscope. The equipment is routinely used in research conducted by collaborative laboratory groups including faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

Visual and Performing Arts Facilities

The Traina Center for the Arts, which opened in August of 2002, is a state-of-the-art facility for the visual and performing arts. The complex consists of a completely remodeled late-19th-century brick school building of Richardsonian design with a newly built hall for lectures, recitals and screenings. Studios for painting, drawing and graphic design, together with a print-making studio, photography darkroom, exhibition gallery, visual resource library, George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation multimedia center and high-tech classrooms, create an integrated environment for the study, creation, display and performance of studio art, art history, media culture and the arts, music, theater arts, and screen studies.

The Little Center, houses primarily Theater and is devoted to the creation of theatrical performances and includes the Michelson Theatre, a black-box theater, experimental theater, costume shop, design workshop, and practice studio and classroom. The building also includes a fully equipped sculpture studio.

Estabrook Hall contains additional facilities for the arts, including music classrooms, practice rooms, the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation Center for Music, and senior studios for advanced studio-art students.

Athletic Facilities

The Kneller Athletic Center includes the Hurst Courts, a recently revamped gymnasium with three full-size courts for basketball and volleyball; a six-lane 25-yard swimming pool with one- and three-meter diving boards; four racquetball courts and two squash courts; a weight room; a training room with facilities for rehabilitation; a dance room; locker rooms, offices and conference a room.

The James and Ada Bickman Fitness Center, received an expansive addition in the summer of 2013 and provides students with a cardiovascular area, strength and free-weight area and a multipurpose.

Outdoor athletics compete at the Dolan Field House Complex, which features a newly installed synthetic surface for intercollegiate soccer and lacrosse.

In addition there is a sport-turf field for field hockey, baseball and lacrosse, as well as six lighted Plexi-Pave-surfaced tennis courts. The fields, which are also used for intramural and recreational sports, include the 29,850 square-foot Dolan Field House, which provides indoor practice space, a training room, and locker rooms for visiting and home teams. The field house is also used for intramural and recreational use.

O’Brien Field is the home to the varsity softball team, while The Donahue Rowing Center, one of the largest rowing facilities on the East Coast, is the home for the men’s and women’s rowing program. The teams practice and compete on Lake Quinsigamond, located approximately 10 minutes from campus and considered one of the best waterways for crew competition in the country. The lake has been the site of the New England Championships, the ECAC National Championships and the Eastern Sprints Regatta.