2020-2021 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
2020-2021 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Departments and Offices



Academic Department and Program Listing

Legend

red leaf icon = Undergraduate concentration

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

 

Academic Support Services

LEEP Student Success Network

Clark’s LEEP curriculum is supported by the LEEP Student Success Network, a constellation of academic advising and support staff that complements the work of faculty advisers. The following offices provide sustained and coordinated guidance to students through their academic experience and career development:

  • Academic Advising Office (ASEC 2nd floor)

  • Academic Support Center (Academic Commons Suite 104)
    The Writing Center
    The Quantitative Skills Center
    Peer Success Advising and Tutoring

  • Career Connections Center (ASEC 1st floor)
    Career Development
    ClarkCONNECT
    On-campus student employment
    Project, Internship, and Research Funding
    Employer Engagement

  • Community Engagement and Volunteering (ASEC 2nd floor)

  • Prestigious Fellowships and Scholarships (ASEC 2nd floor)

  • Student Accessibility Services (ASEC 2nd floor)

  • Study Abroad and Away (ASEC 2nd floor)

Academic Advising Center

The Academic Advising Center helps undergraduate students plan their academic programs through a coordinated set of activities and services, including credit evaluations and exceptions to University policies (through College Board).

All matriculated incoming first year students are assigned a professional academic summer adviser by the center who helps them select first semester courses, including a First Year Intensive (FYI) course. After a student has registered for classes, the FYI professor becomes the student’s pre-major adviser. When the student has formally declared a major, typically in the sophomore year, the pre-major adviser is replaced by a faculty adviser in the student’s major department.  A student’s academic adviser assignment is viewable within CUWeb.

For more information, undergraduate students are invited to contact the center at Advising@clarku.edu. Graduate student academic advising is controlled within each department and students should consult with their Academic Department for more information.

Academic Support Center

The Academic Support Center houses the Writing Center, the Quantitative Skills Center, Peer Success Advising and Tutoring, and the Office for Academic Support. The Academic Support Center helps students reach their full academic potential by offering support in writing, math, statistics, time management, and study skills. Students are encouraged to make an appointment or drop in to learn more about how they might take advantage of these resources.

The Writing Center offers students one-to-one assistance with any piece of writing at any stage of the writing process. Conferences can focus on all aspects of writing: from grammar and style to thesis development and overall organization.

The Quantitative Skills Center (or “Q Center”) provides drop-in one-on-one peer tutoring in math and statistics subjects. The center is located within the Academic Support Center, and a detailed schedule is available on the Office for Academic Support website.

Peer Success Advising & Tutoring provides drop-in support in academic skill building for students who are seeking to improve time management, organization, and study skills. This program also provides support for additional non-quantitative courses such as Biology, Chemistry, and Computer Science. These services are available in the Academic Support Center, and a detailed schedule is also available on the Office for Academic Support website.

Community Engagement and Volunteering

The Community Engagement and Volunteering Center supports Clark’s commitment to the community by connecting students with local organizations for community-based learning courses, volunteerism, and internships. They also coordinate co-curricular programming that helps students develop knowledge and skills for socially responsible, global citizenship.

Prestigious Fellowships and Scholarships Office

Clark University encourages students to apply for competitive fellowships and scholarships to advance their research, teaching, and career trajectories. The Prestigious Fellowships and Scholarships Office will advise and assist interested students in the various phases of the application process, from planning, writing personal statements and proposals, to interviewing.

Study Abroad and Away

The Study Abroad and Away Programs office connects students with opportunities that align their academic and co-curricular interests with credit bearing experiences beyond the Worcester campus. The staff works with students to identify, apply for, and participate in one of our 50+ programs approved around the globe, including in Boston and Washington, DC.

It is important to begin learning about the study abroad/away process during the students first year at Clark, as early planning and research is key to maximizing the experience.  Students studying abroad or away MUST fill out an “Intent to Study Abroad” form at least one year in advance, attend a Study Abroad 101 session and have declared a major in order to be eligible.

Requirements for application include that students be in good academic and social standing prior to departure, have a minimum GPA of 3.0 (some programs require a higher GPA), and have been in residence at Clark for at least one year prior to studying abroad/away. Before students meet with a Study Abroad/Study Away staff adviser they should have attended a Study Abroad 101, decided upon a major and have a faculty advisor within that major. This will allow the students to successfully integrate their program abroad with their graduation requirements.

Student Accessibility Services

Student Accessibility Services (SAS) provides support for qualified students who seek accommodations due to a documented disability. SAS reviews accommodations requests, documentation, and approves reasonable accommodations for enrolled students. SAS is located on the second floor of the Alumni and Student Engagement Center. The goal of SAS is to make sure that students with documented disabilities are afforded the opportunity to achieve their potential both in and out of the classroom by insuring equal access through reasonable and appropriate accommodations.

Disabling conditions can include sensory or mobility impairments, psychological or cognitive disabilities, traumatic brain injury, ADD/ADHD, chronic medical conditions, etc. Due to the sensitive nature of this information, Student Accessibility Services treats all materials pertaining to a student’s disability as confidential. Students requesting letters be sent to faculty for academic accommodations acknowledge that some level of disclosure may be necessary to provide the requested accommodation(s).

The process: Following registration, the appropriate Faculty members receive a memo indicating what accommodations the student requires. The student then schedules a meeting with the faculty member to discuss in greater detail how the disability impacts the particular course and its requirements.

Reasonable accommodations: Actual accommodations are arrived at through discussions with the student and SAS. Consideration is given to the disability, class structure and requirements, student preference, alternative solutions and the prevailing practice at comparable institutions. Depending on the documentation, accommodations may include:

  • Extended time for exams and/or distraction-reduced environment for exams.
  • Adaptive technology, use of a recording device to record a lecture, use of a word processor for note taking and/or exams.
  • Note taking supports (Peers, SmartPens, etc)
  • Changing the location of a class to meet accessibility needs.

*From time to time SAS staff may reach out to the Faculty to talk through how an accommodation may be structured for their specific course structure and content. this ensures that the accommodation is reasonable and effective.

Student responsibilities: Each semester, students need to request accommodations in a timely manner so that faculty and staff can be notified. The adjustments that the campus needs to make vary with the disability. They can range from extended testing time to hiring interpreters for a student with hearing impairment

Legitimacy: If a student approaches you in class and asks for classroom or testing accommodations due to any disability (and you have not been sent a letter from Student Accessibility Services), you should ask the student to contact SAS to discuss the disability and the accommodations requested.

Talking with students about disabilities: Legal guidelines state that a representative of the college or university may not ask a student if he/she has a disability.  It is appropriate to make an announcement in class regarding accessibility services and to include instructions on your syllabus about how to contact the SAS office. Please make sure that all syllabi have up-to-date information regarding SAS.

 

Career Connections Center

Career Connections Center offers undergraduate students a suite of resources to explore, prepare for and develop their post-graduation plans. Career Connection Center advisers, organized by academic disciplines, help students clarify their life after Clark path and develop a general strategy for moving forward. Through the Career Connections Center, starting in the first year, students can learn effective search strategies to find a job or internship, connect with employers and alumni career professionals, work on their resumes, practice interview skills, obtain advice, research careers, and much more. Our offices include:

  • Career Development (drop in hours at the Career Lab M-Th, noon -4pm) 
  • ClarkCONNECT 
  • On-Campus Student Employment 
  • Project, Internship, and Research Funding
  • Employer Engagement 

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

If English is not your first language and you are having a difficult time with your classes as a result, you should contact ALCI. A variety of noncredit ESL classes are offered at up to five levels of instruction. Undergraduates who take the Verbal Expression placement test may be required to take one or both of the following writing courses offered by ALCI: Pre-Academic Writing (ESL 0150, noncredit) and Expository Writing for Nonnative Speakers of English (ESL 0155, credit).

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

 

Research Centers and Institutes

The Adam Institute for Urban Teaching and School Practice has a special charge to develop, support, and understand teaching that puts all students, especially those who are underprepared and underrepresented, on a path to college. In meeting this goal, the Institute strives to develop and understand powerful models of urban teacher preparation, teaching practice, and college-going learning cultures. This innovative work occurs primarily in collaboration with partner schools in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood, with Clark’s Hiatt Center for Urban Education an important research partner. The work encompasses Clark’s Master of Arts in Teaching program, which is a carefully constructed gradual immersion in practice in partner schools.

Clark Labs is dedicated to the research and development of geospatial technologies for effective and responsible decision making for environmental management, sustainable resource development, and equitable resource allocation. Clark Labs leverages its academic base to develop innovative and customized research tools, provide software solutions to organizations in need, and apply geospatial expertise to a range of real-world problems. This includes the development of its flagship TerrSet geospatial software products including, the IDRISI GIS and Image Processing software, the Land Change Modeler, the Habitat and Biodiversity Modeler and the Earth Trends Modeler, in wide use throughout the world. Clark Labs typically has a staff of 25-30 individuals including faculty, full-time staff, and students. It is housed in its own building with a well-developed infrastructure for geospatial computing, including capabilities for Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning applications. It also maintains a strong partnership relationship with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Conservation International, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Esri, among others.

The George Perkins Marsh Institute studies the systems through which humans interact with their surrounding environments, coordinating resources from Clark University and elsewhere to study human transformation of the environment and responses to this change. This high-profile research addresses some of the most pressing issues facing today’s world, oriented around three core themes: (1) human-environment systems and sustainability science, (2) earth system science, and (3) institutions, welfare and human development. Cross-cutting topics studied by the Institute include (a) climate change, (b) local and global food security, and (c) sustainable and healthy communities. The Institute is one of the most widely recognized centers of excellence within the University, with work supported by a broad base of external grants. This work provides hands-on research opportunities for faculty, staff and students, many of whom participate the Institute’s research projects each year. The Institute also supports dedicated programs for student environmental research, such as the Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) research program and the Geller Endowed Student Research Awards.  

The Higgins School of Humanities enhances the intellectual and cultural life of Clark University by fostering connections between the arts and humanities (English; Language Literature and Culture; History; Philosophy; and Visual and Performing Arts) and by engaging the University across the discipline with thematic symposium programming (including the African American Intellectual Culture Series, Early Modernists Unite, the Higgins Faculty Series, and the Modern Poetry Series). Learning through the arts and humanities grounds our capacity to engage with societal complexities - by developing historical, cultural, literary, linguistic, and philosophical consciousness, and by encouraging emphatic and aesthetic ways of knowing. The School integrates co-curricular activities and classroom learning with faculty development, pedagogical innovation, and substantive research and creative work.

The Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education is growing a community of inquiry among youth, school- and neighborhood-based educators, and university academics and students dedicated to creating educational spaces for youth to engage the world, inquire into possibilities, and become creators of new realities.  We are creating spaces where research and practice co-develop in ways that exemplify new possibilities for community-building, knowledge creation, and impact through collaborative action. Through cultivating a research-practice collective bringing together multiple participants, perspectives, and methods, we aim to build the deep human relationships, practices, and innovations needed for more equitable and meaningful education.  The work of the Center encompasses the worlds of schools, local neighborhoods and national/international networks, and expanding virtual and digital spaces.

The Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise envisions a world where all adolescents and young adults are supported in developing the social and emotional skills they need to be successful in school and in life. Research shows that mental health challenges are more prevalent among 16- to 24-year-olds than any other demographic. One in seven young men in this age group experiences depression or anxiety each year. Despite this, adolescents and young adults, particularly young males, are the least likely to seek help or access professional care for mental health problems. For this reason, the Institute’s mission is to innovate in the creation and delivery of behavioral health services responsive to the needs of adolescents, young adults and their families and communities. The Institute employs a multi-pronged approach that aims to 1) equip youth and families with accurate and comprehensive information on mental health, and the behavioral health services and resources available in their communities; 2) support behavioral health practitioners by developing and delivering digital Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and behavioral health interventions that foster resiliency in youth; 3) build capacity of educators and practitioners by offering online Certification Programs for state-of-the-art Social-Emotional Learning interventions; 4) collaborate with others to maximize the reach and impact of our behavioral health care model for adolescents and young adults; and, 5) conduct cutting-edge research to advance new evidence and learning about meeting the behavioral health needs of adolescents and young adults.

The Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies is an intellectually dynamic forum for education and scholarship about the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and other genocides around the world. Dedicated to teaching, research, and public service, the Center offers the only Ph.D. in Holocaust History and Genocide Studies in the country, training the next generation of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, scholars, teachers, museum directors and curators, and experts in nongovernmental organizations and government agencies.