Clark University Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester , Massachusetts . Founded in 1887 , it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all - graduate university . Clark now also educates undergraduates . In 2013 , Clark University was ranked 83 in the United States according to World Report U . S . News & World Report . This was an improvement compared to 2012 , where Clark was ranked 95 . In 2013 , Forbes ranked Clark University # 51 in research . It is one of only three New England universities , along with Harvard and Yale , to be a founding member of the Association of American Universities , an organization of universities with the most prestigious profiles in research and graduate education . Clark withdrew its membership in 1999 , citing a conflict with its mission ; it is one of only four schools to do so . Clark is one of 40 schools profiled in the book " Colleges That Change Lives " by Loren Pope . History . Clark University was founded by American businessman Jonas Gilman Clark in 1887 . He started the university with a million dollars , and later added another million dollars to the fund because he feared the university might someday face a lack of funds . It was opened on October 2 , 1889 as the first all - graduate university in the United States . G . Stanley Hall was the first president of the university . He was the founder of the American Psychological Association and earned the first Ph . D . in psychology in the United States at Harvard . Clark has played a prominent role in the development of psychology as a distinguished discipline in the United States ever since . It was the location for Sigmund Freud ' s famous " Clark Lectures " in 1909 , introducing psychoanalysis to the U . S . Clark celebrated the centennial of the visit in October 2009 . A seated sculpture of Freud by Robert Shure is just outside the University Center ; students pose with it and dress it up . Franz Boas , founder of American cultural anthropology and advisor for the first Ph . D . in anthropology , taught at Clark between 1888 and 1892 before resigning ( in a dispute with Hall over academic freedom ) and moving to Columbia University . Albert Abraham Michelson , the first American to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics , best known for his involvement in the Michelson - Morley experiment , which measured the speed of light , served as a professor from 1889 to 1892 . In the 1920s Robert Goddard , a pioneer of rocketry , considered one of the founders of space and missile technology , served as chairman of the Physics Department . The Robert H . Goddard Library , a distinctive modern building by architect John M . Johansen was completed in 1969 . In April 2010 , Clark University received the largest gift in its 123 - year history , a $ 14 . 2 million offering from the late head of a company that ultimately grew into one of the nation ' s biggest property and casualty insurers . The gift from John Adam is intended to strengthen Clark ' s graduate programs in education , promote college - readiness among minority students and bolster its research profile related to urban education . On July 1 , 2010 , former provost David Angel became the ninth president of Clark . Campus . The campus is located on Main Street in the Main South neighborhood about two miles west of downtown Worcester , which is about 40 miles west of Boston . Jonas Clark Hall , which was built in 1887 is in the center of campus and houses the economics , psychology and education departments . The Lasry Center ( named for investor Marc Lasry and his wife Cathy ) for Bioscience houses the biology department . It received a LEED Gold certification . The Jefferson Academic Center houses various social science departments . The Academic Center at Goddard Library houses more than 375 , 000 volumes . Administrative offices are housed in small buildings on Downing Street . Students entering Clark must live on campus for the first two years unless their primary address is within 25 miles of campus . The residence halls at Clark are organized by those who live there . The halls include the following breakdowns : Clark owns apartments that , while outside of the main campus area , exclusively house Clark students . The first Clark " residence halls " ( Wright and Bullock ) opened in 1959 . Before that time Estabrook Hall was the men ' s dormitory and small women ' s dorms stood in the current location of Little Center and Bullock Hall . Blackstone , the newest of the halls , opened in 2007 . As of fall 2007 , gender blind / neutral housing is an option at Clark , meaning that students of different genders can room together . Clark University released its Climate Action Plan on December 15 , 2009 detailing strategies for the University to reduce its carbon footprint while strengthening many of its existing sustainability practices . The plan sets two goals with respect to climate neutrality : First is an interim goal of reducing emissions to 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2015 . The second goal is to achieve climate neutrality ( net zero greenhouse gas emissions ) by the year 2030 . Campus security . Due to the prevalence of crime in the area , Clark has an unusual safety transport service . Known formally as the Clark University Student Safety Escort Service , or " Escort " for short , this service runs minivans driven by Clark students from 4 pm to 4 am every day during the regular academic season . They are reached via extensions within the university . Escort runs four vans Monday through Saturday and three vans on Sunday . Clark also has a full - time university police force on campus throughout the year . Academics . Clark offers 31 undergraduate majors . It offers 33 study abroad programs in 21 different countries . Clark has 187 full - time faculty , representing a 10 : 1 student - faculty ratio . Ninety - six percent of Clark ' s faculty have terminal degrees . In recent years , Clark has been noted especially for its geography and psychology departments , with the latter having a distinctive , if increasingly unfashionable " humanistic " orientation ( humanistic psychology ) . The School of Geography was founded by then President Wallace Atwood in 1921 , and is the first institution in the United States established for graduate study in this science . It has granted more doctoral degrees than any other geography program in the country . The geography department is best known for its strength in human - environment geography and for the development of the IDRISI geographic information system s software , named for the famous 12th century explorer and cartographer Muhammad al - Idrisi by Prof . Ron Eastman . It was ranked # 1 for undergraduate geography by " Rugg ' s Recommendations on Colleges " and has consistently been ranked in the top 10 in the nation by other publications . The geography department also offers a graduate - level degree in GIS as part of the Fifth - Year Free program . The department ' s mission is ambitious : " to educate undergraduate and graduate students to be imaginative and contributing citizens of the world , and to advance the frontiers of knowledge and understanding through rigorous scholarship and creative effort . " In recent years , Clark has received widespread media coverage for its " Fifth - Year Free " program . Under Clark ' s BA / MA program with the fifth year free , undergraduates who maintain a B + average are eligible for tuition - free enrollment in its one - year graduate programs , meaning that they can get a Master of Arts degree for the price of a bachelor ' s degree . Students apply to master ' s degree programs in their junior year , begin meeting requirements in their senior year and typically complete those requirements in the fifth year . Bachelor ' s degrees are granted en route to the master ' s degree . According to Clark University , " Of those responding , 88 % of the class of 2011 had a job or were in graduate school within six months of graduation . " Student body . Clark has marketed its programs off - campus and accepts a student body largely from out of the city and often from out of the state . Clark ’ s student body comes from all over the country and world . Sixty - eight percent of Clark undergraduate students are from outside Massachusetts and 8 % are from abroad . The entire student body of undergraduate and graduate students is 16 % international . . , Clark ' s freshman class consisted of 550 students with an average high school GPA of 3 . 46 , average Verbal SAT of 597 and average Math SAT of 587 . Seventy - nine percent of the freshmen were from top 30 % of their high school class . Ninety - seven percent of freshmen live in campus housing . Of the freshmen , 64 % are from outside Massachusetts and 90 % receive need - or merit - based financial aid . There were also 27 transfer students . The student body produces a weekly newspaper called " The Scarlet " which covers campus news , living arts , student opinions , and sports . Clark and the community . In 1985 , the university engaged in a partnership with community groups and business organizations to revitalize Clark neighborhoods . Its efforts in the University Park Partnership program include refurbishing dilapidated or abandoned homes , reselling them to area residents , and subsidizing mortgages for new home buyers . In 1997 , Clark opened a secondary public school , the University Park Campus School ( UPCS ) , that is also a professional development school for Clark ’ s teacher education program . Because of its long hours and demanding curricula , UPCS has been lauded as a model for collaboration between a university and an urban district . Students are able to attend Clark University free of charge upon graduation , provided they meet certain residency and admissions requirements . In the May 16 , 2005 , issue of Newsweek , UPCS was named the 68th best high school in the nation . On November 22 , 2007 , UPCS was featured in a cover story entitled “ Town - gown triumph In poorest part of Worcester , Clark helps put children on path to college ” in the Boston Globe , by Peter Schworm , Globe Staff . The UPCS collaborative is one of several sponsored by Clark ' s Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education focused on urban teacher education and school reform . Athletics . Clark teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ' s Division III . The Cougars are a member of the New England Women ' s and Men ' s Athletic Conference ( NEWMAC ) . Men ' s sports include baseball , basketball , cross country , lacrosse , rowing , soccer , swimming & diving and tennis ; while women ' s sports include basketball , cross country , field hockey , rowing , soccer , softball , swimming & diving , tennis and volleyball . Research . Clark has eight research institutes and centers . The William and Jane Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise seeks to improve through the successful mobilization of use - inspired research the effectiveness of government and other institutions in addressing social concerns . The institute focuses on important social issues , including focal areas such as education reform , environmental sustainability , access to healthcare , human development , well - being and global change . The George Perkins Marsh Institute conducts collaborative , interdisciplinary research on human - environment relationships and the human dimensions of global environmental change . The Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies an interdiscplinary center which focuses on the causes and effects of Holocausts and Genocides around the world . It is housed in Lasry House , donated by investor Marc Lasry and his wife Cathy in honor of their fathers Irwin Cohen and Moise Lasry The Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education develops models of urban schooling , teaching and teacher education through local partnership , in order to learn from these models and expand the knowledge - base of effective practice through research . The Center for Risk and Security ( CRS ) at the George Perkins Marsh Institute conducts in - depth studies of homeland security issues using a risk - analysis perspective . The Center ' s broad range of security issues includes : terrorism ; disaster management ; law and human rights ; resource availability ; and public health . The Center for Technology , Environment and Development ( CENTED ) , founded in 1987 , is a center for the study of natural and technological hazards in the United States . Projects include theoretical work on hazard analysis , hazard taxonomies , vulnerability , environmental equity , corporate risk management , emergency planning and hazardous waste transportation . The Center for Community - Based Development ( CCBD ) is the research arm of the IDCE Program . CCBD works with host country colleagues and institutions to help local communities increase productivity and conserve natural resources . CCBD disseminates its approach and research through publications and training courses , both at Clark and overseas . Clark Labs is engaged in the research and development on geospatial technologies including the development of computer software and analytical techniques for GIS and remote sensing with an emphasis on monitoring and modeling earth system dynamics . Clark Labs continues to develop and distribute IDRISI , a geographic information system ( GIS ) software package that is in use at more than 40 , 000 sites in over 180 countries worldwide . It is run by Dr . Ronald Eastman , creator of IDRISI . Recent developments . In March 2009 , Clark University convened a first - of - its - kind National Conference on Liberal Education and Effective Practice , co - sponsored by Clark ’ s Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise and the Association of American Colleges and Universities . The Mosakowsi Institute for Public Enterprise was established in the fall of 2007 thanks to a generous founding gift from two Clark alumni , William ' 76 and Jane ' 75 Mosakowski . Secretary of State and former senator and democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke at Clark University on February 4 , 2008 to an audience of approximately 3 , 500 in The Kneller Athletic Center . In April 2009 , then - President John Bassett denied Clark University Students for Palestinian Rights , a student group , the right to bring Norman Finkelstein to speak about the " Gaza Massacre " ( 2008 - 2009 Gaza War ) because Finkelstein " would invite controversy and not dialogue or understanding " . He also cited a conflict in scheduling regarding a conference on Holocaust and Genocide Studies put on by the university in the same month . However , following protests , which included a public protest in the center of campus , a petition campaign and outreach by alumni , students and faculty , Basset reversed his decision and allowed Finkelstein to speak on April 27 , the last day of classes for the semester . Finkelstein spoke to around 400 students , faculty and community members in Atwood Hall . Clark University worked extensively on renovations . In the summer of 2010 , dormitories were renovated , which include Bullock , and Wright Hall . Noam Chomsky spoke at Clark University on the topic of the Israeli - Palestinian conflict and the Arab Spring on April 12 , 2011 in Atwood Hall . In the summer of 2012 , Clark University underwent more renovations . Downing street was closed to unite the campus . The street was covered with grass and cement pathways . Johnson and Sanford halls were united to become the Johnson Sanford center . The Johnson Sanford Center featured new social , study , and multimedia spaces . An outdoor roof terrance was added in addition to an elevator to all levels .