Clark University history

G. Stanley Hall was appointed the first president of Clark University in 1888.

Opening on October 2, 1889, Clark was the first all-graduate university in the United States, with departments in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology.

Jonas G. Clark died in 1900, leaving gifts to the university and campus library, but reserving half of his estate for the foundation of an undergraduate college.

President Theodore Roosevelt delivered the commencement address for Clark College’s first public undergraduate commencement ceremonies in 1905.

In 1907, former Clark physics professor Albert Michelson became the first American awarded a Nobel Prize in the sciences for the development of the interferometer, an instrument designed to measure lengths and velocities of light.

Clark University began admitting women after Clark's death, and the first female Ph.D. in psychology was awarded in 1908.

Among them was Sigmund Freud who, accompanied by Carl Jung, delivered his five famous "Clark Lectures" there over the course of five days in September 1909, introducing psychoanalysis to an American audience.

Freud, S. (1910). The origin and development of psychoanalysis.

In 1920, Francis Sumner became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology.

In 1926, he launched a liquid-fueled rocket on his aunt’s farm in Auburn, earning him the moniker “Father of Modern Rocketry.”

For purposes of economy and efficiency, during the 1930's, it was decided that Clark would join the Atlanta University Complex.

While students on the South Atlanta campus fretted over final examinations in the winter of 1939, work was begun across town on an entirely new physical plant adjoining Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College.

Freud, A. (1950). The contribution of psychoanalysis to genetic psychology.

He later founded the Worcester Foundation of Experimental Biology, which released the final version of the Pill to the public in 1960.

Bibace, R. (1966). Applications of developmental psychology to clinical problems.

Alice Coonley Higgins became chair of the Board of Trustees in 1967, the first woman to assume this role at a private research university in the United States.

The Graduate School of Management (GSOM) was founded in 1982.

In April 1988, the joint committee delivered its report entitled Charting A Bold New Future: Proposed Combination of Clark College and Atlanta University to the Boards for ratification.

Franklin, M.B. (1990). Reshaping psychology at Clark: The Werner era.

Rosenzweig, S. (1994). The historic expedition to America: Freud, Jung and Hall the king-maker.

In 1997, Clark announced the first PhD program in Holocaust Studies in the United States.

Glick, M., & Zigler, E. (2005). Werner’s developmental thought in the study of adult psychopathology.

The Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise was established in fall 2007 due to a founding gift from two Clark alumni, William '76 and Jane '75 Mosakowski.

United States 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 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.