List of Clark University people

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This list of Clark University people features alumni, including currently matriculating students and alumni that are graduates or non-matriculating students of Clark University and faculty.

Alumni

Academia

• Edwin Aldrin – father of Buzz Aldrin, worked with Robert Goddard on his theories of rocketry (1915)
• Adelbert Ames, Jr. – research professor at Dartmouth College, pioneered the study of physiological optics
• Jill Beck – president of Lawrence University, spent a summer as a Radio City Rockette while an undergraduate at Clark (BA Philosophy and Art History)
• Samuel Flagg Bemis – two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize
• Hermon Carey Bumpus – Fifth president of Tufts College (now Tufts University)
• Alexander Francis Chamberlain – anthropologist
• John H. Flavell – Stanford University Professor (MA Psychology 1952, Phd 1955)
• E. Franklin Frazier – sociologist, MA
• Yair Galily – Israeli sociologist (M.Sc Communications, 1996)
• Arnold Gesell – Yale professor known for his contributions to child psychology (PhD Psychology 1906)
• Robert H. Goddard – rocket engineer, invented the modern day rocket (MA Physics 1910, PhD Physics 1911)
• Thomas F. Goreau – mmarine biologist and authority on coral reef ecology
• Frederick Grinnell – cell biologist, bio-ethicist, shortlist 2010 Royal Society Prizes for Science Books (BA Chemistry 1966)
• Clarence N. Hickman – rocket scientist and recipient of the Medal for Merit, known as the "Father of Scientific Archery" and for his involvement in the development of the bazooka
• Grayson L. Kirk – President of the Council on Foreign Relations and president of Columbia University during the student protests of 1968
• Tae-Hwan Kwak – chair-professor at Kyungnam University and former president of the Korea Institute for National Unification (MA International Relations 1963)
• Solomon Lefschetz – mathematician (PhD 1911)
• J. Ross Mackay – Canadian geographer (BA Geography 1939)
• Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune – geographer, recipient of the Medal of Freedom (PhD Geography 1939)
• Margaret Morse Nice – ornithologist (MA Biology 1915)
• Howard W. Odum – sociologist and founder of the journal Social Forces (PhD Psychology 1909)
• Walter Ristow – head of map division at New York Public Library and Library of Congress (Doctorate)
• W.S. Small – experimental psychologist
• Francis Sumner – first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in psychology at an American university
• Amy Tanner – psychologist
• Lewis Terman – pioneer in cognitive psychology (PhD 1905)
• L.T.E. Thompson – physicist and ballistician (Physics MA 1915, PhD 1917)
• Albert Potter Wills – PhD advisor of the Nobel Prize winner Isidor Isaac Rabi (PhD 1897)

Business

• Cho, Dae-sik – chairman of the SK SUPEX Council (MBA 1985)
• Matt Goldman – co-founder of the Blue Man Group (BA Economics 1983, MBA 1984, LHD 2015)
• Alan Kotok – computer pioneer, Digital architect, associate chairman of W3C (MBA 1978)
• Marc Lasry – CEO and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group (BA History 1981)
• Michael Marcus – commodities trader
• William S. "Bill" Mosakowski – Founder and President and CEO of Public Consulting Group (BA Political Science and Government 1976)
• Hugh Panero – CEO of XM Radio (BA Government 1978)
• Thomas Peterffy – entrepreneur, founder, chairman, and CEO of Interactive Brokers Group and played a key role in founding the Boston Options Exchange
• Fred Rosen – former CEO of Ticketmaster, co-founder of the Bel Air Homeowners Alliance
• Ronald M. "Ron" Shaich – founder of Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain, founded a general store while an undergraduate at Clark (BA Government 1976)
• Mark A. Tepper – co-founder, president, and chief scientific officer of Corbus Pharmaceuticals (BA Chemistry 1979, summa cum laude)

Government, law, and public policy

• D'Army Bailey – former Circuit Court Judge in Shelby County, TN, founder of the National Civil Rights Museum, and civil rights activist
• David Brenerman – member of the Maine House of Representatives and ceremonial mayor of Portland, Maine (BA 1973)
• Beth Edmonds – Maine State Senator (BA Geography 1972)
• Merrill Gay – advocate for early childhood education and candidate for Mayor of New Britain, CT
• John M. Granville – USAID diplomat assassinated in Sudan
• Ellen Hughes-Cromwick – Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce (2015-17), chief global economist of Ford Motor Company, member of the Clark University Board of Trustees (2017-present) (MA International Development 1988, PhD Economics 1986)
• Joseph L. Kennedy – independent candidate in the United States Senate special election in Massachusetts, 2010 (BA Computer Science 1993)
• Kim Chung-yum – South Korean Ambassador to Japan, Chief Presidential Secretary, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Minister of Finance
• Mark MacDonald – member of the Vermont House of Representatives and Vermont Senate. (BA Government & International Relations 1972)
• Raymond Mariano – Mayor of Worcester, MA, 1993–2001 (MPA 1982)
• Libérat Mfumukeko – Secretary-General of the East African Community (MBA 1994)
• Richard T. Moore – Massachusetts State Senator (BA History 1966)
• Libby Pataki – First Lady of New York and wife of Republican presidential candidate George Pataki
• Michael P. Ross – member of the Boston City Council since 1999, representing District 8, which includes Beacon Hill, Back Bay, and the Fenway (BA 1993)
• Olta Xhaçka – Albanian Minister of Defense and former Minister of Social Welfare and Youth

Military

• Andrew J. Olmsted – U.S. Army Major; blogger; killed in action while serving in the Iraq War (BA Government & International Relations 1992)

Journalism and media

• Ben Bagdikian – educator and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, played a major role in publishing the Pentagon Papers
• Mark Bittman – food journalist for The New York Times and author of How to Cook Everything
• Otis Ferguson – film critic for The New Republic in the 1930s
• Jon "Stugotz" Weiner - co-host of the Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz on ESPN Radio

Literature

• Christopher Collier – children's author (My Brother Sam is Dead)
• Daniel Strachman – author of business books (BA Government 1993)
• Betsy Wollheim – President, co-Publisher and co-Editor-in-Chief of science fiction and fantasy publisher DAW Books
• Xu Zhimo – 20th century Chinese romantic poet

Art, entertainment, and architecture

• Moti Bodek – Israeli architect; senior lecturer in architecture at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem (MPA 1995)
• Corey Carrier – child actor (BA)
• Steven DePaul – Emmy Award-winning television producer and director of NYPD Blue (BA English 1972)
• Ali Fedotowsky – host of NBC television show 1st Look, star of the sixth season of The Bachelorette (BA Psychology 2006)
• Mitch Glazer – film producer and screenwriter (Scrooged, The Recruit, Lost in Translation)
• Alexander Gould – actor, voice of Nemo in Finding Nemo
• John Heard – actor (BA History 1968)
• Padma Lakshmi – host of television show Top Chef (BA Theater 1992)
• Phil Lerman – former national editor of USA Today and co-executive producer of America's Most Wanted (BA English 1977)
• Paul Pena – singer, songwriter and guitarist
• Ben Schechter – Internet artist (BA Government 2003)
• Brian Shactman – former ESPN broadcaster; co-anchor of Worldwide Exchange on CNBC (MA English)

Religion

• Frederick Madison Smith – religious leader; author; a Prophet-President of the Community of Christ Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now renamed Community of Christ (PhD 1916)

Athletics and exploration

• Jeffrey Lurie – owner of Philadelphia Eagles (BA Psychology 1973)
• Paul Siple – Antarctic explorer and inventor of wind chill factor (PhD Geography 1939)

Activism and reform

• Robert Dexter – human rights (PhD Sociology 1927)
• Miriam Van Waters – prison reformer
• Mesfin Woldemariam – Ethiopian human rights activist

Faculty

3

Presidents

• G. Stanley Hall, 1888–1920 (University)
• Carroll D. Wright, 1902–1909 (College)
• Edmund Sanford, 1909–1920 (College)
• Wallace Walter Atwood, 1920–1946
• Howard B. Jefferson, 1946–1967
• Frederick H. Jackson, 1967–1970
• Glenn W. Ferguson, 1970–1973
• Alan E. Guskin, 1973 (acting)
• Mortimer H. Appley, 1974–1984
• Richard P. Traina, 1984–2000
• John E. Bassett, 2000–2010
• David Angel, 2010-