Caption: (back row, from left to right) David Wilkie, Ph.D. (WCS), Luisa Young (GISDE/M.A. ’13), Christina Geller ’13, Michelle Andrews ’14, Jessica Mortimer ’09, Laura Hansen (BA ’12, M.A. candidate), Russell Sands (GISDE/M.A. ’13), Arthur Elmes (GEO/Ph.D. candidate), Associate Professor John Rogan and Robert Rose, Ph.D. (WCS). (Front row, left to right) Research Assistant Professor Florencia Sangermano, Liudmila Osipova (ESP/M.A. ’13), Chenyang Zhao (GISDE/M.A. ’13), and A.J. Shatz (BA '12, GIS/M.A. candidate).

The nine students enrolled in the seminar were divided into two groups, the first of which examined the conservation status of Guanaco (humpless camels in southern Argentina) and assessed the threats to viable habitat caused by livestock and ranching activities as well as the sensitivity of the region to climate linkages such as El Nino.  The second group examined the potential impacts of expanding wheat agriculture north of the Tarangire Park (Tanzania) on elephant movements, using radio-collar GPS data, as well as the relationship of precipitation in the region to warming in the Indian Ocean.

The main outputs of both studies were the selection of potential conservation areas to protect the habitat of the target species.

The students in the seminar were very diverse: two undergraduate students, two fifth-year master’s students in geography, four IDCE-GISDE master’s students and one doctoral candidate in geography.

“This diversity allowed all students to contribute to different aspects of the research and to learn from each other,” said professor Sangermano.

According to Andrews, a geography major who was the sole undergraduate in the first research group consisting of five students, “It was good to learn from [the others] as they all had more knowledge and experience in GIS and remote sensing than I did at the beginning of the project.  This situation made the experience even more valuable to me.”

David Wilkie, director of conservation support at WCS, and Robert Rose, species range-wide priority setting program lead at WCS, played the role of the “client,” requesting research from the students.  Wilkie and Rose provided important insights related to the specific conservation problems, provided data, facilitated discussion and regularly participated in online meetings with the students.

Andrews said she found developing research questions, compiling the data and processing it correctly, changing objectives and questions, and changing study areas to be challenging.

Geller, a double major in economics and geography, worked with the graduate students who were charged with providing policy recommendations on habitat protection of the African elephants in Tanzania, a species that is classified as “vulnerable” due to habitat loss, fragmentation, anthropogenic interactions and ivory poaching.  Her group used GIS and remote sensing techniques to create priority conservation maps that can be used to protect the habitat of the African elephant in northern Tanzania.

Andrews described the opportunity to do GIS consulting and research as “enlightening” and “eye-opening;” Geller described it as a “huge challenge.”

“I've normally been told the methodology I need to follow to create a final result, and this project required us to think critically, design our own methods, and constantly reevaluate our work,” said Geller.  “Unlike other classes, you have no idea if you are on the right tract until you do a check-in with WCS and they express their disapproval or pleasure with your results.”

According to Wilkie, by working with students at Clark, WCS has made significant progress on six important questions for conservation.

“The quality of the work by the students has far exceeded expectations and has been extremely well received by WCS staff in the field programs associated with each project,” he said.

In April of 2012, Clark Labs announced their partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to provide this research seminar geared specifically for real-world conservation projects. The seminar explores various remote sensing techniques and spatial analytical tools for different patterns of environmental degradation in different landscapes. The projects are linked to landscapes and regions where the WCS is actively working.

Professor Rogan says the seminar allows the Clark students to apply all the knowledge they’ve gathered throughout their education at Clark to solve real-world conservation problems.

“Very few universities do such tight collaborations,” said Rogan.

“This relationship contributes to Clark University’s newly launched Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP) initiative by providing an invaluable applied research experience that not only allows students to gain an education in GIS, remote sensing and conservation practices, it builds a skillset for the real world by also incorporating project management, professional presentations and networking.”

Asst. Prof. Alex Gardner

“For the first time we’ve been able to very precisely constrain how much these glaciers, as a whole, are contributing to sea level rise,” said Gardner, who is the main author of the study “A Reconciled Estimate of Glacier Contributions to Sea Level Rise: 2003 to 2009,” published in the May 17 issue of Science magazine. “And what we find is that melting of these smaller ice bodies account for one third of observed sea level rise.”

The research, which uses multiple satellites and an extensive collection of ground data, involved the efforts of 16 researchers from 10 countries, with major contributions from Clark University, the University of Michigan, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Trent University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and University of Alaska Fairbanks.

According to the authors, previous estimates of the recent contribution of glaciers to sea level rise have differed widely. Their study compares traditional ground measurements to satellite data from NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) missions to come up with optimal mass change estimates for glaciers in all regions of the planet.

The new research found that all glacierized regions lost mass from 2003 to 2009, with the biggest ice losses occurring in Arctic Canada, Alaska, coastal Greenland, the southern Andes and the Himalayas. In contrast, Antarctica’s peripheral glaciers – smaller ice bodies not connected to the main ice sheet – contributed little to sea level rise during that period. This differs from previously published estimates for the period 1961-2004, which showed that these bodies accounted for 30 percent of the global mass loss from glaciers.

Gardner stands next to a glacial erratic, a massive rock that is being transported tens of kilometers on the surface of a glacier that will eventually end up in the ocean.

Traditional estimates of glacier mass loss, based solely on field measurements and localized observations, can sometimes overestimate ice loss when the findings are extrapolated over larger regions with few observations, like entire mountain ranges, said Gardner.  The study concluded that, although ICESat and GRACE each have their own limitations, “their estimates of mass change for large glacierized regions agree very well, which gives us strong confidence in our results.”

Gardner said the findings have serious implications for past assessments.

“We conclude that a thorough reexamination of past estimates of glacier contributions to sea level rise is needed,” he said.

An abstract of the paper is available at ScienceMag.org.

This research builds on Gardner’s earlier work that found that in recent years the Canadian Arctic glaciers have become the largest glacier contributors to sea level rise outside of Greenland and Antarctica. This earlier work was published in 2011 in the journal Nature; Gardner joined the Clark University faculty in September of 2012.

In his research on the Earth's cryosphere, Gardner integrates remote sensing observations and Earth system modeling to study how glaciers and ice sheets respond to natural and human-induced changes in the environment as well as how changes in the reflectivity of snow and ice modify the Earth's climate. He is now focused on assessing glacier wastage on a global scale and is a contributing author of the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report, due to be released publicly in October 2014.

Science is the weekly journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and is considered the world's leading journal of original scientific research, global news, and commentary.

NASA’s press release is located at: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/glacier-sea-rise.html.

For more images of glaciers and sea level rise go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/sets/72157633503915602/.

In recognition of the 25^th anniversary of “Earth Transformed,” the following free, public events are being held on campus on Tuesday, April 2:

Two panel discussions featuring Clark faculty will showcase and explore future directions for a sample of the global-change research underway at Clark.

Panel discussion #1 

“Global Change and Adaptation”

Lurie Conference Room, Higgins University Center

12:45-2 p.m.

• Karen Frey, Assistant Professor, School of Geography
• Ron Eastman, Professor, School of Geography; Director, Clark Labs
• Colin Polsky, Associate Professor, School of Geography
• Moderator: Tony Bebbington, Higgins Professor of Environment and Society; Director, School of Geography

Panel discussion #2

“Social Transitions and Global Change” 

Lurie Conference Room, Higgins University Center

2:15-3:30 pm

• Jennie Stephens, Associate Professor, Department of International Development, Community, and Environment
• Timothy Downs, Associate Professor, Department of International Development, Community, and Environment
• James Murphy, Associate Director and Associate Professor, School of Geography
• Moderator: Robert Johnston, Director, George Perkins Marsh Institute; Professor, Department of Economics. 

Albert, Norma and Howard ’77 Geller Endowed Lecture

“From Earth Transformed to Sustainability Science” 

Harvard Prof. William Clark to deliver the Geller Endowed Lecture

Lecture by William C. Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development, Harvard University

Tilton Hall, 2^nd floor, Higgins University Center

4 p.m.

• Commentary will be given by Robert W. Kates (emeritus, Brown University) and B.L. Turner II (Gilbert F. White Professor of Environment and Society, Arizona State University), both formerly of Clark’s Graduate School of Geography.
• Moderator is Deborah Martin, Associate Professor, School of Geography.

These events are jointly sponsored by the Graduate School of Geography, the George Perkins Marsh Institute, and the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise. For more details see http://www.clarku.edu/departments/marsh/news/index.cfm.

Michelle Bata is director of the LEEP Center at Clark

Michelle Bata is a relative newcomer to Clark University, but she’s already making history of a sort. As associate dean and the first-ever director of the LEEP Center, Bata is working to help structure the student’s academic journey through the prism of LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice), Clark’s pioneering model of higher education that integrates life-changing world, workplace and personal experiences with a robust liberal arts curriculum. The Class of 2017 will be the first to be fully engaged in a LEEP-directed experience throughout their years at Clark.

Bata arrived in February to take the helm of the newly created center, inspired by Clark’s reputation as a school with not only a strong liberal arts education, but one that encourages students to take risks.

“That’s very exciting when you’re thinking about a student’s tenure at an institution,” she says. “Other schools will focus on certain elements of a LEEP-like experience — strong undergraduate research, or strong community service — and what they will do is make a checklist of certain requirements you should have before you graduate. What Clark is trying to do is more than a checklist; it’s a holistic approach to a student’s undergraduate career that links everything in a way that is highly individualized and also very forward-thinking.”

“When I read the description for the director’s position, I thought that this has the potential to be transformative. LEEP is such an innovative idea, and the description made so much sense, I thought, ‘Yes. This needs to happen.’”

'Imagine what a Clarkie can do with all these resources: close advising with faculty who really know them and see them develop over time — it’s a recipe for success.'

~ Michelle Bata

Bata comes to Clark from Fordham University, where she was assistant dean and director of undergraduate research. She led the college’s efforts as part of the University’s Career Planning and Professional Development Task Force, which devised academic and life-building plans for undergraduate liberal arts students to achieve success at each college career stage. She also worked to revitalize the college’s advising programs, launch department-specific career pilot programs, develop a comprehensive undergraduate research program, and create a new position in the college, the director of retention and student success.

Prior to joining the Dean’s Office staff, Bata was a faculty member in Fordham’s sociology department, where she chaired the graduate school and fellowship committee and taught a variety of courses. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology and Hispanic studies from Boston College, and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology at The University of Arizona.

Bata has been meeting with faculty, administration and students to understand the kinds of learning and research going on here and to align the efforts of the LEEP Center with those of the departments.

“I see the LEEP Center as both a destination and an active player in the Clark community,” she says. “As a destination I want it to be a place where any student can come in and ask any question related to their tenure at the school, anything from ‘I don’t know what to do with my life,’ to ‘What should my major be?’ to  ‘I know exactly what I want to do, help me get there.’ And someone here will help them.”

She says LEEP Center staff will work to direct students to the appropriate resources, which will be varied. It may mean connecting a student with a particular professor to work on a LEEP or research project, encouraging the student to take a series of courses or engage in a community-service experience, or establishing contact between a student and an alumnus in a particular field.

“I hope we can be a bridge or a liaison between the different offices and constituencies,” she says. “That’s my vision for the LEEP Center. Of course, the devil is in the details. But there is so much enthusiasm surrounding LEEP and the LEEP Center that I think people will be very willing to work with us.”

Among the programs that will fall under the purview of the LEEP Center are Career Services, Study Abroad, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Community Engagement and Volunteering, the Writing Center, and all internships.

“The beauty of the LEEP Center is that one person will know your entire history. They’ll know your goals, and they’ll actively work with you to make sure everything you do makes sense for you,” Bata says. She notes that in his or her time at Clark, a student will be paired with a faculty adviser, a LEEP adviser and a peer adviser; opportunities will be tailored for each student.

“The trend in higher ed, particularly those schools that are chasing rankings, is to try to attract high-performing students. That’s somewhat disingenuous: is the school really creating great students or would those students be great anywhere? By giving all Clarkies these opportunities, we really have the opportunity to create fantastic students.”

At the AAAS Family Science Days (Feb. 16-17) in Boston, Clark University junior Tyler Flanagan talks with a young visitor about the “Cartesian diver” experiment, which demonstrates the principle of buoyancy.

Clark University students and faculty presented hands-on science demonstrations and activities as part of Family Science Days on Feb. 16 and 17 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. The event was coordinated by the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Several colleges and universities sponsored interactive tabletop exhibits where people were invited to learn about careers in science as well as have their questions answered by experts and volunteers convened by AAAS. The community science showcase was free to the public and geared mainly toward students in grade levels 6 to 12.

Arshad Kudrolli, professor and chair of the Physics Department, and Jan and Larry Landry University Professor, organized the Clark University contingent, along with Mark Turnbull, professor in the Carlson School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Also planning and/or attending the event were Ranjan Mukhopadhyay, associate professor of physics and assistant professor of physics Michael Boyer.

“It was wonderful to see so many young children who still had that sense of wonder that makes everything special,” said Turnbull, who counted more than 150 visitors – including a couple of Clark alumni—at his team’s table in just the first few hours. He applauded the “fantastic   enthusiasm” of the Clark undergraduate and graduate students who spent time on campus in preparation and in Boston helping to staff the Clark booth. Demonstrations included hands-on displays of a Cartesian diver, magnetic liquids, a parabolic “true images” reflector, and floating matter to exhibit what is known as the “Cheerios effect.”

Clark University chemistry Professor Mark Turnbull demonstrates the “Cartesian diver” experiment with a student visiting the Clark booth at the AAAS Family Science Days event in Boston, Feb. 16.

“These Clark students dragged themselves out of bed early on a Saturday morning to go to Boston and set up a booth to show kids how much fun science is,” Turnbull remarked. “Although the target age group was probably 5 to 12, some of our most fascinated ‘little kids’ were the college-age ones and the parents. Their enthusiasm made it more than worth anything that we invested in the event.”

Along with Kudrolli and Turnbull, the following members of the University’s science community assisted with Clark’s participation in the AAAS Family Science Days:

Julien Chopin, post-doc, Physics

Clark University Associate Professor Laurie Ross, of IDCE

The announcement of a $450,000 grant from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts sounded a clear and hopeful note at press conference on “Addressing Youth Homelessness in Worcester,” on Feb. 15 at the YWCA in Worcester.

Laurie Ross, Clark University associate professor and co-director of The Compass Project, made introductions and presented a detailed report on findings from a 2012 point-in-time survey on youth homelessness, which was coordinated by the Community Roundtable on Youth Homelessness, The Compass Project, and Clark University.

Speakers at the press conference included Massachusetts Rep. James O’Day and Sen. Harriette   Chandler. Chandler praised Ross’s “wonderful leadership” in the efforts to better engage and serve homeless and at-risk youths in Worcester.

In October 2012, young people were surveyed at city shelters, youth programs, outside of schools, in parks, and on the streets of Worcester. Out of the 753 young people (ages 13 to 25) surveyed, 120 (16 percent) identified as homeless. The study defines homeless to include young people in shelters, staying with others temporarily (i.e. couch surfing) or on the streets. In addition to these 120 young people, another 220 youths who were housed reported that they had a friend who was homeless, Ross reported. She emphasized that, due to the non-random nature of the data collection, the results can only be used to describe the sample and cannot be generalized to all youth and young adults in Worcester.

“This pioneering initiative demonstrates how youth homelessness is indeed a problem,” said Ross. “As in prior years, when compared to their housed counterparts in this survey, unaccompanied youth who are homeless have experienced more residential instability and family conflict, have more precarious income situations,  are more likely to have children, and have faced more barriers to accessing services,” she reported.

Ross, who is associate director for the Department of International Development, Community, and Environment (IDCE) at Clark, is a leader in the field of community-based participatory research on social justice and youth development.

Katherine Calano ’12, a Clark student pursuing a master’s degree in Community Development and Planning, served as The Compass Project’s outreach coordinator.  She is one of many Clark students involved with project.

The Compass Project received a planning grant in 2010 from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts and, over five years, plans for funding totaling about $2 million in order to create a system to prevent and intervene early in youth and young adult homelessness. This support system would comprise a network of eight to 10 “frontline” non-profit organizations, including the Worcester Youth Center and the Boys and Girls Club, and a case management system to help youths individually.The symbiosis of low-barrier or easy accessed contact points and the case management system aims to help all vulnerable youths: “One of the things that makes us different is we’re trying to have a collaborative approach, knowing that one agency can’t serve all young people,” Ross commented. “You don’t want to raise expectations, but at the same time there are young people falling through all kinds of cracks in the city. We know from the pilot year that the families we’re working with and the young people we’re working with never had this much help before.”

Clark University graduate student Katherine Calano '12

The project’s first year began with a planning phase that identified underlying causes of youth and young adult homelessness, conducted an in-depth analysis of resources, and developed a specific set of proven strategies. The strategies were piloted during 2011 and the first phase of implementation occurred in 2012 to be continued in 2013. A final year of funding will help make The Compass Project a sustainable system, Ross noted.

In 2009, Ross helped formulate the methodology to create a model for surveying youth homelessness and then assisted in data analysis. She introduced this project to her “Community Needs and Resource Analysis” course at Clark. Over two years, her students conducted survey counts for the project, which gave them hands-on experience in learning about and doing needs assessments.

Graduate students taking IDCE assistant professor Marianne Sarkis’ class, “Social Network Analysis” also contributed by using a social network analysis tool to look at the current state of communication and connections among the network agencies. Students will repeat this analysis in a year to see whether these organizations are becoming more of a sustainable system.

The role Clark University plays in the research and analysis is crucial, says Ross. “It would be very expensive for the group to do it without us. And to have a university behind this process gives a lot of validity to the count.”

As an outreach coordinator, Calano works with different agencies and service providers to distribute the surveys to their clients. She also recruits volunteers to hand out the surveys on the streets. In her senior year, Calano became Ross’s research assistant, helping with a project for the MA Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness (ICHH). The lieutenant governor commissioned the ICHH to create a definition and methodology for counting homeless youth at a state level. A lot of Ross’s previous work in Worcester was applied to the creation of a state-level methodology, along with new research Calano and others conducted.

“Because it’s such a tightknit network of people who really know the homeless youth populations, they are very qualified to advocate for policies and resources to be brought into the community,” Calano remarks. “Having that social capital enables The Compass Project to use the survey and expertise to first understand the range of needs the homeless youths have and then effectively advocate for new policies.”

Clark students’ involvement with The Compass Project embodies Clark’s motto of “challenge convention, change our world” and Clark’s model of Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP). This model integrates intellectual and academic resources at the University—from the classroom to the research laboratory to teams and student led organizations—with skills essential in the 21^st century.

“It is challenging convention for these groups of organizations that don’t necessarily work directly with homeless youth, but work with youth in general, to extend their expertise and resources toward a project like this. It is important so that it isn’t just homeless services standing alone. Having college students, agencies, professors, and government officials working together is a big community effort.” ~ Katherine Calano '12

The ongoing project poses many challenges, Ross acknowledges: “It’s so complicated. When you’re trying to develop system so that ‘no young person will be turned away,’ there are so many things to consider. There’s no standard practice in counting homeless youth. There’s a lot written about why they’re different from adults, but there’s no model that’s evidence based on preventing and intervening early on youth homeless. So we’re creating that and it’s challenging. We want to create a system that’s inherently Worcester: It’s not imported from somewhere else and it’s the reality of our community.”

With a powerful vision and the support of a network of organizations, The Compass Project works toward ending youth homelessness in Worcester with a community-specific approach, but one that can serve as a model for other communities throughout all of Massachusetts and the entire nation.

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a small, liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is Clark’s pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences. Clark’s faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to contemporary challenges in the areas of psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University’s motto: Challenge convention. Change our world. www.clarku.edu

 - By Savannah Cooley ’16

Read the Worcester Telegram & Gazette report: Effort to coordinate help for homeless youths gets a boost

As of Feb. 11, Clark had received 5,545 applications for fall first-year admissions. At the end of last year’s cycle, 4,297 applications had been received.

While the economic downturn, public concern over student debt, and cultural shifts regarding the promise of higher education have reduced expectations for many institutions, Clark is seeing the benefits of at least three years of intensified admissions activities, highly strategic marketing efforts, and the forming of Clark’s innovative new model of liberal education known as LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice). Early indications also suggest that the academic quality of the applicant pool remains strong.

Donald Honeman, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, attributes much of this remarkable increase to the adoption of an SAT/ACT test optional policy and to Clark’s compelling and award-winning admissions materials. The University’s realignment under the LEEP model and LEEP initiatives such as the LEEP Scholarships, which offer full tuition plus room and board for up to 10 new Clark students, also attracted prospective students and their families.

“The promise and practice of LEEP at Clark is resonating with families looking for not only an exemplary liberal education but for an education that very directly launches graduates on a career and life path.” ~ President David Angel

Honeman also acknowledges the impact of an accumulation of several years of University-wide efforts that included focused recruitment outside of the Northeast corridor, active engagement with college counselors at selected high schools, and the construction of the new visitors center that hosts programs featuring creative presentations by “one of the most talented admissions staffs and student ambassador groups you’ll find anywhere in the country.”

“The reality is that there’s no magic bullet,” Honeman says. “All of these things together have added up to Clark’s strong results. Notwithstanding, a 29 percent increase is remarkable no matter what the causes.”

Clark’s admissions staff members and others are now busy with the happy but exhausting process of preparing the way for the incoming students in fall 2013.

“The sustained commitment of the University’s innovative LEEP model is bearing fruit,” says Clark University President David Angel. “The promise and practice of LEEP at Clark is resonating with families looking for not only an exemplary liberal education but for an education that very directly launches graduates on a career and life path.”

Clark VP of Marketing and Communications Paula David notes that, “just 20 months into a five-year strategic plan, the University’s recent admission-cycle spike in applications indicates that Clark is responding to the needs of the marketplace. We’ve listened to what employers, students and families are saying.”

Spurring the University’s momentum is a clear, consistent marketing plan that is “more aggressive in getting the word out about Clark.”

The Class of 2017 is the first to be recruited fully under the LEEP model, David notes. “Clark has been renowned as a college that changes lives. Now it is being seen as a transformative force in higher education.”

Read about Clark in the Worcester Sunday Telegram Business Matters cover feature: Colleges use new tools to reel in new students (Feb. 10)

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a small, liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is Clark’s pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences. Clark’s faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to contemporary challenges in the areas of psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University’s motto: Challenge convention. Change our world. www.clarku.edu

The Clark University Poll of Emerging Adults, directed by psychology professor Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, found that 77 percent of respondents surveyed nationwide are in regular touch with their parents electronically, by telephone or in person. The study revealed that 52 percent of emerging adults contact their parents every day or almost every day. Broken down further,  27 percent of respondents reported contact with  parents a few times a week, 14 percent  about once per week, 4 percent about once per month, and 3 percent less than once per month.

“This frequent contact reflects relationships between emerging adults and parents that are generally close and harmonious,” said Arnett. “Most young people still want their parents’ guidance and support as they navigate their way toward adulthood.”

The Clark Poll concluded that instead of entering marriage and parenthood in their early 20s, most emerging adults postpone these transitions until at least their late 20s and spend the late teens through their mid-20s in self-focused exploration testing different possibilities in love, work and life. Many emerging adults still rely a lot on their parents, not just financially but emotionally, as they often struggle in the course of their long and sometimes perilous transition to adulthood.

The Clark University Poll of Emerging Adults is based on 1,029 interviews of 18-to 29-year-olds nationwide. The margin of error is +/- 3.06 percent. A mixed-mode methodology was used for this project.

Visit www.ClarkU.edu/clarkpoll.

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a small, liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is Clark’s pioneering model of education combining a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences. www.ClarkU.edu

Clark University first-year student Lina Nguyen, a Neighborhood Strings program mentor, helps a student place his violin in its case.

On a chilly winter night, young students and family members from the neighborhood gathered in the Winton Faculty Dining Room at Clark University to celebrate the love of music.

The staid, wood-paneled hall was filled to overflowing on Jan. 8 for an instrument-giving ceremony and potluck dinner organized by Neighborhood Strings, the Worcester Chamber Music Society’s new program that offers free music lessons in violin, viola and cello to youths from Main South.

Clark University is a partner in the Neighborhood Strings program and also will host the society’s 2013 Summer Music Festival, in Razzo Hall at Clark’s Traina Center for the Arts.

Presentation of the instruments began as WCMS Education Director and cellist Ariana Falk introduced 14 children who will take music lessons at Woodland Academy in the program’s inaugural year. The students, ages 6 to 12, first performed a series of songs led by Falk.

WCMS Executive Director Tracy Kraus thanked Clark University for its crucial support. Clark was the obvious choice as a partner for the program “because of the impact they’ve already had in the neighborhood,” she said, citing the input and cooperation of community leaders, including Jack Foley, Clark Vice President for Government and Community Affairs. The Clark partnership “made perfect sense, given the relationship with area schools like UPCS and others,” Kraus said, mentioning that, just the week before, the Clark Sinfonia performed for students at Woodland.

The Neighborhood Strings event at Clark was covered in a Worcester Telegram & Gazette article “Neighborhood Strings program puts instruments in Worcester youngsters' hands.” Worcester Magazine also ran a cover feature titled, “Empowering youth through music.”

Kraus, a distinguished flutist and a 1982 alumna of Clark, teaches music at the University and at other area colleges.

After singing, the kids sat attentively and, along with an appreciative audience, were treated to a series of complex classical string duets performed by Rohan Gregory on violin and WCMS Artistic Director Peter Sulski on viola.

Sulski is on the Clark faculty and teaches at colleges in the region. He directs the Clark Sinfonia. He is currently recording the entire solo works of J.S. Bach for violin and viola, and has performed portions of his planned, six-year cycle of concerts at Clark.

Gregory, with violinist Krista Buckland Reisner, Sulski and cellist Jan Müller-Szeraws, is a member of the QX string quartet, which has been in residence at Clark.

Lina Nguyen '16 and program graduate intern Lisa Villani '12 enjoy a brief break in the festivities.

Assisting with the event were Clark University students Lina Nguyen ’16, a program mentor, and graduate intern Lisa Villani ’12, who is pursuing a fifth-year master’s in public administration.

Kraus named other Clark mentors in the Neighborhood Strings program: Karissa Lear ’13, Melissa Skubel ’13, Lauren Kelly ’15, and Mehran Ali ’16. Christine Covino ’12 also is a graduate student intern, and Louisa Hawkins ’13 will help manage the society’s video production.

At last came the ceremonial handing out of the instruments. Falk presented each student with a violin, viola or cello and Falk led each child in a pledge to respect and care for the instrument and to always “have fun making music.”

After much applause, photography and video-taking, the students packed away their new strings, which are leased to the program by Johnson String Instrument in Newton Center. Finally, parents, siblings and the budding musicians headed to a long table loaded with pizza, cake and more.

Neighborhood Strings represents the Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP) initiative, Clark University's pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal arts experience with authentic engagement in the world and workplace.

“The Neighborhood Strings program is an example of LEEP and shows how Clark alumni like Tracy [Kraus] can re-engage with Clark,” said Carole Allen Scannell, a major gifts officer for University Advancement. “Such partnerships benefit both Clark and the larger community – in this case the Worcester Chamber Music Society. LEEP is building this into the DNA at Clark, and this music program is one great model.”

“This generous Mellon Foundation grant allows us to fully explore the role and potential of the humanities at Clark and through LEEP, our pioneering approach to undergraduate education,” Clark University President David Angel said.

Humanities Present is an institutional and curricular initiative at Clark University that advances the pivotal role of the humanities in liberal education and builds on Clark’s commitment to a strong humanities presence within the curriculum and in the campus culture as a whole.

“The grant is a powerful affirmation of the significant role of the humanities and the arts in the educational experience at Clark, and we are grateful for the remarkable opportunity it offers us to expand and deepen that role through public programs and faculty fellowships, innovative pedagogy, and research collaborations,” said Sarah Buie, Director of the Higgins School of Humanities.

Humanities Present consists of three initiatives:

• The New Commons is the central program of Humanities Present. Drawing on the foundations of the ongoing Difficult Dialogues initiative, the New Commons deepens community engagement and curricular innovation around timely topics, through three interdependent aspects:  Symposia events providing a public forum for lively intellectual exchange among faculty, students, and the community at large; a fellowship of faculty who participate in the symposia; and team-taught interdisciplinary courses developed in relation to the symposia.

• The Humanities Research Collaboratives seed the formation of faculty working groups in emerging or evolving fields in the humanities. With a focus on curricular and program developments, groups will build on the core strengths of Clark’s humanities curriculum through the design of new, collaborative intra- or cross-disciplinary courses. Research, both individual and collaborative (including students), will be a key component of the program. Initial groups funded are Early Modernists Unite (EMU), the Science Fiction Research Collaborative and a group in the Digital Humanities.

• Mindful Choices, the third program, is a guided, intensive arts-immersion experience that integrates students’ experiences in the visual arts, music or creative writing with conscious exploration of their interests and passions. Students enter the program in their sophomore or early junior years – a critical juncture in their undergraduate careers. Students reflect on their development so far and future directions (including choice of majors and concentrations) and tools and approaches that will serve them in college and beyond. 

Together, these programs will enhance humanities practices across the curriculum and strengthen the foundation for Clark’s exceptional liberal arts education and the innovative work of LEEP.

Development of the Humanities Present initiative was supported by a Mellon planning grant of $100,000, awarded in late fall of 2010. Since that time, more than 70 percent of the humanities faculty (along with many non-humanities faculty) participated in aspects of the process – through 15 lunch gatherings, retreats, an advisory group, symposium planning, and faculty fellowships alongside recent symposia, Buie notes.

“I think this rich process has sparked a new faculty culture, both within the humanities at Clark and beyond,” Buie remarked, adding that [Associate Professor of English] Betsy Huang served as associate director of the Mellon initiative and was an “extraordinary collaborator and partner” on the project.

Buie also cited the work of the Mellon advisory group, which included: Professor Kristina Wilson (Visual & Performing Arts); Assistant Professor Toby Sisson (V&PA); Associate Professor Amy Richter (History); Professor Patricia Ewick (Sociology); Professor Robert Tobin (Foreign languages & Literatures); Professor James Elliott (English); and Associate Professor Timothy Downs (International Development, Community and Environment). Professor Walter Wright (Philosophy) contributed in an ex officio status.

The Humanities Present initiative is expected to sustain and further its pivotal role for the humanities, both in relationship to the LEEP initiative and in the core mission of Clark University in the years to come.

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a small, liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is Clark’s pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences. Clark’s faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to contemporary challenges in the areas of psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University’s motto: Challenge convention. Change our world. www.clarku.edu