Husson University picks a new president
Photo/ Courtesy Husson University
Robert Clark will take over as president of Husson University on Jan. 1
Husson University today named a finance professor from Indiana's University of Evansville to be its next president.
Robert Clark, currently vice president for strategic initiatives at the University of Evansville, was the Husson University Board of Trustees' unanimous choice to replace William Beardsley, who announced in January he was stepping down after 22 years as Husson's president. Clark, who grew up in central Maine and graduated from the University of Maine, starts his new job on Jan. 1.
Becoming a university of president has been one of Clark's professional goals since beginning his academic career 27 years ago when he started teaching at Andover College in Portland, he says from his office at the University of Evansville. Clark's watched Husson University from afar for many years -- his sister is a 1987 Husson nursing grad -- and says he's been impressed with its growth, and its dedication to experiential learning and using higher education to promote economic development, something he says is very akin to the work he's done in Evansville. "Higher education as a tool for economic development seems to fit so well with the mission of Husson," Clark says.
Experiential learning and tying higher education into the business world as it transitions to a global playing field are two of his passions, he says. Developing innovative programming around them to meet the needs of students are one of the greatest strengths he says he will bring to Husson, which has grown to more than 3,000 students. "In higher education, if we focus on student success, we meet all our other objectives," Clark says.
Besides being a VP at the University of Evansville, Clark is also dean and a professor of finance and international business at its Schroeder Family School of Business Administration. He is also a Fulbright Scholar and director of the Institute for Global Enterprise in Indiana, which he helped establish in 2003 after receiving a five-year grant from the Lilly Endowment.
Clark holds a BA in Spanish, a BS in business administration, and an MBA from the University of Maine. He earned a Ph.D. in finance from Purdue University.
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