Clark Atlanta University is a
privatePrivate schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
,
historically black universityHistorically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....
in
AtlantaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College (founded in 1869) and Atlanta University (founded in 1865). Clark Atlanta University is a member of the
United Negro College FundThe United Negro College Fund is an American philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuition money for black students and general scholarship funds for 39 private historically black colleges and universities. The UNCF was incorporated on April 25, 1944 by Frederick D. Patterson , Mary...
(UNCF).
History
style="font-size: 1.25em;" |CAU's history at a glance
| 1865 |
Atlanta University founded |
| 1869 |
Clark College established in Atlanta's Summerhill section |
| 1871 |
Clark College relocated to Whitehall and McDaniel Street property. |
| 1877 |
Clark College chartered and renamed to Clark University |
| 1880 |
Clark University conferred its first degree |
| 1929 |
Atlanta University Center The Atlanta University Center Consortium is the largest contiguous consortium of African Americans in higher education in the United States. The center consists of four historically black colleges and universities in southwest Atlanta, Georgia...
established |
| 1988 |
Clark Atlanta University created |
Clark Atlanta University was formed by the consolidation of Atlanta University, which offered only graduate degrees, and Clark College, a four-year undergraduate institution oriented to the liberal arts.
Atlanta University
Atlanta University, founded in 1865 by the
American Missionary AssociationThe American Missionary Association was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on September 3, 1846 in Albany, New York. The main purpose of this organization was to abolish slavery, to educate African Americans, to promote racial equality, and to promote Christian values...
, with later assistance from the
Freedmen's BureauThe Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. federal government agency that aided distressed freedmen in 1865–1869, during the Reconstruction era of the United States....
, was, before consolidation, the nation's oldest graduate institution serving a predominantly African-American student body. By the late 1870s, Atlanta College had begun granting bachelor's degrees and supplying black teachers and librarians to the public schools of the South. In 1929-30, it began offering graduate education exclusively in various liberal arts areas, and in the social and natural sciences. It gradually added professional programs in social work, library science, and business administration. At this same time, Atlanta University affiliated with
Morehouse CollegeMorehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....
and
Spelman CollegeSpelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the first historically black female...
in a university plan known as the Atlanta University Center.
The campus was moved to its present site, and the modern organization of the
Atlanta University CenterThe Atlanta University Center Consortium is the largest contiguous consortium of African Americans in higher education in the United States. The center consists of four historically black colleges and universities in southwest Atlanta, Georgia...
emerged, with Clark College,
Morris Brown CollegeMorris Brown College is a private, coed, liberal arts college located in the Vine City community of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is a historically black college affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church...
, and the
Interdenominational Theological CenterThe Interdenominational Theological Center is a consortium of denominational seminaries located in Atlanta, Georgia. Today ITC educates and nurtures women and men who commit to and practice a liberating and transforming spirituality; academic discipline; religious, gender, and cultural diversity;...
joining the affiliation later. The story of the Atlanta University over the next twenty years from 1930 includes many significant developments. Graduate Schools of Library Science, Education, and Business Administration were established in 1941, 1944, and 1946, respectively. The Atlanta School of Social Work, long associated with the University, gave up its charter in 1947 to become an integral part of the University. In 1957, the controlling Boards of the six institutions (Atlanta University; Clark, Morehouse, Morris Brown and Spelman Colleges; and Gammon Theological Seminary) ratified new Articles of Affiliation. The new contract created the Atlanta University Center. The influence of Atlanta University has been extended through professional journals and organizations, including Phylon. Through Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, a member of the faculty, the university was also associated with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Clark College
Clark College was founded in 1869 by the
Freedman's Aid SocietyThe Freedmen’s Aid Society was founded in 1861 during the American Civil War by the American Missionary Association , a group supported chiefly by the Congregational, Presbyterian and Methodist churches in the North. It organized a supply of teachers from the North and provided housing for them,...
of the
Methodist Episcopal ChurchThe Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...
, which later became the
United Methodist ChurchThe United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
. It was named for Bishop
Davis Wasgatt ClarkDavis Wasgatt Clark was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1864; the first President of the Freedman's Aid Society; and the namesake of Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU.-Birth and Rebirth:...
, who was the first President of the Freedman's Aid Society and became Bishop in 1864. A sparsely furnished room in Clark Chapel, a Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta's Summerhill section, housed the first Clark College class. In 1871, the school relocated to a new site on the newly purchased Whitehall and McDaniel Street property. In 1877, the School was chartered as Clark University.
An early benefactor, Bishop
Gilbert HavenGilbert Haven was a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1872. He was consecrated a bishop on May 24, 1872 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York...
, visualized Clark as the "university" of all the Methodist schools founded for the education of freedmen. After the school had changed locations several times, Bishop Haven, who succeeded Bishop Clark, was instrumental in acquiring 450 acres (1.8 km²) in South Atlanta, where in 1880 the school conferred its first degree. (The university relocated in 1883.) Also in 1883, Clark established a theology department. Named for Dr. Elijah H. Gammon, the Gammon School of Theology in 1888 became an independent theological seminary. It is part of the Interdenominational Theological Center.
2009 faculty firings
In 2009, the university fired 55 members of the faculty (20 of whom had tenure) after declaring an "enrollment emergency." The action earned the university a severe censure from the
American Association of University ProfessorsThe American Association of University Professors is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership is about 47,000, with over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations...
, which asserted that there was no "enrollment emergency" and decried the lack of faculty involvement in the process.
The AAUP investigation specifically cited that Clark Atlanta University did not provide dismissed faculty members with hearings before faculty peers, as required by both AAUP standards and university regulations, and for providing a "sorely deficient" one month of severance salary. The AAUP panel consisted of four individuals and included one professor at a historically black institution (Charles L. Betsey of Howard University) and one professor who according to Inside Higher Ed, "has written extensively and sympathetically about black colleges" (Marybeth Gasman of the
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of EducationThe University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, commonly known as Penn GSE, is one of the leading educational research schools in the United States...
).
Campus
CAU’s main campus houses 37 buildings on 126 acre (0.50990436 km²) and is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the center of Atlanta, Georgia.
Residential facilities
- Holmes Hall
- Pfeiffer Hall
- Merner Hall
- Bumstead Hall — vacant for renovations
- Ware Hall
- Beckwith Hall
- New Residential Apartments — now called "James P. Brawley Hall" when the original James P. Brawley Hall was demolished in 2007
- Heritage Commons
- CAU Suites East / West
- Gammon Hall / ITC Center
Academics
Clark Atlanta, a four-year school, offers undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral professional degrees as well as certificate programs.
Schools and colleges
The university operates four colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, and Social Work.
National ranking
Clark Atlanta was ranked on
The Washington MonthlyThe Washington Monthly is a bimonthly nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C.The magazine's founder is Charles Peters, who started the magazine in 1969 and continues to write the "Tilting at Windmills" column in each issue. Paul Glastris, former...
s 2008 list of "Best Colleges and Universities" and the US News & World Report’s list of historically black colleges and universities (No. 24 out of 34 best).
Program accreditation
Clark Atlanta University is accredited by the
Southern Association of Colleges and SchoolsThe Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation...
and is classified by the
Carnegie FoundationCarnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
as a Research University – High Research Activity.
Research
Clark Atlanta has a Carnegie classification of "Research University - High Research Activity" and is one of only four Historically Black Colleges and Universities to earn such a distinction. The university receives annual research grants of $ 17,570,778.
National fraternities and sororities
All nine of the
National Pan-Hellenic CouncilThe National Pan-Hellenic Council is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. The nine NPHC organizations are sometimes collectively referred to as the "Divine Nine"...
organizations currently have chapters at Clark Atlanta University. Other organizations currently registered on campus include
Sigma Alpha IotaSigma Alpha Iota , International Music Fraternity for Women. Formed to "uphold the highest standards of music" and "to further the development of music in America and throughout the world", it continues to provide musical and educational resources to its members and the general public...
,
Gamma Sigma SigmaGamma Sigma Sigma is a national service sorority founded in October 1952 at Beekman Tower in New York City by representatives of Boston University, Brooklyn College, Drexel Institute of Technology, Los Angeles City College, New York University, Queens College, and the University of Houston. ...
,
Kappa Kappa PsiKappa Kappa Psi is a fraternity for college and university band members. It was founded on November 27, 1919 at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College in Stillwater, Oklahoma. William Scroggs, now regarded as the "Founder," together with "Mr. Kappa Kappa Psi" A...
,
Phi Mu Alpha SinfoniaPhi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music...
,
Tau Beta SigmaTau Beta Sigma is a co-educational national honorary band sorority dedicated to serving college and university bands. The Sorority, headquartered at the historic Stillwater Station in Stillwater, Oklahoma, numbers over 3,500 active members in 145 active chapters, and over 40,000 alumni...
and
Gamma Phi DeltaGamma Phi Delta Sorority, Inc. was founded in February, 1943 at the Lewis Business College Detroit, Michigan by Mrs. Elizabeth Garner, an instructor at the College, assisted by her sister, Mrs. Violet Lewis, owner and President of the College...
.
Athletics
Clark Atlanta University is affiliated with the
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceThe Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is a College athletic conference consisting of historically black colleges and universities located in the southern United States. Formed in 1913, the SIAC is a member of the NCAA and participates in Division II athletics...
(SIAC) and the
National Collegiate Athletic AssociationThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA), Division II.
Notable alumni
- See also Clark Atlanta University alumni
This is a list of notable alumni which includes graduates, non-graduate former students, and current students of Atlanta University, Clark College, Clark University, and/or Clark Atlanta University. It does not include other notable persons who may have attended Clark Atlanta University as cross-registered students (credit as an alumnus is not given to Clark Atlanta University, which has spurred controversy over the school's cross-registration policies).
Notable faculty
Further reading and information
- Atlanta University Publications: a series, which began in 1896, of studies on problems affecting black people in the United States, edited by W. E. B. Du Bois.
See also
Clark Atlanta University faculty
External links
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