Clark Atlanta University

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Clark Atlanta University


Motto	"I'll Find a Way or Make One" & "Culture for Service"
Established	1988 Atlanta University 1865 Clark College 1869
Type	Private
President	Walter D. Broadnax
Undergraduates	4000
Postgraduates	1000
Location	Atlanta, GA, USA
Campus	Urban
Annual Fees Undergraduate	$20,300 (2004–2005)
Mascot	Black Panther
Website	www.cau.edu

Clark Atlanta University (CAU) is a private institution of higher education in Atlanta, Georgia. It is an historically black university formed in 1988 by the consolidation of Clark College (est. 1869) and Atlanta University (est. 1865).

1 Campus
2 History
3 On Campus Residential Dormitories
4 Organization
5 Sports and organizations
6 Traditions
7 Publications
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Campus

CAU main campus houses 37 buildings on 126 acres and is located about 1.5 miles from the heart of downtown Atlanta.

[edit] History

Clark Atlanta University is a comprehensive, private, urban, coeducational institution of higher education with a predominantly African American heritage. It offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees as well as certificate programs to students of diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. It 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.

The first President of Clark Atlanta University was Dr. Thomas W. Cole, Jr., who served concurrently as the President of both Atlanta University and Clark College prior to consolidation. In November 1987, after more than a year of discussion, the Boards of Trustees of Atlanta University and Clark College authorized an exploration of the potential advantages of closer working arrangements between the two institutions, including their consolidation into one university. 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. The report recommended that the two schools be consolidated into a single institution. On June 24, 1988, the Boards of both Clark College and Atlanta University made the historic decision to consolidate the two institutions, creating Clark Atlanta University. The new and historic University inherits the rich traditions of two independent institutions, connected over the years by a common heritage and commitment; by personal, corporate and consortia relationships; and by location.

Atlanta University, founded in 1865, by the American Missionary Association, with later assistance from the Freedman's Bureau, was, before consolidation, the nation's oldest graduate institution serving a predominantly African American student body. By the late 1870s, Atlanta University 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 College and Spelman College in a university plan known as the Atlanta University System. The campus was moved to its present site, and the modern organization of the Atlanta University Center emerged, with Clark College, Morris Brown College, and the Interdenominational Theological Center joining the affiliation later. The story of the Atlanta University over the next twenty years from 1930 includes many significant developments. The 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. Unlike the old Articles of 1929, the new contract created the Atlanta University Center. The influence of Atlanta University has been extended through professional journals and organizations, including Phylon and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), for both of which Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, a member of the faculty, provided leadership.

Clark College was founded in 1869 as Clark University by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which later became the United Methodist Church. The University was named for Bishop Davis Wasgatt Clark, 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 Haven, visualized Clark as the "university" of all the Methodist schools founded for the education of freedmen. Strategically located in the gateway to the South, Clark was founded to "give tone" to all of the other educational institutions of the Methodist Episcopal Church providing education for Negro youth. After the school had changed locations several times, Bishop Haven, who succeeded Bishop Clark, was instrumental in acquiring 450 acres in South Atlanta, where in 1880 (the institution relocated in 1883) the school conferred its first degree. Also in 1883, Clark established a department, named for Dr. Elijah H. Gammon, known as Gammon School of Theology, which in 1888 became an independent theological seminary and is now part of the Interdenominational Theological Center.

For purposes of economy and efficiency, during the 1930s, 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.

During the 1980s some of the advantages of proximity, which had seemed promising earlier, again became evident. Clark College and Atlanta University through consolidation preserved the best of the past and present and "Charted a Bold New Future." Clark Atlanta University was created on July 1, 1988.

Dr. Walter D. Broadnax became the second President for Clark Atlanta University on August 1, 2002. Clark atlanta is a four year, private, comprehensive,coed liberal arts university.

[edit] On Campus Residential Dormitories

Holmes Hall, Pfeiffer Hall, Merner Hall, Ware Hall, and Bumstead Hall are dormitories that house females only. Brawley Hall is the only traditional dormitory available for freshmen males. Beckwith Hall is a co-ed dorm for upper classmen. New Residential Apartments, and Heritage Commons are apartment complexes that are considered off-campus for upperclassmen students. CAU Suites East/West is a newly constructed suite-style dormitory for all students. Before their demolition, the E.L. Simon Courts housed upper class students in an apartment style dormitory.

[edit] Organization

The university consists of four colleges and schools:

Alumini Some notable alumni of Clark Atlanta include:

Ralph Abernathy (civil rights activist)
Brian Barber (Director of the 2006 film Idlewild)
Benjamin Brown (Civil Rights Activist and Georgia State Representative)
Marva Collins (educator)
Bobby Creekwater (Rapper signed to Shady Records)
Jerri Devard (Verizon Executive)
DJ Drama (Hip Hop Producer)
Henry O. Flipper (First African-American graduate of West Point)
Fletcher Henderson (Pianist, Band Leader and composer)
James Weldon Johnson (writer)
Otis Johnson (Mayor of Savannah, Georgia)
Reatha Clark King (President of General Mills Foundation)
Kenny Leon (director)
Emmanuel Lewis (actor)
Ma$e (rapper and minister)
Jody Mayfield (Composer, Jazz Musician)
C.J. Minor (Educator)
Eva Pigford (America's Next Top Model Winner)
Jacque Reid (journalist)
Bobby Valentino (singer)
Horace T. Ward (judge)
Walter F. White (NAACP Leader)
Hosea Williams ( Civil Rights Activist)]
Louis Tompkins Wright (surgeon)
Dorothy Yancy (President of Johnson C. Smith University)

[edit] Sports and organizations

Clark Atlanta University is affiliated with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Division II.

CAU students also operate the mostly-jazz radio station WCLK (FM) at 91.9MHz.

Clark Atlanta University is also home to the Mighty Marching Panther Band featured in the 2002 movie Drumline, as well as recent McDonald's commercials, the Ellen DeGeneres show and an episode of Judge Hatchett. The Panther Band has also been to the Honda Battle of the Bands hosted every year in January for all four years of its existence and counting.

[edit] Traditions

CAU's tradition in fostering the arts began in 1942 with the inaugural of the annual Exhibition of Paintings, Prints and Sculpture by Negro Artists of America to provide black artists a national forum to exhibit their work. The exhibition has brought many artists who were unknown to the mainstream art world, but later classified as masters, such as Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, Lois Mailou Jones and Roy DeCarava. Each year an average of 12 pieces are purchased for the Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries which possesses a permanent collection of some 640 works of art.

[edit] Publications

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. Dubois.

[edit] See also

List of historically black colleges of the United States

[edit] External links

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Alabama A&M • Alabama State • Albany State • Alcorn State • Allen • Arkansas Baptist • Arkansas, Pine Bluff • Barber-Scotia • Benedict • Bennett • Bethune-Cookman • Bishop • Bluefield State • Bowie State • Central State • Cheyney • Claflin • Clark Atlanta • Concordia, Selma • Coppin State • Delaware State • Dillard • Edward Waters • Elizabeth City State • Fayetteville State • Florida Memorial • Fisk • Florida A&M • Fort Valley State • Grambling State • Hampton • Harris-Stowe • Howard • Huston-Tillotson • Interdenominational Theological Center • Jackson State • Jarvis Christian • Johnson C. Smith • Kentucky State • Knoxville • Lane • Langston • LeMoyne-Owen • Lincoln, Missouri • Lincoln, Pennsylvania • Livingstone • Maryland, Eastern Shore • Medgar Evers • Meharry Medical College • Miles • Mississippi Valley State • Morehouse • Morehouse School of Medicine • Morgan State • Morris Brown • Morris • Norfolk State • N.C. A&T • N.C. Central • Oakwood • Paine • Paul Quinn • Philander Smith • Prairie View A&M • Rust • Saint Paul's • Savannah State • Selma • Shaw • Simmons • South Carolina State • Southern • Southern (New Orleans) • Southern (Shreveport) • Southwestern Christian • Spelman • St. Augustine's • Stillman • Storer • Straight • Talladega • Tennessee State • Texas College • Texas Southern • Tougaloo • Tuskegee • UDC • UVI • Virginia State • Virginia Union • Virginia, Lynchburg • Voorhees • West Virginia State • Wilberforce • Wiley • Winston-Salem State • Xavier

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Albany State • Benedict • Clark Atlanta • Fort Valley State • Kentucky State • Lane • LeMoyne–Owen^† • Miles • Morehouse • Paine^† • Stillman • Tuskegee ^† non-football member