Husson University’s president will retire in December 2024 after leading the school for more than a decade, the university announced Monday.
Robert Clark, 70, began his tenure as president and chief executive officer in January 2010. He replaced former President William Beardsley, who stepped down after more than 20 years.
Clark, who is from the Kennebec County town of Albion, was vice president of strategic initiatives and founding director of the University of Evansville’s Institute for Global Enterprise in Indiana before coming to Husson. He taught business courses at Butler University, the University of Tampa and the University of Vermont, and served in the U.S. Army.
Clark, whose career in higher education spans more than 40 years, is currently the longest-serving president of four-year colleges and universities in Maine. He oversaw the creation of Harold Alfond Hall, which became the business college’s new home in 2021, and a $38 million capital campaign to support staff development and scholarships, among other projects, during his tenure.
The capital campaign’s goal was $21 million, but it raised $38 million, Clark said. It allowed Husson to move forward with the construction of Harold Alfond Hall without debt, he said.
“I will always look back on my time at Husson with great fondness, and I take great pride in the fact that Husson’s next president will take over a thriving university that is growing its reach not only in Maine but across the country,” he said in a statement.
Clark was at the helm when Husson created campus facilities including the Wellness Learning Center in 2019, which helped the school almost double its first-year class of nursing students in a year, and the Wadleigh Academic Center in 2015. The academic center was designed to give athletes and other students a place to collaborate.
Strengthening Husson’s connections in greater Bangor as well as watching more than 10,000 students graduate and emerge as productive citizens are major accomplishments, Clark said during an interview Monday.
“That is what we see as our purpose of existence at Husson: making those transforming opportunities available to students,” he said, highlighting infrastructure changes on campus from academic buildings to student living spaces.
Demographic shifts, which are particularly pronounced in the Northeast, and staying relevant as an educational institution were challenges that Clark has had to navigate, he said. Of the 2.7 million high school students who graduated in the first nine months of 2021, roughly 62 percent were enrolled in college in October 2021, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In 2010, that enrollment rate was 68 percent.
College enrollment rates did not show a consistent trend from 2010 to 2018, but they declined from 2018 to 2021, data show. This is an ongoing challenge in higher education, but Husson has remained adaptable, Clark said.
“Because we have focused on the experiential nature of our professional programs at Husson, we have constantly evolved to keep them relevant to workforce development,” he said.
The university’s board of trustees will be responsible for hiring a new president. Clark chose to announce his retirement well in advance to give the board ample time to plan ahead, he said.
“What stands out most about Bob is he was all about the students,” said Daniel Hutchins, chair of Husson’s board of trustees. “Every waking hour, he was focused on how to make the student experience better.”