Clark Centennial Celebration, 1909-2009
In 2009, Clark University will host the Clark Centennial Celebration, the purpose of which is to examine the legacies and recreate the spirit of a series of conferences organized in 1909 by Clark's then president and pioneering psychologist G. Stanley Hall.
The 1909 Conferences
Clark University has a history of bringing together different sciences to examine human and social problems, and the psychology department has played a leading role in the synthesis of such ideas. By 1909, Clark University was one of America's foremost institutions of graduate education and had gained international prominence as a center of scholarship.
To observe the twentieth anniversary of the University's founding as the second graduate school in the United States, President G. Stanley Hall scheduled a series of conferences in July and August 1909. Hall intended the conferences to reflect the University's major areas of study: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, pedagogy, child welfare and international relations. He secured as participants scholars renowned in these fields. Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, William James, A. A. Michelson (Nobel Prize winner and chair of Physics at Clark) and Franz Uri Boas (anthropologist and former Clark professor) were some of the presenters.
Clark's distinguished reputation was part of the reason that Freud and Jung decided to speak here; they were relatively unknown while Clark was highly respected. Hall was well known as a pioneer among American psychologists and had previously corresponded with most leading scientists in Europe at the time—including Freud. As a result, Hall was able to get Freud to come deliver the only lectures he ever gave in the Western Hemisphere. Freud's lectures at Clark propelled him towards becoming the well-known figure that he is today because his lectures brought him to the attention of a much wider audience. (More information on the Freud and Jung lectures)
President Hall's vision for the 1909 conference and the legacies that emerged from it are still central to Clark's philosophy today: Challenge Convention, Change Our World.
The 2009 Centennial Celebration
The Centennial Celebration aims to consider the impact of the 1909 conferences on their respective fields and to take stock of current disciplines that in 1909 were still in formation. Now that pioneering science takes place around the world, centers of excellence are no longer limited to Europe and North America. And, like Clark, the social sciences have grown and changed profoundly over the 100 years. Of particular interest will be the role of psychology in the context of a world that is undergoing rapid change. We will consider two legacies from the 1909 conferences:
- how the conferences helped to transform the then existing disciplines and the role of science in ways that cut across national and cultural boundaries, and
- Hall's user-oriented vision centered on the unity of inquiry, learning, and teaching.
Another goal of the Centennial Celebration will be to examine how globalization affects the interplay between the sciences, social sciences and humanities. As psychologists, we will address more specifically:
- how psychology and the social sciences have to change in the face of global change but increasing localization;
- how learning and teaching within the disciplines, particularly psychology, are tied to user-based inquiry and research;
- how these larger issues can be tied back to local communities, social justice and social progress;
- how the previous questions feed into the Clark signature "Making a difference" and philosophy "Challenge Convention, Change Our World."