Clark Atlanta University

Coordinates: 33°45′3″N 84°24′37″W / 33.75083°N 84.41028°W

Clark Atlanta University

Clark Atlanta University Seal
Motto	"I'll Find a Way or Make One" (Atlanta University); "Culture for Service" (Clark College)[1]
Type	Private, HBCU[2]
Established	July 1, 1988 Atlanta University (1865) Clark College (1869)
Affiliation	United Methodist Church
Endowment	$66.7 million[3]
President	Ronald A. Johnson, Ph.D.[4]
Students	3,458[5]
Location	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Campus	Urban, 126 acres (0.5 km^2)
Colors	Red, black, gray[6]
Athletics	NCAA Division II[6]
Nickname	Black Panther[6]
Affiliations	SIAC[6]
Website	www.cau.edu

Clark Atlanta University is a private, historically black university in Atlanta, in the U.S. state of Georgia. 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 Fund (UNCF) and is the largest institution in the Atlanta University Center Consortium.

History

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 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 towards the liberal arts.

Atlanta University

An African American student art exhibition at Atlanta University in the mid-20th century.

Atlanta University, founded in 1865 by the American Missionary Association, with later assistance from the Freedmen's Bureau, 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 forensis. 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 Center.

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. 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, and through the work of Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, a member of the center.

Clark College

Clark College was founded in 1869 by of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which later became the United Methodist Church. It 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. 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.

Campus

Clark Atlanta University's main campus houses 37 buildings (including an art gallery) on 126 acres (0.5 km²) and is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the center of Atlanta.

Residential facilities

• Pfeiffer Hall
• Holmes Hall
• Merner Hall
• Bumstead Hall – vacant for renovations
• Ware Hall
• Beckwith Hall
• 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

^[7]

Academics

University rankings
National
U.S. News & World Report[8]	RNP
Washington Monthly[9]	161[10]
Global

Clark Atlanta offers undergraduate and graduate degrees through the following schools:

• School of Arts & Science
• School of Business
• School of Education
• School of Social Work

Clark Atlanta was ranked on the 2014 list of The Washington Monthly of "Best Colleges and Universities" and the list of US News & World Report of top historically black colleges and universities (No. 18).^[11]

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.^[12]

Student life

Athletics

Clark Atlanta University, known athletically as the Panthers, are competing within the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Division II. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

Marching band

The university's marching band is known as the Mighty Marching Panther Band. The "Essence of CAU" is the dance line featured with the marching band.

National fraternities and sororities

All nine of the National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations currently have chapters at Clark Atlanta University. Other organizations currently registered on campus include Sigma Alpha Iota, Gamma Sigma Sigma, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Tau Beta Sigma and Gamma Phi Delta.

National Pan-Hellenic Council

Organization	Chapter	Founded	Status	Notes
Alpha Phi Alpha	Alpha Phi (ΑΦ)	January 28, 1927	Cease and Desist
Alpha Kappa Alpha	Alpha Pi (ΑΠ)	May 21, 1930	Active	First undergraduate chapter chartered in South Atlantic Region
Kappa Alpha Psi	Gamma Kappa (ΓΚ)	November 23, 1948	Suspended
Omega Psi Phi	Beta Psi (BΨ)	December 22, 1923	Active	First fraternity chartered on the campus of Clark College
Delta Sigma Theta	Sigma (Σ)	May 6, 1931	Active	First and oldest chapter in the South
Phi Beta Sigma	Psi (Ψ)	December 27, 1935	Active
Zeta Phi Beta	Psi (Ψ)	January 17, 1931	Active
Sigma Gamma Rho	Phi (Φ)	1951	Inactive
Iota Phi Theta	Epsilon Beta (EB)	2000	Inactive

Student media

The CAU Panther is the student newspaper

WCLK

CAU operates WCLK (91.9 FM), a jazz radio station.

Notable alumni

See also Clark Atlanta University alumni

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

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).

James Weldon Johnson AU, Class of 1894

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Ralph Abernathy	1951	Civil rights activist	[13]
Marvin S. Arrington, Sr.	1963	Politician and jurist	[14]
Bryan Barber	1996	Director of the 2006 film Idlewild	[15]
Hamilton Bohannon		songwriter and record producer, who was one of the leading figures in 1970s disco music
Joseph Bouie, Jr.		member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 97 in Orleans Parish since 2014; retired faculty member and administrator at Southern University at New Orleans, received Ph.D. from Clark Atlanta	[16]
Aki Collins	1997	Assistant coach with the Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball team	[17]
Kenya Barris		Creator and executive producer of ABC's Black-ish	[18]
Marva Collins	1957	Educator; founder and director of the Westside Preparatory School in Chicago, Illinois	[1]
Dewey W. Knight, Jr.	1957	first Black department director and the only black Deputy County Manager in Miami-Dade County	[1]
Mary Frances Early	1957	First African-American graduate of the University of Georgia	[19]
Wayman Carver		Composer; first person to use extensive use of the flute in jazz
Amanda Davis		News anchor at WAGA (Fox5) in Atlanta, Georgia	[20]
Pearl Cleage		Author	[21]
DJ Drama		Music producer
Henry O. Flipper		First black graduate of West Point	[22]
C. Hartley Grattan	1923	Economist, historian	[23]
Grace Towns Hamilton	1927	First African American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly	[24]
James A. Hefner	1962	Economist
Fletcher Henderson	1920	Pianist, band leader and composer	[25]
New Jack		Professional wrestler
Alexander Jefferson	1942	Retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and a member of the Tuskegee Airmen	[26]
Robert R. Jennings		President of Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University
Henry C. "Hank" Johnson	1976	U.S. Congressman, Georgia 4th District	[27]
James Weldon Johnson	1904	Writer	[21]
Otis Johnson	1969	Mayor of Savannah, Georgia	[28]
Bomani Jones	2001	Sportswriter, Co-Host of Highly Questionable
Kenny Leon	1978	Tony Award winning Broadway and film director. Former artistic director of Atlanta's Alliance Theatre	[21]
Lucy Craft Laney		Educator, opened the first school for black children in Augusta, Georgia in the late 19th century
Curtis Johnson	2008	former NFL linebacker
Walt Landers		former NFL player
Greg McCrary		former NFL tight end
Emmanuel Lewis	1997	Actor
Martha S. Lewis		Government official in New York City and state	[29]
Evelyn G. Lowery		American civil rights activist and leader; marched in the historic Selma to Montgomery March
Mason "Mase" Durrell Bethea		Rapper
Major Owens		Librarian, U.S. Congressman (New York)
Harry Pace	1903	African-American recording pioneer, founder of Black Swan Records, Insurance executive	[30]
Valeisha Butterfield Jones	2000	Founder and CEO of the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN), political strategist, youth and women’s activist, author and media personality	[31]
Eva Pigford		Model/actress; winner of America's Next Top Model Cycle 3
Nnegest Likke		Movie director and screenwriter
Jacque Reid	1995	Journalist
Pernessa C. Seele		Immunologist and the CEO and founder of Balm in Gilead, Inc.	[32]
C. Lamont Smith		Sports agent, the founder and president of All Pro Sports and Entertainment
Morris Stroud	1969	Former professional football player
Bobby Wilson	2004	Singer better known by his stage name Bobby V
Phuthuma Nhleko		CEO of the MTN Group
Jo Ann Robinson	1948	Civil rights activist
Leighton P. "Walshy Fire" Walsh		DJ, producer and member of Major Lazer
Horace T. Ward		Judge and first black student to legally challenge segregation in higher education in the Deep South	[21]
Walter Francis White	1916	NAACP leader
Hosea Williams		Civil rights activist	[33]
Madaline A. Williams		First black woman elected to the New Jersey state legislature	[34]
Louis Tompkins Wright		First black surgeon to head the Department of Surgery at Harlem Hospital in New York City	[21]
Richard R. Wright	1876	First black Paymaster in the U.S. Army and first president of Savannah State University	[35]
Ella Gaines Yates		First African-American director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
KD		Singer-songwriter, record producer, rapper

Notable faculty

Name	Department	Notability	Reference
Alfred Msezane		Physics Professor	[36]
Ariel Serena Hedges Bowen		Music Professor
Carlton E. Brown	Administration	President Clark Atlanta University
W.E.B. Du Bois	Sociology	Scholar, author, and civil rights activist	[37]
Mary Frances Early	Music	The first African American graduate of the University of Georgia	[38]
Robert D. Bullard	Sociology	Ware Professor of Sociology, Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center, and regarded by many as the "father of environmental justice."	[39]
Virginia Lacy Jones		One of the first African-Americans to earn a PhD in the Library Sciences
Whitman Mayo		Drama Professor
Henry Ossawa Tanner		The first African American painter to gain international acclaim.	[40]
J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr.		Mathematician and nuclear scientist
Whitney M. Young Jr.		Dean of Social Work, prior to becoming Executive Director of National Urban League

See also

• Clark Atlanta University faculty
• List of historically black colleges of the United States

References

Notes

1. "Clark Atlanta University". Retrieved 2008-02-25.
2. "List of HBCUs – White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities". August 16, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
3. "Clark Atlanta University". Best Colleges 2013. U.S. News & World Report, L.P. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
4. "Clark Atlanta University". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
5. http://www.cau.edu/about/cau-quick-facts.html
6. "Men's Basketball Facts". Retrieved 2008-01-25.
7. http://www.cau.edu/studentaffairs/residence-life.html
8. "Best Colleges". U.S. News & World Report LP. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
9. "2015 National Universities Rankings". Washington Monthly. n.d. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
10. "2014 National Universities Rankings". Washington Monthly. n.d. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
11. "Historically Black Colleges and Universities Ranking". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
12. "2010 Annual Report" (PDF). Clark Atlanta University. p. 3. Retrieved 2010-10-08.
13. Kirkland, W. Michael (April 27, 2004). "Ralph Abernathy (1926–1990)". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Athens, GA: Georgia Humanities Council. OCLC 54400935. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
14. "Page not found - The HistoryMakers". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
15. Bryan Barber at the Internet Movie Database
16. "Joseph Bouie, Jr.". house.louisiana.gov. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
17. "Aki Collins". Marquette University Athletics. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
18. "Kenya Barris". HBCUDigest. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
19. "Mary Frances Early". Fox Television Stations, Inc. Retrieved May 15, 2005.
20. "Amanda Davis". Fox Television Stations, Inc. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
21. Clowney, Earle D. (August 24, 2004). "Clark Atlanta University". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Athens, GA: Georgia Humanities Council. OCLC 54400935. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
22. "Second Lieutenant Hennry O. Flipper: First Black Graduate of West Point". U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
23. "In Memoriam – C. Hartley Grattan". University of Texas. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
24. Graham, Lawrence Otis (1999). Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class. Harper Perennial. p. 339. ISBN 978-0-06-098438-0.
25. Hill, Ian (December 20, 2005). "Fletcher Henderson (1897–1952)". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Athens, GA: Georgia Humanities Council. OCLC 54400935. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
26. "Alexander Jefferson Biography". thehistorymakers.com. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
27. "Congressman Hank Johnson Georgia's Fourth Congressional District". Retrieved 2008-02-25.
28. "Biography – Who is Dr. Otis S. Johnson?". Retrieved 2008-02-25.
29. Lewis, Martha S., Obituary, Albany Times Union, found by searching Legacy.com Obituary web site. Accessed April 15, 2008.
30. Harry Pace
31. Valeisha Butterfield Jones
32. "Pernessa C. Seele". time.com. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
33. Clark Atlanta University from the New Georgia Encyclopedia Online (March 24, 2006). Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
34. "Mrs. Madaline A. Williams Dies". The New York Times. December 15, 1968. p. 86. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
35. "New Georgia Encyclopedia". Retrieved 2007-08-30.
36. "Alfred Msezane - The HistoryMakers". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
37. Derrick P. Alridge: W. E. B. Du Bois in Georgia from the New Georgia Encyclopedia Online (January 8, 2010). Retrieved on 2011-07-21.
38. "University of Georgia To Honor First Black Graduate".
39. Dicum, Gregory. "Meet Robert Bullard, the father of environmental justice". Grist.org. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
40. "Henry Ossawa Tanner". Archived from the original on January 10, 2006. Retrieved July 21, 2012.

Further reading

• 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.

External links

• Official website