Clark Atlanta University

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Clark Atlanta University is a comprehensive, private, urban, coeducational institution of higher education with predominantly African-American heritage. It offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees and certificate programs to students of diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The University was established in 1988 through the consolidation of its two parent institutions, Atlanta University (1865), the nation's first institution to award graduate degrees to African Americans, and Clark College (1869), the nation's first four-year liberal arts college to serve a primarily African-American student population.
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 before the 1988 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.
Clark Atlanta University will accomplish its mission and achieve its vision by adhering to a practical, university-wide strategic plan developed to facilitate institutional growth, expand institutional capacity, and optimize fiscal, organizational, and human resources.
The A.U.C. Woodruff Library is also home to the Archives Research Center, which is noted for its extensive and unique holdings of materials on the African American experience, including the John Henrik Clarke Africana and African American Collection, the Henry P. Slaughter and Countee Cullen Memorial Collection, and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Collection. Also, at the request of Morehouse College, the library serves as custodian of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection.
At Clark Atlanta University, we offer an ideal learning environment that produces recognized leaders empowered to change their communities, the nation, and the world. It is time for you to become part of the tradition that spans nearly three centuries to begin creating solutions for the next century.
Clark Atlanta University offers 38 different graduate and non-degree certificate programs through our four schools: Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, Education, and Social Work. These schools are focused on leadership development, professional ethics, and the highest caliber of instruction and research excellence. Be empowered and prepared with a graduate degree from C.A.U. for today's global economy.
The mission of the Division of Research and Sponsored Programs (R.S.P.) is to provide leadership in the establishment of partnerships between the faculty, the institution, and its constituents, the facilitation of technology transfer and commercialization, and the development and implementation of the operational processes and policies of the research enterprise at C.A.U. Including the delivery of pre- and post-award services. This mission is realized by delivering value-added, "one-stop" support and management throughout the research and sponsored programs process through the collaboration of research administration, C.A.U. Research enterprise and technology transfer and commercialization efforts.
At Clark Atlanta University, we believe that research and education cannot be decoupled. Research and scholarly activity at C.A.U. are essential in providing a world-class educational experience for our students. The Division of Research and Sponsored Programs seeks to leverage the diverse skills and expertise of our students, faculty, researchers, and staff to foster the growth of the research enterprise, provide exceptional research and educational experiences for our students, and make significant discoveries and contributions to the knowledge of humankind.
Atlanta University, founded in 1865 by the American Missionary Association, with subsequent 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 public schools across the South. In 1929-1930, the institution began offering graduate education exclusively in various liberal arts areas, and the social and natural sciences. It gradually added professional programs in social work, library science, and business administration. During this period, the institution was associated with Spelman and Morehouse colleges 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.
The story of the Atlanta University Center over the next 20 years includes significant developments. The schools of library science, education, and business administration were established in 1941, 1944, and 1946. The Atlanta School of Social Work, long associated with the University, gave up its charter in 1947, to officially become part of the University. One of the founding faculty in the School of Social Work was W.E.B. Du Bois, who wrote his most influential works during the 23 years he spent at Atlanta University, from 1897-1910 on the faculty of the history and economics departments, and later, from 1934-1944 as chair of the sociology department.
Clark College was founded in 1869 as Clark University by the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which later would become the United Methodist Church. The University today celebrates its historical bond with the denomination. Clark University was named for Bishop Davis W. Clark, the first president of the Freedmen's Aid Society, and became bishop in 1864. The first Clark College class was housed in a sparsely furnished room in Clark Chapel, a Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta's Summer Hill section. In 1871, the school relocated to a newly purchased property at Whitehall and McDaniel streets. In 1877, the school was chartered as Clark University.

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