Blue Devil of the Week: Helping Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Realize Its Dreams

Name: Chris Clarke

Title: Senior Assistant Vice President for Trinity College and Graduate School Development

Years at Duke: 13

What he does: Clarke spends most of his days in conversation. Half of Clarke’s job involves meeting with Trinity College of Arts & Sciences administration, staff, faculty and students to determine the school’s academic needs and opportunities. The rest is working with the Office of University Development to raise funds for student programs, faculty support, capital projects and Trinity’s Annual Fund. 

With 32 academic departments within Trinity, there’s a lot of ground for Clarke to cover. He spends about 40 percent of his time traveling across the country and internationally to meet with potential donors. The bulk of Clarke's time is spent visiting cities that have a large Duke community like New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and the occasional trip to London.  

“It’s about getting to know your donors on a personal level in order to learn where they would want to spend their time, energy and resources,” Clarke said. “Then you marry that with opportunities that exist at Duke.” 

One program born from a partnership with a donor was the Duke Technology Scholars Program. An anonymous parent donated $1.5 million to help innovate Duke’s course offerings in computing and encourage more underrepresented students to pursue careers in computer science and electrical and computer engineering. The donation resulted in the creation of the Duke Technology Scholars Program, which Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering launched. 

Using the donation, Clarke and his colleagues traveled to Silicon Valley, Chicago and Research Triangle Park to raise additional funds and to set-up technical internships for Duke students. 

“As a leader in the tech industry that donor recognized the lack of diversity within computing,” Clarke said. “At the same time the donor saw Duke as the place to address this challenge both locally and nationally. We saw this as  a perfect marriage.” 

What he loves about Duke: Clarke has fallen in love with Duke’s innovative culture as represented in both the academic departments and programs as well as a  host of interdisciplinary programs. One in particular is the Information Initiative at Duke, a program designed to increase computational research, and Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship, which allows students to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities within a major. 

“We’re nimble, creative and resourceful,” Clarke said. 

A memorable time at work: While working as the associate dean at the Pratt School of Engineering, Clarke helped launch the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge Scholars Program in partnership with Tom Katsouleas, then dean of Pratt. 

The program, launched in 2010, supported  approximately 20 students per year who would integrate research, interdisciplinary ideas, innovation and service into the education process in order to address one of engineering’s 14 grand challenges. The National Academy of Engineering identified challenges of societal importance like cybersecurity and economical solar energy that require solutions of a multifaceted nature in order to achieve a more sustainable world. 

“It was an opportunity for the Duke brand to engage the world in conversations,” Clarke said. “It’s also very meaningful to see faculty, students, industry and political leaders come together for world class research and problem solving.”

Favorite object in his office: Sitting on Clarke’s desk is a snow globe paperweight containing two zebras and carvings of other animals. The globe was a gift from Clarke’s mother, who passed away in 2008.

“I take myself and my work too seriously at times,” he said. “It’s a whimsical piece that reminds me to ease up on that pressure.”

Best advice received: Clarke passes along his favorite piece of advice to coworkers working in development.

“You have to focus on your internal relationships as much as you focus on external relationships,” he said. “You never know who on this campus will have the ability to influence a student or an alumnus or perhaps spark a story or an experience that leads to a gift. Everyone has a role to play in building the university’s relationship with our donors.”

First-ever job: Clarke worked as a stock boy at a grocery store in Cincinnati. 

He lasted one day.

“I gathered grocery carts in the parking lot in 120-degree weather,” he said. “My gym shoes literally melted.”

Something most people don’t know about him: Clarke is a classically trained singer and was a Hall of Fame member of the Purdue University Varsity Glee Club while he was in college. He performed with the group in the Sydney Opera House, Westminster Abbey and National Cathedral. 

“I traveled with the university’s administration to perform at a lot of Alumni events,” Clarke said. “That’s what inspired me to pursue a career in alumni relations and development.”

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