Director of Admissions Retires After 40 Years of Service
Alumni, friends, and family recently gathered to honor Director of Admissions
Pat Clark for her 40 years of service to Indiana University and the School of Law.
She will retire at the end of 2007.
Hundreds of well-wishers attended the Nov. 30 ceremony, sent e-mails, or left voicemail messages congratulating Clark. Current and former students around the world reminisced about their experiences of being accepted into law school. All were touched by the grace and personal care Clark provided.
Said Maryann Mukete of Cameroon, West Africa, "...what a wonderful feeling you must have knowing that your service has contributed to the well-being of a great school and to the lives of so many young people who have gone on to make significant contributions to our world! Thank you for your service to my school, to me, and to so many other students who have passed through its doors."
Clark, who arrived to Indiana Law in 1967 as a "naive" 18-year-old, discovered her first assignment would be working for legendary professor Jerome Hall. "A rather intimidating experience, to say the least," she said.
Without a designated position for Dean of Admissions, the responsibility fell to a faculty chair. "I had the good fortune to be mentored by and to have learned from the best," she said. Professors Bill Popkin, Harry Pratter, and Douglass Boshkoff also filled the role during Clark's tenure.
"I'll always remember fondly the conversations Harry and I had about admissions, but also about other events, particularly a lot of basketball," Clark said.
Later, when Indiana Law officially created the position for Dean of Admissions, Clark was supervised by Karen Cutright, Frank Motley, Kevin Robling, and current dean, Dennis Long. According to Long, those positions were merely "titular," as Clark was the real power behind the Office of Admissions.
Her duties and responsibilities quickly changed from performing clerical tasks to include counseling students, recruiting, reading and evaluating applications, and creating new programs and strategies for the Admissions Office. "I cannot say enough about those experiences and friendships and what they have meant to me and how they have allowed me to grow over the years," she said.
Clark said she has "literally grown up and grown with the Law School—through marriage, the birth of our son, the marriage of our son, and birth of our granddaughter." She is now looking forward to spending time with family and friends, vacationing in Florida, and "getting caught up on those things I have neglected over the last four decades."