Donald N. Clark | Professor

Donald N. Clark was born in South America and educated in international schools in Colombia, Japan, and Korea. He attended Whitworth College, Washington State University, and the University of Washington before earning his M.A. and Ph.D.at Harvard University.  Since 1978 he has been teaching courses on China, Japan, Korea, and U.S. Diplomatic History in the Trinity History Department. 

 Between 1991 and 2006 Don was Director of International Studies and in 1999 founded the University’s International Programs Office. Since 2006 he has been co-director, with Professor Stephen Field, of East Asian Studies at Trinity (the “EAST” Program, with special responsibility for grant management and direction of the EAST program’s initiative in outreach and teacher training in the San Antonio area (the NCTA program). He is past chair of the Board of Directors of the ASIANetwork, a national consortium for liberal arts colleges with small Asian Studies program, and for decades has served on various bodies of the Association for Asian Studies. 

Don Clark’s scholarly interest is focused on the Korean peninsula, where he has spent much of his life beginning with childhood as the son of Presbyterian missionaries.  His experience in South Korea includes service as a Peace Corps volunteer, Social Science Research Council Fellow, and three-time Fulbright scholar in addition to frequent participation in short-term projects and conferences. 

 His experience in North Korea includes work with the NGO Christian Friends of Korea, supporting tuberculosis control projects in the area between Pyongyang and the border with the South.  In addition to Korea-related teaching and scholarship Don is active with the University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea program, having taught on M/V Explorer several times as well as traveling on the ship as a frequent voyager. 

 Don’s earliest publications were two co-authored books on the history of Seoul city and a book on Korean Christianity.  His Harvard doctoral dissertation appeared in short form in Volume VIII of The Cambridge History of China.  He is the co-author or editor of many other Korea-related volumes and articles ranging from political studies to exhibition catalogues, as well as a Houghton Mifflin textbook entitled Modern East Asia.  Works published since 2000 include Culture and Customs of Korea (Greenwood), Living Dangerously in Korea (EastBridge), and Korea in World History.  His current work is on U.S.-Korean relations during the revolution and coup of 1960-61.

 During Trinity University's recent capital campaign he was honored by a donor who endowed a chair in Chinese business called the Richard M. Burr and Donald N. Clark Chair in Business Administration. In the early 1980s Burr and Clark together inspired the donor to launch what became a successful career in trade with China. The donor, who has asked to be anonymous, was one of the first Trinity students ever to study abroad in China. 
At Trinity Don serves on the International Studies Committee, the Faculty Senate, the EAST faculty team, the Library Activities Committee, and the Korean Students Association (KSA) as faculty advisor.

Publications

• Culture & Customs of Korea, Greenwood Press
• Living Dangerously in Korea: The Western Experience 1900-1950, EastBridge
• Modern East Asia, co-author Conrad Schirokauer; Houghton-Mifflin

                                                  

Contact