Challenge. Change.

College orientation begins with a call to action: Get involved. Students are urged to try as many clubs, organizations, and activities as possible — at Clark, there are more than 120 to explore. As students find their niche, however, it may be difficult to know when to pull back and streamline their lives. 

Kamala Kiem, associate provost for student success and dean of students, has some advice for Clarkies who find themselves in that predicament. “Growing up, my dad told me that sometimes you have to take a step backward to leap forward. Some of the most courageous decisions I've made in life required taking a step backward,” she says. “Knowing your values, knowing your purpose, knowing what you're trying to do in this world are key to discerning how to spend your time.”

Kamala Kiem shares tools to help first-year students explore their identity and passions on campus and in the city of Worcester. 

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Why are humans so drawn to fiction? It’s a question philosophy Professor Wiebke Deimling has researched, and a query that applies well to “Barbie,” the summer blockbuster that follows the iconic plastic doll as she travels from Barbie Land to the “real world” in search of answers after experiencing “irrepressible thoughts of death.” 

“The film gives a pretty heavy answer: We engage in fiction because the real world is super hard to deal with,” says Deimling. “There's an interesting layer to that concept in the Barbie movie, because it explores both Barbie as a fictional character, but also this prop that we use to make fictional worlds.” Deimling analyzes Barbie’s existential crisis. Fiction is an important part of human nature, she says, because it allows people to imagine experiences they’ll never have in real life — like seeing Barbie and Ken rollerblading along Venice Beach. 

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Throughout their years at Clark University, the Class of 2023 has performed at the iconic Carnegie Hall; brought home two divisional championships in the National Esports Collegiate Conference finals; released a documentary film highlighting the values and voices of Brazilian immigrant communities in Massachusetts; and used of GIS technology to aid recovery efforts following the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

President David B. Fithian ’87 listed these accomplishments at the 119th Commencement ceremony, where 1,300 students received degrees. The graduating class can be characterized by its resilience — students adapted to a new style of learning during the pandemic.

Undergraduate student speaker Glory Phipps ’23, a philosophy major, compared her class’s journey to that of a rose growing from concrete, an analogy inspired by a poem written by the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

“We made it through by focusing on our passions. We fought for issues we believed in. We began to use our voices for the greater good,” said Phipps. “We blossomed into leaders. We created a new culture that encourages community and care across all groups and walks of life. We became the rose that grew from concrete.”

On this episode of Challenge. Change., hear a recap of the May 21 ceremony, including remarks from Fithian, Phipps, graduate student speaker Idriss Laouali Abdou, MBA ’23, and commencement speaker Robert D. Putnam, the Malkin Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government and a renowned author.

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

With high interest rates and inflation dominating headlines over the last year, Shorena Giorgadze ’23, an economicsmajor, decided to do a deep dive into the Federal Reserve for her honors thesis. Giorgadze examined how the Fed communicates with citizens, including the tools and methods it favors for imparting information, such as forward guidance. On this episode of Challenge. Change., Giorgadze explains what she learned while researching her thesis, for which she earned a high honors distinction, and offers advice to her Gen Z peers.

“Forward guidance is how the Fed decides to communicate with the public. I investigated the idea of the Fed being transparent and communicating what they may or may not do, and how that influences financial markets,” she says. “Historically, the Fed has made a conscious effort to become more and more transparent. We will see whether it continues this trend or takes a step back.”

Giorgadze appears in 23 for ’23, a feature that explores graduates’ Clark journeys and their next adventures. After the May 21 commencement, Giorgadze is beginning a job at Lord, Abbett & Co., an investment management firm.

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Professor Cailin Marcel Manson’s love of music and performance blossomed in his youth, signing gospel in the German Lutheran congregation he belonged to in Philadelphia. Manson, the director of Clark’s music program, is a recognized classical musician and conductor who has performed internationally. While Manson is known to listen to Beethoven in his car, he also enjoys singing along with funk and pop icon Chaka Khan. On and off the stage, he champions diverse voices and talent. 

Manson marked 20 years as a conductor this spring with a performance at the historic Carnegie Hall in New York City, where he led a 152-voice choir, which included the Clark University Choir, in a rendition of Verdi’s Requiem.

“I remind students all the time, you don't know what the audience is coming into the room with. That's terrifying and beautiful at the same time,” says Manson. “The one thing you can guarantee is that people will know when you're phoning it in. They will know when you are not fully invested as a performer. If you fully invest, you invite them to fully invest themselves in receiving the performance.” 

Watch a YouTube video of the recent Carnegie Hall performance. 

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts. 

For a group of Clark students, producing original short films this semester proved to be a lesson in community, collaboration, and creativity.

Students created two films, “Long Play” and “Kill Your Babies,” in a digital filmmaking course with screen studies Professor Soren Sorensen. The course brings students with diverse backgrounds in the arts together to work collectively on a film project while studying theory and practice. This semester, the selected genre was film noir. The workshop gives students the chance to direct, produce, act, edit, and more.

Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui ’24 directed and Emily Haithwaite ’23 produced “Long Play.” Teslote Debebe ’23 directed and Annie Lynch ’23 produced “Kill Your Babies.” In this episode of Challenge. Change., the four share the triumphs and challenges of creating their films.  

“Communicating with eight people at once to ensure you’re all making the same film is what I feel the director's role boils down to,” says Pradhan Wong Ah Sui. “It’s challenging, but also super fun and rewarding at the same time, especially when working with people I love.”

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

English Professor Spencer Tricker enjoys the study of divided loyalties. When a person explores the dynamic between their conflicting allegiances, it often leads to an inner tug-of-war. Tricker experienced this while growing into his identity as a mixed-race person raised in the United States and Hong Kong. It’s also a research subject. Tricker is working on a book project about transpacific migration from Asia to the U.S., studying the impact of cosmopolitan rhetoric in an area historically connected to military conflicts such as World War II and the Philippine-American, Korean, and Vietnam wars.

In the classroom, coming-of-age narratives are a vehicle for studying divided loyalties. “Most of us have this complex and continuous movement within ourselves, oscillating between different positions. I think that's especially true for students transitioning from childhood to adulthood,” says Tricker. “When we look at these narratives, I encourage students to decide which competing allegiances are worth pursuing.”

During the episode, Tricker references the book "Bitter in the Mouth" by Monique Truong and the students interviewed refer to the films Booksmart, Freaky Friday, and the Percy Jackson book series.

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

A little bit electronic, with a touch of world music, and a whole lot of Latin jazz. This is the music of Omar Sosa, a Grammy-nominated Cuban composer and pianist and the subject of a feature-length documentary by Clark screen studies Professor Soren Sorensen. The film is a project 10 years in the making, and over time, Sorensen and Sosa developed a friendship. 

“We have some stuff in common and some stuff absolutely not in common — I grew up in Connecticut, he grew up in Cuba,” says Sorensen. “We have similar taste in music and similar curiosity about the world and about each other.”

In this episode, Sorensen and Sosa explore the difference between a great musician and a great artist, the subtle communication behind improvisatory music, and the spirituality of Sosa’s performances. 

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Jonathan Hack ’09, director of content and strategy for the Justice, Health, and Democracy Impact Initiative at Harvard University, sees a juxtaposition when comparing the current Supreme Court to the Supreme Court of Earl Warren, who served as chief justice from 1953 to 1969. In the 50s and 60s, the court expanded rights in America, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Last year, the nation saw the court rescind the right to abortion in its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Hack joined Challenge. Change. last year to examine judicial decision making in the Dobbs case. On this episode, Hack briefs listeners on cases before the court this session, including challenges to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.

“The question is, what is the role of the Supreme Court, and should the court be making the decisions that it's making,” says Hack. “We have defaulted as society over the course of our years under the U.S. Constitution to viewing the court as that final arbiter as the traditional forms of law making have made it harder and harder to see bills become law.”

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Ed Greig ’23, MFA ’24, an interactive media major in the Becker School of Design and Technology program, attended the PAX East gaming convention on a mission: to find out how gamers, developers, and students define a great game. Greig roamed the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center with a recorder in hand, determined to find an answer.

One developer insisted the best games are ones that try something new and commit to it. For another, the best games provide a “spark of magic,” fully immersing the player into storytelling, combat, or worldbuilding.

“Broadly, I think a good video game is something I can sink my time into, something that really hooks me,” says Greig. “And that could be for any genre or any platform.”

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.