2021 Power 50: David Fithian
David Fithian, president of Clark University
Company Clark University, in Worcester
Residence Worcester
Colleges Clark University, Yale University See the rest of the Power 50, Class of 2021
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David Fithian had a lot to be excited about when he was named the leader of his alma mater in January 2020. Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and police actions during racial equality protests in the summer forced Clark University to stop using off-duty Worcester police officers.
Despite those challenges, Fithian has jumped into his new job full force and appears to be taking the 134-year-old Main South institution with 3,272 students and a $450-million endowment to the next level. Clark went partially remote for last fall’s semester, and in the wake of the planned closure of Worcester’s Becker College, Clark said it would absorb Becker’s nationally ranked video game design and esports programs as the new Becker School of Design & Technology at Clark University.
Fithian has spoken ambitiously about the direction he wants to take his alma mater. A post-pandemic school year should give him the opportunity.
What do you think the future holds for Central Mass.? “When I was a student at Clark in the 1980s, I couldn’t have imagined the remarkable renaissance taking place in Worcester today. I’m not sure even a decade ago I would have seen the potential envisioned by the city’s administration and business leaders.”
A president and a farmer: Fithian and his husband, Michael Rodriguez, breed and raise Friesian horses on a farm in Southeast Massachusetts.
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