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1st Annual ASOR Digs Calendar |
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Douglas R. Clark appointed Executive Director of ASOR | |
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| Arguably the most important decision made by the ASOR Board of Trustees in its November Atlanta meeting was its unanimous decision, on the recommendation of the search committee for a successor to Rudy Dornemann, to invite Douglas Clark to serve as ASOR's new Executive Director, starting January 1, 2004. After careful consideration, he thankfully agreed to serve. He has already taken up his responsibilities half-time until July 1, moving back and forth from Walla Walla, Washington, his current home, to Boston and Atlanta, where he is rapidly learning all he can about ASOR's operations, its joys and challenges. Clark says, "I love ASOR. I love what the organization stands for. I love to work with ASOR people. I also love what I feel ASOR can become. I have to say that I think ASOR is on the verge of greatness, poised to notch itself up to the next level." After a first try, the search committee and board agreed that Clark was the logical candidate to do that very thing. Clark sees himself as "helping to create an ethos for success well into the 21st century." His perceived strengths include his knowledge of ASOR from the inside, his stellar accomplishments with the annual meeting, his solid administrative skills and experience, including management of budgets and fundraising, his energy and optimism, a "can-do" attitude, his open, communicative style of dealing with people, and an even temperament to work with ASOR's wide variety of personalities. Currently Professor of Old Testament and Archaeology at Walla Walla College, where for eight years he served also as Dean of the School of Theology, Clark earned his Ph.D. in 1984 from Vanderbilt University with a dissertation on the book of Ezekiel. Ten years earlier he earned an M.Div. from Andrews University after getting his B.A. from Walla Walla College. Before coming to WWC, he served as a pastor and taught in Texas. Long active in archaeological field work (eleven seasons since 1973) as well as the profession, he is co-director of the Madaba Plains Project-'Umayri in Jordan. He has served ASOR as its chair of the Committee on the Annual Meeting and Program (CAMP) as well as on the editorial board of Near Eastern Archaeology (NEA) and, in addition to denominational scholarly responsibilities, has been active in AIA, SBL, and AAR. He spent 2001-2002 at ACOR in Jordan on a CAORC Senior Fellowship continuing his research on Iron I domestic housing. While at Walla Walla College, Clark received numerous grants, awards, and honors for his teaching and research. Active in publication, his CV contains well in excess of a hundred professional presentations, journal articles and contributions to books, his most recent being as co-editor (with Victor Matthews) of ASOR's Centennial Volume. Doug Clark and his wife, Carmen, who works in insurance/bookkeeping for a dental office, will be moving to Boston full time this coming summer whereupon Clark will assume his new ASOR responsibilities full-time. They leave behind in the Northwest two grown sons, one at the Primate Research Center at Oregon Health Science University, and the other a software engineer in Seattle who has given the Clarks a granddaughter and grandson. ASOR President Lawrence Geraty says, "I'm not surprised to see that Doug Clark is off and running, energized by the challenges ASOR faces. I'm convinced he's the right person for this time in ASOR's long and distinguished history. We welcome him to the task and we look forward to working with him to help bring about the potential that exists in ASOR for the benefit of its members and the profession." Lawrence
T. Geraty, ASOR President
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