Clark University in Worcester has named Sebastián Royo as its next provost and vice president of academic affairs, effective July 1, the school announced on Wednesday.
Royo is vice president of international affairs and a professor of political science at Suffolk University in Boston, where he has worked for 23 years. He will succeed Davis Baird, who is retiring from Clark after serving in the role since 2010.
“This is a mission-critical position, particularly at this time when we are setting our course for our future as a university, and we could not have found a more perfect fit both for carrying out the responsibilities of the provost and seizing the unlimited opportunity that lies ahead,” said Clark President David Fithian, in a statement.
The funds are designated for an array of music education programs in and around the school.
Among them are an endowed chair in music, a scholarship for undergraduate students majoring in or planning to major in music, a neighborhood children’s music fund to support activities and programs that promote music education and exposure for children in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood, and an eponymous music concert series for the Clark community.
“She often expressed her gratitude for receiving a financial package that allowed her to attend Clark and sparked a deep and abiding appreciation for the university and its mission,” President Fithian wrote in a statement announcing the gift. “I know you join me in extending gratitude and appreciation to Tina Sweeney, posthumously, for this wonderfully generous gift to Clark, which will have a very positive impact on our students and on youth in our neighborhood.”
WORCESTER Clark University plans to continue using parts of Becker College’s Worcester campus as it takes over the closing institution s video game programs next year.
Clark President David Fithian said Clark intends to lease both Becker’s Colleen C. Barrett Center at 80 Williams St. and Weller Academic Center at 61 Sever St. The university may also lease a residence hall in the area, depending on how many students enroll in the program next year.
The arrangement will allow students who are currently pursuing a gaming degree at Becker to be able to continue their studies at the campus.
Clark, meanwhile, plans to configure its existing Main Street campus to eventually subsume the program, which it is calling the Becker School of Design & Technology.
Just days after Clark University in Worcester announced it would establish the Becker School of Design & Technology, aimed at absorbing a portion of programming at Becker College, which is closing after the spring semester, Clark has received $250,000 in seed funding for the initiative.
The funding was provided by several Worcester-based foundations, including The Fuller Foundation, according to an announcement from the school. Clark did not detail other organizations involved in providing the funds.
“Clark is grateful for this early support and for the confidence these Worcester leaders have in the future of the Becker School of Design & Technology,” said Clark University president David Fithian, in a statement. “This helps us set the Becker School on a solid course for decades to come.”
Telegram & Gazette
WORCESTER Becker College, whose origins date to the late 1700s, will close at the end of the academic year.
The school last month made it clear that its future was in doubt, owing to financial struggles caused in large part by the pandemic.
On Monday, Christine Cassidy, chairwoman of the Board of Trustees, confirmed what students and neighbors of its campuses in Worcester and Leicester had hoped to avoid.
In a post on the Becker College website, she wrote: It is with deep regret that I share the news that on March 28, the Board of Trustees voted to permanently close Becker College at the end of the current academic year. The College will provide academic, support and transitional services to students through August 31, 2021. Following an orderly transition, classes will not resume in the Fall.