Clark Foundation Invests $51.7M in Engineering

The University of Maryland has received $51.7 million in new philanthropic investments from its most generous benefactor, the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, to dramatically expand scholarships for promising engineering students and deepen academic collaborations with a network of other top engineering schools.

The support is the latest example of the transformational giving of the foundation, which ceased operations in December. In total, the Clark family, Clark Enterprises and Clark Foundation have contributed over $364 million to UMD, including more than $125 million to Forward: The University of Maryland Campaign for the Fearless, the new effort to raise a record $2.5 billion.

“It’s impossible to imagine the University of Maryland, or the landscape of this region, without the Clarks—both the generosity of the Clark family and the Clark Foundation, and the leadership and vision of A. James Clark himself, who was truly one of the great builders and philanthropists of our time,” says UMD President Darryll J. Pines. “These latest investments further strengthen the foundation of educational excellence they have helped construct.”

Clark credited a state scholarship with allowing him to afford his education in civil engineering at UMD. After graduating in 1950, he worked to grow Clark Construction into one of the largest firms of its kind in the nation. Remembering his roots, he made a $15 million donation to his alma mater in 1994 to support undergraduate engineering education; the A. James Clark School of Engineering was named in his honor.

Following his 2015 passing, the Clark Foundation committed a historic $219.5 million to UMD through its Building Together investment, which funded a sweeping array of need-based scholarships, graduate fellowships, endowed faculty chairs and capital projects. In 2023, a new $20.6 million investment established the Clark School as the permanent home of the Clark Scholars Program Network (above), which supports talented students with financial need at 11 top engineering schools.

The latest series of commitments includes $25 million for Clark Legacy Endowed Scholarships, which provide merit- and need-based scholarships for engineering undergraduates. The Clark Opportunity Transfer Scholars Program, supporting high-achieving engineering students who come to UMD from Maryland community colleges, also received supplementary funding for scholarships.

Additionally, the foundation’s investment will bolster the endowment for the university’s Clark Scholars Program and create new funds supporting scholars’ professional development, providing emergency funds and launching a philanthropy challenge, where scholars will annually award a local nonprofit. Further funding will support new and existing CSPN programming. The Clark Foundation has also entrusted UMD with maintaining its legacy website and a designated space in the new Stanley R. Zupnik Hall.

“We know that our partners at Maryland will use the investments to take the university to new heights of scholarship, innovation, exploration and excellence,” says Courtney Clark Pastrick, chair of the Clark Foundation’s board and the couple’s daughter.