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Clark named director of environmental and sustainability initiatives

Nov. 30, 2021

Photo of Dr. Jay Clark

Dr. Jay Clark has been named director of environmental and sustainability initiatives at Maryville College.

Last month, the College announced the receipt of a major gift from MC alumni Dr. Dorsey D. “Dan” Ellis ’60 and Sondra Wagner Ellis ’60, for the purpose of creating a new staff position focused on environmental initiatives and sustainability. 

“This gift will enable us to build an even stronger identity as a college of the Great Smoky Mountains, linking student learning with our opportune location,” Maryville College President Dr. Bryan F. Coker wrote in a memo announcing the new appointment to the MC campus community on Nov. 30.

In this new position, which is effective Jan. 1, 2022, Clark will focus on supporting, centralizing and elevating the College’s environmental and sustainability efforts and programs by working collaboratively with faculty, staff, students and administration, as well as external partners. The position will also play a supporting role in advancement efforts and potential partnerships as they relate to the environment and sustainability, including strategic fundraising for a new science facility.

Clark is a familiar face on campus, having served as an adjunct instructor in biology since 2014. He also is an active and engaged participant in the local community.

He holds a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology from Oklahoma State University. He earned master of science and bachelor of science degrees from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, both in wildlife and fisheries science. He previously held a postdoctoral research fellowship at UTK, and his research interests focus on wildlife in the Great Smoky Mountains, particularly black bears.

Clark knows the state and region well, as a Winchester, Tenn., native and two-time candidate for the Tennessee State House in both 2018 and 2020. He resides in Rockford, Tenn., and is married to Stacy Clark, who serves as a research forester with the Southern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service. 

“While Dr. Clark received his undergraduate degree from UTK, he was actually a Maryville College student from 1992 to 1994 and has been a loyal and vocal advocate for MC ever since,” Coker wrote in the memo. “We are so glad he returned to serve as a faculty member, and now as the director of environmental and sustainability initiatives. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Clark to this new role, and once again, we are so thankful to Dan and Sondra Ellis, for making all of this possible.”

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”