UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When architectural engineering alumnus Phil Clark graduated from Penn State in 1987, he worked for several construction companies over the first few years of his career, but he always harbored an ambition to start his own company one day. When his employer was downsizing in 1991, he decided to take the leap and co-found Claris Design+Build, a design and build company with four branch locations and expertise in many sectors.
A licensed architect, Clark has always credited his success in part to his Penn State architectural engineering education, and now he and his company are giving back through the Claris Construction Early Career Professorship in Architectural Engineering at Penn State.
“My Penn State degree in architectural engineering gave me a strong foundation for my career,” Clark said. “Claris Design+Build is impressed by the caliber of students, faculty and leadership in the department, and we are excited to help support an early career professor in teaching the next generation of architectural engineering students.”
Early career professorships provide financial resources for faculty members in the first decade of their careers to actively undertake research and sustain their growth as educators. The recipient will be an early career faculty member of the Department of Architectural Engineering “whose research, teaching and scholarship focus on either design/build construction or integrated digital delivery,” according to the professorship guidelines.
Claris Design+Build is establishing the professorship with a $400,000 pledge. The company's commitment will leverage a $100,000 match from Penn State as part of the University's Faculty Endowment Challenge, creating an initial endowment value of $500,000.
“This endowment will enable our department to continue to support our early career faculty as they make new contributions to the field of architectural engineering and share their knowledge with our students,” said Jim Freihaut, interim head of the Department of Architectural Engineering. “We are grateful to Claris Design+Build for their generosity and recognizing the potential of our faculty, students and department.”
This gift marks the second significant gift from Claris Design+Build, with the first being a scholarship to support former Sandy Hook Elementary School students attending Penn State. It also builds on Clark’s history of giving back on a personal level, as he has shared his time and expertise with the Penn State Department of Architectural Engineering over the years, speaking with students and faculty about the industry and serving on the department’s Industrial and Professional Advisory Council.
With the record-breaking success of “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” which raised $2.2 billion from 2016 to 2022, philanthropy is helping to sustain the University’s tradition of education, research and service to communities across the commonwealth and around the globe. Scholarships enable our institution to open doors and welcome students from every background, support for transformative experiences allows our students and faculty to fulfill their vast potential for leadership, and gifts toward discovery and excellence help us to serve and impact the world we share. To learn more about the impact of giving and the continuing need for support, visit raise.psu.edu.