Carolyn Clark, WSU Spokane, state director of the Small Business Development Center, has won the Association for Faculty Women’s Samuel H. Smith Leadership Award.
The fourth winner of the award, Clark has achieved several significant “firsts” for women at Washington State University. She was an early member of AFW and served as president from 1981-82.
Her nominees stressed both her excellence in teaching and her service to the university and women faculty. Clark joined WSU’s Department of Economics in 1973. She taught macro and monetary economics, receiving the Shell Undergraduate Teaching Award for Economics in 1983 and 1989. She was awarded the Marian E. Smith Faculty Achievement Award (formerly the Burlington Northern Award) in 1991.
In 1999, Clark moved to WSU-Spokane as the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) director. Under her leadership, annual SBDC funding has grown to $3.3 million. Its statewide network encompasses 10 new “remote” sites linked through modernized telecommunications, 30 business counseling and training centers in all parts of the state, and strong partnerships with Western Washington University and almost two dozen community colleges.
In recognition of her innovative use of technology throughout the state, Clark has been named chair of the National Association of Small Business Development Centers Task Force on Technology Used to Deliver Services to Small Businesses. At the state level, Gov. Gary Locke appointed her to the Council of Economic Advisors in 2001. She was an ex officio member of the Governor’s Small Business Improvement Council from 1999 to 2002.
Other accomplishments include:
• Member of the President’s Committee for Special Projects in Conjunction with the Association for Faculty Women, 1985-91. This committee led the way to development of yearly salary equity reviews; a sexual harassment policy and complaint system; a recruitment manual incorporating affirmative action guidelines; a partner accommodation program; more direct and frequent interaction between the president and the Commission on the Status of Women; and restructuring of the Women’s Resource and Research Center.
• First woman to chair the Faculty Senate in 1993-94.
• WSU faculty representative to the state Legislature in 1994-99, and chair of the Council of Faculty Representatives from 1997-99.
