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Robert Donald Clark, professor of speech, dean, author, public speaker, and university president, was born in Frontier County, Nebraska, in 1910. He received a B. A. in English (with a minor in History) from Pasadena College in 1931 and a M. A. in Speech from the University of Southern California in 1935. During this period he also taught Freshman Composition classes at Pasadena College (1931-1935 and 1937-1938), and was the pastor of the Riverside Nazarene Church for one year (1936). Clark earned his Ph.D. from USC while teaching speech, first at the College of the Pacific, Stockton Junior College (1939-1942), and subsequently at the University of Oregon (1943-1964), where he reinstated extracurricular debate in a program called Symposium. Clark earned his Ph.D. in 1946 with a dissertation entitled "The Platform and Pulpit Career and Rhetorical Theory of Bishop Matthew Simpson."

Around this same time, Clark began to involve himself in university administration at UO, accepting an appointment as Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) in 1947, which he retained until being selected as Dean of CLA in 1955. His administrative duties did not keep him from his writing, and in 1956 he published The Life of Matthew Simpson.

In 1961, Clark was named Dean of Faculties at UO, and three years later, he accepted the Presidency of San Jose State College (1964-1969), a period characterized by student unrest, racial tensions, and a faculty strike in late 1968. In 1969, he returned to the University of Oregon as its eleventh president, a position he held until his retirement in 1975. Clark was a popular president at both institutions, and was known for his dedication to the rights of students and curricular innovation. While at San Jose State, Clark established an interdisciplinary undergraduate education program called the New College, and at University of Oregon he worked on committees dedicated to similar ends. At the conclusion of his educational and administrative career, Clark was chosen as the namesake for the Robert D. Clark Honors College at UO in 1975.

After retirement, Clark continued to take an active role in the Eugene community, participating in local and international citizens' groups. He also continued to research and write numerous articles and books, including The Odyssey of Thomas Condon: Irish Immigrant, Frontier Missionary, Oregon Geologist, published in 1989. Robert D. Clark died June 28, 2005 at the age of 95.