Although Dr. Jim Clark and Anna Hackward Clark have been diligently serving UTM and the Martin community for over 30 years as both teachers and volunteers, they didn’t start out here.
They both grew up in the Midwest: Anna Hackward in Missouri and Jim Clark in Indiana. Clark received his academic start at DePauw University, a liberal arts college in Greencastle, Ind. Hackward began her academic career at Moberly Junior College in Moberly, Miss. Several years later, the couple met at the University of Missouri. Clark was working on his Ph.D. in Mathematics, while Hackward was finishing her bachelor’s degree and working towards her master’s in English, which she completed a couple of years later in 1973.
They married later that year in 1973. Dr. Clark taught at the University of Mississippi for a few years while she did some graduate work at the university before teaching junior high school in Oxford for several years.
It wasn’t until 1981 that they found themselves at UTM. By then, they had a 3-year-old daughter, Emily, and a 1-year-old son, Eric. Dr. Clark was given a full-time job in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, and Anna Clark, known as Ms. Clark to her students, received a job as an adjunct instructor in English. Both agree that UTM was a perfect fit for them and has treated them well.
The Clarks were at the forefront of pushing technology forward here at the university.
“We have seen such changes here on campus since we came, and one of the major things … is that the technology has just blossomed,” Anna Clark said.
Dr. Clark had come to UTM to teach computer science, and his expertise in the field positively affected his wife.
“Those of us in English really saw the future coming. We wanted computers in the Humanities … ‘computers for composition,’” Anna Clark said.
At that time, computers were only available to the Departments of Computer Science and Engineering. However, the Clarks, among others, watched computer labs grow as they pushed for more technology at the university. Anna Clark became a full-time instructor in 1986 as well as co-coordinator of the Hortense Parrish Writing Center, both jobs she still holds today. With Dr. Clark’s help, she learned how to work with the desktop publisher program that was in use at that time while also working to get more computers in the writing center.
UTM became one of the major leaders of student access to computers.
“It isn’t widely known but of the state universities [in Tennessee], UTM was the first to have Internet access in the dorms, I believe,” Dr. Clark said.
Besides their common interest in technology, the Clarks have been very involved in improving the community.
“We’ve both combined our interests for outreach and service. We really believe strongly in sharing and being involved,” Anna Clark said.
Both are members of the Kiwanis service group. In the past, they have also both served as presidents of Phi Kappa Phi. Other hobbies include attending plays at the Vanguard Theatre, biking, hiking and traveling, specifically on international travel-study trips.
“We’re never bored. Travel is a big deal for us. Jim’s always supported me. I’ve been the leader for the international trips. But he has supported me totally by either taking care of things on the home front or by going with me and assisting in a number of different ways. For a period of at least ten years, we were at the forefront of helping students travel,” Anna Clark said.
Some of their most recent travel-study trips include a journey to Ireland in 2008, Scotland in 2006 and Italy and France in 2005. They have additionally made several personal trips to Germany, Japan and other countries in recent years.
Furthermore, they agreed that [Martin’s] been a wonderful place to grow as a family.
Both of their children grew up here in Martin and graduated from Westview High School. Their daughter, Emily, majored in International Studies at Rhodes College in Memphis and now works in Boston for the support group, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. Their son, Eric, majored in English at UTM, where he also gained a proficiency in Japanese, and is now an educational adviser for the Board of Education in Sendai, Japan.
Dr. Clark, who taught for a total of 41 years, retired from teaching at the university in 2012. He now volunteers 2-3 days a week with AARP Tax-Aide and works out about 4-5 days a week at The Sideline gym. The year before last, he bicycled approximately 3,700 miles, averaging about ten miles per day.
Clark recently celebrated her 65th birthday and has no immediate plans to stop teaching. She earnestly expresses how fortunate she and Dr. Clark were to have been in a profession that they both loved and that has allowed them to be together.
Anna Clark shares this advice with UTM students.
“Make the most of every day. Make the most of your experience here [at UTM]. Take as much from every class that you can possibly take. Be involved. Get involved. Look at the possibilities. Open your minds for new experiences and travel. Look beyond, go to those horizons. Stay steady, do your work, attend class and take it seriously. Keep healthy and fit mentally and physically, and make the most of your time here because it goes so very quickly,” Anna Clark said.
Go to the photo gallery “Clark Family” to view more photos of the Clarks and their children.
