UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #536
CLARK, DAVID L.

CLARK, David L. (1931- )
Professor of Geology and Geophysics; Associate Dean of the College of Letters and Science
At UW: 1963-1991

Interviewed: 1999	
Interviewer: John Fournelle
Length: 1.75 hours

Background and university education; Graduate study and research; Conodont research; Arrival at UW; Geology Department faculty; Development of plate tectonics theory;  Turbulent atmosphere of the 1960s;  Fulbright Senior Fellowship;  Arctic research project; Graduate students; Accomplishments as dean; Expansion of the Geology Department; Past and future problems in the Geology Department; Departmental vehicles.  

August 23, 1999

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:45	DC was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and his father worked for an oil company.  His family moved to Texas and he graduated from high school in Houston.  Upon graduation, he moved to Utah.

00:04:45	DC enrolled at Brigham Young University (BYU) but had no immediate academic major.  In his junior year, he began taking geography courses.  DC wrote his Master’s thesis at BYU on a carbonate formation.

00:07:40	He continued his graduate studies at Columbia University with Marshall Kay.  Before moving to New York he worked for an oil company in New Mexico.  DC discusses some of his instructors and classmates at Columbia.

00:11:12	DC explains how he arranged funding from Shell Oil Company to complete his doctoral dissertation research on the Triassic.  His advisor was against the project.  Eventually, DC transferred to the University of Iowa.

00:16:22	DC began field work on the Triassic in Ely, Nevada during the summer of 1955.  He discusses some of his research findings.  At the end of his second research year, DC traveled to Mexico to conduct research not directly related to his thesis.

00:22:36	He describes how he got his first professional teaching position at Southern Methodist University (SMU).

00:25:12	DC mentions some of the other geologists he worked with in Ely, Nevada.  He explains some of his research interests and techniques involving conodonts.

00:30:55	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:31:20	DC talks about the 1984 national meeting of the Geological Society of America held in Madison.  He organized a symposium that led to the publication of a special paper on conodont paleoecology.  DC explains some of the techniques used to isolate conodonts.  He is considered a pioneer in the field of conodont research.

00:35:51	He talks about “The Crust of the Earth” symposium held at Columbia University in 1954.  DC discusses the development of plate tectonics theory.

00:41:18	DC describes the atmosphere of the 1960s as the best of times and the worst of times due in part to student demonstrations and debates over plate tectonics.

00:43:30	He discusses his experiences and research interests at SMU.  While at SMU he received the first ever National Science Foundation grant.  In the summer of 1959, DC took a teaching position in paleontology at BYU.  He returned to his study of conodonts.

00:55:59	DC left BYU to come to UW.  He comments on his teaching and conodont research at UW.

00:58:28	DC discusses the state of the Geology Department upon his arrival in 1963.  He talks about some of his original graduate students.

01:01:25	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

00:00:05	DC talks more about the faculty of the Geology Department upon his arrival.  He describes his relationships with graduate students.  DC describes funding and budgetary support available to him at UW.  In 1965, DC received a Fulbright Senior Fellowship to teach in Germany.

00:07:50	DC outlines the origins and development of a separate geology building.

00:11:45	He discusses a research project dealing with the Arctic and talks about how his work became the subject of a feature story in Time magazine.

00:20:03	DC discusses his graduate students about the Department.  He comments on departmental funding including an endowment from the estate of Lewis Weeks.

00:27:54	In 1986, DC was named associate dean for sciences in the College of Letters and Science.  He describes how being dean affected his duties as graduate advisor in geology.

00:30:45	End of side.

Tape 2/Side 2

00:35:51	DC describes some of his achievements as dean, including helping the Astronomy Department construct the WIYN Observatory.  He discusses problems caused by retired professors who continued to make demands on their departments.

00:34:50	He describes the expansion of the Geology Department in the 1960s.  DC declares that, generally speaking, the administration has been good about providing funds for departmental needs.  The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has been one of UW’s greatest assets.

00:40:06	DC discusses a paleontology textbook that he wrote in the 1960s.

00:41:50	He describes a departmental split over a faculty replacement hire in the 1970s and calls it his toughest challenge during his years as chairman.

00:46:12	DC predicts that the Geology Department could experience problems in the near future.

00:48:21	He discusses the history of departmental vehicles.

00:52:17	End of side.

END