In honor of Black History Month, UTHSC will be hosting Joe Clark at noon on Thursday, February 24 in the Student Alumni Center, located near the corner of Dunlap and Madison.
In honor of Black History Month, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) will be hosting Joe Clark at noon on Thursday, February 24 in the Student Alumni Center, located near the corner of Dunlap and Madison.
Clark is an educator and lecturer whose story became famous with Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of him in the 1989 film, “Lean on Me.” In 1982, Clark, a former Army drill instructor, took the job as principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, N.J. On his first day, he expelled 300 students for a variety of disruptive or criminal behavior and established his principles of discipline and his high expectations in academics. After two years, Clark changed Eastside from a notoriously unruly institution into a model school. He is now a lecturer and the director of Essex County Youth House, a juvenile detention center in Newark, N.J.
Sponsored by UTHSC’s Black Student Association, the presentation is free of charge and open to the public.