On this episode of Challenge. Change., Michael Butler, chair of Clark's Political Science Department and professor of international relations, analyzes the war in Iran through the lens of international security and conflict resolution.

"There's no real incentive or need for Iran to seek an exit strategy here," says Butler. "The Strait of Hormuz is a particularly good example of that. It’s a highly defensible waterway. It's a hugely significant one, but it's so narrow — with a few mines and with a relatively short distance, cruise missiles, and drones, they can turn that into a strategic nightmare. And there's not much that the U.S. can do about it, at least not without a more extensive escalation."

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Note: This episode was recorded on March 16. Details about the war in Iran have evolved since then.

Katie Stebbins ’10 of course became familiar with the name Robert Goddard during her time as a Clarkie — the University’s library is named after the physicist and alum who launched the world’s first liquid fuel rocket on March 16, 1926, an accomplishment that allowed man to reach the moon just 43 years later.

But Stebbins, Clark’s digital projects librarian, did not have a deep knowledge of Goddard’s life, or of the influence of his wife, Esther Goddard, until she began organizing a special digital exhibit of Goddard artifacts to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the rocket launch.

“I look at Goddard as a gateway figure to a lot of 20th-century history, culture, and technology,” says Stebbins.

On this episode of Challenge. Change., Stebbins offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what it takes to organize a digital archive and shares more about the life of Esther Goddard, and how she supported Robert’s rocket experiments.

“They were a team,” says Stebbins. “People have spent way too long talking about Robert without talking about Esther. She was his typist and his business manager. She photographed all the equipment. She had a movie camera, and she filmed all his tests. She transcribed and copied all his materials. She gave speeches, she did outreach. You can also only get to know him through her in a certain way.”

To learn more about Robert and Esther Goddard, view

1. The digital exhibit from Clark’s Robert H. Goddard Library
2. Clark’s Robert H. Goddard Collection
3. Clark’s Goddard Centennial Website

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Laurie Ross '91, M.A. '95, dean of the college and professor of sustainability and social justice, remembers how important her study abroad experience in Costa Rica was in finding her passion and career.

Experiential learning can look like study abroad, an internship, serving as president of a campus club, or building a video game with teammates. The path from college to career looks different for each Clarkie, and The Clark Experience helps students harness their creativity and critical thinking skills to graduate with confidence and find success.

"I think it's really important for students to remember who they are, what they value, and feel confident that the liberal arts education they're getting at Clark, coupled with experiential learning, is a beautiful recipe for not just getting the first job, but also getting the jobs after that."

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Clark's Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise aims to create a world where all young people are supported in developing the social and emotional skills they need to be successful in school and in life. To help reach that goal, the Institute has embarked on the Southbridge CARES project, an innovative, equity-focused initiative supporting students’ mental health in partnership with the Southbridge Public Schools in Southbridge, Massachusetts.

Part of the project is the MAAX (Maximizing Adolescent Academic eXcellence) social development curriculum, in which Clark students like Ariel Rodriguez '26 — known as MAAX mentors — lead lessons in ninth-grade wellness classes. On this episode of Challenge. Change., Rodriguez and Mosakowski Institute Director Nadia Ward discuss the complexities of youth mental health and the impact of having college role models working hands-on in high school classrooms.

"The students at Southbridge are really amazing, and all of the mentors connect with them in different ways," says Rodriguez, a political science major. "We try to be open with them and use our lived experiences to leverage what we talk about in class, especially for those students who might be stressed about their life after high school or just the day-to-day stresses that come with being a high schooler."

"I think the MAAX mentors are actually the secret sauce that makes the program really work," says Ward. "It's those exposure experiences that encourage young people to kind of dream about the possibility of college beyond high school."

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

When Matt Goldman '83, MBA '84, LHD '15, was a Clarkie, he had no idea that in a few years he'd co-found Blue Man Group with Chris Wink and Phil Stanton. Surrounding himself with good people, like Wink and Stanton, was one of the keys to taking an idea, making it real, and making it great.

Goldman shared that lesson and more during a visit to campus in November with Laura Camien, former vice president of marketing and communications for Blue Man Group and co-founder of The Spark File. Goldman and Camien are co-authoring a book, tentatively titled "Making Ideas Real."

"The book is largely about fostering the conditions where creativity and innovation in teams and individuals can thrive, and shifting those breakthroughs, those a-ha moments, epiphanies, whatever you wanna call them, from being random and occasional to intentional and frequent," says Goldman.

"Both of us are people who could take an idea and bring it to fruition. But neither of us considered that to be a creative act, and through our own routes learned that it is potentially the greatest creative act there is," says Camien.

On this episode of Challenge. Change., Goldman and Camien discuss building creative communities and share some of the innovative ideas that made Blue Man Group a success.

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Clark Psychology Professor Michael Miller has a background in communication science, so as artificial intelligence like ChatGPT emerged and ballooned in popularity over the last few years, he wanted to examine AI's impact on the way we communicate.

"It was like finding a new type of microscope to study human communication. I could see so much deeper," Miller says of AI. One theory Miller is exploring is resonant geometry, a framework that explores how humans and AI co-create meaning by coordinating not just language, but emotion, attention, and timing. He has published a paper on his research with ChatGPT as a co-author.

"AI can look back at what it does. It can self-reflect. That's pretty powerful. I would also say there's a difference between what an algorithm can do and what a mind can do. Even an unsophisticated mind can be challenged in many ways," says Miller. "I would argue these AIs have minds ... You run a prompt through it, and many things could happen, unlike a tool, a calculator, for example, where you get the same thing each time."

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

When governments end social programs like cash transfers to economically disadvantaged people, what is the impact on their children, their grandchildren, and beyond? It’s a question Economics Professor Jon Denton-Schneider is trying to answer.

Denton-Schneider studies the historical causes and economic consequences of poverty and poor health, and he’s particularly interested in unexpected positive or negative occurrences that economists refer to as “shocks.”

One such shock — the introduction of the 1834 “New” Poor Law in England and Wales — caused generational impacts that could be observed in census data roughly 60 years later. Denton-Schneider and Jennifer Mayo, professor of economics at DePaul University, are working on a National Institutes of Health-funded project called “Rags to Rags,” which examines the effects of ending cash transfers in Victorian Britain.

"We saw very clearly that if you were in a county where there was a larger decline in poor relief after 1834, when you grew up, you would have worse outcomes," says Denton-Schneider. "If you were a girl around 1834, one of the clearest impacts we see is that in 1861, you have more children."

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

The mission of Clark University's School of Climate, Environment, and Society can be summarized in one word, according to Lou Leonard, the school's D.J.A. Spencer Dean, and that word is impact.

"For the last 10,000 years or so, the world has been in what many call the 'Goldilocks period' of climate: not too hot, not too cold ... The bottom line is we've left that period," says Leonard. "There is no magic key that's going to solve this problem. It is going to take the collective work of everyone, and every step that we take matters. Every quarter of a degree of warming that we don't experience saves lives."

As the world faces a polycrisis of climate, biodiversity loss, and social disruption, Leonard says Clark students will reach out into the community to learn hands-on how they can contribute to building a healthier planet.

"The nature of these problems is that they are a result of the intersection of politics, economics, culture, and technology," says Leonard. "The real world doesn't operate in disciplinary boxes. It operates in the messy middle where everything comes together, so that is part of the way students will learn."

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.