What was Kenneth Clark major contribution or impact to the field of psychology?

Citation: Campbell, D. (2002, February). International Leadership Association, Univ. of MD. Retrieved May 15, 2011, from The Life and Work of Kenneth E. Clark, PhD: http://www.ila-net.org/Awards/Clark/AboutKEC.htm

One of Kenneth's major contributions was the nurturance and growth of the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in Greensboro, North Carolina. He joined the center's board of governors in 1972. On his retirement from the University of Rochester, he became president of the center from 1981 to 1985. Under Kenneth's guidance, the center flourished and is today one of psychology's most respected applied, nonprofit institutions. When he retired for the second time, to become a Smith Richardson Senior Scientist (for life), his retirement gifts from the CCL staff included a 12-foot-long, 3-inch-diameter wooden pole with the inscription, "For Kenneth Clark, a leader who routinely solves problems that other people wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole."

One of Kenneth's major contributions to the field was the 1957 book America's Psychologists: A Survey of a Growing Profession. The book was part two of a project initiated by the APA Policy and Planning Board to assess (a) the theoretical underpinnings of psychology and (b) the personnel and employment patterns of psychology. Part one was directed by Sigmund Koch and eventually published in six volumes as Psychology: A Study of a Science (1959-1963).

America's Psychologists focused on members of the profession. Under Clark's direction, the book synthesized a congeries of studies on the education and employment of various subpopulations of psychologists. Clark wove these disparate studies into a cohesive picture of the psychological profession in the mid-1950s. For the next 20 years or so, this highly visible book established Clark's position within the profession as a leading expert on matters of psychological training and employment.