29 Facts About Clayton Spencer

Ava Clayton Spencer was born on December 15,1954 and is an American attorney and is the eighth president of Bates College.

Clayton Spencer previously served as the vice president for institutional policy at Harvard University from 2005 to 2012.

Clayton Spencer has been criticized for failing to quell biases in higher education and socioeconomic inequality.

Ava Clayton Spencer was born on December 15,1954, in Concord, North Carolina, the daughter of Ava Clark Spencer and Samuel Reid Spencer, one of four children.

Clayton Spencer's father was history professor who served as the president of Mary Baldwin College from 1957 to 1968 and Davidson College from 1968 to 1983.

Clayton Spencer attended Davidson and was trained at Harvard University.

Clayton Spencer's parents were progressive Southerners who raised Spencer during a time of widespread segregation.

When Clayton Spencer was two, her family moved to Virginia for her father's first college presidency; she to North Carolina at age 13 for his second presidency.

Clayton Spencer received a Master of Arts in religion from Harvard University in 1982 and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1985, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and winner of the Moot Court competition.

Clayton Spencer served as an Assistant US Attorney in Boston from 1989 to 1993 until becoming chief education counsel to the US Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources from 1993 to 1997 under US Senator Ted Kennedy's chairmanship.

Clayton Spencer joined Harvard in February 1997 as a consultant for federal policy issues.

In 2003, Clayton Spencer co-founded the Harvard University Crimson Summer Academy as a "a University program that draws local high-achieving, economically disadvantaged students to study at Harvard for six weeks each summer".

Clayton Spencer became the executive dean of the newly founded institute and frequently lectured at Harvard's Graduate School of Education.

On October 26,2012, Clayton Spencer was installed as the eighth and second female President of Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine.

Clayton Spencer assumed an endowment that was heavily impacted by the 2007 to 2008 financial crisis and market volatility, thus reporting negative returns in the first two years.

Clayton Spencer would go on to expand the financial aid program by expending more of the college's endowment and indirect funding.

In 2014, Clayton Spencer introduced the option to donate capitalized securities, and saw a total of $16 million donated in the completed fiscal year.

In May 2015, Clayton Spencer's fundraising prompted Moody's Investors Service to upgrade the college's $24 million revenue bonds to an A1 rating.

On March 31,2015, Clayton Spencer raised $250,000, the most ever secured in 24 hours by the college.

At the 2014 White House Summit on College Opportunity, Clayton Spencer joined other US higher education executives to meet with President Obama.

Clayton Spencer used the event to highlight the college's financial aid program, and recent donations, as well as calling for educational and financial reform.

Clayton Spencer was profiled by Inside Higher Education in February 2016, where she stressed the college's established Digital and Computational Studies program and the importance of computer science in a liberal arts education.

In June 2016, Clayton Spencer was interviewed on New England Cable News' CEO Corner, where she outlined the college's history and the importance of a liberal arts education in a knowledge-based economy.

On November 21,2016, Clayton Spencer signed along with 250 other university presidents, a statement to the US Congress and other elected officials to continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program at universities.

We are extremely pleased to have Clayton Spencer join the board and greatly appreciate her commitment to helping guide the work of ACE.

Clayton Spencer has been elected numerous boards and committees, most notably Williams College and Phillips Exeter Academy.

Clayton Spencer was profiled by the Williams College institutional magazine; when asked about her attendance of Williams she said:.

In 2014, Clayton Spencer was named among "Maine's 50 Most Influential People" list by Maine, the magazine.

Clayton Spencer was married to United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, with whom she has two children, William and Ava Carter.