Clark Scholars Program Foundations

Clark Scholars Experience

The A. James Clark Scholars Program at the University of Virginia is distinguished by a world-class education that is rooted in a commitment to service, business acumen, technology innovation and leadership. 

The mission of the UVA Clark Scholars Program is to provide unique educational and financial opportunities to exceptional students who otherwise might not have considered careers in the engineering field. 

The UVA Clark Scholars Program is built on a cohort model. It features cohorts of Scholars learning in shared spaces to address the 21st century’s most pressing global challenges, engaging meaningfully with university and business leaders, participating in a global experience, and serving as peer mentors to future cohorts. 

The goal of the program is to facilitate Scholars to develop as leaders and provide them with unique insights into engineering design, business and real-world technology applications.

UVA's Clark Scholars Program integrates the four program pillars into its four-year experiential learning model: global engagement, business acumen, leadership development, and service collaboration. 

Global Engagement 

The core pillar of Global Engagement is motivated by the idea that the world is becoming increasingly connected and collaborative. To prepare Scholars to thrive in this evolving global society, we facilitate an immersive global experience through the UVA in Valencia Program. This experience is a requirement for the UVA Clark Scholars Program and is designed to align with a four-year UVA Engineering curriculum while also providing a truly immersive semester-long experience.

Business Acumen

The core pillar of Business Acumen leverages partnerships with the broader University of Virginia community to provide Scholars with the enhanced skills, tools and knowledge that will help them effectively lead and manage engineering projects post-graduation. The Program utilizes the "Business Essentials" program in UVA's McIntire School of Commerce to prepare students for success in a business setting through the year-long “Business Essentials Program” in the McIntire School of Commerce. Scholars participate in the McIntire Business Institute (MBI) and receive a non-credit bearing business certificate upon completion.

Leadership Development

The core pillar of Leadership Development represents a hallmark of UVA Engineering students and often manifests in student engagement in extracurricular activities within their student communities. The UVA Clark Scholars Program supplements this foundation by providing targeted leadership engagement opportunities and supporting Scholar-led initiatives that represent the Clark Scholars Program. As part of this engagement, Scholars have the opportunity to engage with UVA leaders as well as those from the broader engineering and scientific communities.

Service Collaboration

The core pillar of Service has two required components, which are motivated by students' interests and student-led: an annual individual volunteer service experience and a cohort-based capstone project that serve a community to which the Clark Scholar is connected. Scholars will leverage many of the learnings from the other pillars in the design and implementation of their service project.