Cynthia Clark

Last updated

Cynthia Clark
Born
Cynthia Zang Facer

(1942-04-01) April 1, 1942 (age 82)
Alma mater
Spouse
Glenn Willett Clark
(m. 1963)
Children6
Awards Presidential Meritorious Rank Award (2011)
Scientific career
FieldsStatistics
Thesis Convergence and ergodicity for conditional distributions: theory and applications  (1977)
Doctoral advisor Herbert T. David

Cynthia Zang Facer Clark FRSS (born April 1, 1942) [1] is an American statistician known for her work improving the quality of data in the federal statistical system, and especially in the National Agricultural Statistics Service. [2] [3] She has also served as the president of the Caucus for Women in Statistics [4] and the Washington Statistical Society. [5] As of 2018 she is executive director of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics. [6]

Contents

Early life and education

Clark was born on April 1, 1942, the daughter of banker Joseph Elmer Facer and his wife Flora Burnell Zang Facer. She grew up in Colorado, [1] [7] and was part of the class of 1960 at East High School in Denver. [8] She graduated in 1963 from Mills College, [9] where she majored in mathematics, and in the same year married Glenn Willett Clark, with whom she had six children. [1] [7] She earned a master's degree from the University of Denver in 1964. [6] [10]

She came to Iowa State University planning to continue in pure mathematics, [11] but completed her Ph.D. there in 1977 in statistics. Her dissertation was titled Convergence and ergodicity for conditional distributions: theory and applications, and was supervised by Herbert T. David. [12]

Career

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Clark worked at the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and its successor agency, the Office of Management and Budget. [2] [13] She joined the National Agricultural Statistics Service in 1990, and created the Agricultural Resource Management Survey there. She was associate director for methodology and standards at the United States Census Bureau from 1996 to 2004. [2] [13]

After three years in England as executive director for methodology and quality in the Office for National Statistics from 2004 to 2007, she returned to the National Agricultural Statistics Service in 2008 as its administrator. [6] [14] After six years as administrator, she retired from federal service in 2014. [3] [14]

Since December 2018 she has been the executive director of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics. [6]

Service

Clark served as president of the Caucus for Women in Statistics in 1989, [4] and chaired the Committee on Women in Statistics of the International Statistical Institute from 2003 until 2011. [5] She has also chaired the Government Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association, [6] and was president of the Washington Statistical Society for the 2000–2001 term. [5]

On her retirement, Clark and her husband served a mission to the Nauvoo Illinois Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [14]

Recognition

In 1997, Clark was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. [15] She is also an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, [16] and a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. [6]

Clark was given a Presidential Meritorious Rank Award in 2011. [6] The Iowa State University Alumni Association gave her their Distinguished Alumni Award in 2014. [2] [11]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Clark, Dr Cynthia Zang Facer", Who's Who 2019 & Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U59508
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Clark Receives Distinguished Alumni Award", Member News, AMSTAT News, American Statistical Association, June 2014, retrieved December 23, 2018
  3. 1 2 NASS Administrator Dr. Cynthia Clark Announces Retirement, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, April 1, 2014, retrieved December 23, 2018
  4. 1 2 Presidents 1971–2017 (PDF), Caucus for Women in Statistics , retrieved December 23, 2018
  5. 1 2 3 International Statistical Institute Committee on Women in Statistics: Committee Members, August 2012, retrieved December 19, 2018
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "COPAFS Names Cynthia Z. F. Clark as New Executive Director", AERA Highlights, American Educational Research Association, November 2018, retrieved December 23, 2018
  7. 1 2 "Dr. Cynthia Clark, Administrator", About NASS: Executive Biographies, National Agricultural Statistics Service, archived from the original on June 16, 2013
  8. "Grand Slam but Moving On!", East High Reunion Newsletter, 16, November 20, 2010, retrieved December 23, 2018
  9. "Class of 1963", Mills Quarterly: 18, Winter 2014, retrieved December 23, 2018
  10. "Alumni Connections: 1964", University of Denver Magazine: 46, Winter 2008, retrieved December 23, 2018
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  12. Clark, Cynthia Zang Facer (1977), "Convergence and Ergodicity for Conditional Distributions", Retrospective Theses and Dissertations, Retrospective Theses and Dissertation, 5821, Iowa State University
  13. 1 2 "Cynthia Clark Appointed Associate Director for Statistical Design, Methodology, and Standards", Census and You: Monthly News from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, 31 (6): 10, June 1996
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