Rutgers University has announced “the creation of the Clement A. Price Chair in Public History and the Humanities. The chair is named in honor of the late Clement A. Price, a Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor and beloved history scholar at Rutgers University–Newark (RU-N) who passed away in November 2014. A $2 million challenge grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional donations totaling $1 million from corporations, foundations, alumni, and numerous other individuals endowed the chair to honor the legacy and life’s work of Price.”
Price was an early advisor in the creation of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH). In his tribute essay to Price, MARCH founding director Howard Gillette called Price a “master crafter of a vital public square.” His influence on the public humanities is found throughout the state of New Jersey and also nationally. Gillette said in the essay, “In 2008, President-elect Barack Obama named Price as chair of his transition committee for the National Endowment for the Humanities and subsequently as vice-chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.”
The Price Chair position will be housed at Newark. The search for the inaugural chair begins immediately.