Phillip Clay

American academic

Phillip Clay

4th Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In office 2001–2010
President	Charles M. Vest Susan Hockfield
Preceded by	Lawrence Bacow
Succeeded by	Eric Grimson

Personal details
Born	(1946-05-17) May 17, 1946 (age 77) Wilmington, North Carolina


Academic background
Alma mater	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thesis	The process of black suburban migration: The 1960–1970 experience (1975)
Academic work
Discipline	Urban planning
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Phillip L. Clay (born May 17, 1946) is a professor of housing policy and city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He is the former Chancellor of the Institute.^[1] While Chancellor, Professor Clay had oversight responsibility for graduate and undergraduate education at MIT, including cost-cutting decision-making,^[2] as well as student life, student services, international initiatives, and the management of certain of MIT’s large-scale institutional partnerships.^[3] He was also the highest ranking Black administrator in the Institute's 150-year history.^[4]

A member of the MIT faculty since 1975, Professor Clay served as Associate Provost in the Office of the Provost from 1994 to 2001. He was the Head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning from 1992 to 1994 and its Associate Department Head during 1990 to 1992. From 1980 to 1984, Professor Clay served as the Assistant Director of the Joint Center for Urban Studies of MIT and Harvard.^[5] He became Chancellor in 2001.^[3]

It was Clay, in 2007, who investigated claims that MIT's admissions dean Marilee Jones had falsified her credentials, when applying for the job. When those claims were verified, Clay asked for her resignation.^[6]

Clay is known for his work in U.S. housing policy and community-based development. In a 1987 study commissioned by the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, Clay identified the market and institutional conditions contributing to the erosion of low-income rental housing and documented the need for a national preservation policy. He later served on the national commission that recommended the policy that became part of the Housing Act of 1990.

Clay is a founding member of the National Housing Trust that addresses the issue of housing preservation.^[7] He is also President of the Board of The Community Builders, Inc., the nation’s largest nonprofit developer of affordable housing.^[8] He serves as member and Vice Chair of the MasterCard Foundation board and recently he was appointed to the board of trustees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[9] He was appointed to the board of The Kresge Foundation in 2008.^[10]

Clay is a native of Wilmington North Carolina. He received the AB degree with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1968 and his Ph.D. in City Planning in 1975 from MIT.^[11] He resides in Boston with his wife, Cassandra.^[12]

On November 2, 2010, Clay announced he would step down as Chancellor.^[13] He was succeeded by Eric Grimson.^[14]

Publications

Neighborhood Renewal: Middle-class Resettlement and Incumbent Upgrading in American Neighborhoods
Neighborhood Politics and Planning (with Rob Hollister)

References

^ "Jet - Google Books". Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. 2001-07-09. Retrieved 2013-10-03 – via Google Books.
^ Finnegan, Leah (2010-02-27). "MIT: Dorm, Shuttle Cutbacks". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
^ ^a ^b Brayboy, Duane (February 22, 2005). "Black Movers and Shakers: Phillip Clay". Black Informant (blog). Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
^ "Phillip L. Clay Named New Chancellor at MIT; Institution's No. 2 Post - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Brief Article | Jet | Find Articles at BNET.com". findarticles.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^ "Phillip Clay named next MIT chancellor". MIT News Office. 2001-06-06. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
^ "MIT admissions dean resigns over fake resume". USA Today. 2007-04-27. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
^ "National Housing Trust Board of Directors". Nhtinc.org. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
^ "This site is temporarily unavailable". Chinaplanningnetwork.org. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
^ "Membership list - Board of Trustees". Unc.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
^ Capos, Claudia (July 3, 2008). "MIT's Chancellor, Phillip L. Clay, Joins The Kresge Foundation Board of Trustees". Kresge Foundation. Archived from the original on January 6, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
^ Clay, Phillip Leroy (1975). The process of black suburban migration: The 1960–1970 experience (Ph.D.). Massachusetts Institute of Technology – via ProQuest.
^ Hayden, Robert C. "The HistoryMakers Video Oral History Interview with Phillip L. Clay". The HistoryMakers. Archived from the original on June 17, 2011.
^ "Chancellor Phillip L. Clay to step down". MIT News Office. 2010-11-02. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
^ "W. Eric L. Grimson, Chancellor - Massachusetts Institute of Technology". Web.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 2014-01-22. Retrieved 2013-10-03.