Clark Bell recently retired as the McCormick Foundation's Journalism Program director. In addition to teaching at DePaul, Bell currently is a consultant for the Poynter Institute and the Better Government Association.
He also serves on the boards of the American Society of News Editors Foundation and the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. Next year, he will join the journalism faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University.
During his decade-long career at McCormick, Bell selected and managed nearly $60 million in grants and shaped the foundation’s focus on critical issues facing the news media. Primary areas of concentration included professional training, news literacy, youth journalism and press freedoms.
Clark is a veteran reporter, editor, publisher and communications consultant. Prior to joining the McCormick Foundation, he was managing director for American Healthcare Solutions, where he developed communications strategies for hospitals, medical foundations and technology firms.
His extensive journalistic background includes serving as publisher of Modern Physician magazine, editor and associate publisher of Modern Healthcare magazine, executive business editor of the Dallas Times Herald and business columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Earlier, he served as a consumer affairs reporter for the Chicago Daily News and sports writer for the Des Moines Register.
Clark earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Drake University and a master's degree in urban studies from Loyola University of Chicago. He was among the first group of journalists awarded a Sloan Fellowship to study economics at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.