Richard (Rich) Clark is a professor of political science at Vermont State University, where he teaches primarily in the areas of American politics, public opinion, and research methods. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in 1998 and served as visiting faculty there, teaching in the Masters of Survey Research Program. Following that, Clark worked in the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia for 10 years before joining the faculty at Castleton University in 2011. For most of his career, Dr. Clark has engaged in applied research, founding the Peach State Poll in Georgia in 2001 and the Castleton Polling Institute in Vermont in 2011. He is co-editor of Polling America: an encyclopedia of public opinion (2021) published by Greenwood Press, and author of several articles.
Apart from his teaching and research, Rich is the faculty advisor to the Castleton campus NAACP Chapter, and the Pre-Law Advisor for VTSU. He is a life-long fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the father of two adult-children, and the husband of a public librarian.