Clark, William Smith

William Smith Clark, (born July 31, 1826, Ashfield, Mass., U.S.—died March 9, 1886, Amherst, Mass.), American educator and agricultural expert who helped organize Sapporo Agricultural School, later Hokkaido University, in Japan. He also stimulated the development of a Christian movement in Japan.

The holder of professorships in chemistry, botany, and zoology at Amherst College, Massachusetts, Clark was made the president of the Massachusetts State Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts) upon its founding in 1867.

In 1876 Clark was given a year’s leave from the college to accept an invitation from the Japanese government to take charge of the new agricultural college in Sapporo. There he helped acquaint the students and faculty with American agricultural techniques and educational methods. He also converted to Christianity many of his new acquaintances, including some who later formed the nucleus of the highly influential Christian movement that developed in Japan in the early 1900s.