After playing semi-pro baseball, being held hostage in a prison riot, coaching basketball and raising Duke's Counseling and Psychological Services to new heights, James Clack, current director of CAPS, has seen and done plenty.
But after nine years at Duke, Clack has announced his plans to retire next June.
During his tenure at Duke, Clack has used his communication and relationship skills to effectively make clear the program's needs to the University, Board of Trustees and external shareholders. Now, CAPS boasts more board-certified psychologists per student than any college campus in the country.
"Jim has been an exceptional leader," said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs. "He has done an incredible job over the years developing a very strong and talented staff that has done a wonderful job of growing with the concern of mental health issues."
Since he arrived, Clack has increased student awareness of the services that CAPS provides. Partly due to this increased awareness, Clack's staff grew in size from eight to 14. Two of these positions were dedicated to eating disorder or alcohol abuse specialists, which he noted were key in creating an effective and successful student counseling service.
"This gives a great deal of expertise in these two areas. These two staffs do training sessions for the rest of the staff so all of us are better able to deal with these types of problems," Clack said.
He also noted that in recent years, the number of students using CAPS continues to grow at nearly 5 percent each year. Last year it saw about 1,400 patients.
Libby Webb, assistant director of clinical services for CAPS, is optimistic about the future of CAPS, but she hopes a new director can share some of Clack's qualities.
"[The next director] needs to be an excellent communicator. This was one of Jim's great strengths," she said. "Also our next leader needs to have a knowledge-based sensitivity on leading in a diverse student community and workplace."
Moneta, who is expected to begin the search process in September, remains cautiously optimistic about the future of CAPS.
"Whatever we do down the road we have to be very careful about it," Moneta said. "I don't see any decline in mental health issues. I only see continued growth."
But Clack will no longer be a part of remedying the problem of mental health at Duke, as he looks foward to relaxing during his retirement.
"There are a lot of things that I want to do that I haven't done, including some travel abroad. I want to have plenty of time to exercise and keep in good health. There are a lot of books to read and people to visit," Clack said. "I have put in my time and so I plan to enjoy the last years of my life."
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