Beth Lingren Clark is the Associate Vice Provost for Retention and Transition Programs in the Office for Undergraduate Education at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. She is responsible for leading the U’s retention strategy including many retention outreach efforts, co-leading APLUS governance and influencing its priorities and functions both locally and for system campuses, as well as co-leading international fee grant process to support international student success. She also oversees and supports those who manage the processes for Orientation, Welcome Week, Transfer initiatives and other first-year and transition programs. Her legacy is around creating a common campus culture for assessment. Beth has served as an instructor for the College of Science and Engineering First-Year Experience course from 2011-2016.
She received her bachelor's degree from South Dakota State University, her master's degree from Western Illinois University, and her Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. She has served in various capacities with NODA. She served on the NODA board of directors from 2002-2005 and was conference co-host in 2004. She served as Vice President from 2005- 2008, NODA President from 2013-2016 and is currently the co-lead faculty for the Retention Symposium and serves as an Orientation Professionals Institute faculty. She is a past recipient of the Outstanding Research award and President’s award winner, has also co-authored chapters for the NODA Monograph, the NODA Orientation Planning Manuals and has presented countless times at annual and regional conferences including webinars. She has also assisted both NODA and the University of Minnesota in the home office transition in 2007, currently serving as the campus liaison between the University and the NODA Presidents supporting human resource, finance, technology support and other areas outlined in the memorandum of understanding with the University.