Cynthia Zang Facer Clark (born April 1, 1942) is an American statistician known for her work improving the quality of data in the

Federal Statistical System of the United States The Federal Statistical System of the United States is the decentralized network of federal agencies which produce data and official statistics about the people, economy, natural resources, and infrastructure of the United States. Background In ...

, and especially in the

National Agricultural Statistics Service The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is the statistical branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. NASS has 12 regional offices throughout the United States and Pu ...

. She has also served as the president of the

Caucus for Women in Statistics The Caucus for Women in Statistics is a professional society for women in statistics. It was founded in 1971, following discussions in 1969 and 1970 at the annual meetings of the American Statistical Association, with Donna Brogan as its first pr ...

and the Washington Statistical Society. she is executive director of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics.

Early life and education

Clark was born on April 1, 1942, the daughter of banker Joseph Elmer Facer and his wife Flora Burnell Zang Facer. She grew up in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, and was part of the class of 1960 at East High School in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

. She graduated in 1963 from

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was r ...

, where she majored in mathematics, and in the same year married Glenn Willet Clark, with whom she had six children. She earned a master's degree from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

in 1964. She came to

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

planning to continue in pure mathematics, but completed her Ph.D. there in 1977 in statistics. Her dissertation was ''Convergence and Ergodicity for Conditional Distributions'', and was supervised by Herbert T. David.

Career

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Clark worked at the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and its successor agency, the

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...

. She joined the

in 1990, and created the

Agricultural Resource Management Survey The Agricultural Resource Management Survey is the United States Department of Agriculture’s primary source of information on the financial condition, production practices, resource use, and economic well-being of America's farm households. Spons ...

there. She was associate director for methodology and standards at the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy An economy is an area of th ...

from 1996 to 2004. After three years in England as executive director for methodology and quality in the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for ...

from 2004 to 2007, she returned to the National Agricultural Statistics Service in 2008 as its administrator. After six years as administrator, she retired from federal service in 2014. Since December 2018 she has been the executive director of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics.

Service

Clark served as president of the

in 1989, and chaired the Committee on Women in Statistics of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

from 2003 until 2011. She has also chaired the Government Statistics Section of the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest continuous ...

, and was president of the Washington Statistical Society for the 2000–2001 term. On her retirement, Clark and her husband served a mission to the

Nauvoo Illinois Temple The Nauvoo Illinois Temple is the 113th dedicated temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is the third such temple that has been built in Illinois (the original Nauvoo Temple and Chicago Illinois Temple b ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

Recognition

In 1997, Clark was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

. She is also an elected member of the

, and a fellow of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

. Clark was given a Presidential Meritorious Rank Award in 2011. The Iowa State University Alumni Association gave her their Distinguished Alumni Award in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Cynthia Living people American women statisticians Mills College alumni University of Denver alumni Iowa State University alumni Fellows of the American Statistical Association Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute 1942 births 21st-century American women