Reatha Clark King

Reatha Belle Clark{{cite book |last1=Yount |first1=Lisa |title=A to Z of women in science and math |date=2008 |publisher=Facts On File, Inc.|location=New York |isbn=978-0816066957 |pages=156–157 |edition=Rev. |url=https://www.mobt3ath.com/uplode/book/book-24728.pdf |access-date=24 October 2018}} was born in Pavo, Georgia, United States on April 11, 1938.{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Jeannette E.|title=African American women chemists|url=https://archive.org/details/africanamericanw00brow|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|date=2012| isbn=9780199742882 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/africanamericanw00brow/page/n127 115]–123}}{{cite web|author=Center for Oral History| title= Reatha Clark King |url=https://oh.sciencehistory.org/oral-histories/king-reatha-clark|website= Science History Institute }} Her father, Willie B. Clark, was a sharecropper, and her mother, Ola Mae Watts Campbell, had only a third-grade education.{{cite book|first=Jeannette E. |last=Brown|title= Reatha Clark King, Transcript of an Interview Conducted by Jeannette E. Brown at Minneapolis, Minnesota on 1 May 2005 |date=1 May 2005 |url=https://oh.sciencehistory.org/sites/default/files/king_rc_0663_suppl.pdf|place=Philadelphia, PA|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation }}{{cite book |last1=Jenkins |first1=Edward Sidney |title=To fathom more : African American scientists and inventors |date=1996 |publisher=University Press of America |location=Lanham, Md. |isbn=978-0761802150 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/tofathommoreafri0000jenk/page/342 342–368] |chapter=Reatha Clark King: Chemistry of the Halogen Compounds (1938- ) |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/tofathommoreafri0000jenk/ |url=https://archive.org/details/tofathommoreafri0000jenk/page/342 }}

Reatha Clark began elementary school in a one-room school for grades 1–7, at Mt. Zion Baptist, a colored church, where she was taught by Florence Frazier. Later, she attended school in Coolidge, Georgia, and high school in Moultrie, Georgia. When she graduated from Moultrie High School for Negro Youth in 1954, the same year that Brown v. Board of Education determined segregated schools were illegal, Clark was the valedictorian of her class.{{cite web|title=Equality through education and giving, Reatha Clark|url=http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/equality-through-education-and-giving-reatha-clark-king|publisher=African American Registry|access-date=13 May 2014}}

Clark was recruited to attend Clark College in Atlanta, where she initially enrolled as a home economics major. She was encouraged to become a research chemist by the head of the chemistry department there, Alfred Spriggs. King earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and mathematics from Clark College.

Spriggs encouraged her to apply for a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, which she received from 1958 to 1960. The fellowship supported her work at the University of Chicago, from which she obtained a master of science degree in chemistry in 1960. She went on to study with advisor Ole J. Kleppa, receiving her Ph.D. degree in thermochemistry from the University of Chicago in 1963. The title of her Ph.D. thesis was "Contributions to the thermochemistry of the Laves phases."{{cite web|title=Reatha Clark King|url=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/reatha-clark-king-42|publisher=The HistoryMakers|access-date=13 May 2014|date=2012-01-16}}

While in Chicago she also met and married N. Judge King.{{cite journal|last=Tuttle|first=Kelly|title=For the Love of the Lab|journal=Chemical Heritage Magazine|date=2012 |volume=30|issue=2|page=38|access-date=6 December 2016|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/for-love-of-the-lab}}

Reatha Clark King later earned a master's in business administration in finance management from Columbia University while on sabbatical.{{cite web|title=Reatha Clark King—2004-05 Louis W. Hill, Jr. Fellow|url=http://www.grottofoundation.org/fellowship/king|publisher=Grotto Foundation|access-date=13 May 2014|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216010733/https://grottofoundation.org/fellowship/king |archive-date=December 16, 2014 }}

King was employed for five years (1963–1968) as a research chemist for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. Hired by George T. Armstrong, King was the first African American female chemist to work at the agency. She used techniques for both bomb and flame calorimetry.{{cite journal |last1=Domalski |first1=Eugene S. |title=Evaluating Experimental Data on Heats of Combustion |journal=Journal of Chemical Documentation |date=November 1971 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=234–238 |doi=10.1021/c160043a014|quote=Basically, two main experimental techniques are employed to obtain the heats of combustion, bomb calorimetry (combustion process at constant volume), and flame or flow calorimetry (combustion process at constant pressure). Flame calorimetry is more applicable to the combustion of gaseous or highly volatile substances, whereas bomb calorimetry is more suited to studying liquids and solids.}} Much of her work there involved measuring the accurate heats of formation of gaseous fluorine compounds, and she received a Meritorious Publication Award for her paper on fluoride flame calorimetry. This research was important to the NASA space program. Her two children were born during this time. Techniques and mechanisms that she developed for flame fluorine calorimetry are still used.{{cite book |last1=Simões |first1=José A. Martinho |last2=Piedade |first2=Manuel Minas da |title=Molecular Energetics : Condensed-Phase Thermochemical Techniques. |date=July 10, 2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=9780195133196 |pages=120– |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vXc8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 |quote=Jessup and Armstrong and their colleagues [109, 115-117] developed the method of fluorine flame calorimetry to a high degree of accuracy and precision. |access-date=18 November 2018}}{{cite book |last1=Mark Ockerbloom |first1=Mary |chapter= Reatha Clark King, Starting Fires with Fluorine |editor-last1=Lykknes |editor-first1=Annette |editor-last2=Van Tiggelen |editor-first2=Brigitte |title=Women in Their Element: Selected Women's Contributions To The Periodic System |date=2019 |publisher=World Scientific |location=Singapore }}

King and her family moved to New York when her husband accepted a position at Nassau Community College, Garden City, New York. King obtained an assistant professorship at York College, City University of New York. There she served as professor of chemistry, 1968–1977, associate dean for Division of Natural Science & Mathematics, 1970-1974, and associate dean for academic affairs, 1974–1977.

She moved to Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota, to become president of Metropolitan State University, where she worked from 1977 to 1988. She helped to substantially expand the university, and promoted involvement of minorities and women in higher education. Her husband joined the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) as a research chemist.

In 1988, King was recruited by General Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to serve in two roles. She became vice president of the General Mills Corporation and president and executive director of the General Mills Foundation. She remained in these positions from 1988 to 2002. In 2002, she was elected as chairman of the board of trustees of General Mills Foundation, and served in this position for a further year, retiring completely from General Mills in 2003. Under her leadership the General Mills Foundation, originally established in 1954, has been active both locally and nationally in philanthropic and community service.

King has served on the boards of a number of other corporations, including ExxonMobil, Wells Fargo & Company; Department 56; Minnesota Mutual Companies; and the H. B. Fuller Company. In 1994, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and served until her resignation in 1997.{{cite web|url=https://youthtoday.org/2002/07/newsmakers-for-july-2002/|title=Newsmakers for July 2002|work=Youth Today|date=July 1, 2002}} She has also served with nonprofits, such as the International Trachoma Initiative, Allina Health, the Council on Foundations, the National Association of Corporate Directors,{{cite news|last=Daly|first=Ken|title=NACD Board Names Dr. Reatha Clark King Chairman|url=http://blog.nacdonline.org/2013/05/nacd-board-names-dr-reatha-clark-king-chairman/|access-date=13 May 2014|newspaper=National Association of Corporate Directors|date=23 May 2013}} and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.{{cite news |title=Equality through education and giving, Reatha Clark King |url=https://aaregistry.org/story/equality-through-education-and-giving-reatha-clark-king/ |access-date=24 October 2018 |work=African American Registry}}

She has served as a trustee with Clark Atlanta University, and is a Life Trustee for the University of Chicago. She is a member of the American Council on Education and the Executive Leadership Council in Washington, D.C.{{cite web|title=Reatha Clark King Ph.D. Executive Profile|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=798105|publisher=Bloomberg BusinessWeek|access-date=16 December 2014}}{{dead link|date=April 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

She has a particularly strong interest in education,{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Reatha Clark |chapter=Succeeding Against the Odds in Higher Education: Advancing Society by Overcoming Obstacles Due to Race and Gender |editor-last=Harvey |editor-first=William B. |title=Grass roots and glass ceilings : African American administrators in predominantly white colleges and universities |date=April 1, 1999 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany, NY |isbn=978-0791441640 |pages=1–38 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CqKxlo7BNPMC&pg=PA1 |access-date=13 November 2018}} and has stated: "I realized early in life that education is our best enabling resource, that technical skills are important, and that my stamina for championing educational opportunity for all people is inexhaustible."{{cite web|title=Bios: Reatha Clark King, Woman of Science|url=http://www.bu.edu/lernet/pathways/bios.html|work=Paving the Path Before You|publisher=Pathways|access-date=13 May 2014}}

• {{cite journal |last1=King |first1=R.C |last2=Kleppa |first2=O.J |title=A thermochemical study of some selected laves phases |journal=Acta Metallurgica |date=January 1964 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=87–97 |doi=10.1016/0001-6160(64)90056-2 }}
• King, R. C. and Armstrong, G. T. (1964). [https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/68A/jresv68An6p661_A1b.pdf Heat of combustion and heat of formation of aluminum carbide]. Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards (A. Physics and Chemistry), 68A(6), pp. 661–668.
• King, R. C. and Armstrong, G. T. (1965). [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822017676248;view=1up;seq=546 Heat of formation of aluminum carbide]. Technical News Bulletin, 49(2), pp. 26–27. ([https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822017676248;view=image;seq=543 Photo] on cover of issue.)
• King, R. C., and Armstrong, G. T., [https://archive.org/details/preliminaryrepor9500unse/page/140 Chapter 8: Fluorine Flame Calorimetry. II. The heats of reaction of oxygen difluoride, fluorine and oxygen, with hydrogen. The heat of formation of oxygen difluoride.] In National Bureau of Standards (1 January 1967) NBS Report 9500: Preliminary report on the thermodynamic properties of selected light-element and some related compounds. U.S. Air Force Order No. OAR ISSA 65-8.
• King, R. C., and Armstrong, G. T. (May 1967) Interagency Chemical Rocket Propellant Group, Thermochemistry Working Croup, Bulletin of the Fifth Meeting March 15–17, 1967, Vol. 1., Chemical Propulsion Information Agency. Publications CPIA 146, pp 69–96.
• King, Reatha C., and Armstrong, George T. (1968) "[https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/72A/jresv72An2p113_A1b.pdf Constant Pressure Flame Calorimetry With Fluorine II. The Heat of Formation of Oxygen Difluoride]." Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards (A. Physics and Chemistry), 72A (2), pp. 113–131. Received Meritorious Publication Award, 1969.{{rp|367}}
• Armstrong, G. T., and King, R. C. (1969). The heats of formation of some fluorine-containing oxidizers, Proc. Conf. Interagency Chemical Rocket Propulsion Group, Thermochemistry Working Group, Cleveland OH, April 9–11, 1969, 7th Meeting, Bulletin 1, pp. 19–40. (Chemical Propulsion Information Agency. Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Silver Spring. Md.. Aug. 1969).
• King, R. C., and Armstrong, G. T. (1970) "[https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/74A/jresv74An6p769_A1b.pdf Fluorine Flame Calorimetry. III. The Heat of Formation of Chlorine Trifluoride at 298.15 K]". Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards (A. Physics and Chemistry), 74A (6), pp. 769–779.
• {{cite book |last1=Armstrong |first1=George T. |last2=King |first2=Reatha Clark |editor-last1=Sunner |editor-first1=Stig |editor-last2=Mansson |editor-first2=Margret |title=Combustion calorimetry |date=1979 |publisher=Pergamon |location=Oxford |pages=333–359 |chapter=Chapter 15: Fluorine Flame Calorimetry|isbn=9781483280899 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSpfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA333 }}
• {{cite book |last1=King |first1=Reatha Clark |chapter=Succeeding Against the Odds in Higher Education: Advancing Society by Overcoming Obstacles Due to Race and Gender |editor-last=Harvey |editor-first=William B. |title=Grass roots and glass ceilings : African American administrators in predominantly white colleges and universities |date=April 1, 1999 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany, NY |isbn=978-0791441640 |pages=1–38 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CqKxlo7BNPMC&pg=PA1}}

King has received honorary degrees and many other awards, including:

• The Governor's Civil Rights Legend Award, 2019.{{cite web |last1=Nguyen |first1=Christine |title=Photos: Minnesotans celebrate MLK Day |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/01/21/photos-minnesotans-celebrate-mlk-day |website=MPR News |date=22 January 2019 |access-date=25 January 2019}}
• International Citizen Award, 2013, from the International Leadership Institute (ILI), Minneapolis, MN.{{cite news|last1=Bolsta|first1=Phil|title=2013 International Citizen Awards|url=http://tcbmag.com/Leadership/Leaders/2013-International-Citizen-Awards|access-date=16 December 2014|work=Twin Cities Business|date=April 19, 2013}}{{cite news|title=Reatha Clark King, PhD: International Citizen Award|url=http://tcbmag.com/Leadership/Leaders/2013-International-Citizen-Awards/Reatha-Clark-King,-PhD|access-date=13 May 2014|newspaper=Twin Cities Business|date=19 April 2013}}
• Louis W. Hill, Jr. Fellow in Philanthropy at the Hubert H. Humphrey Center of the University of Minnesota, 2004.
• Director of the Year from the National Association of Corporate Directors, 2004.
• One of Ebony magazine's Top 50 Black Executives in Corporate America, 1992.
• Exceptional Black Scientist Award from CIBA-GEIGY Corporation,{{cite web|title=Exceptional black scientists collection|url=http://archives.nypl.org/scm/20837|website=New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts|access-date=16 December 2014}} 1984.
• Defender of Democracy Award from the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation.
• Delta Sigma Theta sorority, Minneapolis-St. Paul Alumnae Chapter, 1979.{{cite web|title=Reatha Clark King|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/624/000127243/|publisher=NNDB Tracking the entire world|access-date=13 May 2014}}

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Category:1938 births

Category:Living people

Category:American businesspeople

Category:21st-century American chemists

Category:African-American chemists

Category:American women chemists

Category:York College, City University of New York faculty

Category:21st-century African-American women

Category:20th-century African-American people

Category:20th-century African-American women

Category:21st-century American women scientists

Category:Chemists from Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Members of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service