She entered the president’s office in 2016 eager to build on Emory’s foundational strengths. In inaugural remarks, Sterk described her vision for nurturing the university’s continued growth as a diverse, inclusive institution committed to excellence, regionally and globally engaged, drawing students driven to make a difference in the world.

“Now is the right time for Emory to seize its ambition,” she urged. “We will make the right choices and leap forward. And as ‘the wise heart seeks knowledge,’ let’s use our place of privilege, of being this amazing, educational, social, and humane institution, for optimal impact.”

To that mission, Sterk brought her own global perspectives — born in the Netherlands, she is Emory’s first international president and speaks four languages — a deep passion for education and an ethic of hard work and service honed from her earliest childhood experiences. 

Raised in the small coal-mining town of Kerkrade, Sterk is the eldest daughter of parents whose own educations were cut short by the disruptions of World War II. Her father became a house painter and later a janitor at Sterk’s high school. She was the first in her family to receive a high school diploma and attend college, working to earn a PhD in sociology from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and her doctorandus degree in medical anthropology from the University of Utrecht.

Encouraging Sterk to pursue her deep love of learning, her parents also supported the moral and ethical application of education, the higher calling of applying knowledge in the service of others.

That ethic would provide a compass throughout Sterk’s career, whether examining social disparities as a cutting-edge public health researcher, advancing difficult campus conversations about diversity and inclusion, or helping first-generation students to find a sense of belonging at Emory.

In fact, Sterk’s special care for building broader community — insisting that all voices are heard — has become a hallmark of her Emory legacy. “Diversity and inclusion, her strong efforts to make Emory a university for the twenty-first century — I’ve really been very impressed by that, her willingness to move Emory to the next level, from excellence to eminence,” reflects Leah Ward Sears 80L, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia who has served on Emory’s Board of Trustees since 2010.

Sears praises Sterk’s deft skill at keeping the university on its course while simultaneously navigating complex issues and interests. Free speech. The plight of undocumented college students. The unprecedented disruptions of a global pandemic across higher education. Guided by intellect, compassion, and leadership, Sterk has met each challenge with creativity, resolve, and warmth, says Sears. 

“Claire has a lot she can be proud of,” Sears says. “She has left an indelible mark on the university that will live for a long time.”

MAKING A LASTING DIFFERENCE  

Once in office, Sterk quickly focused on three commitments she’d presented at her inauguration. The first was to help move Emory from a diverse community to a more inclusive one — a pledge she fulfilled by expanding opportunities for campus discourse, supporting diversity in undergraduate recruitment, and appointing both a chief diversity officer and a university ombudsperson.

Her second commitment: To engage globally, in the broadest ways, with Emory’s many communities — whether around the corner or across the world. There, her success can be measured in many ways, not least of which being the $14.8 billion impact the university has upon the region’s economy and its new status as the region’s largest employer.  Emory has continued as a leader in health care as well, with national and global advances to help end HIV transmission and the spread of diabetes, curtail the US opioid epidemic, and most recently to develop and test new antiviral compounds that could help treat COVID-19.

Sterk also vowed to lead by supporting and employing Emory’s qualities of excellence, distinctiveness, and relevance. During her tenure, the university not only received historic levels of research funding but also its largest gift to date — $400 million from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation to build a new Winship Cancer Institute Tower in Midtown and a new Health Sciences Research Building on Emory’s main campus, both aimed at improving the lives of Georgians through innovative patient care models and new cures for disease.  Last year, the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation also pledged $65 million toward a third Rollins School of Public Health building on Emory’s Atlanta campus; construction began this spring.

Sterk also helped open a new Emory Student Center, supported the restoration of Convocation Hall, invested in elevating student success, and oversaw work on a new university master plan, which undergirds her One Emory goals — enhancing connectivity and institutional identity, fostering an unparalleled undergraduate experience, advancing research growth and partnerships, engaging the greater Atlanta community, and promoting stewardship.

As the primary architect for the One Emory strategic framework, Sterk has helped position the university for future growth with both ambition and pragmatism, says Jan Love, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “The framework marks a defining moment for Emory, pushing us to achieve the academic eminence that lies well within our reach.”