Professor Geoffrey Clarke, a first-year economics lecturer at Brandeis University, sustained multiple injuries in a truck-pedestrian collision on the pedestrian crosswalk of Turner Street and South Street before teaching his first class at Brandeis.
As Clarke was walking up South Street to the International Business School on the morning of Aug. 28, a truck pulled out of Turner Street onto South Street, hitting Clarke as he was crossing Turner St. He fell down, and the truck ran him over on both its front and back wheels, according to Clarke. As a result, Clarke was dragged back to AK’s Pizzeria. He said that after he was run over, the truck driver “did everything right,” including pulling over and asking him if he was okay.
Clarke was immediately escorted to the hospital for his injuries. In an interview with The Hoot, he said he suffered five broken bones: a collarbone, a rib, two bones in his back and his pinkie finger. Clarke said that he is also covered with abrasions and has a few bruised ribs.
“I ended up being really lucky, actually,” said Clarke. “I’m remarkably unscathed for being run over by a truck.”
As a result of the accident, students were informed by an email from Leslie Yancich, the Economics Academic Administrator, at 8:51 a.m. on Wednesday that Clarke’s Survey of Economics (ECON 2a) and Microeconomic Theory (ECON 80a) courses were cancelled for the rest of the week. Retired Professor Mike Coiner (ECON) substituted the ECON 2a course on Aug. 29, and was due to substitute for the following week, while Professor Benjamin Shiller was due to substitute the ECON 80a course the following week. Clarke made a quick recovery, however, and was able to come back to the Brandeis campus to teach his classes for Wednesday, September 4.
“The school really did a good job of organizing a response and making me feel good as I was being attended to at the hospital,” said Clarke. “I just wanted to get back here and start teaching again.”
Clarke just completed his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he also taught. His expertise is in economic history, applied microeconomics, experimental economics, according to the Brandeis website. Clarke will be teaching one section of ECON 2a this year and two sections of ECON 80a this semester.
