This article was originally published by the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
The ultimate American Dream: The son of a single mother from a rural town in a small, Southern state becomes president of the United States and brings the nation’s only advanced degree in public service to his home state. A place called Hope, indeed, and now that hope is in action. The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service is the nation’s first higher education institution to offer a Master of Public Service degree. It’s also the embodiment of President William J. Clinton’s approach to bettering the world: Building our own future by helping others to build theirs.
“I came to the Clinton School with a nonprofit background, but my experiences there made me a stronger and wiser professional, advocate and citizen,” said Kelly Ford, director of development for the Arkansas Arts Center. “The curriculum uses both a global and local lens that provides a real opportunity to explore possibilities for positive change wherever you find yourself.”
The Clinton School’s mission is to educate and prepare professionals in public service who understand, engage and transform complex social, cultural, economic and political systems to ensure equity, challenge oppression and effect positive social change. According to Skip Rutherford, dean of the school, the program gives students the knowledge and experience to further their careers in the areas of nonprofit, governmental, volunteer or private sector service.
“It’s a two-year graduate program with a real-world curriculum,” Rutherford said. “It’s different than any other master’s program because a significant portion of instruction is direct field service work. Essentially, the state of Arkansas is our laboratory.”
The Clinton School, which is located on the grounds of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, was born from a collaborative decision between President Clinton and Alan Sugg, former president of the University of Arkansas System. While it could have been located anywhere, according to Rutherford, the Clinton School was set at the presidential center and park so students could connect personally and professionally with major worldwide issues and developments. The first year’s enrollment in 2006 totaled 16 students; eight years later, just over 100 students from all over the world are in attendance.
The vision of the Clinton School is its belief in the right of all individuals, without exclusion, to participate fully and democratically in the social, cultural, economic and political systems that affect their lives. Professional public servants must understand, engage and transform these complex systems to ensure equity, eliminate injustice and effect positive social change.
“We believe in the right of all individuals to reach their full potential and to embody the spirit of democracy,” Rutherford said. “These students must join with people who are marginalized so they are advocates for bettering their lives and developing their own communities. We also believe in moral leadership that includes integrity, compassion and a commitment to social justice, and that means the students who graduate from this program and go on to pursue their careers in public service must listen to and learn from diverse groups, compromise and build alliances and take strategic and decisive action to advance the common good. They can learn to do all of this and put it into practice right here in Arkansas.”
Field service promotes the Clinton School vision by emphasizing the “practice” of public service by placing students in challenging environments, ones where they work with community leaders to help build healthy, engaged and vibrant communities, both in Arkansas and around the world.
“There are some distinct advantages to nonprofits located in Arkansas,” Rutherford said. “There is a nucleus of national and international organizations here that already put into practice what public service seeks to accomplish, including Heifer International and Winrock International. We also have nonprofit professionals who already live here and want to stay to build their careers. That’s probably the single largest benefit we boast in the state — a qualified and compassionate labor force.”
The Clinton School builds leadership in civic engagement by enhancing its students’ capacity to work across disciplinary, racial, ethnic and geographical boundaries. Arkansas is unique in that it can offer all of this experience within its borders, and that work ranges from local work in Arkansas communities to international projects on all of the world’s six inhabited continents.
Students are required to complete three courses where they engage in field projects: The practicum, which takes student teams into Arkansas communities, including the Delta, to foster community development and social change in areas such as economic development, environmental awareness, public education, youth leadership development and health improvement; the international public service project, which places students with organizations all over the world that are combating global hunger, fostering educational opportunities for children, promoting corporate responsibility and expanding health care in the third world; and, the final Capstone project, which challenges students to put their skills into action and complete an in-depth public service project to benefit a government or nonprofit agency and, ultimately, lead the student into a career upon graduation.
“The state is small enough that you aren’t just a number,” Rutherford said. “We’re a state where people know each other personally, and hospitality is an art form in Arkansas. The fact we are small does not impact the quality of the work we can do to make a global impact through training the next generation of public servants.”
While the Clinton School’s students come from all backgrounds and experience levels, such as Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Teach for America and military veterans to medical, business and nonprofit professionals, it will take the right opportunity to keep them here.
“All of these entities recruit our students,” Rutherford said. “But there is a net ‘in-migration’ of students who move here for the program and want to stay here after graduation. In fact, as more people in Arkansas connect with our students, they want to hire them and keep them here. What we need is more opportunities for these leaders to pursue professional and private lives that are fulfilling. If they can find those positions in our state, we can keep them here and benefit from it.”
Marie Lindquist Traded Snow Plows for Public Service
Marie Lindquist moved to Little Rock from Memphis by way of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. As the director of field services for the Clinton School of Public Service, Lindquist is familiar with and skilled at navigating radically different cultures, landscapes and temperatures.
“I worked for nine years at Rhodes College in Memphis, and when the opportunity to work at the Clinton School of Public Service came up, I couldn’t turn it down,” Lindquist said. “I hadn’t been to Arkansas except just over the border in Helena-West Helena so I really didn’t have a concept of what was good or bad about it. I don’t make assumptions about places because, in general, they just aren’t true.
“When I moved here, I was so glad to have the opportunity to move somewhere with such natural beauty. Being from Minnesota, I really missed that. Memphis has a lot of cultures and what might be considered a ‘big city’ vibe, but there really isn’t anywhere to walk or ride or sit amongst nature. Certainly nothing like what is available here.
“Little Rock is such an easy city to live in. It’s easy to get around, and the people are so friendly. In fact, that is one of this city’s best points: The citizens in Arkansas are so accepting and accessible. You can knock on the door of the mayor or any local leader, and they will talk to you. It’s certainly not like that in other cities, and I think it’s a major reason why things get accomplished in the nonprofit industry here.
“Part of what I love about Arkansas is the students at the Clinton School want to come here, and when they get here, they stay. The stereotypes about Arkansas do not hold up once you get here. It’s not what people outside its borders think it is. It’s not pretentious in any way, and what I find particularly refreshing is Arkansas is a place that is always working to improve, to get better and be better for its citizens and visitors.”
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