Field Service FAQ

Field service at the Clinton School requires students to work collaboratively with community leaders to understand, engage, and seek to transform complex systems. It resembles a graduate school fellowship while also requiring students to directly apply what they are learning in their Clinton School coursework.

Clinton School students complete three field service projects as part of four required classes. For their projects, students complete projects for their partners that support the organization’s priorities in addressing systemic social change. Systematic social change is not direct service, such as working at a soup kitchen, but rather working on addressing larger issues, such as helping improve policies or programs that fight hunger.

There are three major field service projects that each MPS student completes: Practicum, IPSP, and Capstone.

The team-based Practicum project includes two courses taken during the first year of the program. It concentrates on teaching students how to effectively plan and implement public service projects, work as a team, and apply the Clinton School curriculum to the field. All Practicum projects are planned and implemented between September and April. They are located within a two-hour drive of Little Rock and require approximately 300 hours per student to complete.

The International Public Service Project (IPSP) is typically completed outside of the United States and requires the students to work full-time with a community organization for 8-to-10 weeks. Most students complete their IPSP in the summer. The IPSP provides students the opportunity to experience public service well outside their previous acquaintance, stretching their boundaries of existing knowledge and skills. The projects also allow students to participate in the daily activities of a public service agency, serving as a member of the agency staff.

The Capstone is the culminating field service course and can be completed anywhere in the world. Students are required to spend at least 250 hours on their Capstone project. Students begin their Capstone projects at various times throughout the year, depending on their course load.

Clinton School students can work with any organization that addresses social change. This includes nonprofits, government agencies, businesses, foundations, coalitions, and more. Students have worked with everything from start-ups to large multinational corporations.

In consultation with the Executive Director for the Office of Field Service and other faculty members, the Director of Domestic Programs chooses local and regional Practicum partners. The students choose their International Public Service Project in consultation with the Director of International Programs, and choose their Capstone projects in consultation with their individual faculty advisors. Requests for Practicum project proposals from potential partners are generally due in late March.

The OFS staff finalizes decisions regarding Practicum partners for the coming academic year (Fall-Spring) in late spring or early summer. Organizations can submit ideas for IPSP and Capstone projects at any time. However, the earlier that project ideas are presented to students, the more likely they will be filled.

In their Clinton School classes, students learn about facilitation methods, conducting needs assessments, researching best practices, program development, logic models, designing and conducting surveys, interviews, and focus groups to collect information, and program evaluation. In their electives, students can learn about designing strategic plans, writing grants, GIS mapping, funding public initiatives, and much more.

Students are graded on both the quality and professionalism of their project work and the quality of their course assignments in which they apply what they are learning to their projects. Final grades are informed by information obtained from project supervisors and other community members with whom the students worked.

The Clinton School offers faculty and staff support:

Dr. Nichola Driver, Executive Director of the Office of Field Service (OFS), provides academic oversight of the Practicum and International Public Service Project (IPSP) experiences.

Rachel Norris, Director of Domestic Programs, teaches the Practicum class, mentoring students through their first team-based field experience at the Clinton School; works with any state or national organization interested in proposing a field project to the school; and manages the relationships with the organizations and project supervisors.

Tiffany Jacob, Director of International Programs, develops and facilitates workshops and video modules to prepare students for the IPSP experience; works with international organizations to develop field placement opportunities overseas; and manages project logistics.

Field service graduate assistants help support students as they complete their fieldwork.

For Practicum projects, the Clinton School provides some travel reimbursement and other small funding requests as necessary for the success of the team projects.

For IPSP, the Clinton School provides the students with a stipend that helps cover their travel and living expenses for their 8-10 week project.

Clinton School students are not currently trained in their core classes to manage the entire strategic planning process, although they are taught components such as researching best practices; writing missions, visions, goals, and outcomes; and conducting SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analyses.

While students can assist start-up organizations, they cannot complete the paperwork required for organizations to obtain their 501 statuses. However, the students can help gather and create the information required, such as action plans.

Clinton School students are prohibited from undertaking field service projects in countries that do not have a U.S. embassy or consulate. Additional countries may be prohibited as needed, depending on State Department travel warnings.

Our students are unable to serve as lobbyists. However, they can help with advocacy, building community support and buy-in, and writing policy pieces.

We regularly post information about our projects on our website and through the Clinton School blog. Below is a list of projects that represent the range and quality of projects Clinton School students work on:

SNAP Outreach to Arkansas Populations (Little Rock, Ark.) – A student worked with organizations both in and outside Arkansas to inform the Department of Human Services about best practices to improve the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Green Valley Development (St. Louis, Mo.) – A student worked with the staff of Green Valley Development to formalize a strategic planning document, a board orientation packet, and organizational marketing materials.

Arkansas Baptist College (Little Rock, Ark.) – A team of students worked with the Arkansas Baptist College president and staff to document the school’s community revitalization model. The handbook created was given to attendees of the Neighborhood’s USA Conference.

Arkansas Governor’s Office, Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign (Little Rock, Ark.) – To help improve the status of hungry children in Arkansas, a team of students interviewed food banks and surveyed more than 1,000 feeding programs to learn where children currently receive food on nights and weekends. They collected basic information on these programs’ operations and impact and produced a set of tools to help the campaign connect with, learn from, and support these efforts.

Chemonics International (Mongolia) – A student worked to help improve economic development in the country by partnering with an organization coalition to improve the company registration process in Mongolia. This was done by conducting best practices research, making recommendations for changes, and creating buy-in from key stakeholders.