*Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or calling (501) 683-5239.
“A Certain Sound: Speaking Truth to Power,” Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie
Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. (Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church) *In partnership with Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church
– Bishop McKenzie of Dallas, Texas serves as the 117th elected bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was the first woman elected bishop in the denomination’s 213-year history. She is also the national chaplain for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the largest predominately African-American sorority of college-trained women, and serves as national chaplain for The Links, a national service organization for professional women of color. She is the author of five books including an edited anthology of sermons from 22 outstanding preachers titled Those Sisters Can Preach. She also produced the documentary Survivor Stories about Hurricane Katrina, which aired on cable and PBS. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, earned a Master of Divinity from Howard University’s School of Divinity, and a Doctorate of Ministry from United Theological Seminary.
“Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas,” Michael Hibblen
Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 12:00 Noon (Sturgis Hall) *Book signing to follow
– For nearly 80 years, the Rock Island was a major railroad in Arkansas providing passenger and freight services. A decline in rail travel after World War II and an increase in trucks hauling freight over government-subsidized interstates were among factors that left the railroad struggling. Efforts to merge with other railroads were stalled for years by federal regulators. The Rock Island filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and attempted reorganization, but creditors wanted the assets liquidated, with a judge shutting it down in 1980. Most of the tracks that traversed the state were taken up, but a few relics, like the Little Rock passenger station and the Arkansas River bridge, remain as monuments to this once great railroad. Michael Hibblen is the author of Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas and a journalist with KUAR radio in Little Rock.
Victory Over Violence: Crime Solutions that Work
Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. (Little Rock Central High School) *In partnership with KARK and Fox16
– As Little Rock battles a growing crime problem, we explore solutions that can help our community claim “Victory Over Violence.” The program will feature a panel discussion and a question and answer session on ways to combat crime in our community.
Panel:
Mayor Mark Stodola
Sgt. Willie Davis, LRPD and OK Program
Leifel Jackson, Community Organizer and Former Gang Member
Robert Holt, Let Our Violence End
Moderator: Donna Terrell, Fox`16 Anchor
“Philanthropy in the Southwest: Overview of Grantmaking by Private and Community Foundations in Arkansas and the Southwest,” Kathy Jankowski
Monday, April 10, 2017 at 12:00 Noon (Sturgis Hall)
– Over a period of three years, Arkansas foundation giving has reached more than $690 million dollars. The framework for this session will be Philanthropy Southwest’s third landscape study on philanthropic giving in the Southwest. The session will also offer an historic perspective on foundation giving in Arkansas and the surrounding region. In that context, the presentation will provide an in-depth analysis of giving along such interest vectors as rural and urban disparities and areas supported, from the arts and education to human services, health, and the environment. Kathy Jankowski is the founder and research director of Jankowski Associates
“Archives of American Gardens: Capturing Garden History,” Cindy Brown
Thursday, April 13, 2017 at 12:00 Noon (Sturgis Hall)
– Discover how Smithsonian Gardens is conserving American garden history with over 100,000 photographs and documents, and how you can participate. Smithsonian Gardens Education and Collections Manager, Cindy Brown, will share the interesting work that is being done and how you can add your own garden story to the Community of Gardens project. Cindy Brown is the Manager of Horticulture Collections Management and Education at Smithsonian Gardens, a position she has held since 2010. Brown leads a talented team overseeing Smithsonian Gardens’ archives, object and living collections, education, and web and social media. She has worked in the field of horticulture since 1993, beginning her career in a nursery and serendipitously discovering the world of public gardens. Currently, her project is the development of the Community of Gardens initiative, a website and mobile app for sharing share stories about gardens and green spaces and cultivating a deeper understanding, and appreciation of, the role gardens play in keeping communities healthy, happy, and connected.
Janine D’Anniballe
Friday, April 14, 2017 at 12:00 Noon (Sturgis Hall) *In Partnership with Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault
– Janine D’Anniballe has been dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and training of sexual assault issues for the past 18 years. Currently, she is the Director of Access, Emergency, and Community Services at Mental Health Partners in Boulder, Colorado. Previously, she was the executive director of Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA), the rape crisis center in Boulder Colorado for ten years. D’Anniballe has provided training and consultation to attorneys, law enforcement, military personnel, mental health professionals, victim advocates and University staff in more than 30 states across the country. She serves as a trainer for the Ending Violence Against Women Project for the State of Colorado, providing training throughout the state addressing system response issues in sexual assault cases. In 2003, D’Anniballe joined the faculty of the National Judicial Education Program that educates judges on sexual assault issues and how these cases are approached in the courtroom so as to minimize re-traumatization of victims without undermining defendants’ constitutional rights. A licensed psychologist, D’Anniballe has a private consulting practice in Boulder with an emphasis on understanding and treating psychological trauma.
“Women Leaders and Best Friends”, Peggy Scranton
Monday, April 17, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. (Great Hall)
– University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor of political science, Peggy Scranton explores the friendship between Hillary Clinton and Diane Blair from their time in Arkansas and Washington, D.C. Her research at the University of Arkansas Library Special Collections in the Papers of Diane Blair, brings to light ways these women supported each others’ public success in Arkansas and how the friendship helped Hillary thrive in Washington during her terms as First Lady.
“President Trump’s First 100 Days,” Senator Tom Cotton interviewed by Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford
Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 12:00 Noon (Sturgis Hall)
– Senator Tom Cotton is a United States Senator from Arkansas. His committees include the Banking Committee, where he chairs the Economic Policy Subcommittee, the Intelligence Committee, and the Armed Services Committee, where he chairs the Air Land Power Subcommittee. Sen. Cotton grew up on his family’s cattle farm in Yell County. He graduated from Dardanelle High School, Harvard, and Harvard Law School. After a clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals and private law practice, Sen. Cotton left the law to join the military. He served nearly five years on active duty in the United States Army as an Infantry Officer. Sen. Cotton served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne and in Afghanistan with a Provincial Reconstruction Team. Between his two combat tours, he served with The Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. His military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Ranger Tab. April 29th will be the 100th day of President Trump’s administration
“Civil Rights and the Arts in 2017 America,” A Conversation with Terence Blanchard and Charles Blow
Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. (Mosaic Templars Cultural Center)
– Terence Blanchard and Charles Blow will discuss the state of civil rights in the United States and the Black Lives Matter Movement, as well as the uniqueness of music and the arts as a catalyst for unity. The event is a collaboration between the Oxford American, the Clinton School of Public Service, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, and UCA College of Fine Arts & Communication that is free and open to the public. The discussion starts at 7:00 PM, with a Q&A session and book signing to follow.
Since top-tier jazz and multiple Grammy-winning trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard embarked on his solo recording career with his eponymous Columbia Records album in 1991, the New Orleans-born and -based artist has traveled many paths musically, including delivering adventurous and provocative acoustic jazz outings of original material, composing over fifty soundtracks, and even, in 2013, debuting Champion: An Opera in Jazz. He has also, in the spirit of his onetime membership in the jazz school of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, mentored several musicians in his bands who have gone on to have significant recording careers of their own, including Lionel Loueke, Aaron Parks, Kendrick Scott, and one of his current band members, Fabian Almazan.
Charles M. Blow is an Op-Ed columnist at The New York Times, where his column appears on Thursdays and Mondays. His columns tackle hot-button issues, such as social justices, racial equality, presidential politics, police violence, gun control, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Blow is also a CNN commentator and a Presidential Visiting Professor at Yale, where he teaches a seminar on media and politics. In addition, he is the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones. The book won a Lambda Literary Award and the Sperber Prize and made multiple prominent lists of best books published in 2014. People Magazine called it “searing and unforgettable.”
“Peace, Politics and Protest,” Reverend John Dear
Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 12:00 Noon. (Sturgis Hall)
– Rev. John Dear is an internationally recognized voice for peace and nonviolence. A priest, activist and author, he served for years as the director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the United States. After September 11, 2001, he was a Red Cross coordinator of chaplains at the Family Assistance Center in New York, and counseled thousands of relatives and rescue workers. John has traveled the war zones of the world, been arrested some 80 times for peace, led Nobel Peace Prize winners to Iraq, recently visited Afghanistan, given thousands of lectures on peace across the U.S., and served as a pastor of several churches in New Mexico. He arranged on many occasions for Mother Teresa to speak to various governors to stop an impending execution, and recently helped draft Pope Francis’ Jan. 1, 2017 World Day of Peace message on nonviolence. He is the author of thirty-five books and has been nominated many times for the Nobel Peace Prize, including by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sen. Barbara Mikulski. He works for www.campaignnonviolence.org, is a priest of the Diocese of Monterey, CA, and lives in New Mexico.
“Walking on the Moon: Reflections on the Future of Cancer,” Greg Simon
Monday, April 24, 2017 at 12:00 Noon (Sturgis Hall)
– Greg Simon served as the executive director of the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force, a position created by President Barack Obama and for which he was chosen by Vice President Joe Biden in March 2016. During his time in the White House, Simon and his team helped launch over seventy innovative collaborations. He was the CEO of Poliwogg, a financial services company creating unique capital market opportunities in healthcare and life sciences. Previously, Simon was senior vice president for Worldwide Policy and Patient Engagement at Pfizer, co-founded with Michael Milken, FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical solutions, and with Leon and Debra Black co-founded the Melanoma Research Alliance. Simon is a cancer survivor, having been recently successfully treated for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Jonathan Forman, Science Policy Adviser for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 12:00 Noon (Sturgis Hall)
– Jonathan Forman currently holds the post of Science Policy Adviser at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), whose mission is to implement the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in order to achieve the their vision of a world that is free of chemical weapons and of the threat of their use, and in which cooperation in chemistry for peaceful purposes for all is fostered. In doing this, the ultimate aim is to contribute to international security and stability, to general and complete disarmament, and to global economic development. The OPCW was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. Forman received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1996, after which he worked for a series of biotechnology companies developing molecular diagnostic and bioanalytical assay technologies for genomic, immunoassay, and cell capture applications.
“Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations,” John Avlon
Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall) *In partnership with the Arkansas Literary Festival
– John Avlon is the Editor-in-Chief and managing director of The Daily Beast and a CNN political analyst. He will discuss his new book Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations, which describes George Washington’s prophetic letter to his fellow citizens about the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive debt, and foreign wars. Avlon offers a portrait of our first president and his battle to save America from self-destruction.
“Arkansas Puzzle Day,” with Deb Amlen
Sunday, April 30, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall) *In partnership with the Arkansas Literary Festival
– Deb Amlen is the columnist and editor of “Wordplay,” the crossword column of The New York Times. She has been making people laugh and learn things they didn’t think they needed to know since 2011. Amlen has also been a senior columnist for David Pogue’s Yahoo! Tech, and is the author of It’s Not P.M.S., It’s You. Her work can also be seen in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Establishment and BUST Magazine, among others. Following the presentation, the Clinton School will welcome crossword and Sodoku puzzle enthusiasts for the Tenth Annual Arkansas Puzzle Day. The event will feature crossword and Sudoku contests at 2:00 p.m. and all skill levels are encouraged to attend and participate.
*Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or calling (501) 683-5239.
*If you are unable to attend a public program in person, you can watch most programs live online here.
Responses