Category: Faculty

In the new Time magazine issue, a case is made for national service in Richard Stengel’s article, A Time to Serve. “When Americans look around right now, they see a public school system with 38% of fourth graders unable to read at a basic level; they see the cost of health insurance escalating as 47 million people go uninsured;

Bald Knob, Ark., (population 3,210) is home to the one of the best — if not Arkansas’s best — home town drive-in restaurants. “The Bulldog,” which happens to also be the name of the high school mascot, serves some of the best home cooking I’ve ever had.

In commenting about the many activities at the Clinton School, one of our students used the phrase, “opportunity overload.” For me as Dean, those words represent a pleasant problem. The Clinton School should be all about opening doors of opportunity — whether these be from challenging academic work in the classrooms; or academics for the real world with substantive hands-on public service projects

CBS Sunday Morning’s segment today on “mess” was refreshing. Not only did it feature messy offices, but it concluded that those who worked in cluttered surroundings were 36 percent more efficient in their tasks. After years of defending my position, I feel vindicated.

From the famous “Morning in America” theme, to recognizing citizens attending the State of the Union, to ensuring that President Reagan was “the great communicator” while being among the least accessible of modern Presidents had Mike’s touch. People from both sides of the aisle knew Mike was a master at his craft.

Now, Arkansas is in a debate over the manner in which Arkansas history will be taught in the K-12 curriculum. Will it be a “unit” as part of a broader subject or as a separate course? The state Education Department favors the “unit” approach while many of Arkansas’s leading historians (including Clinton School Founding Dean and former Governor/Senator David Pryor) advocate the “stand alone” position.

In summary, the legislation provides quarterly disclosures of $200 or more to presidential library fundraising organizations (i.e. presidential library foundations) for a period until the time the Archivist of the United States has the title for the building or for four years after a President leaves office.

Charter schools are not a panacea.  By freeing local communities and entrepreneurs from regulations, however, charter schools have invigorated communities, pioneered innovative curriculum and instruction, and helped needy students to learn.  Of course, some charter schools have failed in their missions.