LITTLE ROCK – Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel delivered the commencement address today to the graduating class from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, telling the graduates to “make change your ally not enemy.”
Citing the legacy of President Bill Clinton, who built a covenant that “avoided the battles of the left and right by building a bridge beyond them,” Emanuel told the graduates to embrace Clinton’s best quality of learning more from their setbacks rather than successes in life.
Today, the Clinton legacy “becomes a part of your own,” Emanuel said.
The 34 graduates are the seventh class to graduate from the unique Master of Public Service degree program. The graduates represent 14 states and four countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Portugal and Thailand.
The students came to the school with a variety of public service backgrounds including those who have served in AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, City Year and Teach for America. Members of the class have led voter registration drives, volunteered with the Red Cross in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and promoted sustainable business practices, among other service activities.
During the past two years in the program, the graduates have completed a 36-hour curriculum, including three field service projects: the team-based Practicum, the International Public Service Project and the Capstone.
Beginning in the fall of 2011, the students completed year-long team projects with 10 Arkansas-based government and non-government organizations such as, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, Governor Mike Beebe’s No Kid Hungry Campaign, the Arkansas Women’s Foundation and the UAMS Center for Rural Health.
During the summer of 2012, the students completed projects in 21 countries on five continents. They partnered with government and nongovernment organizations to complete projects related to social justice, human rights, education, economic development and health improvement, among other causes.
They will partner with organizations such as the Desmond Tutu Peace Center, Heifer International, Room to Read, Vital Voices Global Partnership and the World Bank.
To finish the program, the students have worked on a final Capstone Project, which requires them to partner with an organization and dedicate 250 hours to a project of their choosing. This year, students completed Capstones with organizations such as the Walmart Foundation, the Mongolian Government General Authority for State Registration, Hope North Uganda and HIPPY Canada, among others.
The graduates also benefited from participating in the Clinton School Speaker Series, which hosted more than 130 lectures during their two years in the program.
Speakers who visited during the past two years include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator John McCain, former White House Chief of Staff Thomas F. McLarty, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Representative Nancy Pelosi, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman.
The Class of 2013:
Jordan Aibel – (Miami, Fla.) – A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in political science, Aibel helped lead a strategic planning effort for the Shearwater Education Foundation, a leading charter school and education foundation, prior to entering the Clinton School. For his international project, Aibel traveled to Brussels, Belgium, to help develop revenue models for the services offered by Multimano and The World As Home, two organizations working on communication and immigration around the European Union. For his Capstone, Aibel worked with Ashoka, a network of social entrepreneurs, to strengthen the use of AshokaHub, on online platform on which the Ashoka network connects and collaborates.
Nuno Almeida (Lisbon, Portugal) – Almeida earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in international relations at Lusiada University of Lisbon and completed a master’s in European studies at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, before joining the Clinton School. For his international project, Almeida traveled to Mexico City and partnered with ACORN to work with two traditionally marginalized communities to collect data related to the effect of U.S.-based remittances on the livelihoods of children and families. For his Capstone, Almeida worked with the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice in Iowa to investigate the causes for a disproportionate presence of racial minority children in child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
Todun Apara-Afolabi (Osun State, Nigeria) – Afolabi studied at Obafemi Awolowo University and completed her law degree at the Nigerian Law School. She worked for a Nigerian law firm on personnel law before entering the Clinton School. For her international project, she completed a study for the Legal Resources Foundation Trust, an NGO based in Nairobi, Kenya, that works to promote access to justice through human rights education, research and policy advocacy. For her Capstone, Afolabi worked with the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Community Service and Nonprofit Support to assess the need for community service in the state of Arkansas and develop a strategic plan.
Stephen Bailey (Charlotte, N.C.) – Bailey is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in German. Before joining the Clinton School, he worked with the Gephardt Institute for Public Service on a voter registration drive, among other activities. For his international project, Bailey worked with the Canadian Urban Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, create a number of video productions, including a documentary, about the implementation of a project aimed to bring economic development to villages surrounding the city. For his Capstone, he partnered with Heifer International to develop a marketing campaign designed to scale-up global impact and diversify revenue streams by using creative approaches to connect Heifer supporters with its projects and beneficiaries.
Russell Carey (Jacksonville, Ark.) – A graduate of the University of Central Arkansas with a degree in business administration, Carey worked as a corporate buyer for Dillards, Inc., in Little Rock and served as a volunteer with Arkansas Children’s Hospital before entering the Clinton School. He completed his international project in Cape Town, South Africa, where he worked with the Desmond Tutu Peace Center to develop a comprehensive web and social media plan. For his Capstone, Carey worked with the University of Central Arkansas to research ways to increase student diversity in honors undergraduate education to better serve marginalized student populations in Arkansas.
Maggie Carroll (Little Rock, Ark.) – A graduate of the University of Arkansas, Carroll studied for a summer at Universidad Interamericana in Heredia, Costa Rica, and interned with both the Clinton Foundation and Amnesty International before entering the Clinton School. For her international project, she traveled to Rajastan, India, where she partnered with Heifer International to document the impact of a hunger project on the empowerment of women and girls. For her Capstone, Carroll partnered with Arkansas Voices in Little Rock to develop a creative outlet project for children of incarcerated parents.
Jake Coffey (Nashville, Tenn.) – Coffey studied English and film at Connecticut College and completed a program in modern history at Queen’s University in Belfast. He spent two years working in the Office of Community-Based Public Health at the College of Public Health at UAMS before entering the Clinton School. For his international project, Coffey worked with the Centre for Health Equity Training, Research and Evaluation in Sydney, Australia, where he examined the direct and indirect impacts of Equity Focused Health Impact Assessments conducted on service plans. He is completing the concurrent M.P.H./M.P.S. program with the Boozman College of Public Health at UAMS.
Laura Crosby (Boca Raton, Fla.) – Crosby earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and worked in government relations for Best Buddies International, a nonprofit that serves people with developmental disabilities, before entering the Clinton School. For her international project, Crosby worked with Search for Common Ground in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she developed a sustainability plan for a program that supports empowering women in Indonesian society. For her Capstone, she partnered with HIPPY, USA in Little Rock to conduct a feasibility study to determine if the HIPPY home-visitation model is an effective method to promote literacy at home for elementary age children.
Mark Eastham (McLean, Va.) – A graduate of Elon University with majors in history and international studies, Eastham helped promote eco-tourism as an intern with the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Republic of Congo before joining the Clinton School. He completed his international project in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he helped develop a sustainable palm oil advocacy toolkit in collaboration with the supply chain of Massmart, the second-largest distributor of consumer goods in Africa. He is completing the concurrent M.B.A./M.P.S. with the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business.
Trish Flanagan (St. Louis, Mo.) – A graduate of Northern Arizona University where she studied anthropology and Spanish, Flanagan served as assistant director of a K-10 school in Roatan, Honduras, before entering the Clinton School. She completed her international project in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, where she created a family and community engagement framework for Room to Read’s programs in Asia and Africa. Her findings informed Room to Read’s Global Guidelines for Family and Community Engagement, purposed to strengthen community and family engagement practices across the globe. She is completing the concurrent M.B.A./M.P.S. with the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business.
Kelly Ford Little Rock, Ark.) – Ford earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Arkansas and a master’s degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University. She has worked as director of development and marketing at the Arkansas Repertory Theater and as assistant director of marketing and communications at Heifer International before entering the Clinton School. She completed her international project in Arezzo, Italy, where she conducted an evaluation and created a sustainability plan for the Crisis Art Festival hosted by Accademia dell’Arte, a performing arts education program accredited by Hendrix College. For her Capstone, she worked with Just Communities of Arkansas in Little Rock to develop a creative writing workshop curriculum for middle-school youth.
Leslie Harris (Clarksville, Ark.) – A graduate of Arkansas Tech University with a degree in journalism, Harris served as student government president and chaired the Arkansas Tech Volunteer Action Council before entering the Clinton School. For her international project, she worked with Youth With a Mission in Budapest, Hungary, on an initiative to expand programs and provide outreach to marginalized populations. For her Capstone, she partnered with the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, to develop a five-year plan to implement service-learning on campus in cooperation with the University’s Center for Community Engagement.
Francennett Herrera (Chicago, Ill.) – A graduate of Philander Smith College with a degree in political science, Herrera served on the board of Justice for Our Neighbors and as a volunteer mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters before entering the Clinton School. She completed her international project in Mexico City, Mexico, where she helped identify unmet needs of the immigrant community for a nonprofit organization that is committed to assisting at-risk immigrant populations. She is in the process of identifying her final Capstone project.
Burt Hicks (Hot Springs, Ark.) – A graduate of the University of Arkansas with a degree in finance, Hicks worked as an investment banking analyst for Merrill Lynch in New York and as a corporate finance analyst for Simmons First Bank in Little Rock before entering the Clinton School. He completed his international project with Vital Voices in Accra, Ghana, where he worked with two women-led businesses to help them expand their operations and positively impact their wider community. For his Capstone, he worked with the Business Plus Initiative in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to help the Mongolian government implement an online business registration process. He is completing the concurrent J.D./M.P.S. program with the UALR Bowen School of Law.
Nathan Jesson (St. Paul, Minn.) – A graduate of Hendrix College, Jesson worked on several political campaigns including the 2010 Minnesota Congressional campaign of Tarryl Clark and the 2008 U.S. Senate campaign of Al Franken before entering the Clinton School. He completed his international project with Ultimate Peace in Acco, Israel, where he evaluated the use of sports as a mechanism for ameliorating conflict among youth. For his Capstone, he partnered with the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority in Little Rock to research best practices for bringing broadband access to Arkansas public schools and universities.
Katie Longino (Lufkin, Texas) – A graduate of Ouachita Baptist University with a degree in Christian studies, Longino served as an AmeriCorps member with Habitat for Humanity in Fort Worth, Texas, before entering the Clinton School. She completed her international project with Vital Voices in Accra, Ghana, where she conducted personal interviews with women entrepreneurs in order to gain a better understanding of their challenges. The data she gathered will be used to publish information about women in leadership in Ghana. For her Capstone, she worked with Lotus Guesthouse in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to develop employee training and marketing materials for the Guesthouse, which teaches business, hospitality and tourism skills to children who formerly lived on the streets of Mongolia.
Gina Lopez (New Orleans, La.) – A graduate of Loyola University with a degree in political science and communications, Lopez worked as an advisor for the City of Los Angeles Housing Authority before entering the Clinton School. For her international project, she traveled to Accra, Ghana and London, England, to train leaders for public service and provide resources to entrepreneurs to solve social problems through community and economic redevelopment. For her Capstone, Lopez worked with the Walmart Foundation to create a five-year business plan and social measurement model to help implement an e-commerce platform dedicated to selling products from women-owned businesses globally. She is completing the concurrent M.B.A./M.P.S. with the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business.
Stanley Luker (Wynne, Ark.) – A graduate of the University of Arkansas with a degree in business administration, Luker served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kingdom of Tonga before entering the Clinton School. He completed his international project with Heifer International in Manila, Philippines, where he evaluated a disaster preparedness project that aims to protect development gains made by increasing the abilities of communities to prepare for and respond to disaster threats. For his Capstone, Luker worked with Hope North Uganda in Kiryandongo District, Uganda, to lead a strategic planning process that educates and supports young victims of Uganda’s civil war.
Matthew Lyon (Mobile, Ala.) – A graduate of Spring Hill College with a degree in philosophy, Lyon worked for a consulting firm researching the Gulf oil spill before entering the Clinton School. He also lived for a year in Prague, Czech Republic, where he worked as an English teacher and actor for an educational theater. For his international project, Lyon worked with Grass Roots India in Ranikhet, India, to conduct an impact assessment of biogas generator projects in 15 villages in the Gagas River Basin. The project was designed to help the organization more effectively implement and maintain biogas generation projects in the future. He is completing the concurrent M.B.A./M.P.S. with the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business.
Katie Milligan Searcy, Ark.) – A graduate of the University of Mississippi with a degree in political science, Milligan worked as researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture studying the causes of obesity in the Arkansas Delta region before entering the Clinton School. She completed her international project in South Africa where she partnered with Habitat for Humanity to evaluate the work and impact of nine orphan housing intervention programs. For her Capstone, Milligan partner with the Junior League of Little Rock to develop a program to train current and future community leaders to become active, productive and effective members of nonprofit boards of directors.
Papy Muntumosi (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo) – Muntumosi earned an associate’s degree at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College before completing his bachelor’s degree in finance at the University of Arkansas. He worked as a procurement assistant for USAID in the Democratic Republic of Congo before entering the Clinton School. For his international project, he worked with the world bank in the DRC to establish an open-aid partnership with donors to develop accountability procedures and foster the empowerment of Congolese citizens and stakeholders. For his Capstone, Muntumosi partnered with Responsible Sourcing Network in Oakland, Calif., to study how to promote dialogue between the marginalized communities in the eastern region of the DRC and mining companies, and how the companies can contribute to sustainable development in their host communities.
Eakpot Nimkulrat (Bangkok, Thailand) – A graduate of Siriraj Hospital Medical School at Mahidol University, Nimkulrat worked as a neurologist at public and private hospitals in Bankok before entering the Clinton School. For his international project, he partnered with Health Leadership International in Vientianne, Laos, to develop an evaluation system to examine the Medical English Program for students at the University of Health Science. For his Capstone, he partnered with the Mechai Viravaidaya Foundation in Bangkok, Thailand, to utilize a democratic education model to develop a Grade 10 science curriculum for a school that provides a free education to rural children in Northeastern Thailand.
Dylan Perry (Memphis, Tenn.) – A graduate of Christian Brothers University where he studied religion and philosophy, Perry volunteered as an academic counselor at West Philadelphia Catholic High School before entering the Clinton School. He completed his international project with Soil for Life in Cape Town, South Africa, where he evaluated a home garden program to determine and address attrition rates. His research assisted the organization to amend or supplement services and improve its ability to address food insecurity in Cape Town. For his Capstone, he worked with Little Rock Urban Farming to engage the Little Rock community in developing a non-profit organization that will strengthen the developing local food system in Central Arkansas through education.
Andrea Price (Monticello, Ark.) – Price earned her bachelor’s degree at Texas Tech University and her master’s of sports science from the U.S. Sports Academy. She founded of FitWellConnect, a nonprofit that provides health and fitness programming in Phillips County and Drew County, Ark., before entering the Clinton School. She completed her international project in Belize City, Belize, where she helped Belize Youth Business Trust, Youth for Belize and St. John’s Community College develop and facilitate an entrepreneurship camp for students. For her Capstone, she partnered with Arkansas Community Foundation to study the intersection of community foundations, corporate philanthropy and nonprofits to understand how and why corporate resources are leveraged for community improvement.
Veena Rangaswami (Memphis, Tenn.) – A graduate of Rhodes College with a degree in history, Rangaswami worked as program manager for Peace Child India, a nonprofit that promotes health and education in Bangalore, India, before entering the Clinton School. For her international project, she worked with Room to Read in Katmandu, Nepal, to assess the impact of Room to Read’s Girls Education Program on students in the Bardiya region of Nepal. For her Capstone, she worked with the Sujaya Foundation in Mumbai, India, to assess the impact Sujaya’s English program has in helping government school children catch up to their expected proficiency level and build a database to map student progress in the program.
Rebecca Scissors (Ellicott City, Md.) – A graduate of Earlham College with a degree in human development and social relations, Scissors served as an AmeriCorps member with Our House and SOAR Network before entering the Clinton School. For her international project, she traveled to Uganda to develop a health curriculum for a rural school system for Building Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting education access in Sub-Saharan Africa. She is is completing the concurrent M.P.H./M.P.S. program with the Boozman College of Public Health at UAMS.
Yana-Janell Scott (Little Rock, Ark.) – A graduate of Arkansas State University with a degree in journalism, Scott worked for the City of Little Rock as a 2010 Census coordinator and as a producer for the city’s government access channel before entering the Clinton School. She completed her international project with Vital Voices and West African Trade Hub in Accra, Ghana, where she worked with a team of University of Arkansas students to provide critical assistance to two women-owned businesses. For her Capstone, she worked with the Arkansas Department of Human Services to develop a strategic communication plan for the agency to highlight the services provided and facilitate communication between the agency and its customers.
Sydney Shearer (Nashville, Tenn.) – Shearer is a graduate of Rhodes College where she was a Bonner Service Scholar, a national service fellowship program that allows students to attend school while completing 10 hours of weekly community service. She completed her international project with the Children’s Radio Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa, where she created monitoring and evaluation tools to collect data about program impact. Her research led to recommendations for the organization on youth-led program evaluation strategies. For her Capstone, she partnered with Just Communities of Arkansas to create an issue-based curriculum manual for help JCA build inclusive and equitable communities.
Britney Sink (High Point, N.C.) – A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Sink completed two years as an AmeriCorps member serving with the United Way of the Midlands in Columbia, S.C., before entering the Clinton School. She completed her international project with HIPPY Canada in Vancouver, Canada, where she designed a replicable tool to evaluate the impact of participation in HIPPY Canada’s program on the settlement process of immigrant women in Canada. For her Capstone, Sink partnered with Arkansas Foodbank to evaluate children’s anti-hunger programs and provide insight on their use as a multi-intervention strategy to fight child hunger.
Christine Sumner (Shreveport, La.) – A graduate of New York University with a degree in anthropology, Sumner worked as a zookeeper at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago where she focused on management of gorillas, chimpanzees and farm animals before entering the Clinton School. For her international project, she partnered with Heifer International and the Jane Goodall Institute in Hoima, Uganda, where she assessed the economic, nutritional and environmental impact of Heifer’s work in the region. For her Capstone, she worked with the Sustainability Consortium in Fayetteville, Ark., to research how laboratory animal welfare issues can be developed into sustainability performance indicators for Consortium stakeholders.
Billie Thomas (Little Rock, Ark.) – Thomas is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana and the Saint Louis University School of Law. She worked for the Arkansas Coalition for Excellence, an association of Arkansas nonprofits, before entering the Clinton School. She completed her international project in Ghana where she partnered with Enabilis to create a plan to guide the formulation of the Adopt an Entrepreneur Program, a project aimed at matching local Ghanaian entrepreneurs with Ghanaian business professionals. She is currently working to finalize her Capstone project.
Jillian Underwood ( Topeka, Kan.) – A graduate of Washburn University with a degree in sociology, Underwood worked as an assistant to the organizer of the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty before entering the Clinton School. For her international project, she participated in grassroots economic development initiatives in the Philippines with the Canadian Urban Institute, which works to create thriving, sustainable urban regions across the world. She completed her Capstone with the American Civil Liberties Union in Little Rock where she researched the status of immigrants in Arkansas in light of current immigration programs, policies and police practices.
Kellen Utecht (Underwood, N.D.) – A graduate of the University of North Dakota with a degree in business economics, Utecht worked as a consultant with the North Dakota Small Business Development Center before entering the Clinton School. For his international project, he worked with the World Wildlife Fund in Istanbul, Turkey, to research and prepare a roadmap for more efficient water stewardship policies. He completed his Capstone with AE-Tek in Istanbul where he researched the use of UV-C beverage treatments to improve Turkish businesses’ production efficiency and decrease environmental impact.
John Vollertsen (Parthenon, Ark.) – Vollertsen earned his bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Central Arkansas. He studied Mandarin in Ningbo, China, while serving as an instructor of English as a Second Language before entering the Clinton School. He completed his international project with the Canadian Urban Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he assisted the institute in developing and organizing messaging strategies for the an environmental sustainability project. He completed his Capstone with Democracy Corps in Washington, D.C., where he examined the effect that specific policies, messages and strategies have on increasing voter participation and engagement in historically underrepresented populations.
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