The Clinton School Speaker Series has announced its lineup for January and February 2019.
All Clinton School Speaker Series events are free and open to the public. Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or by calling (501) 683-5239.
Introducing The Struggle in the South, a Joe Jones Mural
Wednesday, January 16 at 6 p.m. (UA Little Rock Downtown)
*In partnership with UA Little Rock
In 1935, famed American artist Joe Jones created The Struggle in the South, a provocative depiction of Southern sharecroppers, coal miners and a black family in fear of a lynching. Originally painted in the dining hall at Commonwealth College near Mena, Arkansas, this 44-by-9-foot work was recently restored with a $500,000 grant from Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Center. During this program, moderator Senator Joyce Elliott will join Brad Cushman, UA Little Rock Department of Art and Design Gallery director and curator; author Guy Lancaster; Dr. Brian Mitchell, UA Little Rock professor of history; Dr. Bobby L. Robert, former UA Little Rock archivist and Central Arkansas Library System executive director; and Taemora Williams, UA Little Rock student, to discuss the artwork’s historical significance and importance of its new home in UA Little Rock Downtown’s reflection room.
Center on Community Philanthropy Advancing Equity Awards Reception
Tuesday, January 22 at Noon (Sturgis Hall)
The Center on Community Philanthropy at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service will announce the recipients of the 2019 Advancing Equity Award at a reception celebrating the third annual National Day of Racial Healing.
The Advancing Equity Award is given to organizations that are using innovative solutions to address racial inequities in their communities and advance progress toward inclusion. Award recipients will be presented with support to continue and enhance their efforts.
The National Day of Racial Healing (NDORH) is an opportunity for people, organizations, and communities across the United States to call for racial healing, bring people together in their common humanity, and take collective action to create a more just and equitable world. NDORH is a part of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) effort – a national and community-based process to plan for and bring about transformational and sustainable change and to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism.
John DiPippa on Affordable Care Act Recent Court Ruling
Wednesday, January 23 at Noon (Sturgis Hall)
*In partnership with UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law
In December, a federal judge in Texas said that the Affordable Care Act’s individual coverage mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of the law therefore cannot stand. The ruling throws into doubt the future of health coverage for millions of Americans, and sets up another cliffhanger in which the fate of the law will likely once again lie with the Supreme Court.
John DiPippa is a constitutional law scholar who served as a William J. Clinton Distinguished Lecturer at the Clinton School and Dean Emeritus at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. He is an Inaugural Professor of Public Service at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and teaches two core courses: The Foundations of Public Service and The Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Public Service.
Tiny House Nation with John Weisbarth and Zack Giffin
Friday, February 1 at 6 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
In “Tiny House Nation,” renovation experts and hosts, John Weisbarth and Zack Giffin, travel across America to show off ingenious small spaces and the inventive people who live in them, as well as help new families design and construct their own mini-dream home in a space no larger than 500 square feet. From a micro-apartment in New York City to a caboose car turned home in Montana to a micro-sized mobile home for road tripping – this is a series that celebrates the exploding movement of tiny homes. From pricey to budget friendly, “Tiny House Nation” is not a typical design show, but one that proves size doesn’t always matter – it’s creativity that counts.
With more than a decade of live television experience and six regional Emmy Awards to his name, host John Weisbarth brings his high energy and award-winning style to Tiny House Nation.
Giffin is a professional skier and contractor who is co-host of Tiny House Nation. He has so much love for tiny homes that he built a mobile tiny ski house for himself, and has lived in it full-time for years.
Giffin manages each project and build crew and his innovative tricks of the tiny trade always wow. For each home Zack designs a special build project that is tailored to the homeowner’s needs, and his creations are not only super space saving inventions, they’re works of art too.
John Wolohan on the Intersection of Athletics and Higher Education
Tuesday, February 5 at 6 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
Attorney John Wolohan is a professor of Sports Law in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University.
Wolohan is one of the lead editors of the book “Law for Recreation and Sport Managers” by Cotten and Wolohan, as well as being the author of the “Sports Law Report” a monthly article that appears in Athletic Business. Wolohan has also published numerous articles and book chapters in the areas of athlete’s rights, intellectual property and antitrust issues in sport in such Journals as the Marquette Sports Law Journal, Seton Hall Journal of Sports Law, Villanova Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, University of Missouri- Kansas City Law Review, Educational Law Reporter, International Sports Law Journal, Journal of the Legal Aspects of Sport and the Journal of Sport Management.
In addition, Professor Wolohan has made numerous presentations in the area of sports law to such organizations as the American Bar Association, Asser Sports Law Institute, Athletic Business, Australian & New Zealand Sports Law Association, European Association for Sport Management, International Sports Lawyers Association, North American Society of Sport Management, Sport and Recreation Law Association, US Indoor Sports Association and the United States Sport Congress.
Professor Wolohan, who is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Associations, received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, and his J.D. from Western New England University, School of Law.
John Bilheimer and Henry Jones
Thursday, February 7 at 6 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
John Bilheimer and Henry Jones bring the civil rights movement to life, offering a first-hand account of what life was like for a black teen and a white teen in the Deep South in the late 1950s.
Bilheimer, who is white, and Jones, who is black, discuss their experiences growing up in Little Rock during the height of the battle over school desegregation from 1957-1959. The two grew up near one another before leaving the state to pursue their education. Billheimer earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Arkansas and Harvard University; Jones attended Yale University and the University of Michigan. The pair did not meet until adulthood while working at Arkansas’ first integrated law firm.
Civic Hope: How Ordinary Americans Keep Democracy Alive
Thursday, February 14 at Noon (Sturgis Hall)
*Book signing to follow
“Civic Hope” is a history of what everyday Americans say – in their own words – about the government overseeing their lives. Based on a highly original analysis of 10,000 letters to the editor from 1948 to the present published in twelve US cities, the book overcomes the limitations of survey data by revealing the reasons for people’s attitudes. While Hart identifies worrisome trends – including a decline in writers’ abilities to explain what their opponents believe and their attachment to national touchstones – he also shows why the nation still thrives. “Civic Hope” makes a powerful case that the vitality of a democracy lies not in its strengths but in its weaknesses and in the willingness of its people to address those weaknesses without surcease. The key, Hart argues, is to sustain a culture of argument at the grassroots level.
Roderick Hart is one of the most successful deans in the history of the Moody College at the University of Texas at Austin and is among its most renowned scholars and teachers. An expert of politics and the mass media, he has taught in the Communication Studies Department since 1979 and is the author of 12 books. He has taught courses on political communication, rhetoric, and government and is a member of UT’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He founded the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, a research and outreach center committed to reversing civic and political apathy. From 2004 to 2015, he served as dean of the Moody College of Communication.
Barry Rassin, President of Rotary International
Monday, February 18 at 6 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
Barry Rassin, of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, is the president of Rotary International. A Rotarian since 1980, Rassin has served Rotary as director and is vice chair of The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees. He was an RI training leader and the aide to 2015-16 RI President K.R. Ravindran.
Rassin earned an MBA in health and hospital administration from the University of Florida and is the first fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives in the Bahamas. He recently retired after 37 years as president of Doctors Hospital Health System, where he continues to serve as an adviser. He is a lifetime member of the American Hospital Association and has served on several boards, including the Quality Council of the Bahamas, Health Education Council, and Employer’s Confederation.
Rassin received Rotary’s highest honor, the Service Above Self Award, as well as other humanitarian awards for his work leading Rotary’s relief efforts in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake there.
Panel Discussion with The Rep on “Chicago”
Thursday, February 21 at Noon (Sturgis Hall)
*In partnership with Arkansas Repertory Theater
Opportunity knocks when a crime of passion earns Roxie Hart the kind of notoriety that slick-talking attorney Billy Flynn can exploit for her dreams of fame and his hunger for fortune. Roxie’s story captures the imaginations of newspaper readers and reporters who fall hook, line and sinker for Billy’s clever manipulation. Roxie quickly overshadows previous murderess, media darling, and fellow Cook County inmate – vaudevillian Velma Kelly. Set in the Jazz Age, Kander and Ebb’s legendary, Tony Award-winning musical takes a tantalizing look at how the times may change, but the allure of fame remains a fundamental motivation for those willing to sacrifice their scruples for the spotlight.
You are invited to join the cast and crew for a panel discussion about this production and more.
Tonya Allen, Center on Community Philanthropy Scholar in Residence
Friday, February 22 at Noon (Sturgis Hall)
Tonya Allen, a serial “idea-preneur,”serves as the Skillman Foundation’s president and chief executive officer. Allen’s dates of residency at the Clinton School of Public Service are February 18-22, 2019.
Her two-decade-long career has centered on pursuing, executing and investing in ideas that improve her hometown of Detroit and reduce the plight of people, especially children, who live in under-resourced communities. In her current role, Allen aligns the complexities of education reform, urban revitalization, and public policy to improve the well-being of Detroit’s and the nation’s children.
Allen has been instrumental in many successful philanthropic, government and community initiatives, including serving the boys and men of color field as chair for Campaign for Black Male Achievement and co-chair for My Brother’s Keeper Detroit and Executives’ Alliance for Boys and Men of Color.
Muslims of the World: Portraits and Stories of Hope, Survival, Loss, and Love
Monday, February 25 at 6 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
*Book signing to follow
“Muslims of the World” tells the diverse stories of Muslims living in the U.S. and around the world. Illustrated throughout with moving photographs, each chapter focuses on different aspects of the Islamic faith and the many varying cultures it encompasses, offering tales of love, family, and faith while empowering Muslim women, refugees, and people of color. Whether it is telling a story about a young Syrian refugee who dreams of being a pilot or about a young girl’s decision to not remove her hijab, which in turn saved her family’s life, Muslims of the World aims to unite people of all cultures and faiths by sharing the hopes, trials, and tribulations of Muslims from every walk of life.