Twenty-nine graduate students are currently completing in-depth public service projects across Arkansas, the country and the world as the final requirement in the Clinton School’s Master of Public Service (MPS) degree program.
The students are partnering with public service organizations on projects related to education, economic development and social inequality, among other areas.
The projects are part of the school’s Capstone program, which requires students to work with community leaders to help build healthy, engaged and vibrant communities and demonstrate their ability to work effectively in public service.
Through the course, students have the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired during their time at the Clinton School. Students select their own Capstone projects and devote at least 250 hours of time to them.
“Field service is a major component of our program and the Capstone is the culminating project of the students’ experiences here at the Clinton School,” said Skip Rutherford, dean of the school. “Each project reflects on the individual skills and passions of our students. Capstone projects often lead students into jobs following graduation.”
The Capstone is the third project students complete during the two-year MPS program. Each project is overseen by a faculty advisor, and the students are required to provide a report and defense of their project to a faculty committee upon completion.
“From communication and leadership to research analysis and conflict resolution, students utilize a range of skills they’ve honed here at the Clinton School to complete the Capstone project,” said Marie Lindquist, director of field service education at the Clinton School. “We are grateful to the organizations who are partnering with us this year on these projects and we look forward to seeing the impact of the students’ work.”
Capstone projects:
Ryan Adams
McKinsey & Company (Washington, DC)
– Working the the Social Sector Office, Adams is focusing on global communication efforts around international development, health, education and social innovation.
Taylor Ballinger
Teach for America – South Louisiana (Baton Rouge, LA)
– To continue the work of improving public education in South Louisiana, Ballinger is working with Teach for America to cultivate relationships among key stakeholders in the local districts and develop a campaign to confirm potential corps members’ placement in South Louisiana.
Shenan Boit
Scouts (Asenovgrad, Bulgaria)
– Boit is working with this leadership development youth movement in Bulgaria both locally and nationally on membership and supervisor recruitment, outdoor leadership training and program development.
LaTrenia Byrd
Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (Helena-West Helena, AR)
– Byrd is evaluating the academic policies and procedures that the college has in place to determine if those policies support student retention.
Heath Carelock
Central Little Rock Promise Neighborhood (Little Rock)
– Carelock is working with teachers to explore the teaching strategies that support positive student achievement to create school-specific resources for participating Promise Neighborhood schools working to revitalize this Little Rock area.
Kathryn Cawvey
Clinton Presidential Library (Little Rock)
– Cawvey is developing a tailored National Issues Forum guide for deliberations at the Clinton Presidential Library about an issue of relevance to the Clinton administration’s presidency.
Dustin Choate
Newport Economic Development Commission (Newport, AR)
– Choate is designing a business startup competition to boost small business development in Newport and Jackson County.
Gregory Cooper
Great Rivers Greenway District (St. Louis, MO)
– Cooper is creating a marketing framework for the transformation of an abandoned elevated rail line into a park by researching best practices for engaging perspective sponsors in greenspace development projects.
Fernando Cutz
Office of U.S. Senator Mark Pryor (Little Rock)
-Cutz is analyzing the impact of community block grants on police and firefighter departments in the state of Arkansas.
Nicky Hamilton
Life Long Learners (Conway, AR)
– Hamilton is building capacity for this new organization that champions early childhood education by establishing and strengthening partnerships with key stakeholders and developing organizational documents including marketing, fundraising, and strategic planning materials.
Heidi Justice
Wellstone Action (St. Paul, MN)
– Justice is analyzing previous LGBT issue campaigns to develop a training curriculum focused on passing non-discrimination ordinances based on sexual orientation and gender identity at the city level.
Tabitha Lee
UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity (Little Rock)
– Lee is working with this newly formed institute to research racial disparities in the Arkansas criminal justice system as well as identify potential partners and funding sources for the institute.
Andy Lewis
Public Education Foundation (Little Rock)
– Lewis is conducting a capacity assessment for this Foundation that supports the Little Rock public schools and researching how other public education organizations successfully engage their communities.
Nate Looney
University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service (Little Rock)
– Looney is coordinating the Arkansas 2032 Conference that will bring together student representatives from Arkansas public and private higher education institutions to critically assess and offer solutions for some of the most pressing issues in Arkansas’s future.
Spencer Lucker
Minga Peru (Peru)
– Lucker is developing a resource guide for a Minga Peru study tour program that would educate visitors from around the world about their work of empowering women and educating the rural communities in the Peruvian Amazon.
Heather Malveaux
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Little Rock)
– Malveaux is using community based participatory research to inform the establishment of a formal student organization to promote and foster diversity at UAMS.
Jasmine Medley
Just Communities of Arkansas (Little Rock)
– Medley is developing anti-bullying programming for teachers and students in Arkansas that aligns with the recently passed anti-bullying legislation.
Andrew Morgan
Clinton Foundation (Little Rock)
– Morgan is analyzing the in-house legal practices of the Clinton Foundation and comparing them to those of similarly scoped foundations
Shamim Okolloh
Heifer International Uganda (Uganda)
– Okolloh is implementing a pilot field trip curriculum project with Mbale Secondary School’s agriculture students and assessing its impact.
Marc Peters
Philander Smith College (Little Rock)
– Peters is examining the habits of successful male students at Philander Smith College to develop strategies other students can emulate to increase their chances of graduating.
Alyssa Provencio
Foundation for the Mid South (Jackson, MS)
– Provencio is evaluating the state of the construction and infrastructure non-profit community that received grants from the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund.
Derrick Rainey
Arkansas Commitment (Little Rock)
– Rainey is establishing an alumni network for this organization that helps African-Americans in Central Arkansas succeed through leadership development and access to a college education
Jessica Rice
Plaza Cumunitaria (Springdale, AR)
– Rice is assessing and developing promising practices for Plaza Comunitaria, a program that provides basic education and literacy training to adult Latinos in Springdale, Arkansas..
Acadia Roher
Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (Little Rock)
– Roher is mapping the stakeholders involved in the Arkansas state water plan and prioritizing them.
Jared Rowell
CARE Egypt (Cairo, Egypt)
– To help this organization working in areas of extreme poverty, Rowell is compiling documentation to act as the contextual basis for CARE Egypt’s new long-range strategic plan.
Anatoliy Shatkovskyy
Heifer International Headquarters (Little Rock)
– For the Central and Eastern Europe Area Program, Shatkovskyy is developing a resource mobilization manual and participating in a new projects’ development process.
Erin Stock
United Nations IRIN News Service (Bangkok, Thailand)
– Stock is bolstering coverage of humanitarian news in Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea by developing procedures to recruit and train stringer reporters.
Moksheda Thapa
Arkansas Coalition for Obesity Prevention (Little Rock)
– Thapa is creating an evaluation handbook and guidelines for the Growing Health Communities project that works with Arkansas communities to systemically address healthy living.
Hilary Trudell
Women’s Foundation of Arkansas (Little Rock)
– To address the issue of the low percentage of women in Arkansas holding a four-year college degree, Trudell is identifying the factors that contribute to the withdrawal of women from secondary and post-secondary educational institutions.