University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service Dean James L. “Skip” Rutherford will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters and will address the Class of 2015.
Rutherford is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he received the Journalism Department’s first Distinguished Alumnus Award.
A former administrative assistant to U.S. Senator David Pryor, he has been active in numerous local, state and federal campaigns and initiatives. He is the founder and organizer of the Political Animals Club, a non-partisan grassroots organization of community leaders and activists who meet regularly to discuss politics and issues, and he coordinated the 40th anniversary commemoration of the 1957 crisis at Little Rock Central High School.
He served as Founding President of the William J. Clinton Foundation and supervised the planning and construction of the Clinton Presidential Center and Park from 1997 until it opened in 2004.
Among his numerous civic honors, Rutherford was named Tourism Person of the Year at the Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism, the Arkansan of the Year by the Arkansas Broadcasters Association and by the Arkansas Times newspaper, and Headliner of the Year by the Arkansas Press Association.
Rutherford is the recipient of the William F. Rector Memorial Award for distinguished civic achievement in Little Rock; the Just Communities of Arkansas Humanitarian Award; the Men of Volunteer Achievement from the Retired Senior Volunteer Program; the Arkansas Community Service Award from the Arkansas Department of Volunteerism; the Martin Luther King Award from the Black Community Developers; the Community Service Award from the University of Arkansas Alumni Association; the Champion Award from the Home Instruction Program for Parents of Pre-School Youngsters (HIPPY); and the Clara Barton Distinguished Humanitarian of the Year by the American Red Cross of Greater Arkansas.
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