Posted by DEAN SKIP RUTHERFORD – Congratulations and sincere thanks to Clinton School staffer Joe Ballard for planning, organizing and executing a very successful and productive orientation week. Joe also deserves credit for coordinating the 2008 summer International Public Service Projects (IPSP). The 2008 IPSP’s were our best ever.
While congratulating Joe, let me also congratulate the faculty and the entire staff for their dedication. With our small group, it takes a team effort and our team stepped up. Special recognition to Liz Guarno and Dianne Kelly for going above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks everyone.
Graduates Scott Curran (Class 1), Vivian Flowers (Class 1), Julie Gehrki (Class 2) and Christin Harper (Class 2) participated in our first ever alumni panel. Scott is deputy general counsel for the William J. Clinton Foundation; Vivian is director of diversity at UAMS; Julie is with the prestigious Wal-Mart Foundation; and Christin, who was wooed by many organizations, is with the Arkansas Department of Human Services. We very much appreciate their participation. Other alumni who stopped by during the week included Josh Heimburg who also works at Human Services and Marisa Pryor, who is home on vacation from her work with the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in South Africa. We wish Christina Corodimas (Class 2) the best as she relocates to California and Nancy Mancilla (Class 1) who is moving to Romania where she is opening an environmental consulting firm.
It was good to see so many of our returning Class 3 students who came back for the IPSP presentations. While several will remain in Little Rock for their Capstone (Individual) projects, others have departed or soon will depart to locations all over the country and the world. We wish each of them the very best
Kudos to students J.D. Lowery, Molly “My Blog is a Winner” Brunkow, Julie West, Sara Himelfarb and Russ Swearingen for their award winning IPSP blogs.
Classes begin Monday and Practicum (Group) public service project assignments have been made. Under the capable leadership of Marie Lindquist, director of field service education, our new students will be working all over Arkansas including with Heifer International, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, the Boys, Girls, Adult Community Development Center in Marvell and on specific projects in Newport, Helena and West Memphis–all in the Mississippi Delta region of the state.
Thanks to our terrific volunteers who assisted throughout the week. I’ve said it before and I’ll proudly say it again: Clinton School volunteers are the very best.
Patrick Kennedy and Nikolai DiPippa have launched an outstanding 2008 fall public program series. The September schedule (click here) is awesome and just wait until you see October. In addition, thanks to the dedicated work of many, the videos of over 150 programs are now accessible via our website (click here).
It’s great to welcome Alex Thomas, director of admissions and alumni services, to the school. Alex joins us after previously serving as director of admissions at Rhodes College in Memphis. Alex is our first full time admissions director, and his addition is indicative of how the Clinton School is growing. We gratefully acknowledge the work of Anne Speed who has capably served in admissions in a part time capacity.
We appreciate the generous welcome and hospitality we received while touring the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). This weekend we’ll be in Fayetteville visiting the University of Arkansas campus, meeting with several members of the faculty and taking in a Razorback football game (the first of the Coach Bobby Petrino era). Thanks to Ben Beaumont, director of the communications for the University of Arkansas System and the Clinton School, for putting this together.
*Clinton School Baggo Announcement*
Russ Swearingen, who lost his Clinton School baggo title when he failed to show up on time for a rematch with the Dean, chose classmate Sara Himelfarb as his partner for an upcoming doubles match. I’ll make my selection soon and will announce it via text message.
We’re off to a good start. Thank you all. Now, let the classes begin.
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