Posted by BEN BEAUMONT –
Q. What’s the latest on your finances knowing colleges and universities all over the country are struggling?
A. Knock on wood, we’re doing ok. With our CFO, Carol Kordsmeier, we are in capable hands. Carol’s a real pro, and she knows our numbers in detail. No doubt these are tough economic times everywhere, but we’ve attempted to follow the counsel of my long-time friend, Charlie Whiteside, who says, “Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.” Our strategy, which we began in 2006, has been one of far less reliance on infrastructure and overhead. Unlike many others, we thankfully now have no debt service or deferred maintenance costs. But we can’t let up because of the uncertainty of what’s going to happen economically in 2010-12. Candidly, I never thought I would be spending this much time on financial issues but in these current conditions, that’s what it takes. I look back now and thank Stanley Williams of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education who warned me bad times were coming and also Ron Robinson, with whom I used to work in the private sector. Ron’s constant and sometimes very long financial meetings used to drive me crazy, but as a result of them I learned so much and now am grateful for his “real world” lessons.
Q. When and where are your students going this summer for their International Public Service Projects?
A. That’s also a timely question. They are once again going all over the world, and we’ll be announcing the complete list soon. Our first to leave, Ashley Davis, departs April 13 for Stockholm Sweden. She will be the first Clinton School student to serve in Sweden. By the time this summer is over we will have worked in over 40 different countries. Some of the other 2009 locations include Belize, Bolivia, Ghana, India and Uganda. Our staff coordinator Joe Ballard deserves credit for organizing all the individual placements. This is not easy. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this class, and am glad that several of them will be returning to Little Rock this fall to complete their final project and course work here.
Q. Graduation is April 25th. What can you tell us about it?
A. This will be our third class to graduate. Because our school continues to grow, we’re moving our ceremony this year from the Clinton Library to the Statehouse Convention Center. By doing so, students can invite larger numbers of family members and friends. We’re honored that Major Tammy Duckworth, a disabled American veteran, who was injured while serving in Iraq, will speak. She is currently director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and has been nominated by President Obama to be Assistant Secretary for Veterans Affairs in Washington. It’s appropriate this year we pay tribute to military service–a high calling of public service.
As far as the actual ceremony itself, Eric Wilson is doing a great job planning it, and I’m particularly pleased that in tribute to our international public service work, the Lyon College Scottish Bagpipe Band will be performing. The bagpipers are exceptionally talented musicians.
Q. What about FRANK, the Clinton School magazine?
A. Come see for yourself. We’re having a program on Monday April 13 at 6 p.m. at the Clinton School (Sturgis Hall) to release it. Patrick Kennedy has done an outstanding work, and it’s no small task to edit a magazine of this high quality. Clinton School student Tina Tian from China has an exclusive interview about public service with Yao Ming of the NBA Houston Rockets. The interview was conducted in Chinese and is printed in FRANK in both Chinese and English. It’s really good. We’ll also release a new short Clinton School documentary associated with public service and the Houston Rockets.
Q. What about your new class?
A. Admissions for the class of 2011 (our fifth class) are underway. We’ll announce the class sometime this summer, but I can already say our new admissions director, Alex Thomas, has exceeded expectations with his planning, organization and results.
Q. How’s the new River Market Campus?
A. I love it, and I am so grateful to those who helped make it possible. We’re adding a radio/television recording studio there, and we’ll also be working with the Arkansas Studies Institute staff on programs, exhibits and events.
Responses