Tag Archives: Clinton School of Public Service

Collegiate Sports during Great Depression focus of Clinton School address tonight

Posted on by

Democratic SportsDisparity in collegiate sports has been around since, well, the beginning of collegiate sports. Tonight at 6pm at the Clinton School, Brad Austin discusses “Democratic Sports: Men’s and Women’s College Athletics during the Great Depression.”

 

Austin is a professor of history at Salem State University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in modern American history, sports history, and history education, and has served as the chairperson of the American Historical Association’s Teaching Prize Committee.

 

In his new book “Democratic Sports: Men’s and Women’s College Athletics during the Great Depression,” Austin explores the funding cuts that America public universities suffered while they were also responsible for educating an increasing number of students. University leaders used their athletic programs to combat the crisis of mounting financial troubles, coupled with a perceived increase in the number of “radical” student activists, and to preserve “traditional” American values and institutions, prescribing different models for men and women.

 

In the book, Austin discusses the stark contrast of educators emphasizing the individualistic, competitive nature of men’s athletics in order to reinforce the existing American political and economic systems, while the prevailing model of women’s college athletics taught a communal form of democracy, denying women individual attention and high-level competition. “Democratic Sports” tells the important story of how men’s and women’s college athletic programs survived, and even thrived, during the most challenging decade of the twentieth century.

Role of Arkansas in development of MLB focus of documentary at Clinton School

Posted on by

The-First-Boys-of-SpringTonight at 6pm at the Ron Robinson Theater, the Clinton School will screen the new documentary The First Boys of Spring. 

Beginning in 1886, baseball spring training was held for the first time, not in Florida or Arizona, but in the Arkansas resort town of Hot Springs, and that’s where the annual rite caught on. For parts of eight decades, many of the best who ever played the game, came to Hot Springs to shake off the rust from winters to prepare for long seasons ahead, with such teams as the Red Sox, Dodgers, and Pirates—and the Negro League’s Monarchs, Crawfords, and Grays.

The First Boys of Spring is a one-hour documentary by award-winning filmmaker Larry Foley, narrated by Academy Award-winner Billy Bob Thornton. The film tells stories of baseball Hall of Famers who worked out, gambled and partied in Hot Springs, including Cy Young, Satchel Paige, Honus Wagner and baseball’s first superstar, Mike “King” Kelly. A central figure is a young Babe Ruth, who belted a 573-foot home run into the Arkansas Alligator Farm in March of 1918, while trying to convince Boston Red Sox management to play him every day, even though he was already the game’s dominant pitcher.

The First Boys of Spring is made possible by Visit Hot Springs, Arkansas Humanities Council, University of Arkansas, Munro Foundation, Morris Foundation, The Arlington Hotel Resort Hotel and Spa and the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

 

Challenges of Democracy & Leadership in South topic of Clinton School noontime talk

Posted on by

Today at noon, the Clinton School Speaker Series will feature a program on democracy and leadership in the South.

In “Uniting Mississippi,” Eric Thomas Weber, associate professor of public policy leadership at the University of Mississippi and executive director of the Society of Philosophers in America, applies a new, philosophically informed theory of democratic leadership to Mississippi’s challenges.  These challenges could also be applied to Arkansas and most Southern states.

the book begins with an examination of Mississippi’s apparent Catch-22, namely the difficulty of addressing problems of poverty without fixing issues in education first, and vice versa. These difficulties can be overcome if we look at their common roots, argues Eric Thomas Weber, and if we practice virtuous democratic leadership. Since the approach to addressing poverty has for so long been unsuccessful, Weber reframes the problem.

The challenges of educational failure reveal the extent to which there is a caste system of schooling. Certain groups of people are trapped in schools that are underfunded and failing. The ideals of democracy reject hierarchies of citizenship, and thus, the author contends, these ideals are truly tested in Mississippi. Weber offers theories of effective leadership in general and of democratic leadership in particular to show how Mississippi’s challenges could be addressed with the guidance of common values.

The book draws on insights from classical and contemporary philosophical outlooks on leadership, which highlight four key social virtues: wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. Weber brings to bear each of the virtues of democratic leadership on particular problems, with some overarching lessons and values to advance.

 

Juggling Career and Family focus of Anne-Marie Slaughter remarks at Clinton School

Posted on by

AMS-alt2_300dpiThis evening at the Clinton School at 6pm, Anne-Marie Slaughter will be discussing her book Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family.

When Anne-Marie Slaughter, former dean of the Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, accepted her dream job as the first female Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department in 2009, she was confident she could juggle the demands of her position in Washington, D.C., with the responsibilities of her family life in suburban New Jersey.

But then life intervened. Parenting needs caused her to make a decision to leave the State Department and return to an academic career that gave her more time for her family. After that decision and the reactions to it, she began to question the feminist narrative she grew up with and wrote an article for The Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” which created a firestorm, sparked intense national debate, and became one of the most-read pieces in the magazine’s history.

In her new book, “Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family,” Slaughter provides a powerful, persuasive, and deeply inclusive vision for how to finish the long struggle for equality between men and women, work and family.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, former dean of the Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, served as the first female Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department. Slaughter is president and CEO of New America, a nonprofit think tank that is dedicated to the renewal of American politics, prosperity, and purpose in the digital age through big ideas, technological innovation, next generation politics, and creative engagement with broad audiences.

C-l-i-n-t-o-n S-c-h-o-o-l hosts program on The Rep production of “SPELLING BEE” today at noon

Posted on by

Rep Spelling BeeThe Arkansas Repertory Theatre works in partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service to participate in the UACS’s Distinguished Speaker Series, hosting educational panel discussions on various Rep productions.

The 24th of these takes place today, Thursday, October 15 10 at 12 noon at Sturgis Hall in Clinton Presidential Park.  It focuses on the Rep’s upcoming production of the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a Tony Award-winning look at the all-too-familiar world of adolescence, told with hilarity, catchy tunes, and surprising poignancy. The gloves are off in the take-no-prisoners, cold-blooded, dog-eat-dog world of competitive spelling as a menagerie of pre-pubescent misfits vies to decimate their young rivals on the cutthroat path to the national spelling bee championship. Hormones rage and pulses pound as our awkward adversaries engage in feats of prowess.

The winner will receive a shining trophy and a luxurious DC hotel room with a big screen TV. The loser – nothing but a broken heart, a pat on the back and a juice box. Join the Clinton School for a panel discussion about this production with moderator Bob Hupp, producing artistic director at the Arkansas Repertory Theater.

The play opens officially on Friday evening and runs through Sunday, November 8.

Creative Class of 2015: Nikolai DiPippa

Posted on by

ND_PhotoRecently, the Clinton School Speaker Series hosted its 1,000th speaker. Nikolai DiPippa has been involved with the program since its early days, joining the Clinton School in 2006.

His official title is Director of Public Programs. But what it means is that he is in charge of identifying, booking, and squiring the participants in the Clinton School Speaker Series.  This is a task that takes diplomacy, patience, organization, creativity, and charm.  It also takes long hours day-in and day-out.

In addition, DiPippa is executive producer and host of “Clinton School Presents” radio program on KUAR. In these programs, he conducts one-on-one interviews with some of the distinguished speakers at the Clinton School.

A Little Rock native, he studied at Catholic High and Hendrix College.  Humble and self-effacing, his varied interests have served him well in identifying and pursuing a wide-range of speakers for the Clinton School.

Past speakers from the Clinton School are available for viewing at the Speakers Series website, which also features information on upcoming events.

Monday Musings: Kelly Kinard Fleming

Posted on by

Kelly FlemingToday launches a new feature on the Little Rock Culture Vulture: Monday Musings.

Little Rock cultural personalities will be asked nine questions (there were nine muses).

Up first is Kelly Kinard Fleming. A member of Little Rock’s Arts & Culture Commission, she is also Development Director at the Arkansas Arts Center. A graduate of the Clinton School of Public Service, she has previously worked at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in development and marketing.

Monday Musings

-My earliest memory was (age and incident)

From birth to age 5 I lived in the booming metropolis of Sikes, Louisiana. The post office was in the general store. My dad was principal of the K-12 school and our house was on the edge of the school’s playground. I remember walking next door for a fresh cookie and carton of cold milk from the sweet lunchroom ladies. Oh, and the water in town was brown. I remember taking baths in clean, but brown, water.

-When I was in high school and imagined my adulthood, I thought I would be

…a novelist, a lawyer or both. Surprise! I’m neither.

-Star Wars, Star Trek, Battle of the Network Stars, or Dancing with the Stars?

If I MUST, Dancing with the Stars.

-I most identify with the Winnie the Pooh character of…

…there’s something in all of them we identify with, don’t you think? Much like the Wizard of Oz characters. But I’ll say Christopher Robin because he is cheerful and gets along well with others.

-The performer I’d drop everything to see is

…Bette Midler.

-My first paying job was

…babysitting. Swore I’d never have kids.

-A book I think everyone should read is

….Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

-My favorite season is…

….Spring. Great convertible weather.

-We are all geeks (or experts) about something. My field is

….shopping on the cheap.