Tag Archives: Clinton School of Public Service

Shakespeare on Trial at Clinton School

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The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strained – The Merchant of Venice

For centuries, controversy has raged over whether William Shakespeare is the true author of the plays attributed to him. Was it Shakespeare himself, or some nobleman such as the Earl of Oxford, merely using Shakespeare as his front man?

The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre in conjunction with Clinton School for Public Service explores this controversy in an imaginative and entertaining format in a program at Sturgis Hall tonight at 6pm.

Tonight’s program sets out to answer these questions by giving Shakespeare himself an opportunity to bring suit in front of U.S. Judge Joe Volpe, with the help of top Arkansas attorneys serving as the prosecution and defense.

Other Elizabethan luminaries may make appearances as witnesses to add their two cents as AST celebrates Shakespeare’s (traditionally held) birthday in the courtroom. Birthday cake will be provided, whether or not Shakespeare wins his case.

Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 501-683-5239.

Clinton School Lecture: William Faulkner

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Ledgers of History
William Faulkner, an Almost Forgotten Friendship, and an Antebellum Plantation Diary

A scholar of Southern literature at Emory University, Sally Wolff-King will discuss her book “Ledgers of History: William Faulkner, an Almost Forgotten Friendship, and an Antebellum Plantation Diary,” which offers a compelling portrait of the future Nobel laureate near the midpoint of his legendary career and also charts a significant discovery that will inevitably lead to revisions in historical and critical scholarship on Faulkner and his writing.
The book explores the childhood recollections of Dr. Edgar Francisco whose father was a close friend of Faulkner and reveals that the famous writer drew inspiration from a seven-volume diary kept by Dr. Francisco’s great-great-grandfather. This program is dedicated to Lyon College professor Dr. Terrell Tebbets, a noted Faulkner scholar.
The lecture will take place at noon today at 12 noon at Sturgis Hall.

Tuesday – Explore Intelligent Cities at Art of Architecture lecture

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As part of the monthly “Art of Architecture” series, this month Susan Piedmont-Palladino will present a lecture entitled “Intelligent Cities.”  This month’s lecture is presented in conjunction with the Clinton School for Public Service lecture series and will take place at Sturgis Hall on the Clinton Presidential Center campus at 6pm on Tuesday, March 13.

Professor Piedmont-Palladino is a professor of architecture at Virginia Tech’s Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center and a curator at the National Building Museum. She will give a lecture titled “Intelligent Cities,” which investigates the intersection of information technology and urban life and design.

Susan C. Piedmont-Palladino is an architect and Professor of Architecture at the Washington/Alexandria Architecture Consortium (WAAC), the College’s urban campus.

She received her Master of Architecture from Virginia Tech and her Bachelor of Arts in the History of Art from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Before joining Virginia Tech, she taught at the University of Maryland and the Catholic University of America.

Her 1st book, Devil’s Workshop: 25 Years of Jersey Devil Architecture, on Jersey Devil and design/build was published by Princeton Architectural Press. Her articles have appeared in the popular and professional press, including the “Journal of Architectural Education”, “Journal of Urban Technology” and “Perspecta 29” among others. And she has lectured at the Smithsonian Institution, as well as schools from Mississippi State in Starkville to Universidad de Desarrollo in Santiago Chile.

She is the former national president of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, served on the design committee for the National Peace Garden Foundation, and has been a consultant to the Department of Energy for the Solar Decathlon.

Since 2002 she has been a consulting curator to the National Building Museum, and most recently was the guest curator for Tools of the Imagination and editor of its eponymous companion book, to be published by Princeton Architectural Press in fall 2006.

Oscar winner Geena Davis at the Clinton School

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Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis founded is speaking tonight in Little Rock.  She is being hosted by the University of Arkansas Clinton School for Public Service and the William J. Clinton Foundation.

She founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004. The institute is the only research-based organization working within the media and entertainment industry to engage, educate and influence the need for gender balance, reducing stereotyping and creating a wide variety of female characters in entertainment. Davis won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “The Accidental Tourist” in 1988.

The lecture is being held in the Wally Allen Ballroom of the Statehouse Convention Center at 6:00 pm.  Seating is limited and reservations are required.  To make a reservation, email publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or call 501-683-5239.

Clinton School next week features filmmaker, Rep play

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The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service speaker series brings a wide variety of engaging speakers to Little Rock throughout the year.  For example, next week features an Ambassador and a World Food Prize Laureate.

Two of the programs next week have a cultural bent.

On Monday, January 23 at 6:00pm, Louie Psihoyos will discuss “The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Construction.  He is director of the 2009 Oscar winning film for best documentary, “The Cove,” which uncovers how a small seaside village in Japan serves as a microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.

At the Clinton School, Psihoyos will discuss the importance of using art to inspire activism and show clips from his next eco-thriller about the sixth mass extinction on Earth. The new film will feature Scientist Roger Payne, who declares that in the near future all the famines and world wars experienced by humanity will be a footnote compared to the destruction humanity is creating on the planet.
Fittingly, the Clinton School will host the Academy Award winner the night before this year’s Oscar nominations are announced.  The day after the Oscar nominations come out, the Clinton School will feature a program about a stage adaptation of an Oscar winning film.
The Arkansas Repertory Theatre is producing the stage version of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird (which won Oscars when it was made into a film).  On Wednesday, January 25 at 12 noon, Arkansas Repertory Theatre producing artistic director Bob Hupp will host the cast of The Rep’s upcoming production of the play for a panel discussion.
Hupp and the cast will discuss the history of the famous novel, its compelling themes of compassion, justice, integrity and courage and their work to bring the story to The Rep stage. As it is told through the eyes of Scout, the tomboyish young daughter of small-town lawyer Atticus Finch, it becomes clear that To Kill a Mockingbird is a love story: a father’s love for his children, their love for him and a love for the South.
Both programs will take place at Sturgis Hall.   Reservations can be made by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 501-683-5239.

Clinton School presents “A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America” at Butler Center

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In a collaboration between the Clinton School of Public Service and the Butler Center of Arkansas Studies, author Greg Robinson will discuss his book A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America on Thursday, November 10.

The book looks at the transnational history of the wartime confinement of people of Japanese ancestry. Winner of the 2009 History Book Prize for Asian American Studies, the book offers newly uncovered material that extends existing accounts of the camp experience of Japanese Americans during World War II and breaks new ground by examining those events alongside the treatment of ethnic Japanese in Canada, Mexico, and Latin America. An associate professor of history at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Robinson is also author of By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies will host a pre-reception at 5:00 p.m. in Concordia Hall at the Arkansas Studies Institute, where The Art of Living, an exhibit featuring art from the World War II Japanese American internment camp in Rohwer, Ark., is currently on display.

Thursday, November 10, 2011
5:00 p.m.-Pre-reception at Concordia Hall in the Arkansas Studies Institute (across the street from the CALS Main Library)
6:00-7:00 p.m.-Lecture at the Darragh Center at the Main Branch of the Central Arkansas Library System

*Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 501-683-5239.

Arts & Humanities Month: Clinton School lectures and Old State House

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Two cultural institutions in Little Rock are partnering today on an event.  The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service is presenting one of its lectures today at the Old State House Museum.

The Clinton School lecture series offers a variety of speakers on a panoply of topics.  The speakers range from local figures to international dignitaries.  The lectures are free and open to the public; one needs only to RSVP since the seating is limited. The speeches are filmed and archived on the school’s website, as well.  This month’s lineup features:

  • “Behind the Scenes at Clinton’s ‘91 Announcement: Building a Community of Hope that Inspires the World” – Monday, October 3, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Old State House) *In Partnership with Old State House Museum
  •  “Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock,” author David Margolick -Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall) *Book signing to follow
  •  “Scaling Social Good,” Erin Ganju, co-founder and CEO of Room to Read – Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  • John Kinkade, executive director of the National Sculptors’ Guild – Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  • “Cotton and Race in the Making of America,” author Gene Dattel – Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall) *Book signing to follow
  •  “The Second City,” a panel discussion – Friday, October 14, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall) *In partnership with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre
  •  Arkansas Puzzle Day 2011 – Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  •  Phillip Singerman, associate director for Innovation and Industry Services at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – Monday, October 17, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall) *In partnership with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission
  •  Ellen Dunham-Jones, professor of architecture and urban design, Georgia Tech – Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  • Toni Maloney, co-founder and CEO of BPeace – Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  • “Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide,” author Rebecca Hamilton – Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall) *Book signing to follow
  •  Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  • David J.R. Frakt, Professor of Law and United States Air Force Officer – Friday, October 21, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  • The Arkansas Consumer Confidence Report – Monday, October 24, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  • Markus Kostner, economist, World Bank – Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  •  Catherine Bertini, former World Food Prize Laureate – Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  •  “Straight Talk,” A Community Conversation – Thursday, October 27 at 6:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  •  Congressman Tim Murphy (R, Penn.) – Friday, October 28, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
  •  Melissa Boteach, Half in Ten manager, Center for American Progress – Monday, October 31, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)

Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 501-683-5239.

The Old State House Museum is located inside Arkansas’ first state capitol building.  A museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, it is dedicated to showcasing Arkansas history from 1836 to the present.  It has a variety of permanent exhibits as well as temporary exhibits.  The building’s most famous modern moments have been when it served as the backdrop to Bill Clinton’s 1991 presidential race announcement.  It was also on the front lawn that he celebrated on election nights in 1992 and 1996.

Current exhibits at the Old State House are:

  •  Arkansas/Arkansaw: A State and its Reputation, through March 4, 2012.

This exhibit sheds new light on the evolution of Arkansas’s backwoods, hillbilly image. The exhibit entitled, explores both the favorable and unfavorable parts of this history.

  • An Enduring Union: Arkansas in the Civil War, through 2012

This exhibit examines why Arkansas commemorates its Civil War veterans and features artifacts documenting the post-war Confederate and Union veteran reunions in the state. As part of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, it will be followed by four other exhibits.

The permanent exhibits are:

  • As Long as Life Shall Last: The Legacy of Arkansas Women
  • Pillars of Power: The Old State House – A Historical Landmark of Arkansas
  • On The Stump: Arkansas Politics, 1819 – 1919
  • 1836 House of Representatives Chamber
  • First Families: the Mingling of Politics and Culture
  • In addition, the museum has five parlors and one hallway depicting different eras of furniture and decorative styles ranging from the 18th to the early 20th centuries.

Some of the programs the Old State House has planned in October are:

Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 12 noon

  • Brown Bag Lunch Lecture – Public Health and the Syphilis Epidemic in Arkansas in the 1940s

Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 10:30am

  • Little Beginnings Toddler Program – Fall, with Jane Jones-Schulz