LITTLE ROCK — First lady Michelle Obama will give the commencement speech at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in May, her only such announced address outside of the nation’s capital, the White House said Tuesday.
Obama will speak at the Pine Bluff Convention Center on May 8, said UAPB Chancellor Lawrence A. Davis Jr.
“We are so excited. I think it’s going to be very positive for UAPB, Pine Bluff and the state of Arkansas,” Davis said.
UAPB was establishedmore than 130 years ago as the only state-supported institution of higher-education for blacks. It is one of a small number of historically black colleges and universities that are also land-grant institutions and have traditions in the fields of agriculture, farming and engineering, according to the White House release.
The university, one of 105 historically black schools, has about 3,500 students.
In February, President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing a White House initiative tostrengthen federal and private-business ties with historically black colleges and universities in a task to be carried out by the federal Department of Education.
It’s unclear whether Michelle Obama has ever visited the state. President Obama campaigned for Gov. Mike Beebe and other Democrats at a state Capitol rally in October 2006. He hasn’t visited Arkansas since.
Obama lost the state in 2008 by a 20 percentage-point margin to Republican John McCain, an Arizona senator. Only six states - and just Alabama in the South - voted against the president with wider percentage margins.
Davis said he decided in his capacity as chancellor to send “an invitation unilaterally” to the first lady and then followed with another missive, including a video of the university’s marching band, which performed at Obama’s inauguration last year.
He also sent copies of the letter to the state’s congressional delegation and to Illinois Democratic U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, a graduate of UAPB.
“I have no idea who had the influence,” Davis said.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee interviewed Michelle Obama on his FOX TV show last month about childhood obesity, but a possible visit to Arkansas didn’t come up in the televised segments.During a speech to the National Governors Association in Washington last month, Obama described Arkansas as a national role model for its efforts to curb childhood obesity.
Last week, Michelle Obama was in Mississippi, which has the highest childhood obesity rate in the nation, to promote her Let’s Move campaign, which seeks to reduce obesity in the nation’s young by exercise, diet and cheaper, more accessible healthy food.
Michelle Obama will also give the commencement addresses in Washington, D.C., at The George Washington University on May 16 and at Anacostia Senior High School on June 11.
Last year, she spoke at commencements at another Washington, D.C., high school and at the University of California, Merced.
The details of the first lady’s visit are still being worked out, Davis said, but he said he expected a larger crowd than usual to attend the graduation.
Still to be determined are which Arkansas politicians will attend. Gov. Mike Beebe hasn’t been invited yet, said his spokesman Matt DeCample.
Hal Bass, a political scientist at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, said the first lady’s visit gives the administration good national exposure without the same level of scrutiny that would accompany a presidential visit.
“You get the benefits without incurring quite the risk, that would be the calculus,” Bass said.
Pine Bluff and UAPB will certainly reap the rewards of her visit, but any political seed-sowing by the Obama administration might be harder to come by, he said.
“I don’t think, in general, Arkansas is very fertile soil for the Obama brand these days,” Bass said.
But he cautioned about reading the political tea leaves too closely.
“Sometimes you can try to read too much into these things. Maybe she just wants to come to Arkansas,” Bass said.
Such a high-profile speaker is incredibly valuable to the university, Davis said.
“It gives you international and national advertisement, you get all of that free publicity,” Davis said. “And it means so much to the students and graduates.”
The 2010 class will have an “indelible memory” of their graduation, Davis said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/10/2010