Clinton School in LR issues schedule of speakers, events

The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service has released a list of speakers, film screenings and events during the first two months of the academic year.

The lecture series is open to the public, not just students, and admission is free. Reservations are available by emailing [email protected] or calling (501) 683-5239. Most programs can be viewed live online.

Most events are held in Sturgis Hall, which is the old Choctaw Railway Station building at the Clinton School campus on the Clinton presidential library complex, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock.

The first event, a concert, begins today.

Here is a list of the events:

Today: The U.S. Navy Band Cruisers, one of three U.S. military bands that will perform in the capital city between now and October. Today's concert will run from 7-9 p.m., First Security Amphitheater, Julius Breckling Riverfront Park, Little Rock.

Aug. 24: Panel Discussion with Arkansas Repertory Theatre cast and crew about the play The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, based on Carson McCullers' novel. Noon, Sturgis Hall.

Aug. 30: Becky Straw, co-founder and chief of The Adventure Project, a nonprofit organization that tries to create jobs in developing countries. Noon, Sturgis Hall.

Aug. 31: Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School, will discuss for the first time a civil-rights silent protest that occurred in Little Rock during the mid-to-late 1950s similar to one described in The Help, a 2009 book by Kathryn Stockett, who told the story of some black maids in Jackson, Miss., who worked in white homes during the early 1960s. Octavia Spencer was named Best Supporting Actress in a 2011 film adaptation. Noon, Sturgis Hall.

Sept. 6: A film program that will feature the premiere of a brief video celebrating the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Main Library in Little Rock's River Market District and the founding of the Butler Center. The program will also include family films from the Terry Family, including Adolphine Fletcher Terry, an Arkansas civil-rights activist, and her brother, John Gould Fletcher, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Additionally, the program will show screen excerpts from the Butler Center's collection of amateur films capturing everyday life in Arkansas and noteworthy events. Noon, Central Arkansas Library System, Ron Robinson Theater.

Sept. 6: Billy Fleming, who is originally from Arkansas and who was a former student government president at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, worked on the White House Domestic Policy Council during President Barack Obama's first term. He is a co-author of The Indivisible Guide and co-founder of Data Refuge, an international consortium of scientists, librarians and programmers working to back up sensitive environmental data during the Trump administration. Currently, he is a research coordinator at the Ian McHarg Center in the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design, where he is completing a Ph.D. in city and regional planning. 6 p.m., Sturgis Hall.

Sept. 9: Little Rock Paper Airplane Festival, featuring paper airplane contests for both distance and hang time. Prizes will be awarded in age groups of 6-and-under, 7 to 12, 13 to 18 and Adult. The event will benefit the Lymphomaniac Society. 10 a.m., Sturgis Hall. (Early registration is $20 and registrants will be entered into both the distance and hang-time competition. Registration will increase to $25 on the day of the event.)

Sept. 11: Nick Schifrin, a special correspondent at PBS NewsHour, recently offered an inside look at Russia and President Vladimir Putin's influence with the weeklong PBS NewsHour series "Inside Putin's Russia." Noon, Sturgis Hall.

Sept. 13: Dr. David Goldston, a clinical psychologist and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine. He will talk about new developments in understanding, treating and predicting suicidal behaviors. 6 p.m., Sturgis Hall.

Sept. 14: Evin Demirel, author of African-American Athletes in Arkansas: Muhammad Ali's Tour, Black Razorbacks & Other Forgotten Stories. 6 p.m., Sturgis Hall.

Sept. 16: Preview of The Vietnam War, a 10-part, 18-hour documentary directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. It will air on PBS in September. Officials with the Butler Center, AETN and the Clinton School will preview clips from the documentary and discuss the Butler Center's Arkansas Vietnam War Project, which documents Arkansas' role in the war and preserves materials from that period. 2-4 p.m., Ron Robinson Theater.

Sept. 17: U.S. Air Force Concert Band in concert. 3-5 p.m., First Security Amphitheater, Julius Breckling Riverfront Amphitheater.

Sept. 18: Dan Zak, a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post and author of Almighty, a book about nuclear weapons, the activists who resist them and the bureaucracy that maintains them. 6 p.m., Sturgis Hall.

Sept. 19: Baz Dreisinger, author of Incarceration Nations, a first-person odyssey through the prison systems of the world. Noon, Sturgis Hall.

Sept. 24: Children of the Little Rock Nine will talk about their experiences as youths and adults, and they will discuss how having a parent as a civil-rights pioneer has shaped their own life. The Little Rock Nine are the nine black students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. 3-5 p.m., Ron Robinson Theater.

Sept. 26: Michelle Kuo, author of Reading with Patrick, a book about her mentorship of a student in Helena-West Helena, where she worked as a Teach for America teacher. Noon, Sturgis Hall.

Sept. 27: A conversation about education in Arkansas with state Education Commissioner Johnny Key and Rutherford who, years earlier, was president of the Little Rock School Board. Noon, Sturgis Hall.

The Clinton School will announce other events monthly as the academic year continues.

Metro on 08/19/2017

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