The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service has released its schedule of speakers for January, including an event that features one of its own students.
The admission-free lecture series, which is held at Sturgis Hall on the Clinton Presidential Center complex unless officials provide a different location at a later time to accommodate audience size, is open to the general public, not just Clinton School students.
The schedule is:
• Thursday: 6 p.m., Ellen Vollinger, legal director for the Food Research and Action Center, will discuss the upcoming farm bill legislation and its effect on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and child nutrition programs in Arkansas. The speech is in partnership with the Clinton School, Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
• Jan. 11: noon, David Leckey, executive director of the Orton Family Foundation, where he guides the foundation in its mission to build stronger, healthier and more economically vibrant small cities and towns. He will speak about the organization's community development model, Community Heart and Soul. The lecture is a partnership between the Clinton School and the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute.
• Jan. 20: 3 p.m., Bullets into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to Gun Violence, a poetry anthology focused on the effects of widespread gun violence. The book pairs contemporary poems with responses by people who include gun violence survivors, family members of victims, officers, clergy members and politicians. The event is a partnership between the Clinton School and the Oxford American.
• Jan. 22: noon, Ibram Kendi, author, historian and professor of history and international relations at American University. His book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction. A book signing will follow.
• Jan. 24: 6 p.m., Nick Schifrin, a special correspondent at PBS NewsHour and a visiting fellow for the second consecutive year at the Clinton School. He will talk about the effect of the United States' recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Schifrin has served as the NPR Jerusalem correspondent, the ABC News Afghanistan/Pakistan correspondent and the Al-Jazeera America Middle East correspondent. He has won Emmy, Overseas Press Club, National Headliners, and Edward R. Murrow awards.
• Jan. 25: noon, panel discussion with Arkansas Repertory Theatre cast and crew members of The Call, a play about a childless couple in their late 30s who have decided to adopt a baby from Africa. When they receive some surprising news, anxiety and doubt threaten to tear their world apart. Middle-class cultural sensibilities and global divisions come crashing in on their comfortable existence as they are forced to confront their preconceived notions about what makes a family a family.
• Jan. 31: 6 p.m., Crystal C. Mercer, a Clinton School student and author of A Love Story Waiting to Happen, a book of poems that explore love, grief, mourning, freedom, social justice, sex and courtships. The book includes black-and-white photography by Joshua Asante, lead singer of bands Amasa Hines and Velvet Kente.
Sturgis Hall is the former Choctaw railroad station on the presidential museum and library grounds, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock.
More information is available at [email protected] or at (501) 683-5239.
Metro on 12/31/2017