Clinton School of Public Service

The Clinton School of Public Service is an educational institution affiliated with the University of Arkansas system. The School is located in Sturgis Hall on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Clinton School offers a Masters of Public Service degree. Some parts of the program are modeled after Boston's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Seven graduate schools of public service with ties to past presidents are located across the United States. Sixteen students comprised the first class of the Clinton School in 2005-2006. In 2007-2008 52 students were enrolled in the Clinton School's degree program.

In December 2007 the Clinton School announced that it was expanding its facilities to the top floor of the old Budget Office in the historic River Market District. The 5,700 square feet of renovated space, expected to cost $1 million, would add two classrooms, as well as conference and meeting rooms. Sturgis Hall contains only two classrooms. The main branch of the Central Arkansas Library System is located nearby. Noted the School's Dean Skip Rutherford, the new facility will "place us closer to the main library and provide our students access to additional study, meeting, and conference rooms." The Budget Office will also house the Arkansas Studies Institute and an archive of papers drawn from UALR's political history collections. "The chance for the students and faculty to use our collection is really good," said CALS director Bobby Roberts. "It is good for them and good for us. They are a high-profile program, and it brings a lot of credibility to what we are trying to do." The third floor Budget Office school facilities are funded by Arkansas General Assembly improvement funds allocated in 2007. The Budget Office facility is expected to open in the Fall of 2008.

References

• Michelle Hillen, "Clinton School Picks Space for Expansion," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 22, 2007, p. 1B, 7B.