College of Humanities and Social Sciences to present forum on Clinton presidency

March 17, 2008 -- Arkansas State University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, in conjunction with the Department of Political Science, presents its spring forum on Monday, March 31, at 7 p.m., in the Centennial Ballroom, Reng Student Services Center/Student Union, 101 North Caraway Road, Jonesboro. The forum, “The Clinton Presidency…an Arkansas Legacy,” will be moderated by Janis Kearney, author and presidential diarist, and it will include brief presentations by several participants who served in the Clinton administration. Presenters will speak about their roles in the administration and speak about their individual perspectives on what the Clinton presidency meant and continues to mean for the state of Arkansas. The individual presentations by participants will be followed by a short list of prepared questions and will end with an open question-and-answer session with the audience. This presentation is free and open to the public.

Author and presidential diarist Janis Kearney is spending the 2007-2008 academic year at ASU, where she is teaching a special-topics course in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ department of Political Science, “The Clinton Presidency” and an Honors special-topics course, “Storytelling, News, and Arkansas.” One of 19 siblings who grew up in Gould, a small town in southeast Arkansas, her parents, James and Ethel V. Kearney, were sharecroppers. Kearney earned her BA in journalism from the University of Arkansas, and continued her education at UALR, earning 30 hours toward an MPA.  Kearny purchased the Arkansas State Press newspaper in 1987 from civil rights legend Daisy Bates, publishing the weekly newspaper until 1992, when she took a sabbatical to work in the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign as director of minority media outreach. In 1993, Clinton’s White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers asked her to join the White House press office, and Kearney worked there until 2001. Kearney’s books include “Conversations: William Jefferson Clinton, From Hope to Harlem,” and the acclaimed memoir, “Cotton Field of Dreams.”

Other participants, all former members of the Clinton administration, will include Kay Goss, Bob J. Nash, Ken Smith, and Stephanie Streett.

Kay Goss currently serves as director of emergency management and crisis communications for SRA International – a leading provider of technology and strategic consulting services and solutions to clients in national security, civil government, and health care and health care markets. Ms. Goss served as associate FEMA director in charge of national preparedness, training, and exercises during the eight years of the Clinton administration.

Bob J. Nash currently serves as deputy campaign manager for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Nash is former vice chairman of ShoreBank Corporation in Chicago; he also served as President Bill Clinton’s director of presidential personnel for six of the eight years of the Clinton administration. In this role, Nash was responsible for recruitment, vetting, and hiring of Clinton appointees to the White House and the federal government. He served two years as undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), heading up the rural development agencies of the USDA.

Ken Smith, currently executive director of the Arkansas Audubon Society, has overall responsibility for the state’s restoration and protection of watersheds and other habitats important to birds and other wildlife, as well as oversight of environmental education, citizen involvement in science, and public education. Smith was appointed by President Clinton in 1993 to serve as deputy chief of staff to Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Then Smith was appointed assistant secretary for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service – where he developed policy for the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Stephanie Streett, currently executive director of the William J. Clinton Library Foundation in Little Rock, has served in that role since leaving the White House in 2001. Streett served for eight years as director of scheduling for Clinton during his presidency. In that role, Streett was responsible for all aspects of planning and scheduling President Clinton’s domestic and foreign travels, hiring and scheduling staff, and working closely with various White House office directors, in addition to working with the president’s chief of staff in coordinating his domestic and foreign meetings and travel schedules.

For more information, please contact Rachelle Tadlock, Dean’s Office, ASU’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, at (870) 972-3973.

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