Sebastian County Bar Association Speaker Event

James L. “Skip” Rutherford, William J. Clinton Professor and Dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, will speak to the Sebastian County Bar Association from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Monday, November 2, 2009, at the Holiday Inn City Center in Fort Smith. This event will be open to the public. For questions or comments, please contact Coby W. Logan, President of the Sebastian County Bar Association.

Among many other activities, Rutherford is the founder and organizer of the Political Animals Club, a non-partisan grassroots organization of community leaders and activists who meet regularly to discuss politics and issues. Prior to joining the Clinton School, Rutherford served as Executive Vice President of Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods (CJRW), one of the region’s largest communications firms. In addition, he was Chairman of the Board of the William J. Clinton Foundation from 1997-2006. From 1997 until it opened in 2004, he supervised the planning for the Clinton Presidential Library.

A former administrative assistant to United States Senator David Pryor, (D-AR), Rutherford is past president of the Little Rock School Board and has been active in numerous campaigns and initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels. He is a 1972 journalism graduate of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and received the Journalism Department’s first Distinguished Alumnus Award. He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas; Lyon College in Batesville; the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville; and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

Rutherford was the first president of the advisory board for the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science. He is a member of the boards of directors of Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Lyon College, and is a founding member of the Little Rock Central High Museum and Visitor Center Board.

He coordinated both the 40th anniversary commemoration of the 1957 crisis at Little Rock Central High School and the dedication of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. He was named the 2006 Tourism Person of the Year at the Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism and was honored as the 2005 Arkansan of the Year by the Arkansas Broadcasters Association. He was the recipient of the William F. Rector Memorial Award for distinguished civic achievement in Little Rock, and received the Raymond L. Garner Alumnus of the Year Award from the Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity. He was named 2004 Arkansan of the Year by the Arkansas Times newspaper and 2004 Headliner of the Year by the Arkansas Press Association.

Rutherford is the recipient of the Humanitarian Award from the Arkansas Chapter of the National Conference of Community and Justice, the Men of Volunteer Achievement from the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, the Arkansas Community Service Award from the Arkansas Department of Volunteerism, the Martin Luther King Award from the Black Community Developers, and the Community Service Award from the University of Arkansas Alumni Association.

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