Monday was a busy day with two special events: a visit from Chuck Goldner, the Dean at UALR Law School, and the Tenth Annual Event to Honor Special Women in Washington County. The latter was held at the Clarion, and one of our very special aluma, Ann Henry, was recognized.

It was great to see Chuck Goldner again. If you follow the blog, you know that he’s a good friend of mine. His work on the Access to Justice Commission has been phenomenal. The title of his lecture was “Equal Access to Justice: Mere Words or a Professional Obligation and Personal Commitment?” During his talk with the law school community, Dean Goldner gave us startling statistics. A few samples:

• 1 out of 5 Arkansans live in poverty and qualify for legal aid
• 16% of Arkansans live below the federal poverty level compared to 12.4% nationally
• Arkansas is ranked 49th in dollars spent per poor person on civil legal aid
• 550,000 Arkansans live 125% below the federal poverty level
• There are only 42 attorneys in Arkansas’ two legal aid organizations, and they are trying to provide free legal services to over 500,000 low income citizens
• The legal aid staff of 42 attorneys handled almost 14,000 cases, which is an astounding caseload of 333 files per attorney

In a study, the Legal Services Corporation found that for the general population, there is one private practice attorney for every 525 people. However, for low income Arkansans there is one legal aid attorney for every 15,000 low income persons. In 2007, 28,000 Arkansans asked for help, but more than 50% had to be turned away. On average, 1 out of 5 Arkansans is eligible for free legal aid, and 4 of every 5 dollars going to legal aid in Arkansas comes from the federal government.

Dean Goldner talked about our responsibility as attorneys to provide service to those who can’t afford it, and he noted Rule 6.1 of the Model Rules, which addresses voluntary pro bono publico service. It talk about how attorneys should strive to provide services for those who can least afford it. He emphasized the fact that assisting low-income citizens is not merely a matter of volunteering on committees, but involves providing direct legal services. He gave us statistics about the number of attorneys who provide pro bono representation, and it is clear that there’s still a very large gap in terms of those who need legal assistance and those who receive it.

His presentation gave all of us something to think about. Dean Goldner’s lecture was consistent with the law schools’ decision to expand the legal services we provide to underrepresented persons by creating the immigration law clinic. The Arkansas Access to Justice Commission 2007 Report found that Arkansas has one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in the United States. Between 1990 and 2000 the number of immigrants working in Arkansas industries grew an astounding 201%. This is taken directly from the Access to Justice Commission Report and, as you might imagine, this demographic shift has raised a number of issues for legal providers including immigration law and the need for translators.

Thank you very much, Dean Goldner, for raising our awareness of these issues, for challenging us to live up to our professional responsibility to address them, and for sharing the DVD about the services provided by Legal Services Corporation with us. We were able to gain a greater appreciation of the personal stories of those who benefit from Legal Services. Instead of merely sharing a bunch of statistics, you made the needs of the clients very real. Thank you again for such a fantastic lecture.

That evening was the Tenth Annual Event to Honor Special Women in Washington County, which was held at the Clarion. The Law School had a table, and many members of the law school community attended the event, including Dannelle Walker, Hope Jackson, Madra McAdoo, Chris Nebben, Jonathan Kwan and Ryan Younger. Honorees were Gay Harp, Ann Henry, Maurice Ash McClelland, Mary Alice Serafine and Ann Wiggins.

The program consisted of a brief recognition of the past ten years of honorees. But the highlight of the evening was recognizing this year’s honorees, one of which was our own Ann Henry. Ann was recognized for her service to the Washington County community as an Associate Dean of Walton College of Business, leader in her church, and as a member of local and state education boards and commissions. She was chair of the Capital Campaign for the Fayetteville Public Library and presently is co-chair of the Capital Campaign for KUAF. She was given the Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser Award in 2003 by the NWA chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and in 2005 she was honored as Girl Scout Woman of Distinction. We were proud to be present with her and to recognize her on this special evening, along with many others. (The Morning News Article)

Friday was another busy day. There was a series of meetings that covered a range of subjects: pulling together the details of our upcoming pro bono event, finishing plans for the law school’s first annual networking event and discussing the upcoming Arkansas Bar Association’s Arkansas Rule of Law Conference with Prof. Judges. I also had a conversation with Prof. Schneider around the administrators’ evaluation. The Provost requires that each Dean solicit members of their unit to fill out an IDEA (Individual Development and Educational Assessment) online evaluation. This year for the first time, the law school evaluation will go to both staff and faculty. Prof. Schneider and I visited a little about how that would work.

In the middle of all that, I forgot that I had an appointment with Johnetta Cross Brazzell, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. I was late when I arrived, but we had a very good meeting. We discussed a possible collaboration between Students Affairs and the School of Law after I’d updated her on the goings-on in the law school.

Early afternoon Friday there was a surprise visit from a Jonesboro alum, Val Price, his daughter Mollie Price, and her two friends, Alanna Rapp and Katie Branscrum. Their visit was a nice break from the morning’s rush, and it was wonderful to chat with them.

Later that afternoon was the final round of the moot court competition. The participating judges comprised quite an amazing bench. The judges were Justice Robert Brown of the Arkansas Supreme Court, Justice Annabelle Clinton Imber of the Arkansas Supreme Court, and Judge Lavenski Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit—who, I’m proud to say, happens to be one of our alums. Charlotte Brown, Justice Brown’s wife, was in attendance as well. The four competitors were Marie Claire Butt and Tim Steadman for the Petitioner (United States of America), and Kevin Vogeltanz and Lee Warden for the Respondent (Jessica Spano).

In the case, Jessica Spano, a single mother of two, was overheard allegedly making a drug transaction in exchange for a hand gun. When she was arrested, she remained silent and calmly went with the detective to the police station. The competitors argued the following two issues: (1) whether the use of a defendant’s post-arrest, pre-Miranda silence at trial as substantive proof of guilt violates the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination; and (2) whether “use” as employed in 18 U.S.C. §924(c) includes bartering for a firearm, as well as the active employment of the firearm in relation to a drug-trafficking offense. It was a very hot bench. All the students were excellent. In fact, the judges had a very difficult time reaching a decision in terms of the winning team because of the quality of all the advocates. Mary Claire Butt was selected as the outstanding oralist, and she and her teammate Tim Steadman were the winners of the competition. But again, all four competitors were just terrific and we congratulate them. Thanks to the judges for their participation. We appreciate the time they took out of their busy schedules to come to Fayetteville to judge our competition. Our final round would not have been as good without them. Again, many thanks.

That evening I had a quiet dinner at Momma Dean’s. If you don’t know about Momma Dean’s, it’s a little soul food restaurant in South Fayetteville just past 15th Street that has been written up in Citiscapes Metro Monthly magazine. Dinner that evening was catfish, fried okra, greens and peach cobbler. Momma Dean catered the Academic Deans Group Luncheon when it was the law school’s day to host it and she is catering our Administrative Professionals Day luncheon. I know it will be great. Check Mamma Dean’s out and tell her I sent you. (To read a review of Momma Dean’s, click the image on the right)

Wednesday was a busy day spent in a series of meetings and following up on necessary correspondence. The highlight of the day was lunch with—and those of you who follow the blog will understand—the Mysterious Myra McKenzie. Three other members of the Wal-Mart legal department joined us, Susan Klooz, Sonya Dodson, Jan Sturner, and I’m grateful to them for taking time out of their busy days to come for an informal lunch.

We chatted about what’s going on at the law school and ways in which we might work together in the future. During our lunch at Ella’s at Carnall Hall we also talked about the new thinking in legal education, including the Best Practices in Legal Education book and the Carnegie Report. I updated them on the law school’s strategic planning process and how we are responding to those reports,and thinking about the notion of creating more experiential opportunities for students. I shared with them our excitement about adding an immigration law clinic and the growth of our pro bono program. I also expressed my gratitude to them for the fact that Wal-Mart has graciously agreed to sponsor–along with SBA, BLSA, APALSA, and the Hispanic Student Bar Association—our Student Networking Event. This is our first annual networking activity on April 17 during which our students will be able to network informally with members of the Bar. Many thanks to Wal-Mart for sponsoring this event for us.

We also visited a little bit about our internal competitions and the need for judges. Sonya Dodson graciously agreed to pass this need on to Wal-Mart lawyers and also to follow up during the course of the year with the competition schedule as we need judges. Thanks again to Susan Klooz, Sonya Dodson, Jan Sturner, and Myra McKenzie for lunching with me, and I look forward to our future collaborations and appreciate the support.

After a busy day, I was able to have a quiet dinner at Bordinos with Henry McLeish, a visiting professor and former First Minister of Scotland. He spoke to the Arkansas Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday at the Little Rock Club in Little Rock earlier that day [Arkansas Busniess Article]. Henry was the second minister of Scotland from 2000 to 2001, was in the British Parliament from 1987 to 2001 and in the Scottish Parliament from 1999 to 2003. He has a visiting professorship here at the University, and lectures in both the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the Law School. As you might imagine, he’s quite an interesting person and it was good to be able to take time to relax with him.

With the onset of spring and the end of Spring Break, things start to get really busy around campus—and the law school is no exception. Tuesday was really busy. We had a number of activities in the law school and we also had some wonderful visitors stop by.

Before I get to all of that, I just want to say thank you to my colleague of many years, Robert Laurence. Back before I even accepted a position at the University of Arkansas, Bob sent me a picture of daffodils along with a warm note encouraging me to join him and the other members of the law school community here. He has been sending me daffodils at the beginning of spring every year since. Despite his retirement, I returned from a trip to find a vase of beautiful daffodils and another warm and caring note. Thank you so much, Bob. It is because of that warmth from you and others that I remain committed to the University of Arkansas.

As for the day’s activities, one of our alums from California visit stopped by. Doug Fee, his wife Mary and his children, Houston and Dana, were with him, and Dean Miller took them on a tour of the building. It was great to meet him. Professor Emeritus John Watkins came up to the school to visit with Doug and his family as well.

At noon we had our Academic Deans Group Luncheon and, although I took my camera, I forgot to take pictures! It was hosted by Dean Ashok Saxena of the College of Engineering. We discussed a number of potential changes in policy and various reports from central administration with the Provost.

I was delighted to be able to have an unexpected visit with Sid Davis early that afternoon. As you may know, Sid has been a wonderful supporter of the law school community. Professor Mary Beth Matthews holds the “Sidney Parker Davis Jr. Professor of Business and Commercial Law” professorship. It was great to see him and to spend a bit of time catching up. We talked about the Judge Robert Fussell study room and he was able to see the beautiful art that Bobby donated to hang in law school, for which we are so very grateful, for the first time. We spent some real quality time together, and I appreciate him taking time out of his busy day to stop by. Sid, it was terrific to see you! I’m already looking forward to your next visit.

At 3:30 p.m, the Hartman Hotz Trust hosted a program with Henry Schaefer in the E.J Ball Courtroom. The lecture was entitled, “The Big Bang Theory, Stephen Hawking, and God.” (I don’t know where the pics are for this Macey took them) It was a very well attended. Afterwards, there was a reception in the Six Pioneers Room, followed by dinner at the Greenhouse Grille. The Greenhouse Grille is a relatively new restaurant in Fayetteville that serves environmentally friendly and organic menu items. Don Bobbitt and his wife Susan, Barbara Taylor, Peter Pulay (professor of chemistry and biochemistry), Dave Fredrick (professor of classical studies and the director of humanities), Jeannie Wayne, Steve Sheppard, myself and Henry Schaefer attended the dinner. The conversation was relaxed and covered everything: science, recent occurrences and issues on campuses around the country, the current political race, the war in Iraq, organic food and sustainable agriculture. It was an enjoyable evening at the Greenhouse Grille and good to be with my colleagues on the Hartman Hotz Committee.

For you foodies out there, I had a quinoa salad with yellow fin tuna, black beans, mandarin oranges, carrots, scallions and cilantro citrus vinaigrette dressing. The entire table shared appetizers of vegetable egg rolls stuffed with sauteed carrots, cabbage, onions and peppers served with a ginger mustard dipping sauce, and crispy crab cakes served with a roasted red pepper cilantro tartar sauce. Professor Sheppard, I just have to share, had a goat cheese buffalo burger with roasted garlic aioli sauce and bacon, topped with goat cheese and served with a side of sweet potato fries. It was a bit more substantial than a salad, but the best part of his meal was the sweet potato fries which he was very generous in sharing.

Monday started as every Monday does at Studio Pilates with Claudia. I can tell that I’m getting a little bit stronger, but I have a long way to go to be Fabulous at 50. The rest of the morning was filled with the very important task of preparing for the law school’s budget presentation.

At noon we had a faculty meeting, and directly afterwards it was time to go over and deliver the budget presentation to the Budget Committee. Lynn Stewart, our Budget Director, goes with me each year. This was my second year presenting, and I think I was a lot more nervous the first year. We submitted a modest proposal and spent the majority of our time updating the Budget Committee about developments in the law school, some of our priorities and goals and explaining what we would do with the budget we requested. We shared the fact that we feel the changes we are making will benefit the broader University as well as the law school. The presentation went well. Thank you, Lynn, for your hard work!

Later that day, I went over to observe a piece of public art. The artist, Kelsey Felthousen, constructed a house inside out in the Union Mall for her masters art thesis. She is sleeping, eating, and living in the Union Mall for 13 days with no walls or ceilings around the bedroom, living room, kitchen or bathroom. When I first saw it, I had no idea what that was…it just looked like a house sitting out on the Union Mall, so I went over and took some pictures . The inspiration for her project, entitled “My Space,” is to demonstrate to people how internet social networking sites like “MySpace,” “Facebook” and “YouTube” are allowing people to give away the last remnants of their privacy. To demonstrate this, she has set up cameras around her project, which feed to a viewing area in the Fine Arts Gallery, so everyone can observe her life. She is quoted as saying, “You’re not just telling your friends an inside story; you’re telling the world.” It’s very interesting, and has recieved quite a bit of publicity.

Because I haven’t been able to lately, I took my mom to Taste of Thai for dinner Monday evening and we had a wonderful, quiet meal. For an appetizer, we had the chicken pot stickers that are grilled and served with homemade sauce on the side. For dinner, mom had the Pad Thai Lay Puk. It’s a seafood dish with prawns, fish and scallops stir-fried with mixed vegetables in Thai brown sauce. I had the house combo: sauteed chicken, pork and prawns with baby corn, snow peas, onion, green onion and fresh mushrooms. We spent a relaxing evening together and I was able to catch her up on all my recent travels. My mom had never been to Taste of Thai, and she enjoyed it very much (especially the fact that she got to keep all the leftovers from both meals).

Friday of Spring Break – a time to relax and to reflect. It’s also Good Friday in the church year and it turned out to be a very good Friday spent with friends. Dan and Deb Coody and I took a ride out to their cabin in Madison county near Kingston, Arkansas. It was a beautiful day, the ride was lovely and the view was very scenic. When we arrived, we did a bit of walking around their property. They have a small stream with a waterfall on their land that was just absolutely beautiful. The scenery, the bluffs and the view of valley were just breathtaking.

We were there to spruce up the cabin because they had some friends coming to stay, but we also just spent good quality time together. Dan and Deb are the kind of friends with whom you can be quiet and share the glory of nature around you. I really appreciate my downtime with them. I could feel the stress just melt away. We shared a lunch of brats, potato salad and beer and then sat on the front porch looking at the views, watching the bird, and listening to the trickle of the stream in the background. It was absolutely fantastic.

After a while at the cabin, we took off and went to the low-water crossing on the Buffalo River. It was packed. It seemed everyone was ready for spring and was out enjoying the lovely weather. We also came across a number of elk that had come out of the woods to eat with a herd of cattle, and we got some nice pictures of that. It was all just majestic and beautiful. From there, we went to Steel Creek at the Buffalo River. (we got some really beautiful pictures of the scenery there) It was just outstanding, and it was neat to see everyone out enjoying the weather—some people were even canoeing.

Right about that time we decided it was time for chocolate pie, so we went on the great chocolate pie search. We began in Kingston,and searched to no avail. From there we went to Ponca, but we couldn’t find a restaurant open so we left there empty-handed as well. On our way to Hindsville in search of pie we saw elk again, and they were so close to the side of the road that we got out and took some additional pictures of these really majestic and beautiful animals.

We arrived in Hindsville in time for dinner so we stopped at The Valley Inn Café and had a wonderful home cooked meal followed with—you guessed it!—chocolate pie for dessert. For dinner, I had some brisket with mashed potatoes, green beans and a salad. Deb and Dan had catfish. For dessert we had wonderful, wonderful chocolate pie. I highly recommend it. Our dinners were good, simple, delicious and filling, and the pie was fantastic. After that we drove back to Fayetteville.

There has been a lot of controversy about the construction on the Square in downtown Fayetteville, but I really hadn’t been down there to see for myself. I mentioned it to Dan during the ride back, and he invited me to tour the square and offered to show me why the city is undertaking the construction. As we walked around the sidewalks, it was clear that they are in very bad condition and actually pretty dangerous, especially for women in heels. In fact, Dan mentioned that a few people had fallen. So, while I know it’s an inconvenience, it seemed sensible to redo everything. It also needed some serious sprucing up aesthetically.

After our walk around the square, Dan and Deb dropped me off at home. I really appreciate having spent a wonderful relaxing day with friends. Again, they are the kind of friends that I can just be myself with. Indeed it was a “Good Friday.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Teri Stafford, Malcolm McNair and I left for Jonesboro to visit with the Craighead and Greene County Bar Associations to update them on law school events and news. We got to the Jonesboro Holiday Inn Express about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday and had a little time to freshen up before heading up to Paragould. The meeting was held at the Candlelight Steakhouse. We were in a small, private room in the back of the steakhouse, and arrived ahead of time to set things up before our guests arrived. A number of our alums came out to see us, along with Senator Robert Thompson, Donis Hamilton, Jay Scurlock, King Benson and Bob Young. A special thanks goes out to H.T. Moore, who wasn’t feeling well but stopped by to say hello anyway, and to our hostess, Lorie Whitby.

During the cocktail hour, Donis Hamilton recommended that I try a local delicacy, so out came a platter of rooster fries. They look a little like fried okra, but without the green. When I asked everybody what it was, they would say it was a local delicacy and nothing more. Donis said, “You must absolutely try it, Dean Nance,” and as you foodies know, I’m pretty game for anything. He scooped up several of them on a plate with some marinara sauce (sauce makes anything better) and, as best as I can describe it, they had the consistency of a heavily-breaded scallop with a very light chicken liver flavor. Not the best; not the worst, just sort of okay. Once I had eaten my rooster fries they told me what they were. It turns out—and there’s just no delicate way to say this—that rooster fries are actually rooster testicles. In fact, you can get an entire rooster fry platter at the Candlelight Steakhouse, which needless to say I did not.

Dinner was not as eventful as the appetizers, but it was very, very good. There was a salad with an unusual–but delicious!—wine and cheese dressing, a Cajun crusted grouper which was rubbed with Cajun seasoning, stuffed with seafood, covered with Cajun sauce and served with wild rice and seasonal veggies. As everyone ate dessert, we started the presentation and update.

This was a lively, fun group of alums, and we’re glad we could visit with them. They had lots of questions and gave us a good deal of feedback. By the way, many thanks to Robert Thompson, our alum and state Senator for joining us. I spoke with him about the possibility of restructuring the IOLTA trust accounts so that more interest would be generated for the legal services and other activities they fund.

After the dinner and presentation, we went with Donis Hamilton (our local guide) to Roy’s, which is an institution in Paragould. It’s a bar located in an old, remodeled chicken coop. When we walked in, it felt just like a scene out of an old Western movie—you know, where someone walks into the bar, the piano player stops and the place goes silent? When we stepped into Roy’s it was just like that. It was certainly a sort of “you’re not from around here, are you?” moment, but it turned out to be a blast. All the beer was bottled and apparently Roy’s has really good cheeseburgers, but we had already eaten.

I took a little tour with Donis of Roy’s and noted the sketches. There used to be a man who hung out there and made wonderful sketches of the local patrons. We tried to find Donis’ picture and couldn’t, but it gave me a chance to look at the sketches and all the signatures on the walls. Thanks very much to Donis for being such a wonderful tour guide of Greene County. Not only did he show us around, but he spent a great deal of time giving me the history of the lawyers in Greene and Craighead counties, and Arkansas politics. It was very, very helpful to me and also quite interesting. I appreciate Donis making the time to hang out with us.

After leaving Donis, we went back to our hotel in Jonesboro. The next morning Teri and I visited a couple of alums in different law firms. First on our schedule was Womack, Landis, Phelps, McNeill & McDaniel where we visited with Jared Woodard, whose brother Chris just got admitted to our law school, Raney English Coleman and J. Nicholas Livers. After a nice visit, we headed over to Mixon, Parker, and Hurst where we were able to chat with Harry Hurst and Don Parker. Then it was off for our lunch meeting.

The Craighead County Bar Meeting lunch was hosted by Mike Mullaly at the Jonesboro Country Club. Those attending included Jared Woodward, Chad Olham, Brandon Harrison, Jason Milne, Judge Lee Fergus, Val Price, Lucinda McDaniel, Troy Henry, Megan Henry, Don Parker and Sloan Rainwater. A special hello to Bobby McDaniel, whose room we will dedicate next week. He was also in attendance and we enjoyed our visit with him. Lunch was pleasant and we were happy to give an update on the law school. After lunch we went to visit the Barrett & Deacon Law Firm and Barry Deacon was a wonderful host. There we visited with Barry Deacon, Brandy Brown, Brandon Harrison, Jason Milne and Shane Baker.

We headed back to Fayetteville right after that last stop, though we’re already excited about visiting Jonesboro and Paragould again. As we were driving back, it became clear how the rivers had exceeded their banks. We are keeping everyone there in our prayers, as we are expecting another few days of rain.

Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break were pretty quiet, just like the campus. The one highlight was a meeting with Sonya Dodson from Wal-Mart Legal. We discussed Wal-Mart’s wonderful, continued support for the law school. It’s always good to see Sonya, especially when she shares her pictures of her adorable daughter, Parker.

The Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference is one which I look forward to every year.  When I first came to Arkansas—the very first year I was here as a new professor—I attended the conference and was warmly welcomed by the members of the Labor and Employment Law Bar.  They are special to me and I don’t get to see all of them very often, so I look forward to this conference every year.

This year, thanks to Hope Jackson and Stacia Alvarez, my presentation was a lot better.  My sincerest thanks to them for the hard work they put in on my CLE outline, which was an Eighth Circuit update of all the labor and employment law cases in the Eighth Circuit, as well as Supreme Court cases.  They also put together a great PowerPoint presentation which was very well-received by the Bar.  So, again, thank you Hope and Stacia.

One of the highlights of the Thursday session was that Stewart Acuff, the director of organizing for National AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., debated Michael R. Flaherty, a partner in Jackson Lewis, L.L.C. in Chicago, Ill. Alan Hughes, President of the Arkansas AFL-CIO attended that panel as well. It was lively because they were debating The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would give unions the right to have card check recognition rather than a secret ballot election if the majority of the employees in a bargaining unit were in favor of the union. As you might imagine, there are a lot of viewpoints on that and the debaters offered two completely different and lively perspectives.

The ethics hour presented by Mike Moore of Friday Eldredge & Clark, and Denise Hoggard of Chisenhall, Nestrud & Julian was great.  They were very funny and presented a really lively and engaging ethics CLE hour. That afternoon I presented my 8th Circuit Update to close out the day. A number of our alums were there including Eva Madison, Jonathan Carter, Jan Sterner, Jane Kim, Kristin Pawlik, Elizabeth Rowe, Mike Moore and John Snell.  Jan Sterner spoke the second day on the topic of diversity, representing Wal-Mart Stores and outlining Wal-Mart does to encourage diversity.  It was good to see all of them and spend time with my good friend, Denise.

I was a little sad to see the meeting adjourn on Friday, but I’m already excited about next year’s conference.

Wednesday began with a meeting in the administration building.  I was supposed to have lunch with my good friend Kathy VanLaningham in the Provost’s office, but we got our wires crossed and the meeting ran late, so I didn’t get to see her.  I did, however, get to visit with Greg Weidemann, dean of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.  Remember bloggies, it’s my goal to get over to visit with each of my fellow deans and hear their challenges and visions for their unit.  I’m trying to complete all the visits by the end of the fiscal year.

My visit with Dean Weidemann was a good one.  We talked about things we might work on together, about the challenges in his unit, about the history of administration in his college and the fact that he oversees five physical buildings on campus, plus a number of off campus sites.  I guess I didn’t realize the breadth of his responsibilities.  His departments include: Agricultural and Extension Education; Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness; Animal Science, Biological and Agricultural Engineering; Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences; Entomology; Food Science; Horticulture; Plant Pathology and Poultry Science.  He also oversees the School of Human Environmental Sciences which includes Apparel Studies; Interior Design; Human Development and Family Sciences; General HESC and Food, Nutrition and Hospitality.  He mentioned that one of the fastest growing areas in his school is fashion design.  He also said that, over the past three years, the largest increase in undergraduate enrollment within his college has been in the departments of Poultry Science and Food, Human Nutrition and Hospitality.  I really enjoyed the visit with him and getting to know him a little bit better.  Thanks to Fred White for the suggestion of meeting with the Deans from other schools.  It has been an enjoyable learning experience.

That evening was the Career Leadership Program for the Peace at Home Family Shelter at Garylord’s Café.  It was graduation day for women who, though they had come to the shelter under very adverse circumstances, had completed life skill training as well as job search and skills training.  Each of them received a computer after graduation and many had family members there to celebrate with them.  I was the keynote speaker at their dinner and gave each graduate a little gift to show how very proud I was of them.  The thrust of my talk was about the word “momentum.”  I focused on the idea that they had now gained momentum, which they should use to move forward.  I told them that they were on their way to better lives and emphasized how proud all of us there that evening were of them.  It was a very moving event and an honor for me to be there.  After that Hope and I drove to Russellville to get a start on the trip to the Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference in Hot Springs.