University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service

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The Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas, established in 2004, is the first institution in the United States to offer a master’s degree in public service. Located in Little Rock, Arkansas, the school enrolls nearly 100 graduate students who complete a two-year program with three required intensive field service projects and a mandatory international experience. The school’s International Public Service Project is a unique model where every student receives funding to work abroad with partner organizations.

When Katie George arrived at the Clinton School of Public Service (Clinton School) in 2022, she knew she wanted to make an impact but wasn’t sure exactly how. A former Peace Corps volunteer whose service in Malawi was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, George was drawn to the school’s promise that every student would complete an international field service project.  

“I realized that I knew a lot about planning public service, but I didn’t know anything about showing impact,” George says.  

Two years later, George has not only completed her master’s degree but has also stayed on as the school’s research and evaluation manager. This career path crystallized during her International Public Service Project (IPSP) in Peru, where she designed a program evaluation for a small nonprofit’s wellness program for mothers.

A Mandatory Global Experience  

George’s trajectory exemplifies the Clinton School’s distinctive approach to international education. Unlike most graduate programs where study abroad is optional, the IPSP is a required five-credit course that every student must complete during the summer between their first and second years.  

President Clinton was resolute that every student put their skills to the test in the field, and to do so globally, to truly understand the interconnectedness and complexity of the challenges we face in public service.  —Assistant Dean of Impact Nichola Driver 

Established by President Bill Clinton as part of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, the Clinton School operates as a collaborative effort among three accredited sponsoring institutions—University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; University of Arkansas at Little Rock; and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences—while maintaining its own distinct identity and mission. The school embodies President Clinton’s vision of preparing public servants who can work across disciplinary, racial, ethnic, and geographical boundaries.  

“As [part of] a land-grant university, our mission is to serve the state,” explains Nichola Driver, assistant dean of impact. “But President Clinton was resolute that every student put their skills to the test in the field, and to do so globally, to truly understand the interconnectedness and complexity of the challenges we face in public service.”  

Since the school’s founding in 2004, 669 students have completed highly specialized international projects in 100 countries on six continents with 332 partner organizations. The program’s reach spans from Peru to Sri Lanka, where one student developed a social entrepreneurship model using chili peppers to address human-elephant conflict.  

“The student worked with farmers and wildlife experts to find solutions,” Driver shares. “They ultimately landed on planting chili peppers, which is a deterrent for elephants, and provided a new crop for farmers to bring to market.”  

Building Global Citizens  

The IPSP program serves a diverse student body with an average age of 29, including first-generation college students, career switchers, and international students. Students of color make up approximately 51 percent of the school’s current cohort, while international students comprise more than a quarter of the group.

Every student receives a $4,000 stipend to cover travel and living expenses abroad while working on their IPSP. This universal funding model ensures access regardless of economic background and addresses a persistent barrier in international education. For students who cannot travel due to mobility limitations or other constraints, the school offers virtual international projects that maintain the same academic rigor and global focus.  

Community-Driven Partnerships  

The school’s approach to international partnerships centers on what Driver calls “learning to serve rather than steer.” Projects emerge from community needs that partner organizations identify themselves, rather than being imposed by the Clinton School.

Tiffany Jacob, director of international programs for the Office of Field Service, manages the extensive global partnership network through a strategic recruitment process each fall. Working with longtime partners— some dating back to the school’s founding—and new organizations, Jacob cultivates relationships that span multiple sectors, from international NGOs and social enterprises to U.S. embassies and United Nations (UN) entities.

Partners like Heifer International and Winrock International, both Arkansas-based organizations with global reach, have hosted students for almost 20 years. But the program also includes newer partnerships developed through connections at the Clinton Global Initiative. Dean Victoria DeFrancesco Soto’s participation has led to projects with organizations like La Cana in Mexico City, Mexico, which works with incarcerated women, and Efecto Arena, which provides coastal restoration and environmental education in La Paz, Mexico.  

The matching process resembles job placement more than traditional study abroad. Students apply to specific projects with tailored resumes and participate in interviews with partner organizations who assess candidates using their own hiring criteria.  

“We ask that [the organizations] follow their processes [for] assessing candidates as they would for any other kind of position,” Jacob explains.

Measuring Sustainable Impact  

The program’s emphasis extends beyond individual student experiences and into long-term organizational impact. According to data collected over six years, 98 percent of partner organizations report they would use student work to further their organizational goals, while 95 percent say students helped them create better systems, programs, or services.  

Partners have provided concrete examples of lasting impact. Heifer International noted that a student’s work “was critical in developing a new indicator database, which in turn will be used to drive change throughout the organization related to how data is understood, collected, analyzed, and reported.”  

The program also creates direct pathways to international careers. Organizations like Peacework International, which has hosted 19 student projects, have hired multiple Clinton School graduates as program directors and project managers in various countries.  

George’s experience in Peru exemplifies this pipeline. Working with translators provided by her host organization, she conducted focus groups and surveys while developing a guide for future data collection. She now applies these same skills when evaluating programs for NGOs and government agencies as part of her current role at the Clinton School.  

Expanding the Model  

As the program celebrates its twentieth anniversary, faculty are exploring ways to share their model with other institutions. The school’s approach aligns closely with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and with partner organizations addressing challenges ranging from poverty and education to food security and climate action.  

The program’s impact reaches beyond individual student growth and into broader questions about preparing public servants for global challenges. In a time when international development funding faces uncertainty, the Clinton School’s emphasis on nimble, community-responsive public service offers a different model.  

“We’re training our students to be nimble, to fit where they can, and to serve where they can, regardless [of] which sector that’s in,” Driver says.  

For George, who discovered her passion for evaluation through her Peru project, the experience validated the school’s core philosophy. As global challenges grow more complex, the Clinton School’s model suggests that effective public service education requires more than classroom learning—it demands the kind of cross-cultural collaboration and community engagement that can only happen when students learn to serve rather than steer.  

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