Ground Broken for George H. Clippert Forest Resources Annex

Managing Editor

Photo by Indra D. Kriner

Winds of Change - A somewhat windblown Chancellor Lassiter addresses guests at the George H. Clippert Forest Resources Annex Ground-Breaking April 15.

   University of Arkansas-Monticello officials, members of the University of Arkansas System and other friends of the university broke ground for the George H. Clippert Forest Resources Annex April 15.

   Wind gusts threatened to take potted plants, flags and the refreshment tent with them but the otherwise mild and sunny day’s events still proceeded as planned. 

   UAM Chancellor Jack Lassiter opened the ceremony with a few brief words about the beginning stages of the project’s development, and he offered thanks to U of A board members and other individuals for their assistance and involvement. He then introduced UAM Vice Chancellor for Advancement and University Relations Clay Brown who delivered the invocation, blessing and preparing the ground for construction.

   U of A System President B. Alan Sugg spoke next, beginning with praises for UAM administration.

   “One of the very, very best decisions I’ve made since being president is the fact that I recommended Jack Lassiter to the Board of Trustees … for him to be selected as the Chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Monticello,” he said. “Now Jack’s good, but Judy’s better,” he ribbed, to audience laughter.

   He talked about partnering with Lassiter from the beginning of his tenure at UAM to raise funds for the Forest Resources Annex and other UAM Master Plan projects.

   “He only picked the worst time in the history of Arkansas … when there was no money in the legislature or just about anyplace else to do that, but he had a lot, a lot of great help,” Sugg said.

   He cited a large network of officials, lawmakers and others across the state who made such endeavors possible, including wife of the late George H. Clippert, Maxine Clippert, who made a $1.2 million donation toward construction of the annex. The Clippert family, including George and his children, gifted UAM with $1 million in 1999, establishing the George H. Clippert Endowed Chair in Forestry.

   The presentation continued with brief remarks from Arkansas State Senator Jimmy Jeffress and Monticello Mayor Allen Maxwell as well as words about the late Mr. Clippert and his reverence for nature by Matthew Pelkki, professor of Forest Resources and Clippert Chair.

   Pelkki spoke warmly of Clippert and his legacy. “Mr. Clifford embodied a love for the land, and he also remained quite humble,” he said. “He understood deep inside that success in life is often subject to the generosity of another human being.” 

   Following Pelkki’s remarks, Jerry Davis, Commissioner of the Arkansas Forestry Commission and Larry Nance, Deputy State Forester of the same organization, offered words in honor of UAM being recognized as a “Tree Campus USA,” and they presented Lassiter with an honorary plaque and flag.

   The event concluded with the symbolic breaking of the ground. UAM officials, a few U of A board members, Maxine Clippert and others donned green and white hardhats as they sent shovelfuls of dirt into the air.

   George H. Clippert, president of Southern Pulpwood Company, Inc. of Camden and overseer of timber acreage in seven counties in Arkansas, hired many UAM Forest Resources graduates over nearly 50 years and was a longtime friend of the university.

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