Langston Hughes
Maxine Clark
Ann Covington
Judith Rowland
Photos provided by MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY
Missouri State University has chosen five new inductees to its Public Affairs Hall of Fame.
The picks are Hal Donaldson, Langston Hughes, Maxine Clark, Ann Covington and Judith Rowland. MSU’s Public Affairs Hall of Fame honors citizens globally who have worked in their lives and careers to help others, according to a news release. Inductees are not required to be MSU alumni.
Donaldson serves as president of Springfield-based nonprofit Convoy of Hope, an organization that’s distributed some $700 million worth of food and supplies to over 80 million people worldwide. Convoy of Hope has a 2017 operating budget of $123.2 million, according to Springfield Business Journal list research.
He also received the National Distinguished Service in Social Welfare Award and has written more than 30 books. His latest, “Your Next 24 Hours — One Day of Kindness Can Change Everything,” is scheduled to release next month, according to the release.
Hughes, who was born in Joplin in 1902, is being honored posthumously with the legacy award, the top pick in the Hall of Fame.
The writer of poetry, fiction, drama, news reporting and screenplays is said to be the first African American man to make his living working solely as a writer, according to the release. A leader of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes is perhaps best known for his poem “Harlem,” aka “A Dream Deferred.” Hughes died in 1967.
Clark founded St. Louis-based Build-A-Bear Workshop in 1997, and the company has grown to over 400 stores worldwide, including in Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
She stepped down as CEO of Build-A-Bear in 2013 to focus on improving K-12 public education, as well as mentoring women and minority entrepreneurs. A managing partner of Prosper Women’s Capital, a St. Louis fund designed to invest in women-owned businesses in the market, also is behind Blueprint4SummerSTL, an app that helps navigate summer activities for children, according to the release.
Covington served as the first female judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals in 1987, the first female judge on the Missouri Supreme Court in 1989 and the first female chief justice for the Show-Me State in 1993.
Recognized by the American Bar Association recognized as one of the Women Trailblazers in the Law, Covington worked 12 years on the Missouri Supreme Court, including two as chief justice. She retired in 2010 after working as a partner at St. Louis-based Bryan Cave LLP, according to the release.
Rowland works as U.S. policy and advocacy manager for New York-based Global Citizen, for which she speaks about solving the world’s largest challenges, including gender equality, health, education, food and hunger, and climate change.
She also worked with the White House on the launch of former first lady Michelle Obama’s #62MillionGirls campaign, which helps girls around the world stay in school, according to the release.
The latest class of Public Affairs Hall of Fame is scheduled to be honored during an April 7 ceremony at the John A. and Genny Morris Conservation Education Center. Previous inductees include President Harry S. Truman, Gov. Eric Greitens and author Laura Ingalls Wilder.
