• Razorbug Diploma Tour •

Federal judges, state legislators, state government officials and attorneys may be pretty much all-business during the workday. On a hot June morning, however, several turned out to have fun celebrating attorney Julie Linck, their friend who received a visit from the Razorbug after earning an LL.M. delivered online by the U of A.

Linck previously served as the Arkansas director of environmental quality under former Gov. Asa Hutchinson and now specializes in environmental law with Sagacious LLC in Little Rock. She invited friends to the event June 21 including:

• Senior Circuit Judge Morris "Buzz" Arnold and Chief Judge Lavenski Smith, who both serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and are both U of A School of Law graduates;
• State Rep. Jack Fortner of Yellville, chair of the House Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee;
• State Rep. Jon Eubanks of Paris, speaker pro tempore;
• Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson, also a U of A School of Law graduate; and
• Mitchell Dowden, attorney specialist with the Office of Chief Counsel for the Arkansas Department of Energy and the Environment.

Johnson succeeded Linck as president of the Henry Woods American Inn of Court. Dowden, a classmate of Linck in the LL.M. program, donned regalia and presented Linck's framed diploma to her.

"This opportunity is so special to me because several of my legal mentors were unable to attend graduation," Linck said.

Her family and other friends also gathered for the presentation in front of the steps to the state Capitol building. The Razorbug typically visits rural areas of the state on the diploma tour, but the little red car with hooves, razor spine, curly tail and snout made a detour to Little Rock to highlight the LL.M. in agricultural and food law.

The 2005 converted Volkswagen Beetle is the centerpiece of a ceremony repeated the past three summers in small towns — and on this rare occasion, a big city — across western, southern and eastern Arkansas. U of A faculty and staff celebrate the accomplishments of graduates who earned degrees online without leaving their jobs, families and communities. The U of A offers more than 90 degree and licensure programs delivered partially or completely online.

Linck described the LL.M. program as world class because of the faculty, both those who regularly teach and those brought in as guest presenters. She joked that sometimes, even more than a degree, she wanted an autograph from some of the leading legal minds in the field.

"It is the most desired degree in this discipline," Linck said. "I thought, why not become a master of one of the emerging issues in law? Who knows what I will get to do? I'm ready!"

Linck, a resident of Little Rock and Bull Shoals (Marion County), earned the LL.M. as part of her Ph.D. program with Valdosta State University, a member of the University of Georgia system. She needed 15 hours in a special concentration and received permission to use the U of A coursework. She is on track to complete that doctorate, also offered online, next year. The U of A's LL.M. consists of 24 credit hours and can be completed in as little as two semesters. Students can participate in synchronous, asynchronous or hybrid online courses.

Linck holds a law degree from the University of Arkansas Little Rock, Bowen Law School. Her wide-ranging professional legal experience also includes clerking for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the Arkansas Court of Appeals and serving as Special Associate Justice for the Arkansas Supreme Court.

She was not made to feel embarrassed when she occasionally needed some help with the technological tools, and she appreciated that students could join classes live or watch a replay later. She described program director Susan Schneider, also the William H. Enfield Professor of Law at the U of A, as an important mentor for her.

"Her patience and kindness were invaluable," Linck said. "The faculty were all accommodating to the real world we were facing as lawyers."

The 2024 Razorbug Diploma Tour, in its third year, travels the state in the summer to highlight graduates of online degree programs. The Razorbug was on loan from the Office of Admissions. Global Campus staff drove the Bug more than 2,100 miles through western, southern, eastern and central Arkansas to present 16 diplomas in 15 counties. Only two of the graduates earned bachelor's degrees. The rest were master's degrees and one doctorate. In academic year 2024, the U of A awarded 1,013 online degrees and certificates.