Carolyn Pollan (1937-2021)

2020/2021/2022 Inductee

Carolyn Pollan was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives from Fort Smith in 1975 and served 12 terms. When first elected, she was one of only three women in the House and Senate. She has the distinction of the longest service in the Arkansas Legislature of any woman and any Republican. She also served as vice-chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party.

During her 24 years of elected service, Rep. Pollan passed more than 250 pieces of legislation. She created The Children and Youth Committee to deal specifically with problems of children. The House speaker appointed her chairman, while the Senate appointed Sen. Max Howell as its Chairman. For eight terms she chaired the committee, which changed child welfare, child abuse, and at-risk youth laws and the court system for juveniles. She established and chaired the Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Abuse and moved child abuse reporting from the Department of Human Services to the State Police. From this commission came the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas and the use of multi-disciplinary teams to circle services around a child.

Pollan legislated major changes for teaching at-risk youth, and The Pygmalion Commission was created to help establish a nontraditional system for underachieving youth. Because of the lack of statistical information needed to make sound legislative changes, Rep. Pollan embarked on a 12-year research project of at-risk populations in Arkansas which culminated in her Ph.D. in Education from Walden University in 1993. She specialized in cognitive studies and assessment.

Rep. Pollan was appointed to regional and national leadership roles, serving as chairman of the Southern Regional Education Legislative Board; chairman of the Southern Legislative Council Education Committee; legislative representative to the NAEP Board for the nation’s school testing under U.S. Dept. of Education; National Literacy Survey Advisory Board with U.S. Dept. of Education; Workplace Literacy Project Advisory Board with U.S. Dept. of Labor; and Office of Technology Assessment of the Congress Advisory Board for the National Study of Computers in Education.

After term-limiting from the legislature in 1999, Dr. Pollan became a senior staff member for three years for Gov. Mike Huckabee, working with the legislature to direct the governor’s initiatives: welfare reform, workplace reform, and handling the multimillion-dollar Tobacco Settlement.

Dr. Pollan served on a variety of boards and commissions through the years. She served on the John Brown University Board of Trustees in Siloam Springs for 25 years and is now Trustee Emeritus. She was the first female member in Board of Trustee meetings and served later as vice-chairman. She was the first and only woman to serve on the prestigious Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission and held a six-year term. Pollan was a founding member of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement with UAMS, and president of that board. She served on the development committee of the Clinton School of Public Service, helping shape the school into the force it has become.

She’s been recognized for her leadership by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, the Association of Chiefs of Police, the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, the League of Women Voters, and the One Call Utilities Commission, just to name a few. Pollan was also honored for her legislative service at events by the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas. Honors given to Pollan include 100 Top Women in Arkansas by Arkansas Business magazine; “One of Ten Outstanding Legislators in the United States Award” by the National Assembly of Government and the Associated Press Statewide Poll of 100 Influential People in Arkansas.

Carolyn’s husband of 55 years was George Pollan, until widowed in 2017. She had three children Cee Cee, Todd, and Rob, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. After retiring, Pollan lived in Fort Smith until her death on October 23, 2021.

Photo credited by John Brown University.