rhodes magazine fall 2011

The Magazine of Rhodes College • Fall 2011

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On the CoverPhil ’79, Lisa ’80 and Will Mischke ’13, a family within the Rhodes family, in the Bryan Campus Life Center. (See story on page 2.)Photography by Justin Fox Burks

Contents FALL 2011 VOLUME 18 • NUMBER 3

2 Generations Things have changed at Rhodes through the years, yet the

basics remain

10 Holding Forth Students report their research in a dazzling display of

disciplines

16 ‘There isn’t an app for this’ Alums recount their time in the Peace Corps, which this

year marks its 50th anniversary

26 The Class of 2015 See who’s here

30 Introducing the Day Scholars The college welcomes 10 students who are the fi rst

recipients of the new Day Scholarships

31 Alumni News Class Notes, In Memoriam

The 2010-2011 Honor Roll of Donors

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is published three times a year by Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112 as a service to all alumni, students, parents,

faculty, staff and friends of the college. Summer 2011—Volume 18, Number 3

EDITOR

Martha Hunter Shepard ’66GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Larry AhokasRobert Shatzer

CONTRIBUTORS

Jay Adkins, Richard Alley, Justin Fox Burks, Ellen Dubin, Dean Galaro ’11,

Chris Hartlove, Bryan Meltz, Bob Narod, Corey Nolen, David Ottenstein

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:Please address postal correspondence to:

Martha H. Shepard, Editor, Rhodes Magazine, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway,

Memphis, TN 38112-1690 E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: (901) 843-3544 Fax: (901) 843-3579

CLASS NOTES:Please send all Class Notes including marriages, births and obituaries to:

Alumni Offi ce, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690

Phone: (901) 843-3845 Fax: (901) 843-3947

E-mail: [email protected]

RHODES CENTRAL INFORMATION:901-843-3000

RHODES ALUMNI OFFICE:1 (800) 264-LYNX

RHODES ADMISSIONS OFFICE:1 (800) 844-LYNX

POSTMASTER:Send address changes to:

RHODES, 2000 North Parkway,Memphis, TN 38112-1690

CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please mail the completed form below and

label from this issue of RHODES to: Alumni Offi ce, Rhodes College, 2000 North

Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690

Name

Street

City State Zip

Home Phone Business Phone

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Visit rhodes.edu/news for the latest stories and features about people and events.

Visit rhodes.edu/magazine, or click the code, to see both an online and a page-turning version of the magazine. While there, be sure to check out the web-only content:

• Photo gallery of Rhodes life from the 1950s to present

• Video of the day in the 1970s when the monkeys from the zoo found

their way to Rhodes

• Compelling fi rsthand accounts of alums’ experiences in the Peace

Corps

• In Print—new books by faculty and alumni

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{ 2 } FA L L 2 0 11 • R H O D E S r h o d e s . e d u

Phil ’79, Lisa ’80 and Will Mischke ’13 in the Bryan Campus Life Center

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What makes Rhodes what it is? What’s changed in the last 60 years? A lot. And what hasn’t? Certainly not the essentials. Some changes

have been signifi cant, like having six presidents, from Diehl to Troutt and a student population that’s gone from some 300 to 1,800. The Rhodes curriculum, in many ways a living entity, can change over time. But what’s constant is the faculty’s commitment to refi ne its core, always providing students the skills fundamental to a liberal arts education. So here’s a digest of how things have changed yet stayed the same on campus from the mid-1940s to now.

CLASSESBack in the day, Dr. Diehl recruited as many Rhodes Scholars as he could for the faculty. There were one or two women faculty members. (Today, of 140 full-time faculty, 60 are women.) There were 8 a.m. Saturday classes. Seniors had to take—and pass—“comps,” three-hour written comprehensive examinations in their majors. In the late ’60s into the ’70s, Third Term was popular, a few weeks of individual student-designed courses. Today, students can enroll in a “Maymester,” four-week courses in countries around the world led by Rhodes faculty. The college’s expansion of educational opportunities through the years has been its basic tenet: to provide the best liberal arts education anywhere.

Carole Branyan ’67 and John Rone ’71 can testify to that. She has been auditing classes at Rhodes since retiring three years ago; he has worked at the college for 34 years. Among the things that haven’t changed, she says, are the “great professors and challenging classes where the faculty really know their students.” Rone agrees: “The vision of President Diehl for a campus of close-knit students and faculty is still very much in evidence.” Bill Coley ’50 believes the faculty “were responsible for instilling the spirit of the college—

inspiring students and guiding them to an appreciation of their fellow man and service to the community, which to me is the true essence of education.” Says Brandon Couillard ’05, “The ability to think critically and adapt to a fl uid environment is no doubt credited to my liberal arts education.”

Rhodes’ signature interdisciplinary course, “Man,” now “Search,” has been around since 1945. In 1986 the name changed from “Man in the Light of History and Religion” to “The Search for Values in the Light of Western History and Religion.” Alternative Bible and history courses were available, and in 1983 that option was named “Life: Then and Now,” offering methodological approaches to the study of religion. Both tracks were, and still are, eye-openers, even foundation-shakers for many students.

Loyd Templeton ’56 says, “I took the Man course and was lost at fi rst, but soon ‘got the picture’ that everything we were studying, everything that I had ever studied, came together to build a rich and whole appreciation of life, learning and understanding.”

For John Rone, Man made him “completely rethink my approach to my religious upbringing. It has continued to help me draw my own conclusions about the continuum of history.”

Phil Mischke ’79 took Man; his son Will ’13 followed the Life path. It happened with the Carroll family as well. Says Heidi Hayslett Carroll ’82, “I loved the program. It was my fi rst in-depth exposure to philosophy, religion and history.” Daughter Piper ’13, a Neuroscience major,

“took Life and I loved it. I had Prof. Gail Streete and she made the course very enjoyable. After taking a course in Judaism my sophomore year I decided it would defi nitely be worth it to become a Religious Studies minor.”

BY MARTHA HUNTER SHEPARD ’66, RESEARCH BY DEAN GALARO ’11

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STUDYINGThe library, always a primary study space, has moved around—it’s been the Paul Barret Jr. Library since 2005; Burrow from 1953-2005; and from 1925-53 it was located on third fl oor Palmer, currently home to English Department faculty offi ces. In Palmer, there was “a hand-operated pulley-lift to deliver books to and from the library,” according to Loyd Templeton.

Study methods throughout the years have gone from longhand to broadband. Bill Coley, Loyd Templeton and the Mischkes, along with Carole Branyan, John Rone, Heidi Hayslett Carroll ’82 and Jim Golden ’85, usually studied in the library. Employing the card catalogue, periodical indexes, books from the stacks and reference rooms and handwritten note cards and outlines, they would compose their papers either in longhand or on manual typewriters.

John Rone ’71, Carole Branyan ’67 and Bill Coley ’50 in Barret Library

COREY NOLEN

Heidi Carroll made carbon copies, with plenty of Wite-Out at hand. While her “big thrill” was borrowing her father’s electric Smith-Corona with a correcting ribbon, her daughter Piper, on the other hand, says, “When it comes to papers there is defi nitely nothing better than the double monitor computers on the second fl oor of Barret—you can have up websites, your paper, maybe even Pandora all at once.”

Adds Will Mischke, “Coffee from the Middle Ground (the Starbucks in Barret Library) is a very common study aid.”

Personal computers would come along in the ’90s, which found Sarah Sears and most students spending considerable time in the Mac Lab. Likewise, English major Katharine Etchen ’05 studied in the Buckman computer lab, not in her room, which she says

“produced subpar results.” When Campus Safety would close down the lab at 2 a.m. she’d move to the Lair. Brandon Couillard, now her husband, and his fellow Economics majors preferred study groups in Buckman Hall classrooms, complete with dry erase boards and rheostat lighting.

CAMPUS LIFEIn counting the hallmarks of the college, generations point to its beauty, educational excellence, the Man/Search track and of course, the Honor Code. In place since the early 1900s, it allows the campus to live in a trusting, respectful and peaceful environment.

Another kind of code guided students in the past, namely the dress code—skirts for women, jackets and ties for men at dinner—that lasted until the late 1960s. For many years now, T-shirts and fl ip-fl ops take a student from day into evening.

Chapel attendance in Hardie Auditorium, with worship services and community speakers, was mandatory until 1968. At fi rst, it was fi ve days a week, then three as the student population grew.

Today, the student body is much larger and more diverse than in the past. There was a time when everyone knew everyone else by name, then at least by



sight. Now, the online directory gets lots of hits.

A larger student body means more cars. With parking space at a premium, in 2010 the college tried a new tack—bringing to campus two Zipcars, hybrids that can be rented by the hour, day or weekend. Students can also borrow bikes from the Bike Shop for free. And it’s beginning to pay off, with more students opting to leave their cars at home this year.

For years, the only dining options were the refectory and for snacks, the Lynx Lair. Real meals can be had in the Lair these days, and light fare is available in the Middle Ground. Alums can recite litanies of favorites: macaroni salad,

the doughnut machine, steak night, country fried steak, pizza, Miss Jesse’s fi esta del sol, Leroy’s gyros. Ambience is important too. “I felt very scholarly at those dark wood tables underneath that Gothic ceiling. It was everything I thought my college should look like,” recalls Sarah Sears.

Studying and dining may be staples at Rhodes, but so is social life. Fraternities and sororities provide much of that, but Memphis remains the off-campus playground. Always, there’s been the zoo. Farther into the city, Loyd Templeton and John Rone enjoyed the downtown movie palaces, dancing at The Peabody Skyway and Cotton Carnival. The Mischkes liked the Rendezvous and Overton Square, as did many students in the ’70s and ’80s when the legal drinking age was 18 and there was a pub on campus.

Brandon Couillard and current students cite Memphis in May, the riverfront, Beale Street and the Cooper-Young district as favorites. Today’s students can also run or bike the new Greenline, attend plays and concerts with $5 tickets courtesy of Rhodes’ Center for Outreach in the Development of the Arts or take in Grizzlies games in Memphis, Cardinals games in St. Louis or white-water rafting in East Tennessee for cheap via the Big Diehl, the Residence Life group that provides entertainment for students.

CAMPUS MOOD“On the whole, the Rhodes student body is interested in and passionate about current issues affecting Memphis, the United States and the world,” declares Will Mischke. It’s

Loyd Templeton ’56 in front of Halliburton Tower

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been that way from the beginning.

Bill Coley started college during World War II. It was the Korean War and two-year military service after graduation when Loyd Templeton was a student. It was civil rights and Vietnam in the ’60s, when “many males made sure they were accepted to grad school to avoid the draft,” says Carole Branyan. The antiwar sentiment that continued into the ’70s prompted John Rone and many others to participate in peace marches.

The oil crisis was a concern in the ’70s and ’80s, “when

gas prices broke $1 a gallon for the fi rst time,” say Phil and Lisa Gilchrist Mischke. There was also the death of Elvis and the Memphis fi refi ghters’ strike.

Heidi Carroll describes major political issues in the ’80s: “the Iran hostage affair, the air traffi c controllers’ strike, an assassination attempt on President Reagan and debates regarding supply-side economics, the trickle-down effect, abortion, deregulation and the Moral Majority movement.” Jim Golden adds: “‘Moral hazard’ had not yet become a fi nancial buzzword, and a mortgage rate of 10% seemed like a good deal.”

In Sarah Sears’ Intro to International Studies class in the ’90s, she had to memorize every country in the world. “If it had just been a year earlier we could have labeled the top part of the map ‘USSR’ instead of individually listing every new republic that was popping up,” she laments.

Brandon Couillard ’05 and Katharine Etchen ’05 in Manhattan

ELLEN DUBIN

BOB NAROD

Sarah Sears ’95 on the banks of the Potomac, Old Town Alexandria, VA



Katharine Etchen and Brandon Couillard were one month into their fi rst year at Rhodes on Sept. 11, 2001. “I never imagined my world, or the world as I knew it, would change so rapidly, says Couillard. Etchen describes the outreach, vigils, fundraising and support groups on campus in the aftermath of the attacks. “We were living through the ultimate crash course in international studies,” she says.

Today’s students still are. Piper Carroll reports that last year, health care reform was a hot topic. Then, Osama bin Laden’s death “had a huge effect on campus. I was walking to dinner and saw a crowd watching it on the news.”

COMMUNICATINGFrom Bill Coley’s era till the early 1980s, students’ communication with the outside world consisted of old-fashioned letter writing and a rotary dial pay phone in the hall. Fast-forward to spring 2011 when a student captured on her smartphone an image of what appeared to be a funnel cloud over Barret Library (it wasn’t) and instantly sent it around the world. On campus, the term “duck and cover” took on new meaning.

Frequency of communication depends on one’s era. Phil and Lisa Gilchrist Mischke live in neighboring Germantown, TN. Their son Will lives on campus. Will, like most students these days,

phones home “a few times a week, at the very least.” With a phone in her dorm room, Lisa “made brief calls once every week or two, and always late at night when rates were cheapest.” Sarah Sears recalls having a phone card to call friends and family. She got a cell phone

“the size of a brick” two years after graduating. Brandon Couillard ’05 says he called his parents maybe twice a week, “though I’m sure they would characterize that statistic as grossly infl ated.”

MEMPHISMemphis is fun, but Rhodes takes the city quite seriously as a laboratory for learning and service. Sarah Sears worked throughout

Perri ’15, Piper ’13 and Heidi Hayslett Carroll ’82 at Baltimore Harbor

CHRIS H

ARTLOVE


her college career, including three jobs her senior year. Katharine Etchen spent a summer interning at Memphis magazine, which “opened doors to neighborhoods, restaurants, people, events and festivals I otherwise would have missed.” As today’s students do through internships and fellowships in metro Memphis, Sears and Etchen learned valuable lessons that translated from workplace to classroom to career.

Rhodes students have historically given back to the city in which they learn so much. The volunteer Kinney Program was founded in 1956. Today, with some 85% of the student body engaged in service, it’s no surprise that for the second year in a row Newsweek has named Rhodes the No. 1 Service-Oriented College in the U.S.

Confi rms Jim Golden, “Those who were involved in service were really involved.” Lisa Mischke tutored at Snowden School, read on a radio program for the visually impaired. Her husband Phil worked at Muscular Dystrophy Association camps and was a Big Brother; he later served on the Big Brothers/Big Sisters board of directors. Their son Will has worked with Advocates for the Homeless and the Memphis Music Foundation.

Heidi Carroll volunteered at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and Snowden Elementary. Her daughter Piper has volunteered at the Regional Medical Center and a soup kitchen.

“I also took an internship at the Memphis Crisis Center and continue to volunteer and take calls for the center, even from home in Maryland.”

Bill Coley, a retired dentist, continues to serve the Memphis community 61 years after graduating. In April 2011, he was one of 10 recipients of the Mid-South Jefferson Awards for outstanding volunteerism, having served many years with the Church Health Center and the Memphis Dental Society Outreach Committee. The year before, Rhodes honored him with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Working, volunteering, studying or just out for a good time, students love Memphis. “People from all walks of life and with a vast array of interests can be found here. For students at Rhodes there is much to be discovered and much to love,” says Will Mischke. “One of the best things about Memphis is defi nitely

Jim Golden ’85 in Chatfi eld Hollow State Park, Connecticut

DAVID OTTENSTEIN



the food. I can’t get enough of it,” claims Piper Carroll. Brandon Couillard loves blues music; for his wife Katharine, it’s barbecue. Couillard worked three separate

jobs all over Memphis as a student. Having seen it all, he “would characterize Memphis as a city with plenty of grit, soul, enthusiasm and even greater opportunity.”

The same could be said of Rhodes and its generations of students.

The CampusWhen Bill Coley ’50 was a fi rst-year in 1943

in the middle of World War II, there were some 300 students. Those numbers fell rapidly as men entered military service. For one year the college hosted numerous Army Air Corps cadets in military training. When Coley enrolled there were buildings in place now familiar to generations of Rhodes students: Robb, White (called Calvin then), Neely and Kennedy halls and the fraternity and sorority houses After the war there was a trailer camp for returning GIs and their families and surplus Army barracks (later called “the shacks”) used as classrooms till the ’70s. White Hall was built in 1947 and Voorhies Hall in 1948.

Later in the decade, Loyd Templeton ’56 saw the construction of Burrow Library, now Burrow Hall, in 1953, and Mallory Gymnasium in 1954. The ’50s also brought Ellett residence hall, but the

building boom really happened in the 1960s with Bellingrath, Glassell, Townsend, Trezevant and Williford residence halls, Briggs Student Center, Frazier Jelke Science Center, Halliburton Tower, Moore Moore Infi rmary, Ohlendorf Hall and Rhodes Tower.

The 1970s ushered in the Alburty Pool and Clough Hall, and students in the 1980s welcomed Blount and Robinson residence halls, Hassell Hall, Spann Place and McCoy Theatre. The 1990s saw the Bryan Campus Life Center, Buckman Hall and the Physical Plant building. Cruising through the millennium, the college now counts the Paul Barret Jr. Library, the East Village residence hall and two more currently under construction, plus a refectory addition as the latest jewels in the crown, which taken collectively in their unsurpassed 100-acre setting, to quote President Diehl, “quicken the pride of successive generations.”

ContributorsWilliam “Bill” O. Coley Jr., D.D.S. ’50, Memphis. Retired dentistLoyd. C. Templeton Jr. ’56, Memphis. Retired Rhodes assistant to the president for college relationsCarole L. Branyan ’67, Memphis. Retired English teacher, White Station Senior High SchoolJohn H. Rone ’71, Memphis. Rhodes director of college eventsPhilip “Phil” E. Mischke ’79, Germantown, TN. Partner, Wyatt, Tarrant, & CombsLisa Gilchrist Mischke ’80, Germantown, TN. ElderCare Consultants LLCWilliam “Will” G. Mischke ’13, Germantown, TN. Economics majorHeidi Hayslett Carroll ’82, Elkridge, MD. Pharmaceutical representative, Johnson & JohnsonPiper Carroll ’13, Elkridge, MD. Neuroscience majorPerri Carroll ’15, Elkridge, MD. First-year studentJames “Jim” B. Golden III ’85, Killingworth, CT. Partner, AccentureSarah Sears ’95, Springfi eld, VA. Senior director, membership, The Fulbright AssociationBrandon Couillard ’05, New York City. Senior associate, equity research, Jefferies & Co.Katharine Etchen ’05, New York City. Senior integrated marketing manager, Bon Appétit magazine

To see a photo gallery of Rhodes through the years, go to rhodes.edu/magazine.




Holding ForthStudents report their research in a dazzling

display of disciplines

By Richard J. Alley

It sounds like a pitch for a new reality show: a random group of college students occupying one house for a year, getting to know each other and

engaging in their community. But this ensemble has much more purpose, separating their situation from similar roommate situations on college campuses across the country.

This is The Ruka, a team of six like-minded seniors living together and participating in programs and lifestyles to better their community, the environment and themselves. Last year, these women became a group with positive intentions that would leave them with the necessary resources to present in last spring’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium, or URCAS.

“The symposium is an opportunity for students to tell the campus community what they’ve been doing, either in or outside the classroom,” says Dr. Ann Viano, the J. Lester Crain Professor of Physics and chair of the URCAS planning committee.

Throughout campus on a crisp, spring day in April, 180 students held forth on disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, fi ne arts and natural sciences. In addition, some student presentations dealt with

working within the community to improve it and gain a better understanding of the human condition. As they have been since 1996, presentations were given both visually and orally.

In Blount Auditorium, housemates Sarah Dockery, Catherine Appleton, Jami King, Shelby Kramer, Leigh DeVries and Maggie Rector stood up in front of an audience of peers and mentors to describe The Ruka experiment, its outcome and long-term implications. Their presentation was one of several highlighting the Rhodes Fellowship program.

The six seniors, under the guidance of Dr. Bernadette McNary-Zak, the R.A. Webb Professor of Religious Studies, came together to form an intentional community and social experiment meant to engage with each other and sustain a household, community and planet at large. Ruka, in the language of Chile’s Mapuche people, means “home.” The household worked within the Binghamton neighborhood on the outskirts of the Rhodes campus, and within Caritas Village, a community center and coffee shop in the area.

From the group’s blog: “We commit to loving one another through an intentional dedication to a lifestyle

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JUSTIN FOX BURKS

Bill Short ’71 holds forth in the “Monkey Business” video




by telephone from her family’s home in Dallas as she prepared to leave for a year of teaching in Honduras.

“We were all surprised at how much it did impact us. I think one of the biggest things was learning how to really work with and relate to people on a deeper level than I had been used to.”

The Ruka was not the only URCAS session that morning. Other students came together to discuss sports, beer, health and photography, subjects that were the sum total of months of serious research, work, focus and some travel.

Catherine Bordelon ’12, who worked as an intern for Memphis’ Ghost River Brewing company, described her experiments with quality control for the microbrewery. Andy McGeoch ’12, through a Buckman Scholarship, traveled to Argentina to study its culture’s willingness to overlook a person’s or culture’s fl aws and seek inherent

of probing and encouraging conversations and the showcasing of our strengths and challenging our weaknesses to create more loving and servant-hearted individuals.”

Through a series of photos and short speeches, the women talked of working together as a team to accomplish goals of scheduling and environmental consciousness within the house, and mentoring and tutoring within the community. These are life skills and experiences they will carry throughout their lives, hands-on lessons that aren’t meant to be left behind like a used textbook or worn-through backpack. The knowledge has real-world applications, both in professional and personal plans.

“We all had a lot of self-refl ection throughout the year,” Dockery, who graduated with a bridge major in Economics and International Studies, recently said

Members of The Ruka, front row: Shelby Kramer and Jami King. Second row: Maggie Rector, Catherine Appleton, Prof. Bernadette McNary-Zak, Leigh DeVries and Sarah Dockery

JAY ADKINS



greatness instead. McGeoch illustrated his study with the tempestuous life of soccer legend Diego Maradona, pibe de oro, “the golden child.”

Because of her work with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on subtypes and spatial localization of medulloblastomas, the most common form of childhood brain cancer, Amber Owens ’11 was offered a position with the hospital this year. Instead, she opted to go to dental school.

“There is this progression, and that’s one of the things we really hoped to achieve with fellowships, to let students have these experiences,” director of fellowships Scott Garner says. He adds that sometimes students fi nd that their fi elds of research aren’t for them, and that this is all part of the process. “A student may get involved with a nonprofi t agency, for example, and say, ‘No, this is not something I ever want to do again,’ so it’s important for them to learn that as well.”

Since 2002, Dr. Matt Krasin with the Radiation Oncology division of the Department of Radiological Sciences at St. Jude, has been working with students in the Rhodes St. Jude Summer Plus Fellowship program, which places students in the hospital’s professional laboratories for a period of two summers plus the intervening academic year. The students generally present their work experience as part of URCAS. Dr. Krasin is working with Kira Reich ’14 for the upcoming year and fi nds the program extraordinarily benefi cial for all parties as the institutions continue to work closely together. He now counts past students as colleagues.

“URCAS is a great program. It’s well done,” Dr. Krasin

says. “The students do work that other people in academics at a higher level have to learn how to do, so it’s nice that they’re getting to do this when they’re going into their junior or senior year. It’s a really good learning experience, and the amount of effort that the Rhodes faculty put into it is really clear; they support it well.”

In Frazier Jelke A, sophomore Bert Geyer ’13 talked of design and geology, and his task of how best to

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Bert Geyer ’13 with smokey quartz from the Vanuxem Collection



present Rhodes’ Vanuxem geology collection. The specimens in the collection were gathered by Lardner Vanuxem, a prominent 19th-century geologist, and acquired by the college shortly after his death in 1848 when the school, then called Stewart College, was located in Clarksville, TN.

A studio art major, Geyer took an intro to geology class where the professor was looking for an art major to help her with a fellowship to display the collection because of the design aspect it involved. She pitched the idea and Geyer, who plans to go into architecture, caught it. The intro class, he says, gave him “enough knowledge to at least know up from down, and know a little bit about the collection.”

Geyer became much more familiar with the collection as he took it from storage and inventoried it, finding

“yellowed newspaper from the 1920s,” and called on inspiration from a trip to the rocks and minerals collection at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum in Washington, DC.

The multiple disciplines necessary for the project were just the sort of thing Geyer appreciates. It is, he says, why he chose a liberal arts college in the first place. The idea is to take lessons learned in the classroom out of the classroom to better understand the real-world applications and impact. Dr. Jennifer Houghton of the Biology Department worked with Geyer throughout the project.

“From start to finish she supported me in letting me do what I wanted to do,” he says. The exhibit Geyer designed and built is expected to be on display soon in one of Frazier Jelke’s main halls bracketing the atrium.

A range of interests and curiosity satisfied is what is so appealing to college students, and it’s an itch that URCAS helps to scratch. Sarah Dockery did not limit herself to her work within The Ruka and Caritas Village. She also collaborated with two other students—Manali Kulkarni ’12 and Courtney Martin ’11—to produce a documentary called “Racism in Memphis Schools: The History, Philosophy and Current Events.”

“We loved the project, all three of us had a wonderful

time,” she says. “It was really informative and gave us a chance to be a little bit creative.”

In the film for their Human Rights class, the trio interviewed fellow Rhodes students and professors, Memphis Mayor AC Wharton and various community members and leaders on their perceptions of racism in Memphis area schools. Dr. Leigh Johnson of the Department of Philosophy was faculty sponsor.

“We really wanted to make it specific to Memphis because that’s where we were living and we have seen so many issues, especially in poverty and education,” Dockery says. “After we started studying education inequality, racism was a huge issue that kept cropping up and people kept pointing to that and talking about it, so that became the direction we took our documentary.”

On the lighter side, but involving as much research and work, was another documentary titled “Monkey Business,” about the 35th anniversary of the day some monkeys escaped from the Memphis Zoo across the street and took up residence on Burrow Library (now Burrow Hall). The students in Professor Liz Daggett’s Digital Arts class enlisted the help of Bill Short ’71, Rhodes associate director of Barret Library, who worked in the library at the time and was an eyewitness, to tell the story. It was one of 16 short student-made videos presented that day.

Six King Biscuit Blues Fellows from Rhodes’ Mike Curb Institute for Music presented their research at URCAS, along with a live concert in Frazier Jelke. It was a recap of a program in which they participated last fall at the 2010 Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival in Helena, AR, where they discussed and performed blues music.

Though students research throughout the year, some beginning as early as the prior summer, the call for URCAS proposals is in early March.

“Students will submit abstracts, which are reviewed by the committee and then organized into the different sessions,” says Dr. Viano. “Leaning how to present research is important. Summarizing what you’ve done, creating a polished presentation and then standing up in front of an audience and giving it is good experience


for anyone. It provides students those skills they’re going to need to perform well in their future careers.” These lessons and experiences will serve these students and graduates throughout their lives, both professional and personal. It is information that will be useful in such areas as the fi ght against childhood cancer, the

construction of buildings, the development of our community’s children, and in other countries to help improve the lives of the less fortunate.

For more information about URCAS and to view the 2011 program, go to rhodes.edu/URCAS.

Mike Curb Fellows Ben Walsh ’12 and Emily Main ’12 perform with Emmanuel John-Teye ’13

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‘There isn’t an app for this’By Martha Hunter Shepard ’66

The Peace Corps—you can volunteer for it, train for it, but no one can tell you exactly how to do it. “There isn’t an app for this,” says a Peace Corps ad. Charley Killinger ’64, who served in Sierra Leone from 1965-67,

backs that up: “As most of us quickly learned, our jobs extended to the limits of our time and imagination and regularly led us into untested waters.”

Plying those waters for fi ve decades, they’ve propelled Rhodes’ ranking to the top 10% colleges and uni-versities in the Southeast that produce Peace Corps volunteers.

Signing on for a 27-month commitment, they’ve worked in some of the neediest places on the planet, serving in villages, towns and cities, and countries that may surprise you: C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75 worked in a leprosy control program in South Korea; Jen Cush-man ’89 taught English in Russia; and Alison Stohr ’03 and Dara Chesnutt ’10 taught English in Ukraine. All volunteers must be invited by the host countries, and demand far exceeds supply.

Rhodes alumni have brought, and still bring practi-cal assistance to those striving to build better lives for themselves and their communities. Volunteers teach in secondary schools, universities and law schools and are

involved in adult literacy programs and environmental education. They coach student athletic teams, advise lo-cal credit unions and entrepreneurs on microfi nance and work with citizens on health care issues, these days with emphasis on AIDS prevention and education. They’re involved in programs ranging from building basic cook-stoves from—and for—sustainable materials, to marine resource management. Some live in mud huts, eat native

“delicacies” (at least once), learn the language and win the enduring gratitude of those they came to serve.

To a person, they’d agree with Tom Geiger ’64, who served in Panama: “It was more than a two-year experi-ence; it became an attitude that you can make a differ-ence wherever you live.”

THE EARLY DAYSDan Bowen ’62 was the fi rst Rhodes alum to go. From 1962-64 he taught at a boys’ secondary school in Lilon-gwe, Nyasaland. The assassination of his boss and hero, President Kennedy, in 1963, broke his heart. During his second year, Nyasaland, a British protectorate, gained its independence and became the Republic of Malawi.

Other volunteers have witnessed political change and military unrest in countries around the world.

Catherine Liddell Skapura ’62, who taught English

Hard to believe, but this year is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, the program President John F. Kennedy fi rst suggested on the 1960 campaign trail. He envisioned people living and working in developing countries while promoting peace and a positive image of the U.S. Making good on his plan, he launched the program in 1961 as a federal government agency. Inspired by the youthful, charismatic president and a strong desire to make a diff erence in the world, young people fl ocked to join. Since 1962, 91 Rhodes alumni have volunteered for the program, and 14 are currently serving around the world.

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COURTESY OF TH

E PEACE CORPS

and biology in Nigeria from 1965-67, faced—and got through—a roadblock of soldiers during the Biafran War.

The name of Janice Baker’s ’63 school in Guinea was changed from the Collège Technique to Lycée Ho Chi Minh “as part of the Guinean government’s effort to show solidarity with other developing countries.”

Sierra Leone had gained independence from Great Britain

the year before Charley Killinger ’64 arrived to teach Afri-can history and assist the country’s Department of Educa-tion in transitioning from its colonial curriculum to one with local and regional roots. However, violence erupted at the diamond mines near the Liberian border, an omen of devastating civil confl ict that would eventually envelop his town and school.

When Lisa Meredith VanLandingham ’67 arrived in

President John F. Kennedy and Sargent Shriver address the fi rst group of Peace Corps volunteers departing to Ghana and Tanganyika in 1961 in the White House Rose Garden.



years later and found that two of the three farmers’ groups were still going strong with their projects. And our friends and neighbors were so happy to see us, happy that we thought enough of them to come back and visit them. Can we mea-sure the impact in dollars and cents? No, only in smiles and hugs.”

THE PAYOFFThere are successes, failures and—perks—in any job. For Peace Corps volunteers, they come in many forms.

When Tom ’64 and Eleanor Law-rence Geiger ’64 served in Panama from 1967-69, Tom was assigned as an adviser to Panamanian credit unions. Eleanor, who was in rural community development, helped establish the fi rst women’s health education program. She taught a 40-year-old mother of six children how to read, and the day Victorina wrote her name for the fi rst time they were both in tears.

Mary Palmer Campbell ’79 served as a secondary school science teacher and boys’ basketball and girls’ track coach in Swaziland in 1979-82. Her students frequently wished that they had an opportunity to “serve” in another country.

Chris Christie ’81, who taught law at a Cameroon university from 1985-87, remembers the students not registered for his classes fi ghting outside over the places closest to the open windows so they could hear him teach.

Serving in Liberia from 1983-85, Gregor Turk ’82 refi ned a prototype cookstove, then trained three co-

“It’s not just fi nding a fulfi lling assignment and feeling like you’ve been able to make a difference in people’s lives—it’s having the oppor-tunity to test one’s own limits. Can I learn this language (Tagalog, in our case) well enough to make friends or be understood on the job? Can I really live in a tiny hut without air conditioning in the 100 degree heat? How will I eat another meal from a well-meaning neighbor or friend that has strange (to us) ingredients, like fermented duck egg or buffalo brains? Can the fl ying cockroaches really be this huge? And do they bite? (The answer is ‘yes.’)

“During our fi rst month of training, we had to live for three days with a poor family in the barrio. The family gave us their only double bed—a wooden frame, no mattress or pillows. We brought our own mosquito net, but were embar-rassed to use it for fear we’d insult the family. The hand pump and pit latrine were out back where the pigs and chickens ran. The meals were meager—rice fl avored with pork fat and some bitter gourd or greens, very typical of most vil-lagers’ fare. We didn’t yet know enough of the language to commu-nicate with words, only by cha-rades. And fl ies were everywhere. Bruised, bitten, sleep deprived and hungry for familiar food and mod-ern hygiene, we wondered if we’d made a big mistake by joining the Peace Corps. It defi nitely tested our mettle! But we learned from that experience that we could survive without the creature comforts.

“I can’t say what our service meant to those with whom we worked, but we went to visit our site several

Venezuela to teach English and art, the country had held an election and was embarking on its fi rst democratic government. The start-up was halting, the people were apprehensive, but things fi nally got into full swing.

Walt Ogburn ’70 and his wife Mari-lyn volunteered in Chile, where he taught marine biology at the Catholic University of Chile, an enjoyable experience, he says, notwithstanding high infl ation, a nightly curfew and highly visible armed military and police forces.

Bizza Nelson Britton ’76 began her service in Benin, but after an attempt-ed military coup resulted in her being held in a police station for several days, she transferred to Congo, where she coordinated mobile public health clinics and managed a nutritional rehabilitation program for children.

Deb Efi rd ’84, who taught biology in Liberia, experienced an attempted but failed coup in the latter part of 1985. The ensuing unrest led to a horrible civil war that lasted almost 20 years, she says.

Yet they’ve kept going.

THE HARDEST JOB YOU’LL EVER LOVE

“They say Peace Corps is the hardest job you’ll ever love,” says Lisa Lanier Krift ’76, who with her husband Tom served in the Philippines from 1981-83, helping groups of small farmers transition from their reli-ance on water buffalo and hand threshing in the rice fi elds to mecha-nized farm equipment through a microfi nancing program. Her experiences were similar to those of other alumni:



workers to build them. When he left, one of those coworkers continued the project as a small business.

Ellen Smead Dassaboute ’01 was a community health worker in Benin from 2001-03. An 8-month-old baby whose mother suffered from mental illness was severely malnour-ished. The custom was to neglect such children, but Dassaboute placed the baby in an international-ly-run orphanage in another town, where he thrived.

Richard Johnson ’04 served in envi-ronmental education in Dominican Republic from 2005-07. He got the local youth group to write a pro-

posal to buy more trash cans, which they got, and which became a great source of pride. When Johnson visited a year after his service was up, one of the youths photographed him by one of the cans, explaining that the trash was now being picked up each week and hauled off to a landfi ll. Also in Johnson’s remote Dominican community there was a child named Jackie Chan and a dog named Kobe Bryant.

Aizaz Tareen ’06 currently serves as a public health volunteer in Kenya. His main project is implementing the President’s Malaria Initiative, a joint U.S.-Kenya program. Dur-ing breaks, he’s been able to travel

throughout Kenya, pet cheetahs, lions and elephants, go white-water rafting and bungee jumping on the Nile, climb Mt. Kenya and swim in the Indian Ocean.

Sarah Brooks ’08 served in Thai-land from 2009-11 as a community based organizational development volunteer. She helped develop and manage an all-girls youth group, which received an award for its recycling initiatives. When local government offi cials approached the group—not her—about fund-ing a new agricultural project, she felt happy for her friends, but sad for herself. Later realizing that the group was standing on its own, any

Merritt McMullen Driscoll’s ’06 Tanzanian students taking their Health Promotion exam



feelings of sadness were replaced with feelings of accomplishment.

Dara Chesnutt ’10 teaches English as a Foreign Language in Ukraine. She believes her presence there is a daily reminder to her students that there’s more to life than their coal mining town. She says she’s also able to give them a positive under-standing of America beyond what they see in fi lms and politics.

The ultimate payoff for the majority of volunteers is highly personal.Moss ’05 and Merritt McMullen Driscoll ’06 currently serve in Tan-zania. Moss works to develop locally

supported sustainable fi sheries. Mer-ritt is a health education volunteer who, she says, values the oppor-tunity to see the world through a new lens, experience life from a new perspective and learn and grow along with her community.

Katy Spurlock ’86 taught secondary school in New Guinea from 1986-88. The experience of living in a develop-ing country was like a “reality check” that made her appreciate the most critical possessions she had: her edu-cation and the choices it offered her.Ethan McClelland ’09 served a year in Senegal from 2009-10, training rural farmers in improved agricul-

ture techniques. While his time was short, it was a period of profound personal growth. His advice to volunteers: Understand that you are providing perhaps the only friendly interaction some person may ever have with an American, and realize that while the Peace Corps lifestyle may not always be a happy one, it is something much more benefi cial—it is fulfi lling. He wants to continue to work in other areas of interna-tional development.

LIGHTING FIRESWhat inspires people to volunteer for the Peace Corps? President Ken-

C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75 helping with orthopedic casting at a leprosy program in South Korea. Many patients also had polio and had to have corrective surgery.



nedy was the spark for Dan Bowen ’62, Charley Killinger ’64 and C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75. Dan Bowen, in turn, inspired Tom ’64 and Eleanor Geiger ’64. Rhodes faculty played their part too—Chuck Orvis advised Chris Linder ’94, Mike LaRosa counseled Bryce Ashby ’00, Merritt Driscoll ’06 was enthralled by Pete Ekstrom’s tales of his time as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Rhodes course work played its part. Ellen Dassaboute ’01, like many Rhodes alums, majored in Inter-national Studies. She says she was intrigued by her political economy classes and wanted to get out into the world and see what poverty and social justice really meant.

Some had studied abroad and already knew what it meant. Many more were involved in volunteer work at Rhodes. Campus posters, speakers, recruiters, high school teachers, camp counselors, even movies helped light fi res. Stacey Greenberg ’94, who served in Cameroon from 1994-96, credits one: the character Baby, who was going to the Peace Corps in the movie “Dirty Dancing.” Greenberg says that after seeing the movie fi ve times while in high school, she thought joining the Peace Corps was a good thing to do. At Rhodes, she volunteered at the soup kitchen and became involved in hunger and homelessness issues. She was also inspired by a friend’s father who had been a Peace Corps volunteer.

Some alums had direct contact with the needs of the world. Bizza Nelson Britton ’76, the child of mission-ary parents, was born and raised in Congo, where she later served from 1977-79.

When Gregor Turk ’82 was 12, his father, a surgeon, took his family to Haiti for volunteer work at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital. Intimidated by the destitution he saw there, Turk says he developed a desire to gain a better understanding of the world by spending time in another culture while helping others. Later, serving in the Peace Corps in Liberia from

1983-85 would fi ll that bill.

Deb Efi rd ’84, whose uncle was in the foreign service, grew up hearing about his family’s experiences living and working overseas. Efi rd served in Liberia from 1984-86, 60 miles from where Gregor Turk was assigned. They were able to get together from time to time.

Gregor Turk’s ’82 prototype cookstove in Liberia



Daniel Pellegrom’s ’97 father headed an international nongovernmental organization, so he paid attention to what was going on around the world. The summer before his senior year he worked for his dad in Uganda and Kenya, where he decided the Peace Corps was the way to go. He worked in water, sanitation and health proj-ects in Ghana from 1997-99.

INFORMING CAREERSReturned Peace Corps volunteers don’t leave their experiences at the door. They travel with them back to the States, and forward into careers.Some examples:

Catherine Liddell Skapura ’62 wanted to teach, but says she wasn’t good at crowd control. She worked in

a chemistry lab and is now a volun-teer adult literacy teacher.

Janice Baker ’63 did graduate work, was a policy analyst at the Congres-sional Research Service, served on Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Com-mission on World Hunger, worked at New Mexico cultural organizations and at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, DC, and at the National Science Foundation, and is currently researching World War II internment camps in Santa Fe.

Tom ’64 and Eleanor Lawrence Gei-ger ’64 lived in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, where Tom was with the U.S. Agency for International Develop-ment (USAID), the conduit through which all U.S. foreign aid fl ows and

which President Kennedy also estab-lished in 1961. Tom’s last post was as country director for Peru. Eleanor volunteered as a local fundraiser and helped Peruvians market handicrafts through the fair trade movement.

Charley Killinger ’64 says teaching history in Sierra Leone convinced him to make a career of it.

Lisa Meredith VanLandingham ’67, a retired Spanish teacher, now volun-teers as an interpreter for the local Health Department.

C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75 is a career physician assistant at a rural health clinic. Her daughter recently com-pleted a three-year term as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali and China.

Chris Christie ’81 with staff and patients/students at the National Centre for Rehabilitation of the Handicapped in Cameroon. Christie raised money to build an outdoor basketball court and purchase sports wheelchairs, as well as oversaw the construction of the court.



Bizza Nelson Britton ’76 realized she was best suited for a role in clinical health care. She is a nurse practitio-ner, currently serving as a coordinator for hepatitis services for the Louisi-ana Department of Corrections.

Lisa Lanier Krift ’76 and her hus-band have lived all over the world working with Save the Children.

Gregor Turk’s ’82 experiences in Li-beria infl uenced his career path—as a visual artist he says he continues to draw on the content and context of much of what he saw and did there.

Deb Efi rd ’84 had decided to become a doctor before joining the Peace Corps; however, she’s done, and plans to do more, international pediatric work.

Kellie Lartigue-Ndiaye ’88 joined the Centers for Disease Control after her Peace Corps service in Senegal, serv-ing as a training specialist and public health analyst and helping form the CDC Avian Infl uenza Group.

Jen Cushman ’89 has continued to teach and is currently dean of international education and an associate professor of German at Juniata College.

Courtney Ward Chavez ’91 changed her teaching focus from Spanish to English as a Second Language.

Chris Linder ’94 is now pursuing his passion, microfi nance, especially with mobile (phone) banking and how it can improve fi nancial inclu-sion for the poor in India.

Bryce Ashby ’00 worked as program director for Latino

Memphis, and is now an employ-ment attorney representing people in cases of wage theft, work injuries and discrimination.

Ellen Smead Dassaboutte ’01 worked in international development and public health after the Peace Corps. She is now a certifi ed nurse midwife for underserved U.S. populations.

Rebecca Held ’03, who came home knowing she wanted to work in the environmental fi eld, recently got her master’s in Environmental Policy and Conservation Biology from the University of Michigan.

Alison Stohr ’03, who is in law school, is interested in international law, which she credits to her time in

the Peace Corps.

Richard Johnson ’04 now works in community development for a nonprofi t in Philadelphia.

Sarah Brooks ’08 wanted a career in international development and has begun working on her master’s of Development Practice at Emory University.

KEEPING IN TOUCH Many volunteers made lasting friendships with the people they served, which they cherish to this day. They keep in touch, they visit, certainly they think of them often.

Fifteen years after their service in

Bizza Nelson Britton ’76 (left) celebrating the graduation of nursing students from the Christian Medical Institute of the Kasai, Tshikaji, Democratic Republic of Congo



Chile ended, Walt Ogburn ’70, and wife Marilyn vacationed there with their three children. They were amazed that a waitress at their favorite coffee shop remembered them and their oldest son, who was born there. Many of the Ogburns’ coworkers and former students have come to the U.S. for graduate stud-ies and returned to Chile. Ogburn says that while it’s gratifying to think he and his wife infl uenced their friends’ careers and gave Chilenos a better understanding of U.S. people and culture, they’re convinced they gained much more

from living in Chile than they contributed.

Last fall, C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75 and her husband traveled back to South Korea with other former vol-unteers at the invitation of the South Korean government. South Korea is the only Peace Corps recipient coun-try that is now a donor country—it has its own volunteer program and sends volunteers to other countries to help out. She says it was amazing to see the progress there and very humbling to visit the town where she had originally served.

Says Daniel Pellegrom ’97 of his time in Ghana: “I think about it every day, no exaggeration.”

To read detailed, rich and inspiring fi rsthand accounts of 33 past and current Rhodes Peace Corps volunteers from 1962-2010, please go to rhodes.edu/magazine.

Walt Ogburn ’70 examining oil spill on the beach in Chile



Fast FactsHistoryPeace Corps offi cially established: March 1, 1961Total number of volunteers and trainees to date: 200,000+Total number of countries served: 139

Peace Corps DirectorAaron S. Williams (Dominican Republic 1967-70)

Peace Corps Deputy DirectorCarrie Hessler-Radelet (Western Samoa 1981-83)

VolunteersCurrent number of volunteers and trainees: 8,655Gender: 60% female, 40% maleMarital Status: 93% single, 7% marriedMinorities: 19% of Peace Corps volunteersAverage Age: 28Volunteers over age 50: 7%Education: 90% have at least an undergraduate degree

Countries and ProjectsCurrent number of countries served: 76 countries

Volunteers by Work AreaEducation: 37%Health & HIV/AIDS: 22%Business Development: 14%Environment: 13%Agriculture: 4%Youth Development: 5%Other: 5%

Where Volunteers ServeAfrica: 37%Latin America: 24%Eastern Europe/Central Asia: 21%Asia: 7%Th e Caribbean: 5%North Africa/Middle East: 4%Pacifi c Islands: 3%

BudgetFiscal year 2010 budget: $400 millionFiscal year 2011 budget: $400 million

(Source: Th e Peace Corps. Figures are based on data as of Sept. 30, 2010. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.)



T H E CL A S S OF

2015Alabama—Athens: Maxwell Grisham, Zoe Jackson. Auburn: Conor LaRocque. Bay Minette: Sarah Shankle. Birmingham: Elizabeth Barr, Luke Collins, Courtnee Cook, Premiese Cunningham, Kelsey Harrison. Daphne: Sawyer Earwood. Fairhope: Tripp Drummond, Bailey Kimmitt. Florence: Ben Carnes. Guin: Austin Dixon. Homewood: Aaron Banks. Hoover: Currie Carothers. Huntsville: Eric Ly. Killen: Taryn Burgess. Madison: Susanna Dean. Mobile: Rebecca Brewster, Mary Catherine Cadden, Diego Calderon-Arrieta, Lauren Hales, Chandler Schneider, Alex Van Haneghan. Montgomery: Summer Preg. Mountain Brook: Michael Akin, Katy Cannon, Sarah Katherine Cole, Mason Johnson, Shelby Scott. Orange Beach: Haley Adams, Harrison Adams. Saraland: Tyler Andrews. Satsuma: Christian Harben. Semmes: Isabelle Campbell. Tuscaloosa: Andrew Roskos-Ewoldsen, Merrill Thagard. Vestavia: Lee McAlister, Jennifer Rote.

Arizona—Mesa: Katie Jaffe. Phoenix: Andrea Tedesco. Tucson: Priscilla Choi.

Arkansas—Conway: Taylor Jackson. Fayetteville: Houston Hynes. Fort Smith: Drew Miller. Harrison: Cameron McGarrah. Jonesboro: Devin Craft, Emily Murphy. Little Rock: Robyn Barrow, Kylie Chandler, Mary Curry-Ledbetter, Rabab Iqbal, Sarah Johnson, Allan Jones, Taylor LaPorte, April Lassiter, Nicole Mackey, Blanche Murphy, Mollie Newbern, Jack O’Mara, Emily Prigmore, Jenna Sullivan, Rhianna

Taylor, Hannah Walter, Molly Whitehorn, Bené Woods. North Little Rock: Jonathan Chu. Sherwood: Cassandra Golden. Siloam Springs: Justice Thompson. Western Grove: Tyler Young.

California—Alameda: Allison Miller. Dana Point: Lindsey Bitowft. El Dorado Hills: James Ekenstedt. Encinitas: Courtney Haller. Encino: Webster Heath. Los Angeles: Lucy Galloway. Orinda: Jordan Nevares. Pacifi c Palisades: Phoebe Driscoll. Piedmont: Taylor Sieben. Santa Barbara: Patrick Cudahy.

Colorado—Monument: Campbell Delahoyde.

Connecticut—Easton: Delaney Bracken. Fairfi eld: Kristin Rempe. Middletown: Kenny Boyd. New Canaan: Becky Thompson.

District of Columbia—Washington: Emma Gotbaum.

Florida—Bradenton: Shelby Raye. Lake Mary: Elizabeth Ross. Maitland: Aubrey Schonhoff. Naples: Margit Mikkelsen. Oviedo: James Simpson, Sadie Yanckello. Saint Petersburg: Lindsey Evans, Sarah Evans, Michael Yanchunis. Sarasota: Tyler Payne. Winter Springs: Matthew Cannavo.

Georgia—Acworth: Xany Moore. Alpharetta: Courtney Hornsby, Blake Piedrahita. Athens: Dy’nelle Todman, Elliot Young. Atlanta: Cole Bagley, Matt

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Summer send-off in Atlanta at the home of Lindsay and Bill Dorris, parents of Laura ’15 and David ’13

BRYAN MELTZ

Everett, Sam Higgins, Taylor Jenkins, Kelsey Keown, David Klemperer, Dianne Loftis, Lauren Tesler, Jaris Turner, Aubrey Wells. Canton: Nathan Kaufman, Justin Toliver. Cartersville: Farah Sharis. Decatur: Jason Crutcher, Ferozan Walizai. East Point: Steven Sheesley. Fayetteville: Paige Goemaere. Kennesaw: Zach Wade. Mableton: Sophia Anderson. Marietta: Laura Dorris, Emmie Heath, Kristen Lowry, Zach Pope. Newnan: Forrest Skelton. Roswell: Tyler Cummings, Nick D’Amato, Casey Joseph, Robert Pratt. Savannah: Megan Stout. Smyrna: Sierra Thompson.

Idaho—Boise: Cheyenne Turner. Star: Annie Robison.

Illinois—Carbondale: Connor Thompson. Edwardsville: Via Hopkins. Elgin: Mike Kuefner. Evanston: Madeline Polinski. Glen Ellyn: Kate Sullivan. Normal: Makenzie Martin. Urbana: Gracie Mayer.

Indiana—Monticello: Kendall Brennan.

Kansas—Leavenworth: Alexandra McMillan. Mission Hills: Betsy Dee, Jack Dee, Elyse Smith. Overland Park: Jourdaen Sanchez.

Kentucky—Bowling Green: Diana Bigler. Fort Campbell: Dakota Januchowski. Lexington: Mary Combs, Macon Wilson. Louisville: Kelsi Garson, Abby Lukens, Christian Zoeller. Paducah: Allie Mayo. Prospect: Andrew Beno.

Louisiana—Baton Rouge: Taylor Bass, Lanier Flanders, Melissa Redmon, Catherine Schlesinger, Courtney Whittle. Branch: William Barry. Broussard: Kathryn Cyrus. Clinton: Mary Walters. Covington: Nicole Huguley. Gretna: Evan Cuccia. Harahan: Ben Primes. Mandeville: Liz Giraud, Ryan Niedermair. Marrero: Tyler Adams. Meraux: Landon Jones. Metairie: Katie Casadaban, Meredith Kovach, Kelsey Lichtenstein, Julia Robbins. New Orleans: Chase Crowell, Alexandra Elliott, Emily Heine, Josh Mintz, Gaby Mioton, Caroline Ponseti, James Rigney, Christina Rodriguez-Fierro, Stephanie Veech. Shreveport: Jordan Aarstad, Ellen Booras, Alexis Jackson, Yoonjee Kim, David Pettiette, Mary Ellison Sewell, Emily Watson. Slidell: Naomi Gaddis, Alyssa Johnson. Washington: Brandon Lally.

Maine—Cape Elizabeth: Cam Thurston. Kennebunk: Molly Mugford. Raymond: Bryan Peterson. Scarborough: Priya Ahluwalia. South Thomaston: Jess Luttrell.

Maryland—Bethesda: Gavi Perl. Centreville: Laura Wood. Elkridge: Perri Carroll. Fallston: Emily Cowie. Fort Washington: David Thomas. Hebron: Jordan Evans. Timonium: Chuck Knudsen. Towson: Lucy Rosenbloom.

Massachusetts—Acton: Paul Bierwagen. Attleboro Falls: Monica Costello. Belchertown: Jazzy Phelps. Franklin: Katelyn Donaghey. Hopkinton: Evan Katz. Norwell: Jeremy Phillips. Roslindale: Elizabeth Rockett. Scituate: Alison Desmond. Winchester: Anna Santucci.

Michigan—Saginaw: Nick Dean.

Mississippi—Anguilla: Carlissa Lovette. Brandon:



Davis, Celine Shirooni. Dayton: Kathleen Norris. Highland Heights: Christine Corbett. Hudson: Emily Clark. Kettering: Tori Lykins. Mason: Matt Wagner. Wilmington: Abbey Judd.

Oklahoma—Oklahoma City: Preston Sullivan. Tulsa: Addison Jezek, Bailey Heldmar.

Pennsylvania—Bridgeville: Dylan Kerney. Chadds Ford: Regan Zehr. North Wales: Lizzie Heo. Pittsburgh: Adam Petraglia. Radnor: Victoria Dreibelbis.

South Carolina—Columbia: Katie Dubose. Greenville: Forrest Riddle, Hallie Weems. Hilton Head Island: Maraia Tremarelli.

Tennessee—Adams: Matt Hicks. Antioch: Hajar Sakhi. Arlington: Jessica Baker, Hailey Corbett, Amelia Phelps. Atoka: Colin King, Logan Sell. Bartlett: Leah Ford, Dang Nguyen, Alex Wang, Cody Yearwood. Brentwood: Kathryn Campbell, Talia Flantzman, Devon Greig, Gabe Laurence, Tara Lehman. Brighton: Courtney Ashley, Kelsey Lord. Chattanooga: Kristal Skrmetta, Di “Briana” Xu. Clarksville: Josh Jerles, Adriana Martinez-Lopez, Allison Montague, Collin Saleh. Collierville: Abdelrhaman Amro, Arielle Carpenter, Daniel Faulk, Catherine Grace Jernigan, Brian Mounce, Andrew Tutor. Columbia: Kaitlin Andrews. Cookeville: Caroline Reel. Cordova: Alyaa Altabbaa, Morgan Cantor, Dre Jean Cummings, Gracie Gilbert, Shivam Patel, Emileigh Pope, Lauren Shames, Chelsey Thompson, Ryan Van Hoeck, Olivia Warfi eld. Kim Xiong. Covington: Will Posey. Decaturville: Josh Keen. Dickson: Teddy Huerta, Surya Pavuluri. Dresden: Dale Hutcherson. Fairview: Erin Potter. Franklin: Shannon Feamster, Sarah Koehler. Germantown: Thomas Beamish, Kirby Bennett, Aditya Biswas, Alexandra Corbett, Sooji Hong, Alex Jarratt, Sarah Kim, Katherine Klepper, William Lenahan, Hannah Lin, Kate Morrison, Elena Mosby, Katie Raves, Kevin Shum, Saujanya Sinha, Luke Spinolo, Aaron Vancil. Goodlettsville: Amy Stout. Humboldt: Harrison Donahoe. Jackson: Alexandra B. Harlan, Halle H. Priester, Alison R. Thompson. Knoxville: Breanna Durbin, Matthew Moore, Madison Moreland, Braden Taylor, Dixy Yong. Lakeland: Noor Amro. Lewisburg: Morgan McCullough. Lynnville: Jon Emerson. Mason: John S. Wilder. Memphis:

Kyle Jenkins. Coldwater: Colby Ruth-Holden. Columbus: Alexandria Cornwall. Corinth: Drew Kerby. Hernando: Leerin Campbell, Katherine Robinson. Horn Lake: Theo Summers. Jackson: Ebony Archie, Karissa Bowley, Currie McKinley. Madison: Omair Arain. Morton: Clayton Christian. Moss Point: Cierra Martin. Olive Branch: Phuong Le, Shelby Wilkinson. Pascagoula: Brendan Tyler. Ridgeland: Aubrey Flowers, Sethelle Flowers. Southaven: Kirby Rogers, Francesqa Santos, Julie Sommer.

Missouri—Cape Girardeau: Lars Monia. Chesterfi eld: Scott Hamel. Florissant: Conner Bradley. Frontenac: Corrinne Palmer. Kansas City: Mark Sellers. Saint Louis: Mackenzie Callanan, Bryant Cummings, Michael Davidson, Adrienne Gab, Liv Hebner, Allycia Kleine, Tea Rose Pankey, Kat Simpson. Sikeston: Ben Priday. Springfi eld: Gabrielle Bailey. Webster Groves: Greg Emmenegger. Weldon Spring: Cody Heying. Wildwood: Josh Olejnik.

Nebraska—Bennington: Grant Bowen.

New Hampshire—Brookline: Maura Angel.

New Jersey—Belle Mead: Hannah Strong. Chesterfi eld: Conor Pocino. Clinton: Brendan Rogan. Ewing: Memphis Madden. Guttenberg: Vince Viola. Maplewood: Andrew Ehinger. Mendham: Alex Vicarisi. Morristown: Jackson Stolar. Princeton: Tori Van Heyst. Westfi eld: Corey Lipschutz.

New Mexico—Los Alamos: Victoria Honnell. Santa Fe: Sam Cicci.

New York—Brooklyn: Laura Saggese. Eden: Olivia Knauss. Granville: John Manchester. New York: Devon Shiland, Charlotte Weaver.

North Carolina—Boone: Lucy Gregor. Chapel Hill: Ryan Cole, Abby May, Megan May. Charlotte: Mackenzie Holland, Anna Stachura, Anna Stratton-Brook, Andrew Tait, Kate Taylor. High Point: Sierra Gaffney. Leicester: Sam Goodman. Raleigh: Marshall Reid, Hannah Silver. Roxboro: Elizabeth Short. Wilmington: Reid Clark.

Ohio—Blue Ash: Mason Levy. Cincinnati: Max



Constance Brooks, Charlease Cannon, Ivonne Cornejo, Ellenore Craine, Tien Dao, Nikki Edmunds, Chigozie Emelue, Rochelle Gillenson, Eliza Hendrix, Adam Howard, Barry Irby, Taylor Jackson, Bhavna Kansal, Aubrey Kearney, Zain-Al-Abidin Kinnare, Kirsten Kraus, Chelsea Landers, Taqwim Luboti, Sam Mattson, Iris Mercado, Sumita Montgomery, Will Murphy, Lance Myers, Grace Porter, Taylor Rubin, Kaitlyn Shamley, Nate Sharfman, Jasmine Sullivan, Andrew Tackett, Allyson Topps, Sanhitha Valasareddy, Asia Wakefi eld, Kenneishia Wooten. Millington: Brooke Bierdz, Katelyn Dagen, Leigh Donaldson, Justin Samuels. Mount Juliet: Shelley Choudhury. Murfreesboro: Andrea Davis, Alex Galloway, Matt Hein, Celeste Lake, Austin Moncivaez. Nashville: Hannah Asbell, Sam Brobeck, Trey Brooks, Lacy Deegan, Autumn Demonbreun, Lydia Garcia, Natalie Goodrum, Monique Hagler, Rahat Hossain, Eann Malabanan, Will Norton, Alex Schultheis, Abby Smith. Newbern: Winn Decker. Oak Ridge: Kelly Drane, Amelia Yeomelakis. Oakland: Jamara Haymore. Ooltewah: Rebecca Schmitt. Signal Mountain: Caroline Clark, Alvaz Kaukab. Smyrna: Richard Collins, Joseph Raby. Thompsons Station: Mallory Perry. Troy: Kacee Warren. White Pine: Collin Beach.

Texas—Amarillo: Amber Sherwood. Austin: Amber Baade, Chad Bohls, Rachel Cole, Elizabeth Collins, Catherine Eckert, Sarah Laves, Geoffrey Livsey, Hannah Papermaster, Kendyl Smith, Buckley Willis. Coppell: Megan Thursby. Corpus Christi: Erin Lowrance. Dallas: Mackenzie Alexander, Takel Avery, Emily Dorward, Will Gietema, Alison Hanson, Mary Harrell, Karen Hess, Laura Lee Madigan, Adele Malpert, Annie Moir, Andrew Mowrey, Swati Pandita, Jessica Ritter, Caroline Sikes, Ellie Skochdopole, Brooke Tomlin, Elizabeth Walker. Fort Worth: Stefan Auld, Taylor White. Frisco: Blake Harrell, Richard McGuire. Houston: Juan Baiza, Ryan Born, Camille Boudreaux, Claire Coulter, Elliot Diesel, Mariah Giblin, Jack Griffi n, Tarin McDonald, Henry Morris, Ross Nosaville, Melissa Paul, Alex Shumaker, Josh Wu. Humble: Emily Sewell. Magnolia: Nicolette Niles. McKinney: Christian Baum, Taylor Weidow. North Richland Hills: Chelsea Temple. Plano: Kevin Chien, Alex Cronin, Bobby Donachie, Alden Zogg. Richardson: Michael Wolf. Round Rock: Carly-Will Sloan. San Antonio: Katie Fritzlen, Emily Jordan, Micah Leonard, Olivia Menick, Krista Tremblay, Ethan Wilson. Southlake: Travis Allen. Spring: Mike

Edel. Terrell Hills: Key Hoffman. The Woodlands: Ashley Lindemann, Wyatt Pease. Victoria: Stephanie Kasper. Vidor: Nathan Landolt. Winnsboro: Madison Tallant.

Virginia—Falls Church: Allison Doubleday. Manassas: Jonathan Cavell. McLean: Lucas Grim, Paul Kelly, Mark Lainoff. Richmond: Becca Martin.

West Virginia—Vienna: Emily Berenson.

Wisconsin—Kenosha: Alex Hade.

China—Beijing: Beinuo Zhang. Guiyang: Jingwen Luo. Hong Kong: Andrew Wallis, Ashley Yu. Hulunbuir, Nei Mongol: Yan Guo. Nanjing: Qingyi Sui. Shanghai: Xiao Bian. Shenzhen: Di Xu. Tianjin: Xinran “Andy” Chen. Wuhan: Ke Huang.

South Korea—Gunpo-Si: Gy Won Choi.

United Kingdom—Blandford, England: Ailsa Bryce.

JUSTIN FOX BU

RKS

Members of the class of 2015 sign the Honor Code pledge during orientation



hanks to a new scholarship program inaugurated this fall, Rhodes welcomed 10 top fi rst-year students from

Memphis and Shelby County high schools. The Clarence Day Scholarship Program, a partnership between Rhodes and the Day Foundation, will meet 100% of 10 local students’ fi nancial need (tuition, room, board and books) for four years. Each student will also receive support for a “learning outside the classroom” experience in metro Memphis, such as service, research or an internship. The Day Foundation was established by Memphis businessman and philanthropist Clarence Day ’52, who passed away in 2009.

The program combines Clarence Day’s passion for encouraging young people to be the best they can be and for making Memphis a better place at an institution for which he deeply cared. Through the generosity of the Day Foundation, the Clarence Day Scholarship Program ensures that talented students from Memphis/Shelby County, regardless of income, have access to a world-class liberal arts education and the opportunity to make a positive impact on Memphis.

Day Scholars are required to meet Rhodes’ rigorous academic standards, maintain a 3.0 or higher grade point average, remain on track to graduate in four years, live in accordance with the Rhodes Honor Code and complete one summer fellowship activity.

Elena Mosby, who attended Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, says she initially was attracted to Rhodes because of “its commitment to academic diversity and adherence to an Honor Code, which is unlike any other. Also there is an incredible commitment to service. Being a resident of the Memphis area, I’m extremely grateful for the Day Scholarship because now I have the opportunity to give back to my city and be a student at the best liberal arts college in the nation.”

In addition to Mosby, the class of 2015 Clarence Day Scholars includes: Dre Jean Cummings, Cordova High School; Katelyn Dagen, Millington High School; Eliza Hendrix, St. Mary’s Episcopal School; Adam Howard, Christian Brothers High School; Alex Jarratt, Memphis University School, Iris Mercado, White Station High School; Shivam Patel, White Station High School; Kevin Shum, Houston High School; and Andrew Tutor, Houston High School.

“We are grateful to the Day Foundation trustees for their investment in these talented students,” says Rhodes President Bill Troutt. “The opportunity to be a Day Scholar at Rhodes—remaining in the community for four years of college, receiving an outstanding education and engaging in important and exciting learning initiatives beyond the campus—is a powerful combination for creating the future leaders for Memphis. We know they will do great things these next four years, and beyond.”

INTRODUCING THE CLARENCE DAY SCHOLARS

Photography by Justin Fox Burks

Day Scholars, left to right: Alex Jarratt, Shivram Patel, Kevin Shum, Katelyn Dagen, Dre Jean Cummings, Eliza Hendrix, Iris Mercado, Andrew Tutor, Elena Mosby. Not pictured: Adam Howard.

T

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From the Alumni Relations Offi ce

Dear Alumnus/a,

Alumni News

As you probably have heard by now, there have been some leadership changes in Alumni Relations. Bud Richey, who has served as associate vice president for College Relations and director of Alumni Relations, has a new title and responsibilities: associate vice president for External Programs, the new name for College Relations. Stepping into the role of director of Alumni Relations is Tracy Vezina Patterson ’84, who has served as associate director of that offi ce.

In his new role, Bud will be focusing on Rhodes in Memphis, building strategic relationships throughout the community, helping maintain established partnerships with civic, government and corporate organizations, while cultivating new ones that aid Rhodes in broadening student fellowships, internships and engagement. He’ll also remain involved on campus through supporting various programs and events held at the college.

We thank Bud for his unparalleled service to Rhodes and its alums these last few years and look forward to seeing him more around town and campus. We also look forward to continued growth and engagement of alumni under Tracy’s leadership.

Martha Hunter Shepard ’66Editor, Rhodes

Tracy Vezina Patterson ’84 and Bud Richey

JUSTIN FOX BU

RKS

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I Am a Recruiter“Involved.” “Engaged.” “Committed.” Any of these words aptly describes Fred Blackmon’s history as a member of the Rhodes community. While a student, he served on Rhodes Student Government and held a leadership role on the Interfraternity Council. After graduation in 2001, Fred embarked on a high school teaching career while also becoming an active member of the Rhodes Alumni Board and the Red and Black Society. Now a high school administrator, he is in the ideal position to promote the college to prospective students and their families. And thanks to Fred’s efforts, dozens of top-notch students have made the smart decision to attend Rhodes. Fred Blackmon understands that, as a member of the Rhodes community, we are all one. And it takes all of us to ensure that Rhodes remains the very best. Please consider how you can give back to the Rhodes community. For more information, please visit alumni.rhodes.edu.

Rhodes College Alumni Relations Offi ce

2000 N. Parkway Memphis, TN 38112

For more information, please call 1-800-264-LYNX (5969)

I AM ONE I AM RHODES

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2000 North ParkwayMemphis, TN 38112-1690

www.rhodes.edu

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDSENATOBIA MSPERMIT NO. 109

Members of the class of 2015 make their way from the Frazier Jelke Science Center to the Bryan Campus Life Center for Opening Convocation.

JUSTIN FOX BU

RKS

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rhodes magazine fall 2011

Documents

rhodes magazine

rhodes family

issue of rhodes

rhodes alumni office

fall cover

photo gallery of rhodes

college welcomes

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