rhodes magazine fall 2014

THE MAGAZINE OF RHODES COLLEGE FALL 2014

THE VALUE

OF THE

LIBERAL ARTS

Essays on Lifelong Learning

THE VALUE THE VALUE THE VALUE THE VALUE

OF THE OF THE OF THE OF THE

LIBERAL ARTSLIBERAL ARTSLIBERAL ARTSLIBERAL ARTS





FA L L 2 0 14 • R H O D E S r h o d e s . e d u

THE RHODES VISIONRhodes College aspires to graduate students with a life-long passion for learning, a compassion for others, and the ability to translate academic study and personal concern into effective leadership and action in their communities and the world.

We will achieve our aspiration through four strategic imperatives:

Student AccessTo attract and retain a talented, diverse student body and engage these students in a challenging, inclusive and culturally broadening college experience.

Student LearningTo ensure our faculty and staff have the talent, the time, and the resources to inspire and involve our students in meaningful study, research, and service.

Student EngagementTo enhance student opportunities for learning in Memphis.

Student Inspiration To provide a residential place of learning that inspires integrity and high achievement through its beauty, its emphasis on values, its Presbyterian history, and its heritage as a leader in the liberal arts and sciences.

Adopted by the Rhodes Board of Trustees January 17, 2003

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r h o d e s . e d u FA L L 2 0 14 • R H O D E S 1

2 FA L L 2 0 14 • R H O D E S r h o d e s . e d u

VOLUME 21 • NUMBER 3

40

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. Fall 2014—

Volume 21, Number 3

EDITOR

Lynn ConleeGRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Larry AhokasBob Shatzer

PRODUCTION EDITORS

Jana Files ’78Charlie Kenny

Justin McGregorKen Woodmansee

STUDENT EDITOR

Caroline Ponseti ’15COPY EDITOR

Anna AcerraCONTRIBUTORS

Shelley Choudhury ’15John Churchill ’71

Emily Clark ’15Dr. Cary Fowler ’71

Dr. Loretta Jackson-HayesDr. Tom McGowan

Dr. John E. MurrayMichelle Parks

Joel Parsons ’07Scott Samuelson

Elisha VegoRev. Dorothy Wells ’82

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Justin Fox BurksJamie Harmon

Corey Nolen EDITOR EMERITUS

Martha Shepard ’66

INFORMATION901-843-3000

ALUMNI OFFICE1 (800) 264-LYNX

ADMISSION OFFICE1 (800) 844-LYNX

is published three

4 A Message from the President

6 Campus News Briefs on campus happenings

48 Student Spotlight

52 Faculty Focus

54 Homecoming/Reunion Weekend

58 Alumni News Class Notes, In Memoriam

The Honor Roll of Donors 2013-2014

FALL 2014


2044

11 Contributors Lead by ExampleBy Lynn Conlee

12 No Magic or Mystery—Just Charity, Civility, and Integrity

By Dr. Cary Fowler ’71

15 Success Story: The Bridge to Everywhere

By Lynn Conlee

16 The Future of College: Not an Either/Or

By John Churchill ’71

20 Equipped for Life with the Gift of Learning

By the Rev. Dorothy Wells ’82

24 The Liberal Arts and the Fate of American Democracy

By Scott Samuelson

28 Defining Success the Liberal Arts WayBy Shelley Choudhury ’15

10 The Value of the Liberal Arts

32 Integrative Learning and the Value of Liberal Arts Education By Dr. Tom McGowan

36 Fleeing from the Liberal Arts? Not So Fast By Dr. John E. Murray

39 Success Story: Students Gain Via Co-Authorship By Caroline Ponseti ’15

40 Examining Life Under a Broader Scope By Dr. Loretta Jackson-Hayes

44 Richness in the Eye of the Beholder By Joel Parsons ’07

47 Success Story: Art Works By Lynn Conlee

54


“Why the Liberal Arts Matter” is the theme of a conference that will bring faculty from leading liberal arts colleges to

Rhodes this fall. It is also the subject of a year-long set of conversations we are having on campus this year.

The long-standing debate in higher education about liberal arts vs. vocational/professional education has become a much more prominent topic in the media and among Washington policy makers. Many voices today call into question the relevance and utility of what we do, and this negative message has been very effective. While our overall enrollment, student profile, and prospective student interest in Rhodes is at an all-time high, across the country applications to liberal arts colleges are down significantly.

It is time to advance a more accurate narrative about how a residential liberal arts experience provides the best undergraduate education possible. The very thoughtful articles in this Rhodes magazine issue speak to the value and life-changing character of a liberal arts education.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Why the Liberal Arts Matter

Students pose outside Palmer Hall, ca. 1929


We have good data about the impact of the liberal arts at Rhodes and how it changes student lives, but nothing is as compelling as alumni testimony. I continue to be inspired by the experiences alumni share about how the Rhodes community transformed them and shaped their futures in ways they never could have imagined. The total impact of a liberal arts education cannot be quantified. As Dorothy Wells ’82 concludes in her essay, “the gift of a liberal arts education is priceless.”

I would love to hear about how the liberal arts at Rhodes made a difference in your life. Please email me your story at [email protected].

I look forward to hearing from you.

Summer Service Fellows outside Paul Barret, Jr. Library, ca. 2013


CAMPUS NEWS

Mellon Innovation Grant Awarded

Rhodes College has received a $600,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will be used to hire top-tier, post-doctoral candidates who will help implement new, leading-edge teaching, technology, and research methodologies; establish a team of faculty “Innovation Fellows” to develop new academic courses and research projects that connect the college with communities in Memphis and throughout the Mid-South; and develop a cohort of student “Engagement and Digital Scholarship Fellows,” who will work directly with both the post-doctoral candidates and current faculty to contribute to the work of the college in ways that complement their classroom education.

“We are extremely grateful to the Mellon Foundation for supporting our efforts to enhance and expand the liberal arts experience at Rhodes,” says Elizabeth Thomas, associate professor of psychology, director of the urban studies program, and director of the Memphis Center at Rhodes. “We received the grant in large part because of our successful track record establishing innovative, interdisciplinary offerings such as the Memphis Center, which was seeded with a grant from the Mellon Foundation, and serves as a lively working space where students and faculty collaborate on new and existing projects and together build a community of engaged scholars who are interested in a wide variety of topics related to the human experience of Memphis and the Mid-South region. With this most recent gift, we will be able to build on our successes and incorporate new methodologies and strategies that will greatly enhance the learning environment for both faculty and students for years to come."

The Mellon Innovation Fellows Steering Committee accepted applications this fall for faculty Innovation Fellows. Rhodes faculty were invited to apply for funding to expand current classes, create new classes, or conduct research projects that “show promise of student, faculty, institutional, or community impact.”

LIZ DAGGETT

Rhodes Students’ Films Selected for Indie MemphisRhodes student Phoebe Driscoll '15 won the coveted Hometowner Award for her documentary Pharaohs of Memphis during the 17th Annual Indie Memphis Film Festival. She was one of four Rhodes students who had films chosen as part of the juried event. In addition to Driscoll, Emily Heine ’15, and Lara Johnson ’16 each had films selected that they made in connection with last summer’s Rhodes Institute for Regional Studies. Shane Watson ’14 produced his film for his Art 114 course.

Driscoll’s documentary, also done as part of Rhodes Institute of Regional Studies, is an up-close look at the community of dancers shaping a legacy of Jookin, a style of dance that originated in Memphis in the 1980s. The other three films are short form. Heine’s No One Sees You explores the complex tension between graffiti and public art in Memphis and the artists that no one sees. Johnson’s Geekland: Fan Culture in Memphis is about the struggles of being a geek/nerd/fan in the South. Watson’s How Will My Story be Told? brings awareness to the unjust murders of African Americans in the United States and the media representation of those who were murdered.

From left: Shane Watson ’14, Lara Johnson ’16, Emily Heine ’15 and Phoebe Driscoll ’15

Campus News.indd 6 11/3/14 4:55 PM


DR. GEOFF BAKEWELL

Rhodes Degree Pays OffIn an article published this fall, Forbes listed Rhodes graduates as 24th in the nation for highest earnings at mid-career when compared with other liberal arts college graduates. Additionally, Rhodes is in the top 100 of national colleges for earnings of its recent graduates, according to data compiled by PayScale.

“I find this list quite heartening,” wrote Forbes columnist Susan Adams. “It’s borne out by a study released in January from the Association of American Colleges and Universities, which showed that by the time liberal arts graduates are in their 50s, they earn at least $2,000 more than grads who majored in pre-professional subjects.”

Adams went on to say, “But most important, know that the skills you get while studying English, history or philosophy, of critical thinking, of communicating clearly, of the world’s great literature and art, and of America’s place in the trajectory of world civilization, will make your life richer and your appreciation of anything you do deeper and fuller.”

Invested in Finance

Search for Values in the (Rainbow) Light of Western History and Religion. For students in Dr. Geoff Bakewell’s summer Search class, at least some of the light was at the end of the rainbow.

Financially minded Rhodes students can now learn more tricks of the trade due to the formation of Rhodes’ newest campus group: Rhodes Organization of Investors. Commerce and business majors Kendyl Smith ’15 and Megan Richards ’15 founded the club spring semester 2014 to bring real-world application to their studies of the business world. “Our mission is to bring our members the resources and knowledge they need to make smart investments,” says Maggie Butcher ’16, the organization’s marketing chair.

This year, the group will host an investment contest where participants will make mock investments using Investopedia, an online financing resource. Butcher explains that one goal of the exercise is to encourage students to diversify their stocks. Each participant will begin with $100,000 to invest, and the student who has accumulated the most money at the end of the school year will win a cash prize.

The Rhodes Organization of Investors also plans to partner with Rhodes’ other business-focused

societies, including the Financial Management Association and the Entrepreneurship Club, to cosponsor lectures, guest speakers, and networking events in order to expose the Rhodes community to the larger world of finance.

—Caroline Ponseti ’15


CAMPUS NEWS

Theatre Awards Roll InJohn Rone ’71, director of college events and the Meeman Center at Rhodes, received the prestigious Eugart Yerian Award for Lifetime Service to Memphis Theatre during the 31st annual Ostrander Awards Aug. 24 at the Orpheum Theatre.

Over the years, Rone has appeared in numerous productions around town, including Theatre Memphis’ Inherit The Wind, Measure for Measure, and Hamlet. His Playhouse on the Square shows include A Wonderful Life and The Mousetrap. For Germantown Community Theatre, he has acted in Sherlock’s Last Case, The Foreigner, and The Woman in Black. In addition, he has directed a variety of plays from Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams to Nicky Silver and Terence McNally.

The Ostrander Awards honor the best in local live theater. Awards are given in a wide range of categories, including acting, directing, and back-stage contributions in both college and community divisions.

Also in August, Julia “Cookie” Ewing, professor of theatre and artistic director of

Rhodes’ McCoy Theatre, was honored with a Gyneka Award presented at the Women’s Theatre Festival of Memphis. The three-day festival highlighted the contributions of women in theatre arts and showcased theatrical productions. A distinguished actress, director, and producer in the Memphis theater community, Ewing has worked with the McCoy Theatre for more than 35 years.

Additionally, McCoy Theatre was awarded several best-of awards at the Ostranders:

Best Direction of a Musical: Jordan Nichols, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Leading Actor in a Musical: Corbin Williams, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Supporting Actress in a Musical: Léerin Campbell, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Leading Actress in a Drama: Katie Marburger, Anton in Show Business

Supporting Actress in a Drama: Madison Tallant, Anton in Show Business

Costumes: Amie Eoff, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Props: Kathy Haaga, Anton in Show Business Large Ensemble: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Small Ensemble: Anton in Show Business

Corbin Williams ’14 and Léerin Campbell ’15 in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. John Rone ’71

JUSTIN FOX BU

RKS


E. Club Sparks Big Ideas

With the motto “inspire.innovate.improve,” the Entrepreneurship Club (E. Club) opened last year to all Rhodes students with an interest in business or entrepreneurism, regardless of class year or major. Professor Steven Samaras approached Shivam Patel ’15 and a few other business and commerce students—Christine Lee ’14, Demitri Jerow ’14, Stanton Brown ’14, and Nathaniel Plemons ’17—to see if they would be interested in forming a club. They were soon backed fi nancially by Rhodes alumna Eric Mathews ’02, who runs a Memphis-based start-up incubator called Start Co. Joe Barlia ’14, who was interning at Start Co. when the club was founded, quickly became part of the team, and Barlia and Patel spearheaded most of the club’s events last year. Bud Richey, associate vice president for External Programs, joined the team as a sponsor. “We want to be a part of the fast-growing entrepreneurial fever that is sweeping Memphis,” Shivam explains.

One such entrepreneurial example is an app called Pickle being developed by Evan Katz ’15. While studying in Ecuador in spring 2014, Katz befriended computer developer Morgan Steffya, who now heads Pickle’s tech team. The two hatched a plan to develop an app that would allow people to upload pictures of their outfi ts and gain feedback from their friends. Upon launching the app, however, it became apparent that people wanted to upload and gain feedback on a variety of different photos. “People really like to use it as a voting tool,” says Katz, “the goal being to guess which photo will be most popular with other users.”

The team has continued to develop the app, which has gained interest from brands and market research fi rms hoping to collect data from college students. Just like E.club, the app is being developed with the help of Start Co.

—Emily Clark ’15

r h o d e s . e d u

Trustee in ResidenceOver the last several years, Rhodes has enjoyed steady increases in the number of students who remain in Memphis in the summer for fellowship, internship, and summer school experiences. This trend has also deepened the desire of more Rhodes graduates to begin their respective careers in the city they’ve come to love. To assist in making sure Rhodes students and graduates have ample opportunities to contribute to and benefi t from Memphis, Rhodes Trustee Dan Hatzenbuehler is serving as trustee in residence for our Career Services and External Programs offi ces. A 1971 Rhodes graduate, Hatzenbuehler also received a law degree from Southern Methodist University. He is currently chairman of the board of E. Ritter & Company. As trustee in residence, he will work closely with Sandi George Tracy, director of Career Services, and Dr. Russ Wigginton ’88, vice president of External Programs, to broaden connections with organizations in the Memphis

region and to be available to consult with students

about opportunities in the area.

Dan Hatzenbuehler ’71

From left: Sam Reid ’16, Shivam Patel ’15, and Daniel Morris ’16

The Fundamental Question of Metaphysics

“You hear remarks such as ‘Philosophy leads to nothing,’ ‘You can’t do

anything with philosophy,’ . . . [G]ranted that we cannot do anything

with philosophy, might not philosophy, if we concern ourselves with it,

do something with us?”Martin Heidegger

10

tudents in philosophy professor Kyle Grady’s existentialism class this fall were asked to discuss Martin Heidegger’s quote and

to broaden its use of philosophy to the liberal arts—particularly in light of the cri-tique being leveled in the ongoing national debate about the value of the humanities.

One student said, “I’m a chemistry major so, when my parents visited during Parent/Fam-ily Weekend, they asked why I was taking a philosophy class. I think that philosophy stretches my mind in ways chemistry doesn’t.”

Another commented, “If you are in pre-med, you have a defi ned track that you follow: pre-med, med school, doctor. But with majors like English or philosophy, you can go anywhere. I think those majors open possibilities rather than narrow them.”

Stretching the mind. Opening possibilities. The students’ comments refl ect those of the nine contributors in this issue of Rhodes magazine, each of whom graciously agreed to submit an essay responding to a quote about perceived defi ciencies in the liberal arts, especially in today’s economic climate.

We hear from alumni who, by their own examples, challenge the assumption that a liberal arts education does not make for a good career. Tell that to a lawyer turned Episcopal priest; the national secretary of Phi Beta Kappa; the founder of a global seed bank; or a young art major alumnus with his own small art space and a faculty position at his alma mater.

Defying the notion that a liberal arts educa-tion is the bastion of the elite, the Rhodes Student Government president writes about her road to Rhodes and the January 2015 lecturer for our Communities in Conversa-tion series elaborates on his role teaching the liberal arts to working-class students.

And fi nally, three faculty weigh in on the important role that colleges like Rhodes can play in the lives of students who leave college prepared to go out into the world and become what Heidegger describes as thinking, meditative beings.

Collectively, the essays reaffi rm the many qualities a residential liberal arts education provides. Or, to paraphrase Heidegger, they show what the liberal arts can do with us.

Contributors Contributors Contributors Lead by ExampleLead by ExampleLead by ExampleBy Lynn ConleeBy Lynn ConleeBy Lynn Conlee

SSS

r h o d e s . e d u FA L L 2 014 • R H O D E S 11

The Atlantic

No wonder some young people are giving up entirely—a 16.8 percent

unemployment rate plus soaring student loan debt is more than a little

discouraging. Yet old-guard academic leaders are still clinging to the

status quo—and loudly insisting that a four-year liberal arts degree is a

worthy investment in every young American’s future.

“How Liberal Arts Colleges Are Failing America”

Scott Gerber

12

ow much is this going to cost? What kind of job is my child going to get with a major in [fi ll in the blank with the least

sellable major you can imagine]? Is our invest-ment in college going to “pay off?” These are questions college administrators fi eld every day.

As the parent of both a high school and a college senior, believe me, I empathize with concerns about costs and outcomes! As an adult who will qualify for Medicare later this year, I also realize that returns on investment in education cannot strictly be measured by dollars. The proof and value of an individual’s education may not fully manifest itself in the fi rst job out of college. Or the second.

We no longer live in a world in which a stu-dent leaves college and neatly slips into a job directly associated with a specifi c major and stays put forever. There are for-profi t colleges that cater to this dream; 50 percent more students attend them than liberal arts colleges. But in the world in which I live, society, the economy, and technology are not static. People change fi elds, jobs, and employers with some regularity over the course of a lifetime. Ac-cording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average Baby Boomer has held 11 jobs by the age of 46. Fast-forward a generation and we fi nd that the 10 jobs most in demand in 2010

did not even exist six years earlier, according to Jeffrey Selingo, editor at large for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Moreover, 40 percent of college majors today weren’t around in 1990. The take-home lesson is that students who narrowly structure their education to prepare for a specifi c slot in today’s volatile job market better have a crystal ball or else they could fi nd themselves preparing for yesterday’s jobs.

How many important world problems or even garden-variety challenges in business, science, civic affairs, or day-to-day life can be solved or even understood within the confi nes of a single academic major? In my experience, zero. How can we expect great things from students who choose their college and major based solely on today’s job market and salary expectations? Can we anticipate success or even minimal security for those who confi ne their education to one particular subject, whether it’s math or music, physics or philoso-phy? Selingo predicts that students who make such choices “will in all likelihood, without a passion to motivate them, struggle in both school and career.” It is thus critical that students explore different disciplines while leaving room to pursue the subjects they really love. Parents and students alike should under-stand that a major is simply a starting point for introducing the knowledge, understanding, and skills needed in life.

No Magic or No Magic or No Magic or Mystery—Just Mystery—Just Mystery—Just Charity, Civility, Charity, Civility, Charity, Civility, and Integrityand Integrityand IntegrityBy Dr. Cary Fowler ’71By Dr. Cary Fowler ’71By Dr. Cary Fowler ’71

HHH



When it “takes,” a liberal arts education helps prepare students for any and all profes-sions and the broad-est range of careers. It provides them with the capacity to navigate change in

the real world by honing critical-thinking skills, the ability to work in teams, and the ability to synthesize new material from disparate sources and “connect the dots.” It teaches how to learn and how to communicate orally and in writ-ing—this alone is a ticket for success. And to be blunt, it also prepares young people to have a richer, less TV-dependent intellectual and social life. Not surprisingly, surveys indicate that employers view these kinds of skills as highly attractive and more important than a student’s particular major. (Case in point: all 2013 Rhodes grads in math and music, as well as physics and philosophy, were employed or in graduate school a year after graduating.)

Students at Rhodes and similar liberal arts colleges are clearly faring well in the job market, and according to a study published by the Asso-ciation of American Colleges and Univer-sities, “students who pursue their major

within the context of a broad liberal education substantially increase their likelihood of achiev-ing long-term professional success.”

There is no magic or mystery to this. Small liberal arts colleges are uniquely structured to bring out the best in students through deep mentoring relationships with faculty and experiential learning. They provide exposure to different disciplines and ways of thinking; offer undergraduate research opportunities; writ-ing intensive courses; an emphasis on values, honor codes, and community service; and an important residential experience. Such col-leges produce an inordinate number of gradu-ates who are creative, confi dent, mature, and hardworking, who take responsibility, accept accountability, appreciate diversity, and are ready to engage the world with charity, civility, and integrity.

In a fast-changing world, such an education—which colleges such as Rhodes consciously aspire to offer—acts as a kind of personal insur-ance policy against obsolescence. In the words of Nannerl Keohane, it prepares young people for both “society and solitude.”

Our future civic, political, business, and scien-tifi c leaders could well benefi t from this kind of educational experience. Perhaps it’s not for everyone, but it’s the kind of education I want for my children and they want for themselves.

Am I still nervous about costs and outcomes? You bet. But part of my own education involved taking the blinders off and learning to adapt to reality and risk. We’ll manage.

Dr. Cary Fowler ’71 is a member of the Rhodes College Board of Trustees and the former executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. He is currently its special advisor.

The take-home lesson is that students who narrowly structure

their education to prepare for a specifi c slot in today’s volatile job market better have a crystal ball

or else they could fi nd themselves preparing for yesterday’s jobs.

Dr. Cary Fowler ’71 and President William E. Troutt at commencement 2011.

JUSTIN FOX BU

RKS


The road to Freedom Preparatory Acad-emy is rough. Abandoned buildings, a de-crepit drive-in movie theater, and board-ed up houses, sporadically interrupted by still-vibrant shopping centers and fast-food joints, line Highway 61 South. But on a residential street just to the west of the highway, tidy ranch houses with mani-cured lawns ring a brick school building with gleaming orange and blue doors that bear Freedom Prep’s logo—a bird in fl ight, a fi tting symbol for the fi ve-year-old charter school where the freedom to soar academically awaits each student.

Founded in 2009 by Roblin Webb ’99, Freedom Prep Charter Schools has grown from one location with 100 sixth-grade students at its start to more than 600 students on three separate campus-es enrolled in kindergarten, fi rst grade, and grades six through 10. By 2016, the college preparatory school network will offer grades kindergarten through 12 and graduate its fi rst class.

“I saw education as a way to create an even playing fi eld,” Webb recalls. “In Memphis, only 20 percent of adults have a college degree. In this area (the West-wood neighborhood where Freedom Prep is located), it’s only 10 percent. Both of my parents attended college. There was never any question for me, but that’s not the case for these kids. Our goal is to triple the number of college graduates in our neighborhood (from 10 percent to 30 percent).”

To assist Webb in running the school, six Rhodes alumni hold various positions, in-

cluding Nora Boone ’99, the director of marketing and communications. Working in the classrooms are Jamesah Hayes ’11, eighth-grade social studies teacher and eighth-grade chair; Aubrey Diaz Nelson ’08, assistant head of school; Lars Nelson ’09, chief instruction offi cer; Phat Ho ’14, kindergarten teacher; and Tamra Patter-son ’01, theater teacher.

Along with around 40 other teachers, the Rhodes alumni lead a student body that has reversed the achievement gap in both biology and English I and has seen its ninth-graders outperform both Shelby County Schools and the state’s public schools in biology (by 39 points and 23 points, respectively). Freedom Prep is the top performing public school in the entire state of Tennessee for read-ing and language arts growth and the top performing public middle school in the Whitehaven/Westwood area.

Both Webb and Boone point to the liber-al arts education they received at Rhodes as the linchpin of any success they have had at Freedom Prep. And both say that

the broad range of disciplines to which they were exposed has equipped them to handle the equally broad set of chal-lenges at the charter school.

“Rhodes prepared us with a liberal arts background in ways that encourage you to look at things differently, so that maybe we look at the traditional ways of teaching in different ways, too,” says Boone.

Just north of the school on Highway 61, the road is closed where a gleaming new bridge undergoes construction. For students in the blighted area that feeds Freedom Prep, the schools function as a different kind of bridge, one that will connect them to knowledge, confi dence, and aspiration. And to the new “law” that Roblin Webb practices: the one that says they can—and will—attend college.

The Bridge to EverywhereBy Lynn Conlee

A team of alumni help guide students at Freedom Preparatory Academy. (L-R, back row) Lars Nelson ’09, Nora Boone ’99, and Phat Ho ’14; (middle row) Jamesha Hayes ’11, Aubrey Diaz Nelson ’08, and Roblin Webb ’99; (front row) Alana, Rhodes Class of 2032!!

LYNN CON

LEE

SUCCESS STORY

thoughtcatalog.com

There are two possible fates for the American postsecondary educa-

tion system. One is for it to maintain its current status as a factory that

produces debt-slaves and baristas that can recite Immanuel Kant’s

passages from memory. The other is for Universities and Colleges to

become leaner, more-functional institutions that remove all unneces-

sary coursework, and focus only on what matters.

“The Case for Removing (Almost) All Liberal Arts from College”

Matt Saccaro

16

ne of the great take-aways from the Jim Jobes logic course I took in spring term 1970 was an awareness of

informal fallacies. Formal fallacies are violations of the principles of deduction, but informal fallacies fail for various other reasons. Most people know about the ad hominem fallacy, which attacks the speaker rather than what she says. Or the slippery slope argument, which equates the fi rst step in some direction to arrival at a far, presumably undesirable, destina-tion: “If you fi b to keep from hurting someone’s feelings, next you’ll lie on your tax return.”

One of the most common informal fal-lacies is the fallacy of false alternatives. It consists of reducing a broad range of possibilities to two extreme options: “He who is not with us is against us,” or “To-day, you can be a hero or a coward; take your pick.” Too often, in our contem-porary national conversation about the purpose and future of higher education in America, a particular fallacy of false alter-natives is used to defi ne the options.

Note what raw versions of the familiar negative myths about liberal arts educa-

tion are bundled in Matt Sacarro’s quote: “debt-slaves,” “baristas,” and the no-tion that liberal education is useless, the evidence being that we can quote Kant. These distortions can, and should, be laid to rest. Phi Beta Kappa’s current National Arts & Sciences Initiative is dedicated to demonstrating that the arts and sciences expand opportunity, drive ingenuity and innovation, and are an investment both in the future of America and in the indi-vidual’s future prospects as a professional, a citizen, and a whole, fl ourishing human being. I invite readers to explore the Ini-tiative at www.pbk.org.

The false alternative argument cited above begins by treating higher education as if it were all one thing. In fact, Ameri-can higher education is a broad, highly various sector comprising institutions of widely different types and missions: small liberal arts colleges; large pub-lic, multipurpose institutions; research universities, both public and private; two-year institutions; for-profi ts; voca-tional schools of various sorts; and so on. But it is common to hear blanket pro-nouncements that ignore this diversity, and suppose that all higher education has one aim, suffers from the same fl aws, and

The Future of The Future of The Future of College: Not an College: Not an College: Not an Either/OrEither/OrEither/OrBy John Churchill ’71By John Churchill ’71By John Churchill ’71

OOO



greets the same range of options for the future. This is misleading. The future of small, residential, academically demanding liberal arts colleges and the future of other kinds of institutions will be shaped by dif-ferent factors.

The fallacy of false alternatives adds a further mistake. In addition to lumping together everything called a “college” or a “university,” it also claims that this undif-ferentiated mass is headed for one of two starkly contrasting, exclusive, and exhaus-

tive outcomes: one of two sharply dif-ferent things must happen to every col-lege or university.

But clearly this is not true, and dif-

ferent institutions should and will choose different futures. “Focusing on what mat-ters,” in a broad, long-range perspective, means for institutions like Rhodes, for example, focusing on the arts and sciences. Moreover, in a democracy that embraces equality of opportunity, some element of liberal arts should be in everyone’s college experience, regardless of institutional type. Everyone can profit from close engagement

with reading about, writing about, and discussing things that matter. Everyone deserves engagement with the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sci-ences and math. To reduce some sectors of higher education to narrowly conceived “practical” training is to forestall the emergence of extraordinary ability where its potential may exist, a policy that is as unfair as it is unwise.

If we want to talk sense about higher education in America, we have to acknowl-edge the many different kinds of institu-tions that exist, with their different pur-poses and different constituencies. The topic is complex, and simple pronounce-ments that reduce the issues to universally applied yes-or-no questions will seldom be true or useful. Another benefit that accrued to me from Jim Jobes’ course was a toler-ance for complication. Some things are complicated, and denying it only makes them more so.

John Churchill, secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, is a 1971 graduate of Rhodes College. He majored in philosophy, which turned out to be eminently practical.

The future of small, residential, academically demanding liberal

arts colleges and the future of other kinds of institutions will be

shaped by di�erent factors.

John Churchill ’71

Hu� ngtonPost.com

Throughout America, there’s a persistent national debate about the

value of a liberal arts education. A day seldom passes when a new

study doesn’t appear about student debt, unemployed graduates, the

need for professional training and, the perennial question, “Who

needs to study Plato anyway?”

“Education and Innovation: Time for a Change”

Seamus Carey, PhD

20

would love to say that, as a young high school student, I decided on a liberal arts college because I had some lofty goals about how the

intriguing subjects that I would study would shape my life. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t quite be true. As an aspiring writer, I entered Rhodes College planning to graduate with a double major in English and media arts, hoping one day to be writing for a magazine and perhaps penning a book or two. And, yes, since I loved music, I thought that I might pursue that, too, just for fun. A liberal arts college seemed like a perfect choice for me, because, quite frankly, I expected that having to move beyond my comfort zone and to be exposed to subjects that I might otherwise not choose to pursue would help me as a writer. What I got was more than I expected. The gift of my liberal arts education was the gift of learning, and it has been the gift that’s kept on giving throughout my life. As one might have expected, I thrived in literature, languages, and music. I merely survived biology, calculus, and psychology. In the end, I surrendered myself to the pas-sion of making music and majored in vocal performance—not exactly the major that one might pursue if one were hoping to graduate from college and go on to a high-paying job.

But along the liberal arts highway, I learned a few rather unexpected lessons about myself, and about the world. I wrestled with ques-tions about justice as I studied the ethics of systems of economic distribution. In politi-cal science, I struggled with questions about how matters of national welfare were being addressed by our partisan party system. I began exploring my own capacity for minis-try in the storied Pain, Suffering and Death course. And, I savored my fi rst opportunity to give back to the community as a tutor in an inner-city after-school program, where the lessons that I learned were far more signifi -cant, no doubt, than any lessons that I was able to teach. I was challenged, encouraged, and empowered. Truth be told, the fi rst couple of years after undergraduate school were tough, economi-cally. I didn’t walk out of college and into a great paying job. There wasn’t much left over after I paid the rent. But I was able to do some performing—actually, quite a bit of performing—in concerts, recitals, and even a few operas. My second “day job” with a regional consulting fi rm, which I landed in large part because of my broad liberal arts background, not only supported me enough to be able to enjoy performing, but opened up some pretty fascinating vistas in and of itself. I entered law school, began a successful 18-year career

Equipped for Life Equipped for Life Equipped for Life With the Gift With the Gift With the Gift of Learning of Learning of Learning By Rev. Dorothy Wells ’82By Rev. Dorothy Wells ’82By Rev. Dorothy Wells ’82

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as an attorney, and was fortunate yet again to follow my heart and calling to seminary and ordained ministry. Had it not been for a liberal arts education, I might not otherwise have read (and ap-preciated) the likes of Solzhenitsyn, Kübler-Ross, and Kant. I might not have pondered or wrestled with questions about the world as we know it. And I might not have been equipped and prepared to earn a law degree, translate my law practice into a corporate setting, work as a business leader—and then shift gears and go on to the vocation of ordained ministry. A liberal arts education equipped me for life, with all of its changes and iterations. The one constant through all of these life changes is that I’m still writing. From a sub-stantial body of published professional works that I wrote as an attorney, to the blog on spiritual life that I write today, I continue to pursue a love that fi rst came in a high school classroom and that was fueled during my years at Rhodes. For those who question the value of a liberal arts education in today’s world, I offer a different perspective: What is the value of the gift of an inquiring mind, a fl uency in the language of many disciplines, and a passion for lifelong learning? From my point of view, the gift of a liberal arts education is priceless.

After 18 years practicing law, the Rev. Dorothy Wells enrolled in the seminary and is now the priest in charge at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Germantown, TN.

Rev. Dorothy Wells ’82

JUSTIN FOX BU

RKS

22 FA L L 2 014 • R H O D E S r h o d e s . e d u

The Atlantic

Traditionally, the liberal arts have been the privilege of an upper class. There are

three big reasons for this. First, it befi ts the leisure time of an upper class to explore

the higher goods of human life: to play Beethoven, to study botany, to read Aristo-

tle, to go on an imagination-expanding tour of Italy. Second, because their birth-

right is to occupy leadership positions in politics and the marketplace, members

of the aristocratic class require the skills to think for themselves. Whereas those

in the lower classes are assessed exclusively on how well they meet various pre-

scribed outcomes, those in the upper class must know how to evaluate outcomes

and consider them against a horizon of values. Finally (and this reason generally

goes unspoken), the goods of the liberal arts get coded as markers of privilege and

prestige, so that the upper class can demarcate themselves clearly from those who

must work in order to make their leisure and wealth possible.

“Why I Teach Plato to Plumbers:

Liberal arts and the humanities aren’t just for the elite.”

Scott Samuelson

24

n the democracy of ancient Athens and the republic of ancient Rome, freedom was only for the few. Slaves, servants, and women had

to toil so that free men could cultivate their minds, participate in the government, and enjoy the highest goods of human life—in short, so they could learn and practice the liberal arts.

Our government takes inspiration from Athens and draws on the model of the Roman Republic, but we also inherit the Enlightenment ideal of freedom for all, even if our history has never quite lived up to it. My view—inspired by a long line of American thinkers going back to Thomas Jefferson—is that in a democratic republic the liberal arts should not be the exclusive privilege of the few. We should all have ac-cess to an education in thinking and judg-ing for ourselves. The main goals of elemen-tary and secondary education should center on cultivating the liberal arts, and citizens should have the opportunity to study the liberal arts in college without incurring onerous debt.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have op-portunities for job training in our educa-tional institutions. The reason that ancient

Athenian and Roman citizens could devote themselves whole-heartedly to the liberal arts was precisely that the servile did the work necessary to sustain freedom. Part of the genius of the American educational system is that it mixes liberal and techni-cal education. A just democracy requires that we all pitch in when it comes to the economy.

If anything, I’d like to see more real techni-cal education in elementary and primary schools. There’s no reason that a person with a high school diploma shouldn’t be ex-pected to know something and to do some-thing. Furthermore, I’m grateful that our colleges and universities help their students get employable skills. But the dominant note of an education in a liberal democracy should be the cultivation of freedom, not of employability. We rightly want people to have gainful employment, but American citizens should do their work with a spirit of independence, creativity, and self-reliance.

The powerful trends in education right now are all about standardization, rubrics, passing tests, and compliance, which read as forms of servility rather than freedom. Insofar as the private goal of education is about jumping through the hoops necessary

The Liberal Arts and The Liberal Arts and The Liberal Arts and the Fate of Americanthe Fate of Americanthe Fate of AmericanDemocracyDemocracyDemocracyBy Scott SamuelsonBy Scott SamuelsonBy Scott Samuelson

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to get hired and the rationale for public edu-cation is about growing the economy, I worry that we’re striking a blasé Hobbesian bargain of giving up our freedom to big corporations and government agencies in return for the promise of security.

At the end of the Cold War, Francis Fuku-yama famously declared that we’d reached “the end of history,” by which he meant that all peoples would eventually settle into liberal democracy. It’s not simply the authoritarian capitalism of China and the violent theo-cratic movements of the Middle East that challenge his thesis. It’s that we ourselves run the danger of becoming illiberal.

A century ago, when America was tilting toward inequality and empire, the great American philosopher William James said, “Nothing future is quite secure; states enough have inwardly rotted—and democ-racy as a whole may undergo self-poisoning. But, on the other hand, democracy is a kind of religion, and we are bound not to admit its failure. Faiths and utopias are the noblest exercise of human reason, and no one with a spark of reason in him will sit down fatalisti-cally before the croaker’s picture. The best of us are fi lled with the contrary vision of a democracy stumbling through every error

till its institutions glow with justice and its customs shine with beauty.”

In the decades following James’ stirring remarks, our country stumbled toward institutions and customs that glowed with a little more justice for workers, women, and black Americans. Twentieth-century America gave birth to a world-class public educational system that, for all its fl aws, gave an aston-ishing number of people a distinctive liberal education. Unfortunately, for a few decades now we’ve been walking with misplaced confi dence toward inequality and empire once again.

But we should refuse to “sit down fatalisti-cally before the croaker’s picture.” As a new world order is taking shape, we have the opportunity to shine like never before as the country where, with the help of the liberal arts, citizens widely participate in the government, workers have a voice in an innovative economy, and the widest number of people enjoy the best of the human inheritance.

Scott Samuelson, the author of The Deepest Human Life: An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone (University of Chicago Press, 2014), is giving the lecture “Suffering and Soul-Making: On the Deep Value of the Liberal Arts” on January 15, 2015, as part of Rhodes’ Communities in Conversation series.

Scott Samuelson

New York Times

As money tightens, the humanities may increasingly return to be-

ing what they were at the beginning of the last century, when only

a minuscule portion of the population attended college: namely, the

province of the wealthy.

“In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth”

Patricia Cohen

28

n a 2013 survey conducted for the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), 93 percent of employers agreed that “a demon-

strated capacity to think critically, commu-nicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than [a candidate’s] under-graduate major.”

At Rhodes, a thorough and well-rounded education involves extensive work in the humanities—even for neuroscience majors like me—that produces students with just those qualities.

Now, numbers can be scary. I distinctly remember feeling a catch in my chest when I fi rst glanced at the fi ve-digit number rep-resenting private college tuition. I am from a middle-class background; I live in the suburbs. My parents did not set aside $200,000 for four years of college. However, in the true nature of a future liberal arts-educated individual, I decided to set aside assumptions and investi-gate before I dismissed my dream.

I soon discovered that most liberal arts students are not dealing with such extreme college bills; in fact, after a combination of need- and merit-based aid, the average Rhodes student pays roughly half of the advertised

cost. Furthermore, Rhodes commits almost $40 million in student grants and scholar-ships. Many of my fellow students have ex-pressed that attending Rhodes was ultimately a more cost-effective alternative to several public universities. My story is not rare—it is the norm, dispelling the misconception that only the wealthiest individuals have access to a liberal arts education.

Though I am certainly no economics expert, it seems to me the claim that the humanities are not worth their cost only considers short-term gains. The humanities, contrary to popular belief, do lead to employment; more impor-tantly, they prepare students to excel regard-less of the fi eld. The AACU reports that those majoring in the humanities actually earn an average of $2,000 more annually during peak earning years than graduates with professional degrees. In fact, a study of mid-career salaries for graduates of liberal arts colleges, released in September by PayScale, listed Rhodes as number 25 on the list of top-earners.

The New York Times article from which Co-hen’s quote is taken implies that writing, self-expression, and critical-analysis skills acquired from a liberal arts education are valued less than specifi c skill sets learned at other institu-tions. Rather than teaching one specifi c skill

Defi ning Success Defi ning Success Defi ning Success the Liberal Arts the Liberal Arts the Liberal Arts WayWayWayBy Shelley Choudhury ’15By Shelley Choudhury ’15By Shelley Choudhury ’15

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set, which may or may not become irrelevant within a decade, the humanities require students to analyze situations, analyze people, analyze potential problems, and then ask the questions necessary to formulate solutions. The humanities teach lifelong learning, which encourages students to be malleable. The world is unpredictable, so education should teach fl exibility and endurance in addition

to the writing and critical-thinking skills that are fundamental to tangible success in the job market.

Furthermore, the hu-manities foster passion. The great leaders, in-ventors, and entrepreneurs of the world share passion as common ground. The humanities show us how to mold passion into meaningful action. My passion is medicine, and one day I would like to practice as a physician. After four years of a liberal arts education, I plan to enter medical school knowing more than biol-ogy and chemistry. Instead, I will enter with a wealth of knowledge spanning disciplines.

I have a better understanding of health care disparities and the importance of practic-ing solidarity from my Social Health, Faith, and Justice class. I have practice in viewing and appreciating differing perspectives from my fi rst-year religious studies classes. I have knowledge about the neuroscience of stress

and, furthermore, how stress affects healing in both mental and physical dimensions, from a psychology class. I have experience analyzing complex texts and writing persuasively from my English class. I have acquired a critical eye for generalized research claims from my neuroscience research experience. I have an understanding of the ways in which religious institutions shape health care from my reli-gious studies internship. Finally, I know how to build community among my colleagues from my experience in Rhodes Singers.

I fi rmly believe all of these aspects of my education will contribute to my betterment as a physician. The simple truth is that the humanities equate to understanding, which is vastly underrated in society. An education immersed in the humanities will ensure that students excel in their chosen profession, while also demonstrating the mental capacity and understanding to face the world with open hearts, open minds, and a future full of possibilities.

Shelley Choudhury ’15, a Mount Juliet, TN, native, serves as president of the Rhodes Student Government, majors in neuroscience, is a Rhodes Diplomat, and a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority—among many other activities. For more on Shelley, go to rhodes.edu/shelley.

Shelley Choudhury ’15

COREY NOLAN

The simple truth is that the humanities equate to

understanding, which is vastly underrated in society.


Shelley Choudhury.indd 31 11/3/14 3:06 PM

American Radio Works

Writing in the publication Liberal Education, former Northeastern Uni-

versity president Richard M. Freeland described the trend of “connecting

ideas with action” as a needed and “revolutionary” phase of experimenta-

tion in the American academy. But higher education expert Kevin Carey

at the Washington, D.C., think tank Education Sector is skeptical of how

much of a groundswell the new practicality represents. “I don’t know if I’d

say it’s a movement,” Carey says.

“New Pressures on Liberal Education”

Stephen Smith

32

here is little new in the recent round of criticism directed toward liberal arts education. For more than two centuries,

liberal arts colleges have been criticized for being expensive and exclusive and for not pro-viding students with specifi c, directly market-able jobs skills. As Wesleyan College President Michael Roth points out, such criticisms are longstanding and date back to the Colonial period, when Benjamin Franklin lampooned Harvard College for being little more than a fi nishing school for America’s wealthiest sons. What makes contemporary expressions of such criticism so popular is that in the new leaner and meaner American economy, fi nd-ing well-paying jobs straight out of college is more diffi cult than ever.

A liberal arts education is a proven, but often circuitous, path to a good career or profes-sion. This is because liberal education is about more than simply landing a good job after graduation. It is about discovering your passion and developing your capacity to pursue and realize a life that is successful and meaningful. Liberal education’s confl ating of success and meaning, however, does not play well in a society that discounts the value of meaning and is fearful of unemployment (and under-employment).

Not unlike the journey of life itself, the liberal arts journey is indirect, textured, often dif-fi cult, but ultimately rewarding. Unlike elite Ivy League universities, which according to William Deresiewicz tend to produce over-achieving conformists, liberal arts colleges strive to graduate independently minded students who are passionate about their onto-logical vocation. This term is used by philoso-pher Paulo Freire to describe an approach to learning that intentionally engages diffi cult questions and challenging experiences in order to stretch oneself and gain insight into one’s values and life purpose.

Some may snicker at such a lofty goal, especially when we know that down the road college grads will remember their social interactions far more clearly than the knowl-edge they were taught in the classroom. But this point underscores the fact that a residen-tial liberal arts education is much more than a competition over knowledge attainment and GPA. Liberal arts students learn more than intellectual content; they learn how to learn as a way of being in the world. Building on the work of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, this process may be described as integrative learning, or learning that fosters students’ ability to internalize and develop the meaning of their experience

Integrative Learning Integrative Learning Integrative Learning and the Value of and the Value of and the Value of Liberal Arts EducationLiberal Arts EducationLiberal Arts EducationBy Dr. Tom McGowanBy Dr. Tom McGowanBy Dr. Tom McGowan

TTT



by integrating their intellectual and personal development.

Unlike the longstanding criticisms leveled against it, liberal arts education has changed in important ways over time, especially in the past few decades. Chief among these changes is the cultural shift from college as ivory tower to college as engaged community partner. Former Northeastern University President Richard Free-land believes that this decades-long trend toward community engagement constitutes a revolution-ary, experimental moment in higher education. While some may disagree with Freeland’s assess-ment, collaborative engagement with the broader community has indeed become the new normal in higher education. However, because the ma-jority of liberal arts colleges are located outside of highly populated urban centers, the opportuni-ties presented by community engagement are not available to many liberal arts students. Rhodes is distinct not only because it excels at providing an outstanding integrative, liberal arts education; it is distinct because it centers the Memphis com-munity at the core of the integrative education it provides.

Preparing college students to become respon-sible citizens has long been considered a key function of higher education, for a democratic society cannot survive without an educated and involved citizenry. It is, therefore, not surprising that liberal arts colleges have grown to value and invest in collaborative partnerships with their

surrounding communities. John Saltmarsh of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education aptly describes this development as a form of democratic engagement that directly contributes to the sustainability of our democ-racy. Community engagement provides college students with opportunities to put integrative learning into practice, and such practice fosters an integrative, democratic disposition—the ability to dialogue and interact with others in a manner that is open, ethical, and respectful of difference.

At Rhodes, faculty, administrators, students, and staff are refl ecting on our academic pro-gram and institutional practice in order to more clearly articulate the nature of integrative educa-tion. This effort includes partnering with other colleges to refl ect on the meaning of liberal education, securing external grants to support innovative pedagogy and integrative learning, and seeking closer alignment between the class-room and co-curricular student experiences.

A liberal arts education is perfectly imperfect. It is expensive and it does need to be more accessible and diverse. Despite these challenges, liberal arts education helps students grow beyond themselves through the integration of their intellectual and personal development. The student is the outcome of this collective effort. Parents, policy makers, pundits, and ultimately students, can decide for themselves whether such an outcome is worth investing in.

Dr. Tom McGowan is chair of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology. He has written ex-tensively on the topic of integrative education and is a member of Rhodes’ Community-Integrative Education Work Group.

Dr. Tom McGowan

COREY NOLAN

The Weekly Standard

The division between vocational and liberal arts education, which began

during the 19th century with the advent of the land-grant state universi-

ties in the United States, is today tilting further and further in favor of the

vocational. Even within the liberal arts, more and more students are, in

[Andrew] Delbanco’s words, “fl eeing from ‘useless’ subjects to ‘marketable’

subjects such as economics,” in the hope that this will lend them the practi-

cal credentials and cachets that might impress prospective employers.

“Who Killed the Liberal Arts? And Why We Should Care”

Joseph Epstein

36

s much as I admire Joseph Epstein’s essays, including this otherwise superb one from 2012, he is really ad-

dressing a non-event here. Quantitatively, the liberal arts are fi ne. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicate that from 1995 to 2012 (most recent available) about two-fi fths of bach-elor’s degrees were awarded in the liberal arts and sciences. No trend was visible, and the stability (between 37 and 39 per-cent) was remarkable. Trends in business degrees were actually slightly down, from 22 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in 1996 to 20 percent in 2012. There has been no fl ight from any fi eld into business.

What follows is my own reading on the liberal arts, which I aim to carry into my section of Humanities 201 (the Search for Values in the Light of Western History and Religion). What we deeply know is funda-mentally historical. Without the perspec-tive that time provides for reading, think-ing, and debating, the present is simply too immediate to allow us to distinguish the important from the ephemeral. Here is an example from the director of American studies at Columbia University Andrew Delbanco’s bête noire, economics. In the

middle-third of the past century, most economists would have proposed that by far the most important economic writer of the time was John Maynard Keynes. There were good reasons to believe that was so, such as the consequences of the 1962 Kennedy tax cut. But by the time of the Carter era stagfl ation, Keynesian theory was in tatters. Understanding the succes-sion of economic knowledge from new, to almost certainly true, to nearly useless, may provide some well-earned skepticism of scholarly fads.

The liberal arts are founded on the books that constitute the great Western tradition. Little that we really need to know does not appear in the great books that we read in Search. Plenty of what makes economics useful can be found in Wealth of Nations, and much else besides. How to manage people in a large fi rm really is just an ad-aptation of The Prince, and if Machiavelli seems too harsh, one can leaven his sug-gestions with Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative. The long-term problems of a family business have never been better described than in Buddenbrooks. In sum, the liberal arts confer perspective, and to the thoughtful recipient, the beginning of wisdom.

Fleeing from the Fleeing from the Fleeing from the Liberal Arts? Liberal Arts? Liberal Arts? Not So FastNot So FastNot So FastBy Dr. John E. MurrayBy Dr. John E. MurrayBy Dr. John E. Murray

AAA



In my own college experience at Oberlin, I came to admire several faculty members who taught in the Conservatory of Music. The conservatory model is a much better fi t for liberal arts colleges than to mimic small research universities with better teaching. The job of a conservatory is, literally, to conserve the beautiful and interesting music of the past. It encourages composition of new music, but primarily students attend to learn the repertoire. In a good liberal arts college, students should learn the repertoire of our tradition.

The main threat to the liberal arts does not come from vocational and otherwise mar-ketable fi elds. On the day of this writing, in my Search class we discussed Martin Luther King’s “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail,” noting his repeated references to natu-ral law, supported by quotations from great books. His persuasive power stemmed, in part, from the explicit placement of his ar-gument in this tradition. King notes at one point that the real enemies of the nonviolent civil rights activists were not the racists with their fi re hoses and German shepherds, but the moderates who professed sympathy, but then did nothing. They were, King says, al-luding to Revelation 3:16, lukewarm.

Just so, the most dangerous associates of the liberal arts are not HR departments in the business world, but those who claim to advocate for the liberal arts and then set syllabi that feature fl eeting works of popular culture. These assignments miss the im-portance of the standard works. We do not set the tradition; it is already there, beyond our power to change (thankfully). We can acknowledge it by teaching our students its repertoire or we can choose to teach some-thing less.

Of course these books are diffi cult, but they are not impossible. Of course only a small number of people become acquainted with them in each generation, but the books open to all who care to read them. A rigorous education, based on the traditional great books, teaches students great things—compassion for others in the human condi-tion, the value of striving for greatness, the need for self-awareness, and humility in those efforts. Young people who take these lessons to heart will fi nd them very useful indeed. Even in the job market.

Dr. John E. Murray is the J. R. Hyde III Pro-fessor of Political Economy at Rhodes College.

Dr. John Murray

JAMIE H

ARMON


Dr. Steven Caudill and Julia Clapper ’12

In the publish or perish world of academia, it’s not uncommon for a Rhodes student to fi nd scholarly research authored by her professor. But she can fi nd even more familiar names among certain economics journals—those of her peers—thanks to the efforts of the Robert D. McCallum professor of economics Steven Caudill.

Thirteen students in Caudill’s three most recent senior seminar courses have had 14 papers accepted for publication in the very journals that they read for their own coursework. “These are not student journals,” Caudill explains. “These are journals that other PhD economists are publishing in.”

Caudill, who shares co-authorship with his students, works closely with his senior seminar participants through several drafts of their research and adds his own professional touches to the fi nal drafts. Julia Clapper ’12 collaborated with Caudill on her research on water quality in Ontario lakes. The research was published in a top-tier economics journal.

“Dr. Caudill’s mentorship during the whole research paper process was invaluable because we had never written a graduate-level research paper,” she says. “He required us to check in with him to make sure we were on the right course, and he would steer us back to the right direction.”

Caudill stresses the professional benefi ts that these students receive from being published as undergraduates. “Students learn what it is we professors do and get

something to put on their résumé that sometimes the people interviewing them for jobs don’t even have,” he says.

Clapper now uses the data analysis skills she learned in her undergraduate research in her role as an assistant buyer for AutoZone. “Undergraduate research is one of the unique things that Rhodes has to offer,” she says. “It makes you marketable to graduate schools because they know you’re capable of doing high-level research, and it makes you marketable to employers because you’re a published economist, essentially.”

Both the students and Caudill benefi t from their collaboration in senior seminar. “I get research done that I might not have had time for otherwise,” he says. “The activity makes me work closely with students and makes it much easier for me to write letters of recommendation for them. I can talk about the quality of the work the student did. That’s a much stronger letter than just talking about a student’s grades and GPA.”

Clapper agrees: “One of the benefi ts of Rhodes in general is having this unique relationship with your professors.”

Students Gain Via Co-authorshipBy Caroline Ponseti ’15

JUSTIN FOX BU

RKS

SUCCESS STORY

U.S. Department of Commerce

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workers

drive our nation’s innovation and competitiveness by generating new

ideas, new companies and new industries.

“STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future”

David Langdon, George McKittrick, David Beede,

Beethika Khan, and Mark Doms

40

hen I ponder the role of the sciences and the value of a science edu-cation within a liberal

arts environment, my thoughts gravitate to-ward Leonardo da Vinci. By no means am I a da Vinci scholar. As any casual consumer of the arts, I am in great appreciation of his hundreds of contributions to the fi eld. As a scientist, however, I am constantly in awe as I become more familiar with the advances he made for the sciences.

In a sense, da Vinci embraced the liberal arts model in that he did not see a divide between art and science. His insatiable curiosity mirrors the lifelong passion for learning that we attempt to ignite in our students. He was multifaceted—an artist, writer, engineer, and biologist, among many other titles. He imagined feats of engineer-ing long before we developed the capabili-ties to fashion them into tangible forms. His studies of human anatomy through the dissection of human corpses advised and advanced his ability to so brilliantly cap-ture the nature of being human on paper, canvas, bronze, and stone.

What I believe ties his accomplishments to a liberal arts education is that much of

his training came through apprenticeship. Rhodes embraces the scholar-mentor model in which undergraduates work closely on research projects or creative activities under the apprenticeship of Rhodes professors, who are experts within their given disci-plines. Rhodes strongly supports faculty scholarship and provides resources to fac-ulty members for the purpose of involving students in real research projects and cre-ative endeavors. The opportunity to work side-by-side at the bench with the scholar is the main aspect of a science education within the liberal arts environment that I believe sets apart such an educational ex-perience from what a student might experi-ence at a university. There are likely greater numbers of op-portunities to employ student researchers at universities simply due to more avail-able funding. However, there is rarely the opportunity for an undergraduate student to work directly with the head of the lab or the principle investigator. More often, undergraduates are paired with a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow, or laboratory technician, and the student rarely inter-acts with the principal investigator. My research students and I sit down together to plan experiments. As a team, we work at

Examining Life Examining Life Examining Life Under a Broader Under a Broader Under a Broader ScopeScopeScopeBy Dr. Loretta Jackson-HayesBy Dr. Loretta Jackson-HayesBy Dr. Loretta Jackson-Hayes

WWW hen I ponder the role W hen I ponder the role W hen I ponder the role W hen I ponder the role of the sciences and the Wof the sciences and the Wof the sciences and the Wof the sciences and the value of a science edu-Wvalue of a science edu-Wvalue of a science edu-Wvalue of a science edu-cation within a liberal Wcation within a liberal Wcation within a liberal Wcation within a liberal



the bench together to actually carry out the experiments. We gather and review the data together, and determine the next questions to address, together. After two to three years of direct mentoring, students develop the ability to interpret results on their own, describe how these fi ndings advance the project, gen-erate ideas for subsequent experiments, and plan experiments themselves—often offering creative and innovative ways to address the question at hand. Such student evolution is the direct result of the student experiencing the nurturing guidance of the scholar-mentor offered by a liberal arts education. Research is of no value if it is not shared within the scientifi c community and re-packaged in a form that can be consumed by a general audience, making the most important step in a science project the abil-ity to communicate fi ndings verbally or in written form. To this point, science students educated within a liberal arts environment have an advantage. Just as da Vinci’s study of human anatomy informed his painting and sculpture, study of writing and analyses of texts equip our science students to communi-cate their scientifi c fi ndings as professionals in the fi eld. Our students accompany us to

regional, national, and international confer-ences, where we step back and allow the students to do the talking. My students have written portions of scientifi c articles that have been published by our research team. In these instances, the students and I exchange drafts of manuscripts until together we arrive at publishable versions. They are co-authors through contributing to both the experi-ments and the writing. To innovate is to introduce change—some-thing new and different. While it is true that STEM workers can indeed drive innovation, imagine how much more innovative a student or employee could be if the pool of knowledge from which they draw is wider and deeper. That occurs as the result of a liberal arts education.

Dr. Loretta Jackson-Hayes is an associate pro-fessor of chemistry. Her research focuses on genes that are involved in fungal cell wall metabo-lism. The fungal cell wall, which is composed of polysaccharides and glycoproteins, is essential for growth and metabolism of the fungus and is an excellent target for antifungal drugs.

Dr. Loretta Jackson-Hayes

JAMIE H

ARMON

“I promise you, folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled man-

ufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree.”

P resident Barack Obama

44

harged with interrogating this quote from the presi-dent, I Google “Obama art history.” I click on the fi rst

result, a video from CNN, in which the quote is introduced by a gray-haired man in a dark and serious suit, standing in front of a bank of monitors in a digitally created nonspace. The camera cuts from this man to President Obama, who stands in shirt-sleeves, his tie slightly loosened. His under- shirt is visible through his buttondown under the intense light from what I assume is the work-day sun.

Behind him is a crowd of men and women in more casual clothing, some wearing sweat-shirts that have the name of a union printed across them. Their presence creates a spec-trum of skin tones. Each person was clearly vetted for visual effect, as were the presi-dent’s and the newscaster’s costumes, the size of their fl ag lapel pins, the shape of the mi-crophones they speak into, and the angle of the light on their faces. The president makes the comment in question, immediately de-clares his love for art history, and says that he doesn’t want to get a bunch of angry emails from art historians. The crowd behind him laughs and the clip cuts off abruptly.

A click away, I fi nd a digitized copy of a handwritten note from President Obama, apologizing to an angry art history profes-sor who emailed him to complain about his comments. The card on which the note is written is plain, undecorated save for two lines of text printed in a conservative, serif font in a shade of blue that is just on the vibrant side of navy: THE WHITE HOUSE, and under it in smaller letters, WASHING-TON. Its tasteful, minimal aesthetic pulls double duty, meant to convey both populist effi ciency (note the absence of gold gild-ing) and stern superiority (you know where Washington is, right?). It sets up a produc-tive contrast with the friendliness of the president’s own handwriting, particularly his looping signature, soft on the outside with a strong slash through the middle.

Like the video of the president’s speech, it is a screen-scale tour de force of political imagecraft, certainly produced with the full knowledge that it would be digitized and go viral, at least among a particular demo-graphic. Below this image are more clickable headlines: “Daisy campaign ad that changed politics turns 50,” “Are stolen images of celeb-rities art?” “Cell phone images now used in the war on terror,” “Drone images reportedly show . . .” and on and on. There are links to

Richness in Richness in Richness in the Eye of the the Eye of the the Eye of the BeholderBeholderBeholderBy Joel Parsons ’07By Joel Parsons ’07By Joel Parsons ’07

CCC



slideshows and videos, which contain within them more videos and are prefaced by com-mercials for movies or television shows.

Even when presented with a text, my research instincts are grounded in methodologies from art history 101, tools for visual analysis that I have employed frequently since the day I learned them in a fi rst-year art history course here at Rhodes College. With a cursory visual analysis complete, I turn again to the quote, which I can see now as a product of its atten-dant images as much as a producer of them. Will a skilled manufacturer or tradeswoman make a lot more money than a student of art history? Maybe. It’s possible. Who can know for sure? The answer is far less interesting and vital than the follow-up questions that close-looking can produce. At whom is this message of economic self-suffi ciency via vocational training being directed? What image of Amer-ica is painted by this message and the setting in which it is delivered, and who has access to that America? (Another relevant question might be, does a person who becomes an arts professional for the money harbor a greater misunderstanding of art or money? But that’s a question for another conversation.)

Stepping outside of this exercise and these questions, what we can say, for certain, is that our culture creates and deploys images at an

increasing, and increasingly overwhelming, rate. Paychecks aside, more and more we are fi nding that images are a kind of currency. And there is no fi eld of study that better equips its students to process, unpack, dissect, navigate, analyze, defl ate, create, and other-wise make sense and use of images than the study of visual art. As the onslaught of images grows, a skilled manufacturer, an academic, and a president will fi nd that an eye honed in art history seminars and painting studios will serve her better every day.

In his apology note, President Obama said that art history, which we may understand as the fruit of this process of close-looking and analysis, has helped him in his own life to “take in a great deal of joy.” Replace joy with richness, understood in its broadest sense, and you’ll fi nd a sentiment with which a great many artists, skilled manufacturers, art historians, and tradeswomen can agree.

Joel Parsons is the director of Clough-Hanson Gallery. He received an MFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been exhibited in Chicago, Atlanta, and Memphis as well as Turkey, South Africa, and India. He also runs a small alternative space devoted to queer art and performance called Beige.

Joel Parsons ’07

JAMIE H

ARMON


Late in spring semester 2014, an outburst of cheerful exuberance erupted from one end of Palmer Hall. Ellie Skochdopole ’15, a Rhodes Student Associate in the Offi ce of Communications, ran around exclaim-ing, “I got it! I got it!” Here’s why:

“I had been in Paris the summer before and I wanted to top it. I wanted to spend the summer in Washington, D.C., with my sister. The Smithsonian was the biggest name there I could think of and it just happened that they needed a public af-fairs intern in the National Portrait Gallery there. I just shot for the stars,” she says.

In doing so, Skochdopole joined a grow-ing list of exceptional art and art history majors who gain valuable experience while at Rhodes and go on to successful careers in the arts.

“We are bridging academic training with opportunities that get our students off campus and help them think about the possibilities of art careers,” says Dr. David McCarthy, professor of art. “It is very com-petitive for these positions, and the fact that our students are getting these intern-ships and jobs is a testament to the quality of education that Rhodes offers.”

Among her many duties, Skochdopole handled all social media for the gal-lery and spearheaded the gallery’s par-ticipation in the Smithsonian Summer Showdown, a competition that chal-lenged each division of the Smithsonian to submit one of its works that was its most iconic representation. The gallery’s submission of Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of

President George Washington won in the

category of art, but ultimately lost the

competition to the National Zoo’s entry

of Bao Bao, the giant panda.

The internship proved a turning point in

Skochdopole’s thinking about her future.

“I didn’t really have a clear career track,

but now I know I want to go into museum

and art communications.”

Art WorksBy Lynn Conlee

JAMIE H

ARMON

Ellie Skochdopole ’15

SUCCESS STORY


STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

The Class of 2018 assembles for Opening Convocation

JUSTIN FOX BU

RKS

The Student Spotlight this fall looks at the Class of 2018, 511 fi rst-year students who boost Rhodes’

student population to around 2,025. Join Rhodes magazine in extendng a warm welcome to our newest class.

— Lynn Conlee

Fatiha Abdulahi – Cordova, TNNick Abrams – Oakland, CAEmily Adams – New Orleans, LAHannah Rose Adams – Atlanta, GALily Aguillard – Baton Rouge, LAZaid Ahmad – Memphis, TNSunya Ahmed – Chesterfi eld, MOBen Aiken – Springfi eld, MOChristian Allen – Auburn, ALReagan Alley – Nashville, TNOmar Altabbaa – Cordova, TNJack Anastasi – Hopkinton, MAJordan Ankersen – Mobile, AL

Diana Azcarate – Memphis, TNZaid Baba – Jackson, TNLacey Ballard – Clinton, MSReeta Bandyopadhyay – Hermitage, TNCorrina Banks – Alburtis, PATaylor Barksdale – Memphis, TNKristin Barnes – Little Rock, ARDrew Barry – Prosper, TXBritney Barthol – Cordova, TNJoey Bartholomew – Belleville, ILAlexandra Bartlett – Las Vegas, NVRachel Bassett – West Palm Beach, FLBrandon Bates – Franklin, TNGage Battles – Ozark, ARTyler Beasom – Windermere, FLCampbell Beaver – Moraga, CAFrank Beiser – Bethesda, MDElizabeth Bender – Fort Worth, TXSiobhan Bennett – Palos Park, ILChris Bernardon – Madison, NJBrad Bierdz – Millington, TNTyler Bierschenk – Dallas, TX

Jack Bierwagen – Acton, MAJennifer Bitterly – Simi Valley, CAKathleen Blanck – Kansas City, MOAvery Blankenship – Clinton, NCSimon Boles – Fairhope, ALWill Bollinger – McLean, VADominik Booth – Lexington, KYAndre Boulay – Staten Island, NYMattie Boyd – Jackson, TNMaggie Bradley – Memphis, TNJeremy Breddan – Agoura Hills, CAKatie Brewster – Atlanta, GAAustin Bridgforth – Greenwood Village, CONora Brineman – Little Rock, ARKathryn Brode – Plano, TXAustin Brown – Cordova, TNAshley Bruneau – Rock Hill, SCLizzy Brydon – Sugar Land, TXEmily Buddy – Covington, LAOlivia Burchett – Lexington, KYRaven Burks – Memphis, TNErin Burman – Knoxville, TN

The Class of 2018


Keyshawn Butts – Kennesaw, GAConor Byrne – Bethesda, MDJessica Cabrera – Dallas, TXAlexa Calomiris – Washington, DCNatalie Campbell – Washington, DCClaire Caprio – Starkville, MSLaura Cardona – Cordova, TNCaroline Cardwell – Germantown, TNFrancis Carlota – Lakeland, TNJessica Carr – Avondale Estates, GAVirginia Carr – Camden, ARCatrina Cattaneo – Spencer, MAAshten Chambliss – Phoenix, AZAlison Chang – Austin, TXAlexander Chavez – Austin, TXBaiza Cherinet – Riverdale, GABailey Choudhury – Mount Juliet, TNTasnim Chowdhury – Nashville, TNChristine Chuang – Manhattan Beach, CAShelton Clark – Nashville, TNMeredith Clement – Slidell, LAKarissa Coady – Watertown, MAWill Cobb – Jackson, TNSkyler Cochrane – Nashville, TNJulie Coen – Kingston, TNMiranda Colegrove – Lake Jackson, TXCarter Connelly – Rockville, MDBridget Costello – Attleboro Falls, MAMatthew Coughlon – Scottsdale, AZRachel Coyle – Austin, TXAndrew Craig – Roswell, GAMicah Crawford – Memphis, TNHaley Cremerius – Memphis, TNMagaly Cruz – Memphis, TNMelissa Cuddington – Boulder, COThomas Cullom – Flora, MSKendall Cunningham – Alexandria, VAKatrina Cymerman – Sherman Oaks, CAMatt Dale – North Wales, PAKennedy Dalton – Goldsboro, NCPrice Dalton – Houston, TXPeter Daniels – Nashua, NHDenzel Darby – Atlanta, GAAndrew DaRosa – Scarborough, MEAlec Davis – Greencastle, INMcKenna Davis – Westerville, OHAnnie Deal – Jacksonville, ILLauren deBlanc – Harvey, LAErin Deery – Winter Park, FLDominique DeFreece – Delhi, NYHannah Delagi – Dallas, TX

Robert DelBello – Fort Wayne, INNick DeMaris – Minneapolis, MNColby Denesuk – Dallas, TXJohn Dewar – Beaver Dam, WIChelsea Dezfuli – Cordova, TNAbel Diaz – Houston, TXTina Dillas – Minot, NDKnox Dobbins – Houston, TXConor Dorian – Alexandria, LAJacob Dougherty – Salem, ORCaroline Downer – Natchez, MSKatie Drummond – Fairhope, ALKendall Duke – Lewisville, TXMadisen Duke-Bruechert – Austin, TXJack Dunavant – Memphis, TNThy Duong – Memphis, TNLilly Dupert – Lockhart, TXGarrett Durbin – Knoxville, TNRenn Eason – Eads, TNLaura Eckelkamp – Saint Louis, MOKyle Edmiston – Flower Mound, TXHope Elliott – Waterloo, ILEmily Ellison – Fleming Island, FLReggie Eskridge – Memphis, TNMadeline Evans – New Orleans, LALuke Fairbanks – Baton Rouge, LAMac Farley – Mountain Brook, ALMax Farley – Murfreesboro, TNRachel Farley – Glen Ellyn, ILKatherine Farmer – Houston, TXKlari Farzley – Little Rock, ARRyan Fennelly – Montclair, NJNick Ferngren – Coral Springs, FLDavis Field – Saint Francisville, LABlair Fisher – Atlanta, GAEvan Fitzpatrick – Metairie, LADrew Flaherty – Memphis, TNMeredith Forman – Harlingen, TXCaroline Fowler – Anchorage, KYCaleb Fowler – Driftwood, TXAlexis Franklin – Lakeland, TNSpencer Franklin – Brentwood, TNJillian Franks – Florissant, MOEllie Fratt – Ashland, WIJohn Frey – Covington, LABeth Friedman – Hartsdale, NYKeeley Frost – Hardwick, MAAlice Fugate – Atlanta, GAKatherine Gabrick – Saint Paul, MNGabby Gafford – Dallas, TXJared Gallagher – Cordova, TN

Dani Garcia – Memphis, TNAnnalee Gardner – New Orleans, LAAnne Elizabeth Garrard – Jackson, TNZach Gilbert – Fairfax Station, VAJordan Giles – Shreveport, LAAllesondra Gilgan – Salem, ORJohn Gillenwater – Little Rock, ARKatie Gleason – Austin, TXErin Gleeson – Franklin, TNDavid Glenn – Southlake, TXOlivia Glenn – Clarksville, TNEmma Goldman – Atlanta, GAChris Goza – Overland Park, KSAndrew Green – Memphis, TNHallie Green – Austin, TXSarah Greenbaum – Little Rock, ARLevi Greenberg – Saint Louis, MODexter Griffi n – Memphis, TNNicole Gsell – Glen Ridge, NJAlex Gulis – Dallas, TXMary Gunning – Atlanta, GAElizabeth Hale – Homewood, ALChase Hanson – Waukee, IABri Hardeman – Austin, TXTesa Hargis – Lewisville, TXLuke Harjo – Tulsa, OKChris Harris – Atlanta, GAEmily Harrison – Birmingham, ALIan Harrison – Nashville, TNLamisa Hasan – Germantown, TNCaryn Hawkins – Gallatin, TNKatherine Hawkins – Nashville, TNVictoria Hawkins – College Grove, TNEllery Hayden – Baton Rouge, LAAlexis Heard – Birmingham, ALTazio Heller – Denver, COKarina Henderson – Saint Louis, MOAngelle Henkelmann – Baton Rouge, LATianna Herman – Tamarac, FLMark Herrington – Vestavia, ALMatthew Hobbs – Saint Petersburg, FLJoy Hocut – North Little Rock, ARTori Holder – Dallas, TXOlivia Holmes – Boulder, COBailey Hooberry – Nashville, TNEleanor Hook – Decatur, GAHelen Hope – Little Rock, ARHannah Hornsey – Jonesborough, TNMack House – Louisville, KYAlexandra Howard – Memphis, TNJoseph Howe – Charlotte, NC


Lisa Hsi – Austin, TXMatthew Huber – Saint Peter, MNHope Hudson – Memphis, TNCharlie Hughes – Jackson, TNLily Huo – Sacramento, CACaroline Ilnicky – Richmond, VACasey Iskra – West Roxbury, MAJessica Islas-Parker – Palatine, ILDoria Jackson – Saint Louis, MOBlake Jacobs – Woodstock, GALacey Jamerson – Little Rock, ARPhillip James – Houston, TXAidan Jebson – Tampa, FLSamantha Jelinek – Medina, TNGrant Johannes – Huntsville, ALGrace John – Memphis, TNRoger Johnson – Birmingham, ALSarah Johnson – Little Rock, ARChandler Joiner – Franklin, TNTabitha Joyner – Rossville, TNJenna Kauffman – Cottage Grove, ORBryce Keaton – Little Rock, ARMaddie Kellas – New York, NYHenry Kemp – Knoxville, TNGrace Kennedy – Castle Rock, COCailey Kesselring – Tulsa, OKSaad Khalid – Franklin, TNTurner Kim – Bethesda, MDJesse Kirtchuk – Brooklyn, NYAddie Klemm – Fort Worth, TXMitchell Koenig – Brentwood, TNOwen Koorbusch – Darien, CTKristin Kuehner – Memphis, TNDaniel Kurtzer – Raleigh, NCSamantha Lamy – Southbury, CTElizabeth Anne Land – Austin, TXZoe Laulederkind – Milwaukee, WIBen Laviana – Saint Louis, MOHan Le – Memphis, TNOlivia Lee – Mason, OHLiz Lewis – Draper, UTKelsea Lewis – Memphis, TNJenny Li – ChinaZiWei Li – ChinaZong Fang Li – ChinaWilliam Liebenson – Los Angeles, CABetsy Limbaugh – Mountain Brook, ALKatarina Lindskog – Franklin, NHCourtney Link – Chesterfield, MOJesse Linkhorn – Westerville, OHAshley Litoff – Louisville, CO

Allison Long – Springfield, ILHayden Longley – Rock Spring, GAJennifer Loome – Clinton, MSEmma Loss – Brooklyn, NYKim Macharia – Marietta, GAAbby MacKay Zacker – Saint Charles, ILTaylor Majewski – Wichita Falls, TXAnna Maldonado – Boca Raton, FLAriana Mancieri – Livermore, CASwaneet Mand – Murphy, TXKate Manning – Pennington, NJTrey Mannion – Duluth, GAAnna Manoogian – Saint Louis, MOEmily Marcho – Fort Worth, TXSean Mattheisen – Chandler, AZThomas Matthews – Raleigh, NCCameron Maxwell – Southaven, MSHannah Maxwell – Little Rock, ARColton Mayo – Saint Petersburg, FLSiena Mazzetti – Austin, TXMaggie McCormack – New Orleans, LADrew McCormick – Batesville, VAKelly McGee – Houston, TXMatt McKeand – Franklin, TNSamuel McLain – Montgomery, ALLuke McNamara – Fallston, MDBron McPherson – Kennett, MOChristopher Meadows – Chattanooga, TNSemaye Mengistu – Jackson, TNJack Mercer – Houston, TXEmily Messmer – Saint Louis, MOCasey Middleton – Lexington, TNLuis Milburn – Stafford, VAMarc Miller – Rowlett, TXMax Miller – Calabasas, CASam Miller – Mansfield, OHSoraya Miri – Newburyport, MAEmily Mitchell – Mobile, ALMaggie Mitchell – Highlands Ranch, COThomas Mitchell – Knoxville, TNWilliam Mitchell – Roland, ARMuna Mohamed – Memphis, TNKyamran Mohammad – Fort Worth, TXTravis Monders – Salem, ORDylan Monies – Covington, LAReed Montgomery – Saint Louis, MOJoshua Moore – Memphis, TNSpencer Moore – Austin, TXSarah Morris – Hartland, WIJoshua Morton – Fort Worth, TXMonica Moskiewicz – Chicago, IL

Amar Muhammad – Cordova, TNMolly Mulhern – Metairie, LATate Mulligan – McKinney, TXEmily Murphy – Canton, GAMaggie Myers – Germantown, TNRachel Myers – Saint Louis, MOCasey Myers-Morgan – Dallas, TXLarissa Nash – Columbus, NJMedora Neely – Dallas, TXSarah Newbern – Little Rock, ARLollie Newsome – Decatur, GAMichelle Ngo – Memphis, TNAndy Nguyen – Bossier City, LAVictoria Norris – Chattanooga, TNWill Notelovitz – Austin, TXAnesu Nyawata – Rockville, MDSean O’Brien – Slidell, LAElisabet Olsen – Califon, NJKat Olsen – Califon, NJShiriene Omid – San Jose, CAAidan O’Reilly – Atlanta, GAEmily Orth – Dallas, TXAndrea Pajarillo – Grapevine, TXNatalie Palmer – Murfreesboro, TNChristopher Parish – Largo, FLBenton Parker – Madison, MSWes Parker – Watkinsville, GACallie Parsons – Chelmsford, MARutvi Patel – Saint Louis, MOJack Patton – Vestavia, ALMargaret Payne – Saint Charles, MOJoey Penn – Overland Park, KSAshley Peterson – Hilton Head Island, SCMary Phan – Germantown, TNSheridan Phelan – Collierville, TNRyan Phillips – Peachtree City, GANicholas Pietrangelo – Collierville, TNSales Pinckney – Savannah, GAAnnie Pitner – Houston, TXJack Plimpton – Pennington, NJCiara Pocino – Chesterfield, NJHannah Porter – New Orleans, LAJustin Powers – Cleveland, TNNatalie Prodanovich – Germantown, TNMontana Pugh – Phenix City, ALLiam Purcell – Texarkana, TXSamantha Quayle – Ballwin, MOGrant Ramey – Terrace Park, OHLauren Randolph – Humboldt, TNReem Rassoul – Germantown, TNJuliana Ratton – Austin, TX


Alexandra Rawlings – Lakeville, CTSpencer Reaves – Rogers, ARAlisa Redding – McKinney, TXSamantha Regala – Naples, FLWill Reid – Davidson, NCCaroline Reilly – Marietta, GATommy Reingruber – Chevy Chase, MDRyne Reynolds – Martin, TNMaddie Rhodes – Memphis, TNBarry Rich – Atlanta, GAAlexander Richards – Wake Forest, NCAlienor Richardson – Dallas, TXPatrick Richardson – Jackson, TNNatalie Richmond – Arlington, TNClaire Rickard – Montgomery, ALNoah Rinehart – Cordova, TNMaggie Rippeto – Houston, TXRiley Risher – Covington, LAAbby Ritter – Cape Girardeau, MOBlake Roberts – Metairie, LAJessie Robinson – Oklahoma City, OKLucy Robinson – Asheville, NCMark Robinson – Saint Louis, MONick Rocha – Germantown, TNSydney Rogers – Little Rock, ARMaja Roglic – North Andover, MAAaron Romanowski – Nokesville, VAKira Romeo – Clarksville, TNSydney Roper – Hot Springs, ARBen Rosenberg – Nashville, TNRied Roshong – Huron, OHSarah Rostamo – Irving, TXMary Rowe – Ballwin, MOFrances Rowland – Indianapolis, INSarah Ryan – Niles, ILWarren Sams – Atlanta, GADavis Samuel – Southlake, TXKirsten Samuels – Bradenton, FLMerare Sanchez – Dallas, TXMadison Saner – Fort Worth, TXNino Scalia – McLean, VANatalie Scanlon – Erie, PAHannah Schadey – Phoenix, AZTia Schlesinger – Metairie, LAVienna Schmitter-Schrier – Soldotna, AKHenry Schopp – Canaan, CTWill Schultze – Grand Rapids, MIKatie Schuster – Little Rock, ARGarrett Scott – Tupelo, MSRuth Scott – Leander, TXJordan Sears – Bronxville, NY

Maddie Seidel – Birmingham, ALEmma Selner – Denver, COGabbi Serrato – Boca Raton, FLMelanie Sevilla – Lakeland, TNJessica Shainker – Atlanta, GARyan Shankle – Bay Minette, ALLaurel Sharp – Huntsville, ALPhoebe Sharp – Nashville, TNMike Shearburn – Saint Louis, MODon Shin – Collierville, TNLeon Shum – Germantown, TNIqra Siddiq – Cordova, TNMaddie Smith – Chapel Hill, NCPatrick Smith – Merrimack, NHPrentiss Smith – Atlanta, GAJohn Snyder – San Rafael, CADoug Solomon – New York, NYAnda Sommers – Minneapolis, MNYi Song – ChinaTim Soper – Princeton, NJTaylor Sorilla – La Mesa, CAJacob Stansberry – Gretna, LAMargaret Stapleton – Sewanee, TNJill Stark – Memphis, TNZachary Stephens – Buffalo Grove, ILAlexander Stevens – Daphne, ALAlex Stickler – Grayslake, ILMerrill Stovroff – Atlanta, GATej Suber – Smyrna, GAMattie Sullivan – Atlanta, GAEvan Sumner – Carmel, INQianhui Sun – ChinaCody Takkinen – Placentia, CAQuin Teachey – Germantown, TNPatrick Teagle – Fort Smith, AROlivia Thomas – Baton Rouge, LASam Thomas – Germantown, TNSam Thomasson – Hearne, TXMalik Thompson – Staten Island, NYAnya Tipton – New Orleans, LAWesley Tolsdorf – Crestwood, KYKatie Tooley – Saint Louis, MOElliott Tostrud – Coppell, TXLauren Travis – Asheville, NCTaylor Treas – Germantown, TNDulcie Trottier – Dunbarton, NHBeth Trueman – Memphis, TNSawyer Tucker – Decatur, GAMadison Tucker – Pelham, ALJessie Ustick – Houston, TXEllie Valega – Houston, TX

William Vance – Atlanta, GAGrady Vaughan – Cordova, TNMackenzie Vaughn – Franklin, TNDiana Vincent – Chapel Hill, NCZain Virk – Germantown, TNBen Voisine-Addis – Kennebunk, MEMark Voitik – Apopka, FLBenjamin Wade – Sharon, TNRahul Wadhwa – Trenton, NJChassidy Wallace – Memphis, TNBaobao Wang – ChinaXinzi Wang – ChinaMimi Washburn – Atlanta, GAAbby Watkins – Charlotte, NCEmily Watkins – Little Rock, ARSavannah Webb – Shreveport, LACatherine Weddig – Libertyville, ILCole Wendt – Zionsville, INNick Weng – Munford, TNGillian Wenhold – Collegeville, PABonnie Whitehouse – Winchester, MATaylor Wiggs – Millington, TNGeorgie Wilkins – Winchester, VAAvery Willett – Fairfield, CTElasha Williams – Carencro, LAGriffin Williams – Daphne, ALLaurie Williams – Dyersburg, TNMac Williamson – Nesbit, MSAngela Wilson – Memphis, TNJenny Wilson – Memphis, TNMurphy Wilt – Arlington, VAAdrian Winchester – Atlanta, GARachel Windmueller – Canonsburg, PAAnna Wohlbold – Brentwood, TNAlexandra Wolfe – Boise, IDKevin Wolff – Briarcliff Manor, NYDavid Wolski – Colorado Springs, COMorgan Woodrow – Charlottesville, VAEmily Wozena – Delafield, WIKyanna Young – Memphis, TNSteven Yowan – Darien, CTAl Zaravar – Memphis, TNEmma ZeeAbrahamsen – Marietta, GARose Zeng – Memphis, TNYui Zhao – China


Hannah Barker joins the Depart-ment of History as assistant professor. She received a PhD in history from Co-lumbia University. While at Columbia, she was a teaching assistant in a variety of courses: The Early and Late Middle Ages, The Romans, Christianity, An-cient Egypt, and The Mongols.

James Barker joins the Depart-ment of Religious Studies as assistant professor. He received a PhD in new testament and early Christianity from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Barker comes to Rhodes from Luther College, where he taught courses such as Chris-tians, Jews, and Pagans in the Greco-Roman World; Introduction to Biblical Studies; The Making of the Bible; and Interrelations of the Gospels.

Zachary A. Casey joins the Depart-ment of Psychology as assistant profes-sor of educational studies. He received

a PhD in education, curriculum and instruction from the University of Minnesota. He has taught courses in the social and cultural foundations of education, curriculum theory, multi-cultural education, and practitioner re-search at Arizona State University and the University of Minnesota.

Kelly Ann Dougherty joins the De-partment of Biology as assistant profes-sor. Dr. Dougherty received a PhD in cell and developmental biology from Thomas Jefferson University in Phila-delphia, PA. Most recently she has been a research associate at the Center for Learning and Memory at the University of Texas at Austin. There she also taught courses in biology, neurobiology, and synaptic physiology and plasticity.

Melody Durrett joins the Depart-ment of Biology as assistant professor. She received a PhD in biological sciences

with a concentration in botany from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Most recently she has taught courses includ-ing Wetland Ecology, Flora of Alaska, and Fundamentals of Biology.

Amanda Dykema joins the De-partment of English as visiting assis-tant professor. Dr. Dykema received a PhD in English from the University of Maryland, College Park. Most recent-ly at Maryland, she taught courses in American literature, world literature, and literature by women.

Jason Haberman joins the Depart-ment of Psychology as assistant profes-sor. Dr. Haberman received a PhD in psychology from the University of Cali-fornia at Davis and did his postdoctoral training at Harvard University. He has taught courses such as Cognitive Neuro-science, Cognitive Psychology, Sensation and Perception, and Brain and Behavior.

FACULTY FOCUS

New Faculty

JUSTIN FOX BU

RKS

(Front row, from left) Dr. Leigh Pittenger, Yi Lu, Dr. Cynthia Ryder, Ashanté Reese, Dr. Jason Haberman; (second row) Dr. Melody Durrett, Dr. Amanda Dykema, Dr. Jamie Jirout, Dr. Bradley Onishi, Joel Parsons ’07; (third row) Dr. Yuanting Lu, Dr. Dana Horgen, Dr. Thilina Surasinghe, Dr. Hannah Barker, Dr. Ryan Johnson, Dr. Rebecca Tuvel; (fourth row) Dr. Benjamin Purkis, Dr. James Barker, Dr. Keith Veal, Dr. Zachary Casey, and Dr. Kelly Ann Dougherty


Dana Horgen joins the Department of Chemistry as assistant professor. She attended St. Olaf College, where she received a BA in chemistry, and Baylor University, where she received a PhD in organic chemistry. Most recently, Dr. Horgen has been a teaching assis-tant at Baylor for Organic Laboratory, Advanced Organic Laboratory, and Qualitative Analysis Laboratory.

Jamie Jirout joins the Department of Psychology as assistant professor. Dr. Jirout received a PhD in psychol-ogy from Carnegie Mellon University. Most recently, she was a research fel-low at Temple University’s Spatial In-telligence and Learning Center in their Psychology Department.

Ryan Johnson joins the Depart-ment of History as assistant professor. Dr. Johnson received his PhD in histo-ry from the University of Oxford. He comes to Rhodes from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, where he was an assistant professor in the history of science and medicine.

Yuanting Lu joins the Depart-ment of Mathematics and Computer Science as assistant professor. Dr. Lu received a PhD in mathematics from Florida State University. Dr. Lu comes to Rhodes from Mercer University, where he taught courses such as Intro-ductory Statistics and Pre-calculus.

Yi Lu joins the Department of Modern Languages and Literature as instructor of Chinese. Ms. Lu is cur-rently pursuing a PhD in media studies from the University of Texas at Aus-

tin and will graduate in Spring 2015. There, she was a teaching assistant in the Department of Asian Studies.

Bradley Onishi joins the Search Program as assistant professor. Dr. Onishi received his PhD in religious studies from the University of Cali-fornia at Santa Barbara. He comes to Rhodes from Washington and Lee University, where he was a visiting as-sistant professor of religious studies.

Joel Parsons ʼ07 continues his work with the Department of Art and Art History in his new position as director of the Clough Hansen Gallery and assistant professor. He is an alumnus of Rhodes and received an MFA on a President’s Fellowship from the Sculpture Depart-ment at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been exhibited in Chicago, Atlanta, and Memphis as well as Turkey, South Africa, and India.

Leigh Pittenger continues her work with the Department of Religious Studies in her new full-time position as assistant professor. Dr. Pittenger re-ceived a PhD in comparative literature and religion from Emory University.

Benjamin Purkis joins the Depart-ment of Mathematics and Computer Science as assistant professor. Dr. Pur-kis received a PhD in mathematics from the University of Colorado. While there, he taught a broad range of cours-es from the introductory level Quan-titative Reasoning and Mathematical Skills to Calculus III.

Ashanté Reese joins the Depart-ment of Anthropology and Sociol-

ogy as the William Randolph Hearst Teaching Fellow. Ms. Reese is current-ly pursuing a PhD in anthropology from American University.

Cynthia Ryder joins the Depart-ment of Biology as assistant professor. Dr. Ryder received a PhD from Wake Forest University. Most recently, she was an undergraduate research mentor and taught courses in general biology and microbiology as well as molecular genetics and immunology at Lincoln Memorial University.

Thilina Surasinghe joins the De-partment of Biology as assistant pro-fessor. Dr. Surasinghe received a PhD in fi sheries and wildlife biology from Clemson University in South Carolina. Most recently he taught Organismal Biology, Vertebrate Zoology, General Biology, and non-major courses as a visiting assistant professor at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota.

Rebecca Tuvel joins the Depart-ment of Philosophy as assistant pro-fessor. Dr. Tuvel received a PhD in philosophy from Vanderbilt University. Most recently, she taught Introduction to Logic, the Philosophy of Consump-tion, and the Meaning of Life.

Keith Veal joins the Department of Political Science as assistant profes-sor. Dr. Veal received a PhD in politi-cal science from the University of Michigan. Most recently, he has taught courses at the University of Michigan such as American Politics, Political Theory, and Contemporary Issues in American Politics.

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ALUMNI NEWS

JUSTIN FOX BU

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ALUMNI PERSPECTIVE

A s the essayists in this issue of Rhodes magazine have demonstrated, there is exceptional value in a residential

liberal arts education. But for Rhodes Col-lege to continue to thrive and remain one of

the top liberal arts colleges in the nation, the support and participation of our commu-nity members is crucial. How can you help?

First, talk up the lib-eral arts every chance you get. Spread the word about the val-ue of a residential liberal arts education so that we recruit the finest high school students to Rhodes. Should you meet

a student who seems right for Rhodes, let us know. Student recruitment is as simple as sending an email with the name of a student you would like to recommend (please include their high school, grade, and contact informa-tion) to [email protected]. Also, the Alum-ni Relations Office coordinates phone calls to accepted students and their parents. These calls give students the opportunity to ask their final questions while providing the insight they need to make an informed decision about their futures. More importantly, the personal phone calls demonstrate to students and their parents the strength of the Rhodes communi-ty. If you are interested, please contact Caitlin Dempsey ’12 at [email protected].

Second, participate in the Rhodes career network as a way to demonstrate the range of job opportunities possible for liberal arts graduates. Lead by example! When they see your success, they will gain a broader un-derstanding of the options at their disposal. More specifically, your assistance is needed to expand the depth of internship and research

opportunities available to our students; to share professional and career advice; and to increase the number of employment possibili-ties available to our new graduates and young alumni. There are many ways to become in-volved including participating in the Student-Alumni Career Adviser Program, conducting mock interviews, critiquing resumes, and attending on-campus and out-of-town career networking events. To register to be a career advisor, contact Katherine Dunbar-Smith ’09 at [email protected]. If you or your company are able to provide summer internships and shadow opportunities during winter break, please contact Career Services at [email protected].

Finally, continue to engage actively in the liberal arts network by serving Rhodes through a chapter leadership committee or as a member of the Alumni Association Execu-tive Board (AAEB). Rhodes chapters engage members of the Rhodes community in their area through a variety of social and educa-tional events and through career networking and student recruitment efforts. If you are interested in joining your chapter leadership team, contact Nicole Lazo ’05 at [email protected]. The AAEB serves as an essential link between the college and our alumni, and is charged with directing and coordinat-ing the affairs of the Alumni Association and with representing and serving the needs of alumni. To nominate yourself, a friend, or classmate, send an e-mail to me at [email protected].

As 2014 winds down, I hope you will reflect on the many ways in which you can share the message of the value of the liberal arts at Rhodes.

—Tracy Vezina Patterson ’84, P’17

COREY NOLEN

SUPPORT THE LIBERAL ARTS

Chris Cardwell ’94

Elizabeth Roe Pearce ’91Atlanta, GeorgiaTrusteeCampaign Director, Coxe Curry and AssociatesMajor: Business

I made an initial gift to the Campaign for Rhodes to support something that is near and dear to my heart, which is Study Abroad. I really wanted to help create opportunities for students who might not otherwise have the chance to travel and see the world. But when I became a Rhodes Trustee, it became very important to me to make a demonstrative gift to support the college’s current renovations to the science facilities, even though that wasn’t “my thing.” I like the fact that the Campaign provides the fl exibility to make a gift that addresses the current needs of the college, while being able to recognize that gift somewhere on campus that is personally meaningful. So as a part of my gift to support the sciences, I was able to name a space in Burrow Hall.

For more information on how to support the Campaign for Rhodes, contact Amanda Grebe Tamburrino ’98. (901) 843-3030, [email protected]

Why I support the Campaign for Rhodes

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Nor rain nor cold nor anything else could deter Lynx fans from a fun-packed Homecoming/Reunion Weekend. The Lynx football team took home the Orgill Trophy again, defeating Sewanee 40-22. Men’s and women’s soccer defeated Birmingham-Southern 1-0 and 4-2, respectively, and the field hockey team downed Sewanee 5-1. A valiant effort by the women’s volleyball squad fell short in their weekend matches against Millsaps and Birmingham-Southern, but an evening of reunion parties and renewed friendships capped a fabulous day. The weekend was a wrap Sunday afternoon with a performance by the Rhodes Singers. We can’t wait until next year!!!!!!

4BY ALL ACCOUNTS

HOMECOMING/REUNION WEEKEND

WAS A SMASHING SUCCESS

rhodes magazine fall 2014

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