The Magazine of Rhodes College • Fall 2011
The T he Magazine of Rhodes College Co ollege • Fall F 2011 2011
Generations Fall Cover_'11.indd 1
10/12/11 12:07 PM
Contents 2
FALL 2011 VOLUME 18 • NUMBER 3
Generations Things have changed at Rhodes through the years, yet the basics remain
10
Holding Forth Students report their research in a dazzling display of disciplines
2
16
‘There isn’t an app for this’ Alums recount their time in the Peace Corps, which this year marks its 50th anniversary
26
The Class of 2015 See who’s here
30
Introducing the Day Scholars The college welcomes 10 students who are the first recipients of the new Day Scholarships
31
Alumni News Class Notes, In Memoriam
The 2010-2011 Honor Roll of Donors
10 On the Cover Phil ’79, Lisa ’80 and Will Mischke ’13, a family within the Rhodes family, in the Bryan Campus Life Center. (See story on page 2.) Photography by Justin Fox Burks
16
Contents_Fall ’11.indd 1
10/17/11 3:16 PM
is published three times a year by Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112 as a service to all alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff and friends of the college. Summer 2011—Volume 18, Number 3 EDITOR
Martha Hunter Shepard ’66 GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Larry Ahokas Robert Shatzer CONTRIBUTORS
Jay Adkins, Richard Alley, Justin Fox Burks, Ellen Dubin, Dean Galaro ’11, Chris Hartlove, Bryan Meltz, Bob Narod, Corey Nolen, David Ottenstein
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Please address postal correspondence to: Martha H. Shepard, Editor, Rhodes Magazine, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690 E-mail: magazine@rhodes.edu Phone: (901) 843-3544 Fax: (901) 843-3579
CLASS NOTES: Please send all Class Notes including marriages, births and obituaries to: Alumni Office, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690 Phone: (901) 843-3845 Fax: (901) 843-3947 E-mail: alumni@rhodes.edu
RHODES CENTRAL INFORMATION: 901-843-3000 RHODES ALUMNI OFFICE: 1 (800) 264-LYNX RHODES ADMISSIONS OFFICE: 1 (800) 844-LYNX POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: RHODES, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690
CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please mail the completed form below and label from this issue of RHODES to: Alumni Office, Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690
Visit rhodes.edu/magazine, or click the code, to see both an online and a page-turning version of the magazine. While there, be sure to check out the web-only content: • Photo gallery of Rhodes life from the 1950s to present • Video of the day in the 1970s when the monkeys from the zoo found
Name
their way to Rhodes
Street City
Visit rhodes.edu/news for the latest stories and features about people and events.
State
Zip
• Compelling firsthand accounts of alums’ experiences in the Peace Corps
Home Phone
Business Phone
• In Print—new books by faculty and alumni E-mail Employer Title
Contents_Fall ’11.indd 2
10/17/11 4:28 PM
G E N E R JUSTIN FOX BURKS
Phil ’79, Lisa ’80 and Will Mischke ’13 in the Bryan Campus Life Center
{2}
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
Generations2-la.indd 2
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 3:06 PM
A T I O N S BY MARTHA HUNTER SHEPARD ’66, RESEARCH BY DEAN GALARO ’11
W
hat makes Rhodes what it is? What’s changed in the last 60 years? A lot. And what hasn’t? Certainly not the essentials. Some changes have been significant, like having six presidents, from Diehl to Troutt and a student population that’s gone from some 300 to 1,800. The Rhodes curriculum, in many ways a living entity, can change over time. But what’s constant is the faculty’s commitment to refine its core, always providing students the skills fundamental to a liberal arts education. So here’s a digest of how things have changed yet stayed the same on campus from the mid-1940s to now.
CLASSES Back in the day, Dr. Diehl recruited as many Rhodes Scholars as he could for the faculty. There were one or two women faculty members. (Today, of 140 full-time faculty, 60 are women.) There were 8 a.m. Saturday classes. Seniors had to take—and pass—“comps,” threehour written comprehensive examinations in their majors. In the late ’60s into the ’70s, Third Term was popular, a few weeks of individual student-designed courses. Today, students can enroll in a “Maymester,” four-week courses in countries around the world led by Rhodes faculty. The college’s expansion of educational opportunities through the years has been its basic tenet: to provide the best liberal arts education anywhere. Carole Branyan ’67 and John Rone ’71 can testify to that. She has been auditing classes at Rhodes since retiring three years ago; he has worked at the college for 34 years. Among the things that haven’t changed, she says, are the “great professors and challenging classes where the faculty really know their students.” Rone agrees: “The vision of President Diehl for a campus of close-knit students and faculty is still very much in evidence.” Bill Coley ’50 believes the faculty “were responsible for instilling the spirit of the college—
rhodes.edu
Generations2-la.indd 3
inspiring students and guiding them to an appreciation of their fellow man and service to the community, which to me is the true essence of education.” Says Brandon Couillard ’05, “The ability to think critically and adapt to a fluid environment is no doubt credited to my liberal arts education.” Rhodes’ signature interdisciplinary course, “Man,” now “Search,” has been around since 1945. In 1986 the name changed from “Man in the Light of History and Religion” to “The Search for Values in the Light of Western History and Religion.” Alternative Bible and history courses were available, and in 1983 that option was named “Life: Then and Now,” offering methodological approaches to the study of religion. Both tracks were, and still are, eye-openers, even foundation-shakers for many students. Loyd Templeton ’56 says, “I took the Man course and was lost at first, but soon ‘got the picture’ that everything we were studying, everything that I had ever studied, came together to build a rich and whole appreciation of life, learning and understanding.” For John Rone, Man made him “completely rethink my approach to my religious upbringing. It has continued to help me draw my own conclusions about the continuum of history.” Phil Mischke ’79 took Man; his son Will ’13 followed the Life path. It happened with the Carroll family as well. Says Heidi Hayslett Carroll ’82, “I loved the program. It was my first in-depth exposure to philosophy, religion and history.” Daughter Piper ’13, a Neuroscience major, “took Life and I loved it. I had Prof. Gail Streete and she made the course very enjoyable. After taking a course in Judaism my sophomore year I decided it would definitely be worth it to become a Religious Studies minor.”
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{3} 10/17/11 3:06 PM
COREY NOLEN
Heidi Carroll made carbon copies, with plenty of WiteOut at hand. While her “big thrill” was borrowing her father’s electric Smith-Corona with a correcting ribbon, her daughter Piper, on the other hand, says, “When it comes to papers there is definitely nothing better than the double monitor computers on the second floor of Barret—you can have up websites, your paper, maybe even Pandora all at once.” Adds Will Mischke, “Coffee from the Middle Ground (the Starbucks in Barret Library) is a very common study aid.” Personal computers would come along in the ’90s, which found Sarah Sears and most students spending considerable time in the Mac Lab. Likewise, English major Katharine Etchen ’05 studied in the Buckman computer lab, not in her room, which she says “produced subpar results.” When Campus Safety would close down the lab at 2 a.m. she’d move to the Lair. Brandon Couillard, now her husband, and his fellow Economics majors preferred study groups in Buckman Hall classrooms, complete with dry erase boards and rheostat lighting.
John Rone ’71, Carole Branyan ’67 and Bill Coley ’50 in Barret Library
CAMPUS LIFE
STUDYING
In counting the hallmarks of the college, generations point to its beauty, educational excellence, the Man/ Search track and of course, the Honor Code. In place since the early 1900s, it allows the campus to live in a trusting, respectful and peaceful environment.
The library, always a primary study space, has moved around—it’s been the Paul Barret Jr. Library since 2005; Burrow from 1953-2005; and from 1925-53 it was located on third floor Palmer, currently home to English Department faculty offices. In Palmer, there was “a hand-operated pulley-lift to deliver books to and from the library,” according to Loyd Templeton. Study methods throughout the years have gone from longhand to broadband. Bill Coley, Loyd Templeton and the Mischkes, along with Carole Branyan, John Rone, Heidi Hayslett Carroll ’82 and Jim Golden ’85, usually studied in the library. Employing the card catalogue, periodical indexes, books from the stacks and reference rooms and handwritten note cards and outlines, they would compose their papers either in longhand or on manual typewriters.
{4}
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
Generations2-la.indd 4
Another kind of code guided students in the past, namely the dress code—skirts for women, jackets and ties for men at dinner—that lasted until the late 1960s. For many years now, T-shirts and flip-flops take a student from day into evening. Chapel attendance in Hardie Auditorium, with worship services and community speakers, was mandatory until 1968. At first, it was five days a week, then three as the student population grew. Today, the student body is much larger and more diverse than in the past. There was a time when everyone knew everyone else by name, then at least by
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 3:07 PM
the doughnut machine, steak night, country fried steak, pizza, Miss Jesse’s fiesta del sol, Leroy’s gyros. Ambience is important too. “I felt very scholarly at those dark wood tables underneath that Gothic ceiling. It was everything I thought my college should look like,” recalls Sarah Sears.
sight. Now, the online directory gets lots of hits. A larger student body means more cars. With parking space at a premium, in 2010 the college tried a new tack—bringing to campus two Zipcars, hybrids that can be rented by the hour, day or weekend. Students can also borrow bikes from the Bike Shop for free. And it’s beginning to pay off, with more students opting to leave their cars at home this year. For years, the only dining options were the refectory and for snacks, the Lynx Lair. Real meals can be had in the Lair these days, and light fare is available in the Middle Ground. Alums can recite litanies of favorites: macaroni salad,
JUSTIN FOX BURKS
Studying and dining may be staples at Rhodes, but so is social life. Fraternities and sororities provide much of that, but Memphis remains the off-campus playground. Always, there’s been the zoo. Farther into the city, Loyd Templeton and John Rone enjoyed the downtown movie palaces, dancing at The Peabody Skyway and Cotton Carnival. The Mischkes liked the Rendezvous and Overton Square, as did many students in the ’70s and ’80s when the legal drinking age was 18 and there was a pub on campus. Brandon Couillard and current students cite Memphis in May, the riverfront, Beale Street and the Cooper-Young district as favorites. Today’s students can also run or bike the new Greenline, attend plays and concerts with $5 tickets courtesy of Rhodes’ Center for Outreach in the Development of the Arts or take in Grizzlies games in Memphis, Cardinals games in St. Louis or white-water rafting in East Tennessee for cheap via the Big Diehl, the Residence Life group that provides entertainment for students.
CAMPUS MOOD
Loyd Templeton ’56 in front of Halliburton Tower
rhodes.edu
Generations2-la.indd 5
“On the whole, the Rhodes student body is interested in and passionate about current issues affecting Memphis, the United States and the world,” declares Will Mischke. It’s
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{5} 10/17/11 3:07 PM
BOB NAROD
ELLEN DUBIN
Sarah Sears ’95 on the banks of the Potomac, Old Town Alexandria, VA
gas prices broke $1 a gallon for the first time,” say Phil and Lisa Gilchrist Mischke. There was also the death of Elvis and the Memphis firefighters’ strike. Brandon Couillard ’05 and Katharine Etchen ’05 in Manhattan
been that way from the beginning. Bill Coley started college during World War II. It was the Korean War and two-year military service after graduation when Loyd Templeton was a student. It was civil rights and Vietnam in the ’60s, when “many males made sure they were accepted to grad school to avoid the draft,” says Carole Branyan. The antiwar sentiment that continued into the ’70s prompted John Rone and many others to participate in peace marches. The oil crisis was a concern in the ’70s and ’80s, “when
{6}
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
Generations2-la.indd 6
Heidi Carroll describes major political issues in the ’80s: “the Iran hostage affair, the air traffic controllers’ strike, an assassination attempt on President Reagan and debates regarding supply-side economics, the trickle-down effect, abortion, deregulation and the Moral Majority movement.” Jim Golden adds: “‘Moral hazard’ had not yet become a financial buzzword, and a mortgage rate of 10% seemed like a good deal.” In Sarah Sears’ Intro to International Studies class in the ’90s, she had to memorize every country in the world. “If it had just been a year earlier we could have labeled the top part of the map ‘USSR’ instead of individually listing every new republic that was popping up,” she laments.
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 3:07 PM
CHRIS HARTLOVE
Perri ’15, Piper ’13 and Heidi Hayslett Carroll ’82 at Baltimore Harbor
Katharine Etchen and Brandon Couillard were one month into their first year at Rhodes on Sept. 11, 2001. “I never imagined my world, or the world as I knew it, would change so rapidly, says Couillard. Etchen describes the outreach, vigils, fundraising and support groups on campus in the aftermath of the attacks. “We were living through the ultimate crash course in international studies,” she says. Today’s students still are. Piper Carroll reports that last year, health care reform was a hot topic. Then, Osama bin Laden’s death “had a huge effect on campus. I was walking to dinner and saw a crowd watching it on the news.”
rhodes.edu
Generations2-la.indd 7
COMMUNICATING
phones home “a few times a week, at the very least.” With a phone in From Bill Coley’s era till the early her dorm room, Lisa “made brief 1980s, students’ communication calls once every week or two, and with the outside world consisted of always late at night when rates old-fashioned letter writing and a rotary dial pay phone in the hall. Fast- were cheapest.” Sarah Sears recalls forward to spring 2011 when a student having a phone card to call friends captured on her smartphone an image and family. She got a cell phone of what appeared to be a funnel cloud “the size of a brick” two years after graduating. Brandon Couillard ’05 over Barret Library (it wasn’t) and instantly sent it around the world. On says he called his parents maybe twice a week, “though I’m sure they campus, the term “duck and cover” would characterize that statistic as took on new meaning. grossly inflated.” Frequency of communication depends on one’s era. Phil and MEMPHIS Lisa Gilchrist Mischke live in Memphis is fun, but Rhodes neighboring Germantown, TN. takes the city quite seriously as a Their son Will lives on campus. laboratory for learning and service. Will, like most students these days, Sarah Sears worked throughout
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{7} 10/17/11 3:08 PM
her college career, including three jobs her senior year. Katharine Etchen spent a summer interning at Memphis magazine, which “opened doors to neighborhoods, restaurants, people, events and festivals I otherwise would have missed.” As today’s students do through internships and fellowships in metro Memphis, Sears and Etchen learned valuable lessons that translated from workplace to classroom to career. Rhodes students have historically given back to the city in which they learn so much. The volunteer Kinney Program was founded in 1956. Today, with some 85% of the student body engaged in service, it’s no surprise that for the second year in a row Newsweek has named Rhodes the No. 1 Service-Oriented College in the U.S.
Confirms Jim Golden, “Those who were involved in service were really involved.” Lisa Mischke tutored at Snowden School, read on a radio program for the visually impaired. Her husband Phil worked at Muscular Dystrophy Association camps and was a Big Brother; he later served on the Big Brothers/Big Sisters board of directors. Their son Will has worked with Advocates for the Homeless and the Memphis Music Foundation.
Bill Coley, a retired dentist, continues to serve the Memphis community 61 years after graduating. In April 2011, he was one of 10 recipients of the Mid-South Jefferson Awards for outstanding volunteerism, having served many years with the Church Health Center and the Memphis Dental Society Outreach Committee. The year before, Rhodes honored him with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Heidi Carroll volunteered at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and Snowden Elementary. Her daughter Piper has volunteered at the Regional Medical Center and a soup kitchen. “I also took an internship at the Memphis Crisis Center and continue to volunteer and take calls for the center, even from home in Maryland.”
Working, volunteering, studying or just out for a good time, students love Memphis. “People from all walks of life and with a vast array of interests can be found here. For students at Rhodes there is much to be discovered and much to love,” says Will Mischke. “One of the best things about Memphis is definitely DAVID OTTENSTEIN
Jim Golden ’85 in Chatfield Hollow State Park, Connecticut
{8}
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
Generations2-la.indd 8
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 3:08 PM
the food. I can’t get enough of it,” claims Piper Carroll. Brandon Couillard loves blues music; for his wife Katharine, it’s barbecue. Couillard worked three separate
jobs all over Memphis as a student. Having seen it all, he “would characterize Memphis as a city with plenty of grit, soul, enthusiasm and even greater opportunity.”
The same could be said of Rhodes and its generations of students.
The Campus When Bill Coley ’50 was a first-year in 1943 in the middle of World War II, there were some 300 students. Those numbers fell rapidly as men entered military service. For one year the college hosted numerous Army Air Corps cadets in military training. When Coley enrolled there were buildings in place now familiar to generations of Rhodes students: Robb, White (called Calvin then), Neely and Kennedy halls and the fraternity and sorority houses After the war there was a trailer camp for returning GIs and their families and surplus Army barracks (later called “the shacks”) used as classrooms till the ’70s. White Hall was built in 1947 and Voorhies Hall in 1948. Later in the decade, Loyd Templeton ’56 saw the construction of Burrow Library, now Burrow Hall, in 1953, and Mallory Gymnasium in 1954. The ’50s also brought Ellett residence hall, but the
building boom really happened in the 1960s with Bellingrath, Glassell, Townsend, Trezevant and Williford residence halls, Briggs Student Center, Frazier Jelke Science Center, Halliburton Tower, Moore Moore Infirmary, Ohlendorf Hall and Rhodes Tower. The 1970s ushered in the Alburty Pool and Clough Hall, and students in the 1980s welcomed Blount and Robinson residence halls, Hassell Hall, Spann Place and McCoy Theatre. The 1990s saw the Bryan Campus Life Center, Buckman Hall and the Physical Plant building. Cruising through the millennium, the college now counts the Paul Barret Jr. Library, the East Village residence hall and two more currently under construction, plus a refectory addition as the latest jewels in the crown, which taken collectively in their unsurpassed 100-acre setting, to quote President Diehl, “quicken the pride of successive generations.”
Contributors William “Bill” O. Coley Jr., D.D.S. ’50, Memphis. Retired dentist Loyd. C. Templeton Jr. ’56, Memphis. Retired Rhodes assistant to the president for college relations Carole L. Branyan ’67, Memphis. Retired English teacher, White Station Senior High School John H. Rone ’71, Memphis. Rhodes director of college events Philip “Phil” E. Mischke ’79, Germantown, TN. Partner, Wyatt, Tarrant, & Combs Lisa Gilchrist Mischke ’80, Germantown, TN. ElderCare Consultants LLC William “Will” G. Mischke ’13, Germantown, TN. Economics major Heidi Hayslett Carroll ’82, Elkridge, MD. Pharmaceutical representative, Johnson & Johnson Piper Carroll ’13, Elkridge, MD. Neuroscience major Perri Carroll ’15, Elkridge, MD. First-year student James “Jim” B. Golden III ’85, Killingworth, CT. Partner, Accenture Sarah Sears ’95, Springfield, VA. Senior director, membership, The Fulbright Association Brandon Couillard ’05, New York City. Senior associate, equity research, Jefferies & Co. Katharine Etchen ’05, New York City. Senior integrated marketing manager, Bon Appétit magazine To see a photo gallery of Rhodes through the years, go to rhodes.edu/magazine.
rhodes.edu
Generations2-la.indd 9
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{9} 10/17/11 3:08 PM
Holding Forth Students report their research in a dazzling display of disciplines By Richard J. Alley
It
sounds like a pitch for a new reality show: a random group of college students occupying one house for a year, getting to know each other and engaging in their community. But this ensemble has much more purpose, separating their situation from similar roommate situations on college campuses across the country.
This is The Ruka, a team of six like-minded seniors living together and participating in programs and lifestyles to better their community, the environment and themselves. Last year, these women became a group with positive intentions that would leave them with the necessary resources to present in last spring’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium, or URCAS. “The symposium is an opportunity for students to tell the campus community what they’ve been doing, either in or outside the classroom,” says Dr. Ann Viano, the J. Lester Crain Professor of Physics and chair of the URCAS planning committee. Throughout campus on a crisp, spring day in April, 180 students held forth on disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, fine arts and natural sciences. In addition, some student presentations dealt with
{ 10 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
feature-Holding Forth.indd 10
working within the community to improve it and gain a better understanding of the human condition. As they have been since 1996, presentations were given both visually and orally. In Blount Auditorium, housemates Sarah Dockery, Catherine Appleton, Jami King, Shelby Kramer, Leigh DeVries and Maggie Rector stood up in front of an audience of peers and mentors to describe The Ruka experiment, its outcome and long-term implications. Their presentation was one of several highlighting the Rhodes Fellowship program. The six seniors, under the guidance of Dr. Bernadette McNary-Zak, the R.A. Webb Professor of Religious Studies, came together to form an intentional community and social experiment meant to engage with each other and sustain a household, community and planet at large. Ruka, in the language of Chile’s Mapuche people, means “home.” The household worked within the Binghamton neighborhood on the outskirts of the Rhodes campus, and within Caritas Village, a community center and coffee shop in the area. From the group’s blog: “We commit to loving one another through an intentional dedication to a lifestyle
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 2:21 PM
JUSTIN FOX BURKS
Bill Short ’71 holds forth in the “Monkey Business” video
rhodes.edu
feature-Holding Forth.indd 11
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 11 } 10/17/11 2:21 PM
JAY ADKINS
Members of The Ruka, front row: Shelby Kramer and Jami King. Second row: Maggie Rector, Catherine Appleton, Prof. Bernadette McNary-Zak, Leigh DeVries and Sarah Dockery
of probing and encouraging conversations and the showcasing of our strengths and challenging our weaknesses to create more loving and servant-hearted individuals.” Through a series of photos and short speeches, the women talked of working together as a team to accomplish goals of scheduling and environmental consciousness within the house, and mentoring and tutoring within the community. These are life skills and experiences they will carry throughout their lives, hands-on lessons that aren’t meant to be left behind like a used textbook or worn-through backpack. The knowledge has real-world applications, both in professional and personal plans. “We all had a lot of self-reflection throughout the year,” Dockery, who graduated with a bridge major in Economics and International Studies, recently said
{ 12 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
feature-Holding Forth.indd 12
by telephone from her family’s home in Dallas as she prepared to leave for a year of teaching in Honduras. “We were all surprised at how much it did impact us. I think one of the biggest things was learning how to really work with and relate to people on a deeper level than I had been used to.” The Ruka was not the only URCAS session that morning. Other students came together to discuss sports, beer, health and photography, subjects that were the sum total of months of serious research, work, focus and some travel. Catherine Bordelon ’12, who worked as an intern for Memphis’ Ghost River Brewing company, described her experiments with quality control for the microbrewery. Andy McGeoch ’12, through a Buckman Scholarship, traveled to Argentina to study its culture’s willingness to overlook a person’s or culture’s flaws and seek inherent
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 2:22 PM
JUSTIN FOX BURKS
greatness instead. McGeoch illustrated his study with the tempestuous life of soccer legend Diego Maradona, pibe de oro, “the golden child.” Because of her work with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on subtypes and spatial localization of medulloblastomas, the most common form of childhood brain cancer, Amber Owens ’11 was offered a position with the hospital this year. Instead, she opted to go to dental school. “There is this progression, and that’s one of the things we really hoped to achieve with fellowships, to let students have these experiences,” director of fellowships Scott Garner says. He adds that sometimes students find that their fields of research aren’t for them, and that this is all part of the process. “A student may get involved with a nonprofit agency, for example, and say, ‘No, this is not something I ever want to do again,’ so it’s important for them to learn that as well.” Since 2002, Dr. Matt Krasin with the Radiation Oncology division of the Department of Radiological Sciences at St. Jude, has been working with students in the Bert Geyer ’13 with smokey quartz from the Vanuxem Collection Rhodes St. Jude Summer Plus Fellowship program, which places students in the hospital’s professional laboratories for a says. “The students do work that other people in period of two summers plus the intervening academic academics at a higher level have to learn how to do, so year. The students generally present their work it’s nice that they’re getting to do this when they’re experience as part of URCAS. Dr. Krasin is working going into their junior or senior year. It’s a really good with Kira Reich ’14 for the upcoming year and finds the learning experience, and the amount of effort that the program extraordinarily beneficial for all parties as the Rhodes faculty put into it is really clear; they support institutions continue to work closely together. He now it well.” counts past students as colleagues. In Frazier Jelke A, sophomore Bert Geyer ’13 talked “URCAS is a great program. It’s well done,” Dr. Krasin of design and geology, and his task of how best to
rhodes.edu
feature-Holding Forth.indd 13
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 13 } 10/17/11 2:22 PM
present Rhodes’ Vanuxem geology collection. The specimens in the collection were gathered by Lardner Vanuxem, a prominent 19th-century geologist, and acquired by the college shortly after his death in 1848 when the school, then called Stewart College, was located in Clarksville, TN. A studio art major, Geyer took an intro to geology class where the professor was looking for an art major to help her with a fellowship to display the collection because of the design aspect it involved. She pitched the idea and Geyer, who plans to go into architecture, caught it. The intro class, he says, gave him “enough knowledge to at least know up from down, and know a little bit about the collection.” Geyer became much more familiar with the collection as he took it from storage and inventoried it, finding “yellowed newspaper from the 1920s,” and called on inspiration from a trip to the rocks and minerals collection at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum in Washington, DC. The multiple disciplines necessary for the project were just the sort of thing Geyer appreciates. It is, he says, why he chose a liberal arts college in the first place. The idea is to take lessons learned in the classroom out of the classroom to better understand the real-world applications and impact. Dr. Jennifer Houghton of the Biology Department worked with Geyer throughout the project. “From start to finish she supported me in letting me do what I wanted to do,” he says. The exhibit Geyer designed and built is expected to be on display soon in one of Frazier Jelke’s main halls bracketing the atrium. A range of interests and curiosity satisfied is what is so appealing to college students, and it’s an itch that URCAS helps to scratch. Sarah Dockery did not limit herself to her work within The Ruka and Caritas Village. She also collaborated with two other students—Manali Kulkarni ’12 and Courtney Martin ’11—to produce a documentary called “Racism in Memphis Schools: The History, Philosophy and Current Events.” “We loved the project, all three of us had a wonderful
{ 14 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
time,” she says. “It was really informative and gave us a chance to be a little bit creative.” In the film for their Human Rights class, the trio interviewed fellow Rhodes students and professors, Memphis Mayor AC Wharton and various community members and leaders on their perceptions of racism in Memphis area schools. Dr. Leigh Johnson of the Department of Philosophy was faculty sponsor. “We really wanted to make it specific to Memphis because that’s where we were living and we have seen so many issues, especially in poverty and education,” Dockery says. “After we started studying education inequality, racism was a huge issue that kept cropping up and people kept pointing to that and talking about it, so that became the direction we took our documentary.” On the lighter side, but involving as much research and work, was another documentary titled “Monkey Business,” about the 35th anniversary of the day some monkeys escaped from the Memphis Zoo across the street and took up residence on Burrow Library (now Burrow Hall). The students in Professor Liz Daggett’s Digital Arts class enlisted the help of Bill Short ’71, Rhodes associate director of Barret Library, who worked in the library at the time and was an eyewitness, to tell the story. It was one of 16 short student-made videos presented that day. Six King Biscuit Blues Fellows from Rhodes’ Mike Curb Institute for Music presented their research at URCAS, along with a live concert in Frazier Jelke. It was a recap of a program in which they participated last fall at the 2010 Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival in Helena, AR, where they discussed and performed blues music. Though students research throughout the year, some beginning as early as the prior summer, the call for URCAS proposals is in early March. “Students will submit abstracts, which are reviewed by the committee and then organized into the different sessions,” says Dr. Viano. “Leaning how to present research is important. Summarizing what you’ve done, creating a polished presentation and then standing up in front of an audience and giving it is good experience
rhodes.edu
JUSTIN FOX BURKS
Mike Curb Fellows Ben Walsh ’12 and Emily Main ’12 perform with Emmanuel John-Teye ’13
for anyone. It provides students those skills they’re going to need to perform well in their future careers.” These lessons and experiences will serve these students and graduates throughout their lives, both professional and personal. It is information that will be useful in such areas as the fight against childhood cancer, the
rhodes.edu
feature-Holding Forth.indd 15
construction of buildings, the development of our community’s children, and in other countries to help improve the lives of the less fortunate. For more information about URCAS and to view the 2011 program, go to rhodes.edu/URCAS.
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 15 } 10/17/11 2:23 PM
‘There isn’t an app for this’ By Martha Hunter Shepard ’66 Hard to believe, but this year is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, the program President John F. Kennedy first suggested on the 1960 campaign trail. He envisioned people living and working in developing countries while promoting peace and a positive image of the U.S. Making good on his plan, he launched the program in 1961 as a federal government agency. Inspired by the youthful, charismatic president and a strong desire to make a difference in the world, young people flocked to join. Since 1962, 91 Rhodes alumni have volunteered for the program, and 14 are currently serving around the world.
T
he Peace Corps—you can volunteer for it, train for it, but no one can tell you exactly how to do it. “There isn’t an app for this,” says a Peace Corps ad. Charley Killinger ’64, who served in Sierra Leone from 1965-67, backs that up: “As most of us quickly learned, our jobs extended to the limits of our time and imagination and regularly led us into untested waters.”
Plying those waters for five decades, they’ve propelled Rhodes’ ranking to the top 10% colleges and universities in the Southeast that produce Peace Corps volunteers. Signing on for a 27-month commitment, they’ve worked in some of the neediest places on the planet, serving in villages, towns and cities, and countries that may surprise you: C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75 worked in a leprosy control program in South Korea; Jen Cushman ’89 taught English in Russia; and Alison Stohr ’03 and Dara Chesnutt ’10 taught English in Ukraine. All volunteers must be invited by the host countries, and demand far exceeds supply. Rhodes alumni have brought, and still bring practical assistance to those striving to build better lives for themselves and their communities. Volunteers teach in secondary schools, universities and law schools and are
{ 16 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 16
involved in adult literacy programs and environmental education. They coach student athletic teams, advise local credit unions and entrepreneurs on microfinance and work with citizens on health care issues, these days with emphasis on AIDS prevention and education. They’re involved in programs ranging from building basic cookstoves from—and for—sustainable materials, to marine resource management. Some live in mud huts, eat native “delicacies” (at least once), learn the language and win the enduring gratitude of those they came to serve. To a person, they’d agree with Tom Geiger ’64, who served in Panama: “It was more than a two-year experience; it became an attitude that you can make a difference wherever you live.” THE EARLY DAYS
Dan Bowen ’62 was the first Rhodes alum to go. From 1962-64 he taught at a boys’ secondary school in Lilongwe, Nyasaland. The assassination of his boss and hero, President Kennedy, in 1963, broke his heart. During his second year, Nyasaland, a British protectorate, gained its independence and became the Republic of Malawi. Other volunteers have witnessed political change and military unrest in countries around the world. Catherine Liddell Skapura ’62, who taught English
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 2:24 PM
COURTESY OF THE PEACE CORPS
President John F. Kennedy and Sargent Shriver address the first group of Peace Corps volunteers departing to Ghana and Tanganyika in 1961 in the White House Rose Garden.
and biology in Nigeria from 1965-67, faced—and got through—a roadblock of soldiers during the Biafran War. The name of Janice Baker’s ’63 school in Guinea was changed from the Collège Technique to Lycée Ho Chi Minh “as part of the Guinean government’s effort to show solidarity with other developing countries.”
the year before Charley Killinger ’64 arrived to teach African history and assist the country’s Department of Education in transitioning from its colonial curriculum to one with local and regional roots. However, violence erupted at the diamond mines near the Liberian border, an omen of devastating civil conflict that would eventually envelop his town and school.
Sierra Leone had gained independence from Great Britain
When Lisa Meredith VanLandingham ’67 arrived in
rhodes.edu
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 17
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 17 } 10/17/11 2:24 PM
Venezuela to teach English and art, “It’s not just finding a fulfilling years later and found that two of the country had held an election and assignment and feeling like you’ve the three farmers’ groups were still was embarking on its first democratic been able to make a difference in going strong with their projects. government. The start-up was halting, people’s lives—it’s having the oppor- And our friends and neighbors were the people were apprehensive, but tunity to test one’s own limits. Can I so happy to see us, happy that we things finally got into full swing. learn this language (Tagalog, in our thought enough of them to come case) well enough to make friends back and visit them. Can we meaWalt Ogburn ’70 and his wife Marior be understood on the job? Can I sure the impact in dollars and cents? lyn volunteered in Chile, where he really live in a tiny hut without air No, only in smiles and hugs.” taught marine biology at the Catholic conditioning in the 100 degree heat? University of Chile, an enjoyable How will I eat another meal from THE PAYOFF experience, he says, notwithstanding a well-meaning neighbor or friend There are successes, failures and— high inflation, a nightly curfew and that has strange (to us) ingredients, perks—in any job. For Peace Corps highly visible armed military and like fermented duck egg or buffalo volunteers, they come in many police forces. brains? Can the flying cockroaches forms. really be this huge? And do they Bizza Nelson Britton ’76 began her bite? (The answer is ‘yes.’) When Tom ’64 and Eleanor Lawrence Geiger ’64 served in Panama service in Benin, but after an attempted military coup resulted in her being “During our first month of training, from 1967-69, Tom was assigned we had to live for three days with as an adviser to Panamanian credit held in a police station for several a poor family in the barrio. The unions. Eleanor, who was in rural days, she transferred to Congo, where family gave us their only double community development, helped she coordinated mobile public health bed—a wooden frame, no mattress establish the first women’s health clinics and managed a nutritional or pillows. We brought our own education program. She taught a rehabilitation program for children. mosquito net, but were embar40-year-old mother of six children rassed to use it for fear we’d insult how to read, and the day Victorina Deb Efird ’84, who taught biology the family. The hand pump and wrote her name for the first time in Liberia, experienced an attempted pit latrine were out back where the they were both in tears. but failed coup in the latter part of pigs and chickens ran. The meals 1985. The ensuing unrest led to a were meager—rice flavored with Mary Palmer Campbell ’79 served horrible civil war that lasted almost pork fat and some bitter gourd or as a secondary school science teacher 20 years, she says. greens, very typical of most viland boys’ basketball and girls’ track lagers’ fare. We didn’t yet know coach in Swaziland in 1979-82. Her Yet they’ve kept going. enough of the language to commu- students frequently wished that they nicate with words, only by chahad an opportunity to “serve” in THE HARDEST JOB YOU’LL rades. And flies were everywhere. another country. EVER LOVE “They say Peace Corps is the hardest Bruised, bitten, sleep deprived and job you’ll ever love,” says Lisa Lanier hungry for familiar food and mod- Chris Christie ’81, who taught law ern hygiene, we wondered if we’d at a Cameroon university from Krift ’76, who with her husband made a big mistake by joining the 1985-87, remembers the students Tom served in the Philippines from Peace Corps. It definitely tested our not registered for his classes fighting 1981-83, helping groups of small mettle! But we learned from that outside over the places closest to the farmers transition from their reliexperience that we could survive open windows so they could hear ance on water buffalo and hand him teach. threshing in the rice fields to mecha- without the creature comforts. nized farm equipment through “I can’t say what our service meant Serving in Liberia from 1983-85, a microfinancing program. Her to those with whom we worked, Gregor Turk ’82 refined a prototype experiences were similar to those of but we went to visit our site several cookstove, then trained three coother alumni:
{ 18 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 18
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 2:25 PM
Merritt McMullen Driscoll’s ’06 Tanzanian students taking their Health Promotion exam
workers to build them. When he left, posal to buy more trash cans, which one of those coworkers continued they got, and which became a great the project as a small business. source of pride. When Johnson visited a year after his service was Ellen Smead Dassaboute ’01 was a up, one of the youths photographed community health worker in Benin him by one of the cans, explaining from 2001-03. An 8-month-old that the trash was now being picked baby whose mother suffered from up each week and hauled off to a mental illness was severely malnour- landfill. Also in Johnson’s remote ished. The custom was to neglect Dominican community there was a such children, but Dassaboute child named Jackie Chan and a dog placed the baby in an internationalnamed Kobe Bryant. ly-run orphanage in another town, where he thrived. Aizaz Tareen ’06 currently serves as a public health volunteer in Kenya. Richard Johnson ’04 served in envi- His main project is implementing ronmental education in Dominican the President’s Malaria Initiative, a Republic from 2005-07. He got the joint U.S.-Kenya program. Durlocal youth group to write a proing breaks, he’s been able to travel
rhodes.edu
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 19
throughout Kenya, pet cheetahs, lions and elephants, go white-water rafting and bungee jumping on the Nile, climb Mt. Kenya and swim in the Indian Ocean. Sarah Brooks ’08 served in Thailand from 2009-11 as a community based organizational development volunteer. She helped develop and manage an all-girls youth group, which received an award for its recycling initiatives. When local government officials approached the group—not her—about funding a new agricultural project, she felt happy for her friends, but sad for herself. Later realizing that the group was standing on its own, any
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 19 } 10/17/11 2:25 PM
C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75 helping with orthopedic casting at a leprosy program in South Korea. Many patients also had polio and had to have corrective surgery.
feelings of sadness were replaced with feelings of accomplishment. Dara Chesnutt ’10 teaches English as a Foreign Language in Ukraine. She believes her presence there is a daily reminder to her students that there’s more to life than their coal mining town. She says she’s also able to give them a positive understanding of America beyond what they see in films and politics. The ultimate payoff for the majority of volunteers is highly personal. Moss ’05 and Merritt McMullen Driscoll ’06 currently serve in Tanzania. Moss works to develop locally
{ 20 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 20
supported sustainable fisheries. Merritt is a health education volunteer who, she says, values the opportunity to see the world through a new lens, experience life from a new perspective and learn and grow along with her community.
ture techniques. While his time was short, it was a period of profound personal growth. His advice to volunteers: Understand that you are providing perhaps the only friendly interaction some person may ever have with an American, and realize that while the Peace Corps lifestyle may not always be a happy one, it is something much more beneficial— it is fulfilling. He wants to continue to work in other areas of international development.
Katy Spurlock ’86 taught secondary school in New Guinea from 1986-88. The experience of living in a developing country was like a “reality check” that made her appreciate the most critical possessions she had: her education and the choices it offered her. Ethan McClelland ’09 served a year LIGHTING FIRES What inspires people to volunteer in Senegal from 2009-10, training for the Peace Corps? President Kenrural farmers in improved agricul-
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 4:46 PM
nedy was the spark for Dan Bowen ’62, Charley Killinger ’64 and C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75. Dan Bowen, in turn, inspired Tom ’64 and Eleanor Geiger ’64. Rhodes faculty played their part too—Chuck Orvis advised Chris Linder ’94, Mike LaRosa counseled Bryce Ashby ’00, Merritt Driscoll ’06 was enthralled by Pete Ekstrom’s tales of his time as a Peace Corps volunteer. Rhodes course work played its part. Ellen Dassaboute ’01, like many Rhodes alums, majored in International Studies. She says she was intrigued by her political economy classes and wanted to get out into the world and see what poverty and social justice really meant. Some had studied abroad and already knew what it meant. Many more were involved in volunteer work at Rhodes. Campus posters, speakers, recruiters, high school teachers, camp counselors, even movies helped light fires. Stacey Greenberg ’94, who served in Cameroon from 1994-96, credits one: the character Baby, who was going to the Peace Corps in the movie “Dirty Dancing.” Greenberg says that after seeing the movie five times while in high school, she thought joining the Peace Corps was a good thing to do. At Rhodes, she volunteered at the soup kitchen and became involved in hunger and homelessness issues. She was also inspired by a friend’s father who had been a Peace Corps volunteer. Some alums had direct contact with the needs of the world. Bizza Nelson Britton ’76, the child of missionary parents, was born and raised in Congo, where she later served from 1977-79.
rhodes.edu
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 21
Gregor Turk’s ’82 prototype cookstove in Liberia
When Gregor Turk ’82 was 12, his father, a surgeon, took his family to Haiti for volunteer work at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital. Intimidated by the destitution he saw there, Turk says he developed a desire to gain a better understanding of the world by spending time in another culture while helping others. Later, serving in the Peace Corps in Liberia from
1983-85 would fill that bill. Deb Efird ’84, whose uncle was in the foreign service, grew up hearing about his family’s experiences living and working overseas. Efird served in Liberia from 1984-86, 60 miles from where Gregor Turk was assigned. They were able to get together from time to time.
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 21 } 10/17/11 2:29 PM
Chris Christie ’81 with staff and patients/students at the National Centre for Rehabilitation of the Handicapped in Cameroon. Christie raised money to build an outdoor basketball court and purchase sports wheelchairs, as well as oversaw the construction of the court.
Daniel Pellegrom’s ’97 father headed an international nongovernmental organization, so he paid attention to what was going on around the world. The summer before his senior year he worked for his dad in Uganda and Kenya, where he decided the Peace Corps was the way to go. He worked in water, sanitation and health projects in Ghana from 1997-99. INFORMING CAREERS
Returned Peace Corps volunteers don’t leave their experiences at the door. They travel with them back to the States, and forward into careers. Some examples: Catherine Liddell Skapura ’62 wanted to teach, but says she wasn’t good at crowd control. She worked in
{ 22 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 22
a chemistry lab and is now a volunteer adult literacy teacher. Janice Baker ’63 did graduate work, was a policy analyst at the Congressional Research Service, served on Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Commission on World Hunger, worked at New Mexico cultural organizations and at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, DC, and at the National Science Foundation, and is currently researching World War II internment camps in Santa Fe. Tom ’64 and Eleanor Lawrence Geiger ’64 lived in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, where Tom was with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the conduit through which all U.S. foreign aid flows and
which President Kennedy also established in 1961. Tom’s last post was as country director for Peru. Eleanor volunteered as a local fundraiser and helped Peruvians market handicrafts through the fair trade movement. Charley Killinger ’64 says teaching history in Sierra Leone convinced him to make a career of it. Lisa Meredith VanLandingham ’67, a retired Spanish teacher, now volunteers as an interpreter for the local Health Department. C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75 is a career physician assistant at a rural health clinic. Her daughter recently completed a three-year term as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali and China.
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 2:29 PM
Bizza Nelson Britton ’76 realized she was best suited for a role in clinical health care. She is a nurse practitioner, currently serving as a coordinator for hepatitis services for the Louisiana Department of Corrections. Lisa Lanier Krift ’76 and her husband have lived all over the world working with Save the Children. Gregor Turk’s ’82 experiences in Liberia influenced his career path—as a visual artist he says he continues to draw on the content and context of much of what he saw and did there. Deb Efird ’84 had decided to become a doctor before joining the Peace Corps; however, she’s done, and plans to do more, international pediatric work. Kellie Lartigue-Ndiaye ’88 joined the Centers for Disease Control after her Peace Corps service in Senegal, serving as a training specialist and public health analyst and helping form the CDC Avian Influenza Group. Jen Cushman ’89 has continued to teach and is currently dean of international education and an associate professor of German at Juniata College. Courtney Ward Chavez ’91 changed her teaching focus from Spanish to English as a Second Language. Chris Linder ’94 is now pursuing his passion, microfinance, especially with mobile (phone) banking and how it can improve financial inclusion for the poor in India. Bryce Ashby ’00 worked as program director for Latino
rhodes.edu
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 23
Bizza Nelson Britton ’76 (left) celebrating the graduation of nursing students from the Christian Medical Institute of the Kasai, Tshikaji, Democratic Republic of Congo
Memphis, and is now an employment attorney representing people in cases of wage theft, work injuries and discrimination. Ellen Smead Dassaboutte ’01 worked in international development and public health after the Peace Corps. She is now a certified nurse midwife for underserved U.S. populations. Rebecca Held ’03, who came home knowing she wanted to work in the environmental field, recently got her master’s in Environmental Policy and Conservation Biology from the University of Michigan. Alison Stohr ’03, who is in law school, is interested in international law, which she credits to her time in
the Peace Corps. Richard Johnson ’04 now works in community development for a nonprofit in Philadelphia. Sarah Brooks ’08 wanted a career in international development and has begun working on her master’s of Development Practice at Emory University. KEEPING IN TOUCH
Many volunteers made lasting friendships with the people they served, which they cherish to this day. They keep in touch, they visit, certainly they think of them often. Fifteen years after their service in
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 23 } 10/17/11 2:30 PM
Walt Ogburn ’70 examining oil spill on the beach in Chile
Chile ended, Walt Ogburn ’70, and wife Marilyn vacationed there with their three children. They were amazed that a waitress at their favorite coffee shop remembered them and their oldest son, who was born there. Many of the Ogburns’ coworkers and former students have come to the U.S. for graduate studies and returned to Chile. Ogburn says that while it’s gratifying to think he and his wife influenced their friends’ careers and gave Chilenos a better understanding of U.S. people and culture, they’re convinced they gained much more
{ 24 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 24
from living in Chile than they contributed. Last fall, C.C. Schardt Cannon ’75 and her husband traveled back to South Korea with other former volunteers at the invitation of the South Korean government. South Korea is the only Peace Corps recipient country that is now a donor country—it has its own volunteer program and sends volunteers to other countries to help out. She says it was amazing to see the progress there and very humbling to visit the town where she had originally served.
Says Daniel Pellegrom ’97 of his time in Ghana: “I think about it every day, no exaggeration.” To read detailed, rich and inspiring firsthand accounts of 33 past and current Rhodes Peace Corps volunteers from 1962-2010, please go to rhodes.edu/magazine.
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 2:30 PM
Fast Facts History
Volunteers by Work Area
Peace Corps officially established: March 1, 1961 Total number of volunteers and trainees to date: 200,000+ Total number of countries served: 139
Education: 37% Health & HIV/AIDS: 22% Business Development: 14% Environment: 13% Agriculture: 4% Youth Development: 5% Other: 5%
Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams (Dominican Republic 1967-70)
Peace Corps Deputy Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet (Western Samoa 1981-83)
Volunteers Current number of volunteers and trainees: 8,655 Gender: 60% female, 40% male Marital Status: 93% single, 7% married Minorities: 19% of Peace Corps volunteers Average Age: 28 Volunteers over age 50: 7% Education: 90% have at least an undergraduate degree
Countries and Projects Current number of countries served: 76 countries
Where Volunteers Serve Africa: 37% Latin America: 24% Eastern Europe/Central Asia: 21% Asia: 7% The Caribbean: 5% North Africa/Middle East: 4% Pacific Islands: 3%
Budget Fiscal year 2010 budget: $400 million Fiscal year 2011 budget: $400 million
(Source: The Peace Corps. Figures are based on data as of Sept. 30, 2010. Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.)
rhodes.edu
feature-There isn't an app for this.indd 25
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 25 } 10/17/11 2:31 PM
THE
CLASS OF
2 015 Taylor, Hannah Walter, Molly Whitehorn, Bené Alabama—Athens: Maxwell Grisham, Zoe Jackson. Auburn: Conor LaRocque. Bay Minette: Sarah Shankle. Woods. North Little Rock: Jonathan Chu. Sherwood: Cassandra Golden. Siloam Springs: Justice Thompson. Birmingham: Elizabeth Barr, Luke Collins, Courtnee Cook, Premiese Cunningham, Kelsey Harrison. Daphne: Western Grove: Tyler Young. Sawyer Earwood. Fairhope: Tripp Drummond, Bailey California—Alameda: Allison Miller. Dana Point: Kimmitt. Florence: Ben Carnes. Guin: Austin Dixon. Lindsey Bitowft. El Dorado Hills: James Ekenstedt. Homewood: Aaron Banks. Hoover: Currie Carothers. Encinitas: Courtney Haller. Encino: Webster Heath. Huntsville: Eric Ly. Killen: Taryn Burgess. Madison: Los Angeles: Lucy Galloway. Orinda: Jordan Nevares. Susanna Dean. Mobile: Rebecca Brewster, Mary Pacific Palisades: Phoebe Driscoll. Piedmont: Taylor Catherine Cadden, Diego Calderon-Arrieta, Lauren Sieben. Santa Barbara: Patrick Cudahy. Hales, Chandler Schneider, Alex Van Haneghan. Montgomery: Summer Preg. Mountain Brook: Michael Colorado—Monument: Campbell Delahoyde. Akin, Katy Cannon, Sarah Katherine Cole, Mason Johnson, Shelby Scott. Orange Beach: Haley Adams, Connecticut—Easton: Delaney Bracken. Fairfield: Harrison Adams. Saraland: Tyler Andrews. Satsuma: Kristin Rempe. Middletown: Kenny Boyd. New Christian Harben. Semmes: Isabelle Campbell. Tuscaloosa: Andrew Roskos-Ewoldsen, Merrill Thagard. Canaan: Becky Thompson. Vestavia: Lee McAlister, Jennifer Rote. District of Columbia—Washington: Emma Gotbaum. Arizona—Mesa: Katie Jaffe. Phoenix: Andrea Tedesco. Florida—Bradenton: Shelby Raye. Lake Mary: Tucson: Priscilla Choi. Elizabeth Ross. Maitland: Aubrey Schonhoff. Naples: Margit Mikkelsen. Oviedo: James Simpson, Sadie Arkansas—Conway: Taylor Jackson. Fayetteville: Yanckello. Saint Petersburg: Lindsey Evans, Sarah Houston Hynes. Fort Smith: Drew Miller. Harrison: Evans, Michael Yanchunis. Sarasota: Tyler Payne. Cameron McGarrah. Jonesboro: Devin Craft, Emily Winter Springs: Matthew Cannavo. Murphy. Little Rock: Robyn Barrow, Kylie Chandler, Mary Curry-Ledbetter, Rabab Iqbal, Sarah Johnson, Georgia—Acworth: Xany Moore. Alpharetta: Allan Jones, Taylor LaPorte, April Lassiter, Nicole Courtney Hornsby, Blake Piedrahita. Athens: Dy’nelle Mackey, Blanche Murphy, Mollie Newbern, Jack Todman, Elliot Young. Atlanta: Cole Bagley, Matt O’Mara, Emily Prigmore, Jenna Sullivan, Rhianna
{ 26 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
feature-Class of '15 list.indd 26
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 2:17 PM
BRYAN MELTZ
Everett, Sam Higgins, Taylor Jenkins, Kelsey Keown, David Klemperer, Dianne Loftis, Lauren Tesler, Jaris Turner, Aubrey Wells. Canton: Nathan Kaufman, Justin Toliver. Cartersville: Farah Sharis. Decatur: Jason Crutcher, Ferozan Walizai. East Point: Steven Sheesley. Fayetteville: Paige Goemaere. Kennesaw: Zach Wade. Mableton: Sophia Anderson. Marietta: Laura Dorris, Emmie Heath, Kristen Lowry, Zach Pope. Newnan: Forrest Skelton. Roswell: Tyler Cummings, Nick D’Amato, Casey Joseph, Robert Pratt. Savannah: Megan Stout. Smyrna: Sierra Thompson. Idaho—Boise: Cheyenne Turner. Star: Annie Robison. Illinois—Carbondale: Connor Thompson. Edwardsville: Via Hopkins. Elgin: Mike Kuefner. Evanston: Madeline Polinski. Glen Ellyn: Kate Sullivan. Normal: Makenzie Martin. Urbana: Gracie Mayer. Indiana—Monticello: Kendall Brennan. Kansas—Leavenworth: Alexandra McMillan. Mission Hills: Betsy Dee, Jack Dee, Elyse Smith. Overland Park: Jourdaen Sanchez. Kentucky—Bowling Green: Diana Bigler. Fort Campbell: Dakota Januchowski. Lexington: Mary Combs, Macon Wilson. Louisville: Kelsi Garson, Abby Lukens, Christian Zoeller. Paducah: Allie Mayo. Prospect: Andrew Beno. Louisiana—Baton Rouge: Taylor Bass, Lanier Flanders, Melissa Redmon, Catherine Schlesinger, Courtney Whittle. Branch: William Barry. Broussard: Kathryn Cyrus. Clinton: Mary Walters. Covington: Nicole Huguley. Gretna: Evan Cuccia. Harahan: Ben Primes. Mandeville: Liz Giraud, Ryan Niedermair. Marrero: Tyler Adams. Meraux: Landon Jones. Metairie: Katie Casadaban, Meredith Kovach, Kelsey Lichtenstein, Julia Robbins. New Orleans: Chase Crowell, Alexandra Elliott, Emily Heine, Josh Mintz, Gaby Mioton, Caroline Ponseti, James Rigney, Christina Rodriguez-Fierro, Stephanie Veech. Shreveport: Jordan Aarstad, Ellen Booras, Alexis Jackson, Yoonjee Kim, David Pettiette, Mary Ellison Sewell, Emily Watson. Slidell: Naomi Gaddis, Alyssa Johnson. Washington: Brandon Lally.
rhodes.edu
feature-Class of '15 list.indd 27
Summer send-off in Atlanta at the home of Lindsay and Bill Dorris, parents of Laura ’15 and David ’13
Maine—Cape Elizabeth: Cam Thurston. Kennebunk: Molly Mugford. Raymond: Bryan Peterson. Scarborough: Priya Ahluwalia. South Thomaston: Jess Luttrell. Maryland—Bethesda: Gavi Perl. Centreville: Laura Wood. Elkridge: Perri Carroll. Fallston: Emily Cowie. Fort Washington: David Thomas. Hebron: Jordan Evans. Timonium: Chuck Knudsen. Towson: Lucy Rosenbloom. Massachusetts—Acton: Paul Bierwagen. Attleboro Falls: Monica Costello. Belchertown: Jazzy Phelps. Franklin: Katelyn Donaghey. Hopkinton: Evan Katz. Norwell: Jeremy Phillips. Roslindale: Elizabeth Rockett. Scituate: Alison Desmond. Winchester: Anna Santucci. Michigan—Saginaw: Nick Dean. Mississippi—Anguilla: Carlissa Lovette. Brandon:
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 27 } 10/17/11 2:18 PM
Kyle Jenkins. Coldwater: Colby Ruth-Holden. Columbus: Alexandria Cornwall. Corinth: Drew Kerby. Hernando: Leerin Campbell, Katherine Robinson. Horn Lake: Theo Summers. Jackson: Ebony Archie, Karissa Bowley, Currie McKinley. Madison: Omair Arain. Morton: Clayton Christian. Moss Point: Cierra Martin. Olive Branch: Phuong Le, Shelby Wilkinson. Pascagoula: Brendan Tyler. Ridgeland: Aubrey Flowers, Sethelle Flowers. Southaven: Kirby Rogers, Francesqa Santos, Julie Sommer. Missouri—Cape Girardeau: Lars Monia. Chesterfield: Scott Hamel. Florissant: Conner Bradley. Frontenac: Corrinne Palmer. Kansas City: Mark Sellers. Saint Louis: Mackenzie Callanan, Bryant Cummings, Michael Davidson, Adrienne Gab, Liv Hebner, Allycia Kleine, Tea Rose Pankey, Kat Simpson. Sikeston: Ben Priday. Springfield: Gabrielle Bailey. Webster Groves: Greg Emmenegger. Weldon Spring: Cody Heying. Wildwood: Josh Olejnik.
Davis, Celine Shirooni. Dayton: Kathleen Norris. Highland Heights: Christine Corbett. Hudson: Emily Clark. Kettering: Tori Lykins. Mason: Matt Wagner. Wilmington: Abbey Judd. Oklahoma—Oklahoma City: Preston Sullivan. Tulsa: Addison Jezek, Bailey Heldmar. Pennsylvania—Bridgeville: Dylan Kerney. Chadds Ford: Regan Zehr. North Wales: Lizzie Heo. Pittsburgh: Adam Petraglia. Radnor: Victoria Dreibelbis. South Carolina—Columbia: Katie Dubose. Greenville: Forrest Riddle, Hallie Weems. Hilton Head Island: Maraia Tremarelli.
Tennessee—Adams: Matt Hicks. Antioch: Hajar Sakhi. Arlington: Jessica Baker, Hailey Corbett, Amelia Phelps. Atoka: Colin King, Logan Sell. Bartlett: Leah Ford, Dang Nguyen, Alex Wang, Cody Yearwood. Nebraska—Bennington: Grant Bowen. Brentwood: Kathryn Campbell, Talia Flantzman, Devon Greig, Gabe Laurence, Tara Lehman. Brighton: Courtney Ashley, Kelsey Lord. Chattanooga: Kristal New Hampshire—Brookline: Maura Angel. Skrmetta, Di “Briana” Xu. Clarksville: Josh Jerles, Adriana Martinez-Lopez, Allison Montague, Collin Saleh. New Jersey—Belle Mead: Hannah Strong. Collierville: Abdelrhaman Amro, Arielle Carpenter, Chesterfield: Conor Pocino. Clinton: Brendan Rogan. Daniel Faulk, Catherine Grace Jernigan, Brian Ewing: Memphis Madden. Guttenberg: Vince Viola. Maplewood: Andrew Ehinger. Mendham: Alex Vicarisi. Mounce, Andrew Tutor. Columbia: Kaitlin Andrews. Cookeville: Caroline Reel. Cordova: Alyaa Altabbaa, Morristown: Jackson Stolar. Princeton: Tori Van Morgan Cantor, Dre Jean Cummings, Gracie Gilbert, Heyst. Westfield: Corey Lipschutz. Shivam Patel, Emileigh Pope, Lauren Shames, Chelsey Thompson, Ryan Van Hoeck, Olivia Warfield. Kim New Mexico—Los Alamos: Victoria Honnell. Santa Xiong. Covington: Will Posey. Decaturville: Josh Keen. Fe: Sam Cicci. Dickson: Teddy Huerta, Surya Pavuluri. Dresden: Dale Hutcherson. Fairview: Erin Potter. Franklin: Shannon New York—Brooklyn: Laura Saggese. Eden: Olivia Knauss. Granville: John Manchester. New York: Devon Feamster, Sarah Koehler. Germantown: Thomas Shiland, Charlotte Weaver. Beamish, Kirby Bennett, Aditya Biswas, Alexandra Corbett, Sooji Hong, Alex Jarratt, Sarah Kim, Katherine North Carolina—Boone: Lucy Gregor. Chapel Klepper, William Lenahan, Hannah Lin, Kate Morrison, Hill: Ryan Cole, Abby May, Megan May. Charlotte: Elena Mosby, Katie Raves, Kevin Shum, Saujanya Sinha, Mackenzie Holland, Anna Stachura, Anna StrattonLuke Spinolo, Aaron Vancil. Goodlettsville: Amy Stout. Brook, Andrew Tait, Kate Taylor. High Point: Sierra Humboldt: Harrison Donahoe. Jackson: Alexandra Gaffney. Leicester: Sam Goodman. Raleigh: Marshall B. Harlan, Halle H. Priester, Alison R. Thompson. Reid, Hannah Silver. Roxboro: Elizabeth Short. Knoxville: Breanna Durbin, Matthew Moore, Madison Wilmington: Reid Clark. Moreland, Braden Taylor, Dixy Yong. Lakeland: Noor Amro. Lewisburg: Morgan McCullough. Lynnville: Ohio—Blue Ash: Mason Levy. Cincinnati: Max Jon Emerson. Mason: John S. Wilder. Memphis:
{ 28 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
feature-Class of '15 list.indd 28
rhodes.edu
10/17/11 2:19 PM
Texas—Amarillo: Amber Sherwood. Austin: Amber Baade, Chad Bohls, Rachel Cole, Elizabeth Collins, Catherine Eckert, Sarah Laves, Geoffrey Livsey, Hannah Papermaster, Kendyl Smith, Buckley Willis. Coppell: Megan Thursby. Corpus Christi: Erin Lowrance. Dallas: Mackenzie Alexander, Takel Avery, Emily Dorward, Will Gietema, Alison Hanson, Mary Harrell, Karen Hess, Laura Lee Madigan, Adele Malpert, Annie Moir, Andrew Mowrey, Swati Pandita, Jessica Ritter, Caroline Sikes, Ellie Skochdopole, Brooke Tomlin, Elizabeth Walker. Fort Worth: Stefan Auld, Taylor White. Frisco: Blake Harrell, Richard McGuire. Houston: Juan Baiza, Ryan Born, Camille Boudreaux, Claire Coulter, Elliot Diesel, Mariah Giblin, Jack Griffin, Tarin McDonald, Henry Morris, Ross Nosaville, Melissa Paul, Alex Shumaker, Josh Wu. Humble: Emily Sewell. Magnolia: Nicolette Niles. McKinney: Christian Baum, Taylor Weidow. North Richland Hills: Chelsea Temple. Plano: Kevin Chien, Alex Cronin, Bobby Donachie, Alden Zogg. Richardson: Michael Wolf. Round Rock: Carly-Will Sloan. San Antonio: Katie Fritzlen, Emily Jordan, Micah Leonard, Olivia Menick, Krista Tremblay, Ethan Wilson. Southlake: Travis Allen. Spring: Mike
rhodes.edu
feature-Class of '15 list.indd 29
JUSTIN FOX BURKS
Constance Brooks, Charlease Cannon, Ivonne Cornejo, Ellenore Craine, Tien Dao, Nikki Edmunds, Chigozie Emelue, Rochelle Gillenson, Eliza Hendrix, Adam Howard, Barry Irby, Taylor Jackson, Bhavna Kansal, Aubrey Kearney, Zain-Al-Abidin Kinnare, Kirsten Kraus, Chelsea Landers, Taqwim Luboti, Sam Mattson, Iris Mercado, Sumita Montgomery, Will Murphy, Lance Myers, Grace Porter, Taylor Rubin, Kaitlyn Shamley, Nate Sharfman, Jasmine Sullivan, Andrew Tackett, Allyson Topps, Sanhitha Valasareddy, Asia Wakefield, Kenneishia Wooten. Millington: Brooke Bierdz, Katelyn Dagen, Leigh Donaldson, Justin Samuels. Mount Juliet: Shelley Choudhury. Murfreesboro: Andrea Davis, Alex Galloway, Matt Hein, Celeste Lake, Austin Moncivaez. Nashville: Hannah Asbell, Sam Brobeck, Trey Brooks, Lacy Deegan, Autumn Demonbreun, Lydia Garcia, Natalie Goodrum, Monique Hagler, Rahat Hossain, Eann Malabanan, Will Norton, Alex Schultheis, Abby Smith. Newbern: Winn Decker. Oak Ridge: Kelly Drane, Amelia Yeomelakis. Oakland: Jamara Haymore. Ooltewah: Rebecca Schmitt. Signal Mountain: Caroline Clark, Alvaz Kaukab. Smyrna: Richard Collins, Joseph Raby. Thompsons Station: Mallory Perry. Troy: Kacee Warren. White Pine: Collin Beach.
Members of the class of 2015 sign the Honor Code pledge during orientation
Edel. Terrell Hills: Key Hoffman. The Woodlands: Ashley Lindemann, Wyatt Pease. Victoria: Stephanie Kasper. Vidor: Nathan Landolt. Winnsboro: Madison Tallant. Virginia—Falls Church: Allison Doubleday. Manassas: Jonathan Cavell. McLean: Lucas Grim, Paul Kelly, Mark Lainoff. Richmond: Becca Martin. West Virginia—Vienna: Emily Berenson. Wisconsin—Kenosha: Alex Hade. China—Beijing: Beinuo Zhang. Guiyang: Jingwen Luo. Hong Kong: Andrew Wallis, Ashley Yu. Hulunbuir, Nei Mongol: Yan Guo. Nanjing: Qingyi Sui. Shanghai: Xiao Bian. Shenzhen: Di Xu. Tianjin: Xinran “Andy” Chen. Wuhan: Ke Huang. South Korea—Gunpo-Si: Gy Won Choi. United Kingdom—Blandford, England: Ailsa Bryce.
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 29 } 10/17/11 2:19 PM
THE
INTRODUCING CLARENCE DAY SCHOLARS Photography by Justin Fox Burks
Day Scholars, left to right: Alex Jarratt, Shivram Patel, Kevin Shum, Katelyn Dagen, Dre Jean Cummings, Eliza Hendrix, Iris Mercado, Andrew Tutor, Elena Mosby. Not pictured: Adam Howard.
T
hanks to a new scholarship program inaugurated this fall, Rhodes welcomed 10 top first-year students from Memphis and Shelby County high schools. The Clarence Day Scholarship Program, a partnership between Rhodes and the Day Foundation, will meet 100% of 10 local students’ financial need (tuition, room, board and books) for four years. Each student will also receive support for a “learning outside the classroom” experience in metro Memphis, such as service, research or an internship. The Day Foundation was established by Memphis businessman and philanthropist Clarence Day ’52, who passed away in 2009.
The program combines Clarence Day’s passion for encouraging young people to be the best they can be and for making Memphis a better place at an institution for which he deeply cared. Through the generosity of the Day Foundation, the Clarence Day Scholarship Program ensures that talented students from Memphis/Shelby County, regardless of income, have access to a world-class liberal arts education and the opportunity to make a positive impact on Memphis. Day Scholars are required to meet Rhodes’ rigorous academic standards, maintain a 3.0 or higher grade point average, remain on track to graduate in four years, live in accordance with the Rhodes Honor Code and complete one summer fellowship activity.
{ 30 }
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
Day Scholars - campaign story.indd 30
Elena Mosby, who attended Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, says she initially was attracted to Rhodes because of “its commitment to academic diversity and adherence to an Honor Code, which is unlike any other. Also there is an incredible commitment to service. Being a resident of the Memphis area, I’m extremely grateful for the Day Scholarship because now I have the opportunity to give back to my city and be a student at the best liberal arts college in the nation.” In addition to Mosby, the class of 2015 Clarence Day Scholars includes: Dre Jean Cummings, Cordova High School; Katelyn Dagen, Millington High School; Eliza Hendrix, St. Mary’s Episcopal School; Adam Howard, Christian Brothers High School; Alex Jarratt, Memphis University School, Iris Mercado, White Station High School; Shivam Patel, White Station High School; Kevin Shum, Houston High School; and Andrew Tutor, Houston High School. “We are grateful to the Day Foundation trustees for their investment in these talented students,” says Rhodes President Bill Troutt. “The opportunity to be a Day Scholar at Rhodes—remaining in the community for four years of college, receiving an outstanding education and engaging in important and exciting learning initiatives beyond the campus—is a powerful combination for creating the future leaders for Memphis. We know they will do great things these next four years, and beyond.” rhodes.edu
10/17/11 2:20 PM
A lumni News
From the Alumni Relations Office Dear Alumnus/a, JUSTIN FOX BURKS
As you probably have heard by now, there have been some leadership changes in Alumni Relations. Bud Richey, who has served as associate vice president for College Relations and director of Alumni Relations, has a new title and responsibilities: associate vice president for External Programs, the new name for College Relations. Stepping into the role of director of Alumni Relations is Tracy Vezina Patterson ’84, who has served as associate director of that office. In his new role, Bud will be focusing on Rhodes in Memphis, building strategic relationships throughout the community, helping maintain established partnerships with civic, government and corporate organizations, while cultivating new ones that aid Rhodes in broadening student fellowships, internships and engagement. He’ll also remain involved on campus through supporting various programs and events held at the college. We thank Bud for his unparalleled service to Rhodes and its alums these last few years and look forward to seeing him more around town and campus. We also look forward to continued growth and engagement of alumni under Tracy’s leadership.
Tracy Vezina Patterson ’84 and Bud Richey
Martha Hunter Shepard ’66 Editor, Rhodes
rhodes.edu
Class Notes.indd 31
FA L L 2 011 • R H O D E S
{ 31 } 10/17/11 1:30 PM
I Am a Recruiter “Involved.” “Engaged.” “Committed.” Any of these words aptly describes Fred Blackmon’s history as a member of the Rhodes community. While a student, he served on Rhodes Student Government and held a leadership role on the Interfraternity Council. After graduation in 2001, Fred embarked on a high school teaching career while also becoming an active member of the Rhodes Alumni Board and the Red and Black Society. Now a high school administrator, he is in the ideal position to promote the college to prospective students and their families. And thanks to Fred’s efforts, dozens of top-notch students have made the smart decision to attend Rhodes. Fred Blackmon understands that, as a member of the Rhodes community, we are all one. And it takes all of us to ensure that Rhodes remains the very best. Please consider how you can give back to the Rhodes community. For more information, please visit alumni.rhodes.edu. Rhodes College Alumni Relations Office 2000 N. Parkway Memphis, TN 38112 For more information, please call 1-800-264-LYNX (5969)
I AM
ONE I AM RHODES
Development Ad Fall '11.indd 2
10/17/11 2:16 PM
2000 North Parkway Memphis, TN 38112-1690 www.rhodes.edu
NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID SENATOBIA MS PERMIT NO. 109
JUSTIN FOX BURKS
Members of the class of 2015 make their way from the Frazier Jelke Science Center to the Bryan Campus Life Center for Opening Convocation.
Fall2011_Cover4.indd 1
10/17/11 1:59 PM