SPRING 2022
RANKED AMONG "BEST NATIONAL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES" - U.S. NEWS + WORLD REPORT
Greetings from Hendrix College!
It’s April. The board of trustees report is looming. I’m attempting to find the right words for an upcoming phone call with a parent. The content for the opening passage of this counselor newsletter will not write itself. My mind is processing questions like “Did we admit the right number of students?”, “How many of them will enroll?”, “Is the staff feeling overwhelmed with the pressures that this season brings?”, and “Are there enough high school juniors expressing interest for next year?”
From the Dean’s Desk PG. 1
Hendrix Senior Honored as Newman Civic Fellow PG. 3
Hendrix Senior Named a 2022 Thomas J. Watson Fellow PG. 5
‘The Legend of the Underground’ to Screen at Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College PG. 6
Hendrix Art Prof. Featured in Spring Exhibition in Little Rock Hendrix Alumnus Details Quest for Racial Justice in ‘Markham Street’ PG. 7
Hendrix Faculty, Alumni Co-Author Paper on Global Urban Evolution Following Participation in Study Spanning 26 Countries PG. 9 1
My response to all of this? Stare out my office window and become captivated by the sights and sounds of the roundabout outside the Village at Hendrix. Roundabout. Traffic Circle. Rotary. Road Circle. No matter your regional dialect, the goal is the same – keep traffic flowing in an efficient way while reducing the likelihood of collisions. With my eyes affixed on the rotation, comparisons to the cyclical nature of our work are drawn in my head. Hendrix College just posted a position for a new admission counselor. When speaking to those new to the profession, one of the first descriptors of this role is the seasonal nature of our work. Just when we can’t imagine spending one more night in a hotel, it is time for fall travel season to end and begin reading applications. Once application review turns from enlightening to fatiguing, decisions are released, and we try to encourage enrollment. And when the moment comes when the entering class is (hopefully!) full, attention turns to the next group of rising seniors. These seasons energize me, just as I was delighted by the corresponding parts of the year when I was a school college counselor. I hear horns honking outside my window, accompanied by the occasional emergency siren. This reminds me that many have no clue how to navigate a roundabout. Just last week I took three of my own teenage kids on a week of college visits. Growing up in a household where I “talk shop” more than one should, they are more familiar with this process than most kids their age. Even with this knowledge, the week with them made me realize they have blind spots. Whether working with students, parents, new staff, or others, I’ll remind myself that this might be the first time they are entering this traffic circle that we call the college search process. Officially labeled as the City of Colleges, Conway, Arkansas, is casually referred to as the City of Roundabouts. Over the last 10-15 years, dozens have been built to aid in traffic flow in the city. The trio of traffic circles adjacent to campus were an early catalyst for Conway’s progressive street and transportation work. We invite you to come see us to explore Hendrix College and the greater Conway community! Happy to be on this roundabout with you and wish you the best as this school year draws to a close!
RYAN CASSELL
VICE PRESIDENT OF ENROLLMENT AND DEAN OF ADMISSION EMAIL: CASSELL@HENDRIX.EDU
Hendrix.edu/Visit
Spring into your college search with us!
HENDRIX SENIOR HONORED AS NEWMAN CIVIC FELLOW CONWAY, Ark. (March 9, 2022) –
MAYA KRECZMER ’23, a politics and international relations major at Hendrix College, is one of 173 student civic leaders to be named a 2022-2023 Newman Civic Fellow. The Newman Civic Fellowship recognizes students who stand out for their commitment to creating positive change in communities locally and around the world. Kreczmer will join students from 38 states, Washington D.C., and Mexico to form the 2022-2023 cohort. “Maya believes the keys to building bridges of awareness and understanding between people in an increasingly polarized world are communication and collaboration,” said Hendrix President Ellis Arnold ’79. “She is committed to making the world a better place for all and spends her time in ways that make positive contributions to her community, on and off campus.” The Newman Civic Fellowship is organized by Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities working to advance the public purposes of higher education. The program is named for the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders, who was a tireless advocate for civic engagement in higher education. In the spirit of Dr. Newman’s leadership, fellows are nominated by Campus Compact member presidents and chancellors, who are invited to select one outstanding student from their campus each year. Through the fellowship, Campus Compact will provide these students with a year of learning and networking opportunities that emphasize personal, professional, and civic growth. Each year, fellows participate in numerous virtual training and networking opportunities to help provide them with the skills and connections they need
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to create large-scale positive change. The cornerstone of the fellowship is the Annual Convening of Fellows, which offers intensive skill-building and networking over the course of two days. The fellowship also provides fellows with pathways to apply for exclusive scholarship and postgraduate opportunities. “I am excited to utilize the resources of the Newman Civic Fellowship to improve my networking, interpersonal, collaborative, cultural, and self-awareness skills to work for social change in our future,” said Kreczmer. “I believe social issues derive from lack of understanding about different people and their experiences. Communication and collaboration remedy the disconnect.” Kreczmer sees opportunities to seek understanding through interactions in everyday life, such as peer mentoring, discussing opinions in class, or speaking with a family member about the social injustices of our time. “My previous experiences, including my internships at Heifer International, Arkansas PBS, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, demonstrated to me the wide range of possibilities for civic engagement,” Kreczmer added. “I aim to continue addressing public concerns throughout my life by having meaningful conversations with many types of audiences.” The Newman Civic Fellowship program is supported by the KPMG Foundation. ABOUT CAMPUS COMPACT Campus Compact is a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. Campus Compact supports institutions in fulfilling their public purposes by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. As the largest national higher education association dedicated solely to campus-based civic engagement, we provide professional development to administrators and faculty to enable them to engage effectively, facilitate national partnerships connecting campuses with key issues in their local communities, build pilot programs to test and refine promising models in engaged teaching and scholarship, celebrate and cultivate student civic leadership, and convene higher education institutions and partners beyond higher education to share knowledge and develop collective capacity. For more information, visit www.compact.org.
HENDRIX SENIOR NAMED A 2022 THOMAS J. WATSON FELLOW CONWAY, Ark. (March 17, 2022) – Hendrix College student ILANA SVARTZ ’22, a politics major and social justice minor from Austin, Texas, has been announced as a member of the 54th class of Thomas J. Watson Fellows. The Watson Fellowship is a one-year grant for purposeful, independent study outside the United States, awarded to graduating seniors nominated by one of 41 partner colleges. Svartz is the 39th Hendrix student to receive a Watson Fellowship. Svartz’s Watson project, titled “Compulsory Voting and the Culture of Civic Engagement,” will take her to Australia, Singapore, Luxembourg, and Bolivia. All of these governments have compulsory voting, with voter turnout topping 90% and civic engagement integrated into childhood education. She will examine how mandatory voting affects civic participation and political organizing in each of these places. “I hope to understand whether compulsory voting alone is responsible for the high voter turnout rate or if there are other cultural norms or expectations that help to achieve this high voter turnout,” she said. “I will spend time in their capital cities and in more rural communities to see how voting culture differs, even within one country.” Svartz became interested in voter engagement while taking a course titled Numbers in American Politics, one of the teamtaught course options offered at Hendrix as part of the firstyear curriculum The Engaged Citizen. The class was teamtaught by math and politics faculty members and examined
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electoral systems and reforms from both perspectives. After this class, Svartz sought more opportunities at Hendrix to further her interest. She has been part of the Arkansas Student Congress debate team all four years at Hendrix, leading the team this year and winning awards for writing two voting-centered bills. Her participation in the Hendrix Model UN and Mock Trial teams helped her grow comfortable with public speaking and interviewing. And as a Hendrix junior, she completed an Odyssey project in the Service to the World category that had her volunteering in phone banking during the 2020 election. “During this project, I was able to see how hard it was to get people to vote, which made me meditate on other ways we can get people engaged, and ultimately led me to my Watson topic,” she said. Svartz also participated as the Arkansas Delegate in the Henry Clay National Student Congress, where she worked with a group of students from around the country to propose a solution to election issues; and during her junior and senior years, she interned with Arkansas United Community Coalition
as a part of her Arkansas Politics course. The internship gave her the opportunity to work during the legislative session and help to coordinate a lawsuit challenging voter suppression. “I am incredibly grateful for everyone at Hendrix who has helped foster my passions and who has given me so many opportunities, both in and out of the classroom,” Svartz said. That support includes hearing about the Watson Fellowship during her junior year from Bailey Library Director Britt Anne Murphy, who serves as the College’s Watson liaison. “Ilana built upon her experiences as a student of politics, a canvasser, and a leader in Arkansas Student Congress to create an extraordinary proposal for world travel,” Murphy said. “When the pandemic hit, she lost an opportunity to study abroad but turned it into an opportunity to connect with her Texas community through politics. Ilana’s passion to engage cultures around civic engagement is certainly timely. As a voter and political activist, she is eager to interact with people who experience other systems of government. Her direct experience with the legislative process has helped her see how voters in this country engage, and this year of travel as a Watson Fellow will teach her about how those in other
parts of the globe relate to their governments.” Svartz is among five Hendrix students to become Watson Fellows in the past four years. Murphy said that this year’s four candidates from Hendrix continued their predecessors’ tradition of working collaboratively as they prepared to apply. “Our four candidates this year – Ilana, Kashti Shah, Charlie Stewart, and Anushka Yadava – worked together closely and supported one another through every draft and interview prep session,” she said. “They all are to be celebrated for pulling together excellent proposals for international travel in a world still fraught with COVID restrictions and other uncertainties.” Murphy said that similar to the past two years, the Watson Foundation will take into account the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as the new Watson Fellows plan their travels. “The Watson Foundation is hopeful that most Fellows can begin their journeys by August 1, but they will continue to be flexible about travel dates for the international stays Watson Fellows require.”
‘THE LEGEND OF THE UNDERGROUND’ TO SCREEN AT WINDGATE MUSEUM OF ART AT HENDRIX COLLEGE CONWAY, Ark. (March 28, 2022)–The Windgate Museum of Art (WMA) at Hendrix College, in conjunction with the Arkansas Cinema Society (ACS), is proud to announce the screening of The Legend of the Underground on April 6 at 6 p.m. This powerful documentary will be screened in the Hundley-Shell Theater, free of charge and open to all. The screening is part of ACS’s Dreamland Film Series celebrating Black voices in cinema and the WMA’s ongoing programming in film. It will be followed by a Q+A with Director of Photography and Co-producer Stephen Bailey. “We are very excited to partner with the Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College to screen The Legend of the Underground,” said ACS Executive Director Kathryn Tucker. “Our Dreamland Film Series celebrates black voices in cinema and shines a light on communities of color, not only in the United States, but worldwide. This documentary spotlights the struggles of the Black LGBTQ+ community in a powerful and intimate way. ACS is proud to have a filmmaker like Stephen Bailey return to Arkansas after his time at the Clinton School of Public Service to discuss his current work.” “The WMA is proud to partner with the Arkansas Cinema Society on this important and timely film,” said Mary Kennedy, WMA
Director. “Our Museum Associate in Film, JaZmyn Shambley, is working with ACS to create a warm and welcoming event for everyone. We hope folks will attend the screening and be part of the discussion. We are always pleased to bring new and compelling programs to our campus.” Premiering last year on HBO to overwhelmingly positive reviews, The Legend of the Underground (Giselle Bailey, Nneka Onuorah, 2021) captures the violent discrimination of LGTBIQ+ individuals in Nigeria. Directors Bailey and Onuorah follow the lives of several young men who must choose to either live a life of fear and secrecy in Lagos, Nigeria, where homosexuality is still condemned, or flee to the U.S., where they can more freely express their sexual identity. Even as the documentary portrays heartbreaking moments of police brutality, there are also scenes of lighthearted humor, joy, and communal bonding. The Legend of the Underground foregrounds an underrepresented community and subculture in a beautifully authentic and heartfelt way. In their fight to live out loud in Nigeria, the subjects of this evocative documentary represent the youth taking a stand for change in a way that both celebrates Blackness and Queerness.
HENDRIX ART PROF. FEATURED IN SPRING EXHIBITION IN LITTLE ROCK
HENDRIX ALUMNUS DETAILS QUEST FOR RACIAL JUSTICE IN ‘MARKHAM STREET’
CONWAY, Ark. – The work of Hendrix College art professor Matthew Lopas is being in “Structures: Inside/ Outside,” an exhibition with fellow artist Jason McCann at Boswell Mourot Fine Art, 1501 South Main Street Suite H in Little Rock.
Hendrix College alumnus Ronnie Williams ’76 recently published Markham Street, which shares his family’s quest for justice following the death of his brother Marvin Leonard Williams, a 20-year-old Black paratrooper, who died in police custody in 1960. More than two decades later, his parents received an eyewitness letter confirming Marvin’s brutal murder at the Faulkner County Jail. The book also offers a glimpse into the struggles Black families in the South dealt with and continue to face.
The opening reception took place Saturday, April 2, from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be an artist conversation on Friday, April 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. The show runs through Saturday, April 23. Boswell Mourot is open Tuesday through Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and by appointment.
For more information, call 501-454-6969 or visit boswellmourot.com. ABOUT THE ARTIST Matthew Lopas graduated from the University of Michigan in 1988 with a B.A. in Chinese Studies. He had a longstanding interest in Chinese philosophy and culture, plus had studied karate and tai chi, so the discipline felt like a natural fit. He spent his junior year in China studying Mandarin at Nanjing University with the Council for International Education Exchange. At the University of Michigan Residential College, Lopas took several drawing and sculpture classes. After graduation, he wanted to continue taking art courses, so he enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He graduated with a B.F.A. in Painting and Drawing in 1991 and then enrolled at Yale University, where he earned an MFA in Painting and Printmaking in 1995. Lopas joined the art faculty at Hendrix College in 2000, where he continues to teach in small class sizes that let him work closely with students in a non-competitive atmosphere. His favorite courses to teach include Digital Drawing and History of Materials and Techniques of Painting. The latter course introduces students to art making through historic materials; they begin the semester harvesting pigment from creeks in Petit Jean State Park and making paint from scratch, then use processes like egg tempera and fresco before ending the semester with Renaissance oil glazes. Lopas is a professional exhibiting artist, even given the time constraints of being a full-time professor. He is in numerous collections, shows work nationally, and is represented locally at Boswell Mourot Fine Art in Little Rock.
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“Our family’s experience is not an exception,” said Williams, a Menifee native. “I am speaking on behalf of the thousands of Marvin Williams whose stories will never be told with the hope of inspiring others to address systemic racism in America.” Williams was a featured speaker at the virtual Hendrix College Alumni Weekend 2022 on Saturday, April 2. He was interviewed by his spouse, Connie Williams, a longtime Hendrix librarian. Williams participated in a local book signing on Thursday, March 31, at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center. The event included a panel discussion, followed by a meet and greet with Williams. Fully vaccinated individuals are invited to attend free of charge. Markham Street is available at Amazon, Book Baby, and Walmart. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Williams recently retired as vice president for Student Services and Institutional Diversity at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA). During his more than three decades at UCA, he served as assistant dean of students, director of Minority Affairs, assistant to the president and chief diversity officer. He was the first person of color to chair the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce and Conway Development Corporation board. He is the former chair of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Hendrix College and an M.S.E. from Arkansas State University. For more information, visit ronniewilliamsauthor.com.
UPCOMING BOOK SIGNING AT HENDRIX COLLEGE:
April 8 from 1-2 p.m. in Bailey Library
HENDRIX FACULTY, ALUMNI CO-AUTHOR PAPER ON GLOBAL URBAN EVOLUTION FOLLOWING PARTICIPATION IN STUDY SPANNING 26 COUNTRIES CONWAY, Ark. (March 18, 2022)—New research now shows that urban environments are altering the way life evolves—and a Hendrix College faculty member, retired faculty member, and four recent alumni participated in the project. Assistant Professor of Biology DR. ADAM SCHNEIDER, Professor Emerita of Biology DR. JOYCE HARDIN, SIERRA HUBBARD ’20, SAVANNAH DRAUD ’19, TRISTIAN WILES ’21, and CARALEE SHEPARD ’20 are listed as co-authors of a report appearing in the journal Science, detailing the findings of a study that revealed the clearest evidence yet that human activity influences the evolution of plant life in cities worldwide. The urban evolution study, led by evolutionary biologists at the University of Toronto Mississauga, found evidence of parallel evolution in the white clover plant across multiple locations around the world. The study analyzed data from 160 cities and nearby rural areas in 26 countries. Here at Hendrix, the research group of six took part in gathering samples of white clover and recording their data through the Global Urban Evolution Project (GLUE). Schneider and Hardin recruited the four students to collect samples from Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee. The study found that clover evolution in urban areas worldwide had more in common than they did with the changes in rural habitats nearby those cities. For example, clover in downtown Memphis would have more in common with clover in downtown Toronto than it would with clover just a few miles away in rural eastern Arkansas. “The students took the lead on designing transects, collecting samples, conducting the assays, and presenting our team’s results at local research meetings, while forwarding phenotype data and leaf samples for genotyping to the Lead Team,” Schneider said.
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The students brought their own individual interests to the study. “I was fascinated by questions related to how humankind has and continues to impact the evolution of life on earth,” Draud said. “I could see how scientists can use smaller study systems to chip away at answers to larger and more complex questions in Biology. Working with other students with varying scientific interests, as well as with an experienced researcher, helped me learn more about how to approach scientific questions from many different angles.” “Having this research experience as an undergraduate and learning about the publication process helped prepare me for a successful graduate career in plant ecology and evolution,” said Hubbard, now in graduate school at Oklahoma State University. “All four of the Hendrix students who contributed to GLUE are now in Ph.D. programs, in diverse subjects including cell biology, systematics, plant-fungi interactions, and the urban ecology of native bee communities,” Schneider said. “And the data they gathered as undergraduates will be studied for years to come, to better understand how life is evolving in response to human-engineered landscapes.” Schneider is now in the process of recruiting another cohort of students to participate in one of the follow-up studies that have been dubbed GLUE 2.0.
Explore career planning and experience college life in this new, one-week, residential program at Hendrix College for rising high school juniors and seniors. Life Launch features mentoring & teaching from Hendrix faculty and staff as well as learning from professionals in their fields. Let us help you plan your next steps.
June 5-10, 2022 Apply by April 15 @ hendrix.edu/lifelaunch
