The Hendrix College Magazine Fall 2013 Volume 26, Number 1 Chief Communications Officer Frank Cox ’76 cox@hendrix.edu Editor Helen Plotkin plotkin@hendrix.edu Managing Editor Rob O’Connor ’95 Art Director Joshua Daugherty Designers Joshua Daugherty Ephraim McNair Staff Photographers Joshua Daugherty Michael Tarne ’14 Alumnotes Editors Maleele Choongo ’15 Ruthie Daniel ’16 Julia Lee McGill ’14 Hendrix Magazine is published by Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Ave., Conway, Arkansas 72032-3080. This magazine is published for Hendrix College alumni, parents of students and friends. Permission is granted to reprint material from this magazine provided credit is given and a copy of the reprinted material is sent to the Editor. Postmaster, please send form 3579 to Office of Marketing Communications, Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Ave., Conway, AR 72032-3080 (501) 505-2932 Fax (501) 450-4553 Alumnotes submission deadlines: Spring Issue: Feb. 1 Fall Issue: Sept. 1
36 Hand Off Photo by Nelson Chenault
on the cover
Printed on paper containing 10% post-consumer recycled content with inks containing agri-based oils. Please Recycle.
This year, Elizabeth Krug ’14 became the NCAA Division III National Heptathlon Champion. A biology major from Heber Springs, Ark., she is the first Hendrix student-athlete to win a national championship since the college joined the NCAA Division III in 1992. A four-time Division III All-American track and field athlete, she has completed Holocaust research in Austria and Poland and volunteered at a pediatric clinic in Guatemala after the national championships this summer. Story page 18. Photo by Joshua Daugherty
18
Hep Cat
Biology major and All-American brings home medal as national heptathlon champion
20
Big League Lawyer
Alumnus litigator, former athlete takes on New York Yankees in the courtroom
22
Off the Field
Professors ponder the intersection of sports and the arts with essay assignments
26
Doc Hog
Hendrix grad supports Razorback athletes as head team primary care physician
28
Silver Linings Playbook
Student-athlete overcomes tragic injury with positive attitude
30
Th-ESPN
Theatre grad turns stage training into television career
32
Pants Off Dance Off
Student tradition celebrates century of freshmen fun
34
Warrior Memorial
New stadium, plaza and public art honors alumni service and sacrifice
4 Alumnotes 4 13 At Home at Hendrix 03 Campus News 17 Editor’s Message 12 Faculty News 16 Hendrix Through Time
48 In Memoriam 02 Inside Perspective 46 Marriages 47 New Children 14 Odyssey Spotlights
36
Resume Play
Men’s football takes the field after 53-year time out
49
Roll Tithe
Honor Roll of Donors recognizes alumni and donors for their generous support
inside perspective
Acting President W. Ellis Arnold III Ellis Arnold ’79, Acting President, Executive Vice President & General Counsel and Dean of Advancement, talks about the past, present and future of Hendrix from his perspective as an alumnus, a senior administrator and as acting president.
A: I think the physical changes have been the most dramatic — the library, science facilities, student life and athletics facilities and new housing options have expanded the campus footprint. The student body is more geographically diverse and engaged learning opportunities have increased, especially opportunities for study abroad. Enrollment growth — from about 1,000 when I was a student to more than 1,400 today — has been good for the campus climate, increasing the attendance at student events and just raising the level of energy you feel when you’re walking across campus. At the end of the day it’s the sense of community, the relationships between the people on campus that make Hendrix a special place, and that hasn’t changed. Q: What do you think is the “next big thing” for Hendrix? What idea or opportunity do you wake up excited about every morning? A: Enhancing our Odyssey program through the new strategic initiatives we’re developing now in concert with the faculty and the Board of Trustees is really exciting. I am also excited about the possibility of renewing the historic core of our campus with a residence hall master plan that would allow us to completely renovate our six traditional residence halls over the next decade. I’d love to see Martin Hall completely renovated by its 100th anniversary in 2018. I also hope it will be a priority to increase the diversity on our campus and extend our global relationships and experiences over the next decade. Q: What do you think is the biggest challenge for the College in the next decade? What keeps you up at night?
2 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
Photo by Bob Handelman
Q: What about Hendrix has changed the most since your student days?
A: The competition for precious resources is our biggest challenge. We are competing for students who could benefit from a Hendrix education and we’re competing for philanthropic support — so we must continue to be innovative. We must significantly increase the College’s endowment. That’s why this next campaign is so important and why managing the endowment wisely and maximizing its return is a huge priority.
sources of revenue. For private colleges, that’s the endowment. Growing the endowment through new gifts and appreciation will be essential to our ability to attract and retain students and to attract and retain faculty and staff.
Q: What is the College’s biggest need for gifts in the next two years and the next 10 years?
A: One of the greatest pleasures is getting to be around students a bit more. You’d think that in this role you’d have less time to interact with students because you are pulled in so many different directions. But, once you are in this role, I think you have to find ways to engage with students whether it’s dropping in on a Student Senate picnic or participating in signing the Wall of Acceptance (part of the campus’ celebration of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech). Just being around students, even if it’s just a little bit each week, gives me fuel. It gives me energy.
A: In the next two years, our top priority is to secure resources for the athletics facilities projects. Longer term, there is no question that our top priority is growing the College’s endowment through outright gifts and through planned gifts. In the coming decade, private colleges will feel more and more pressure to limit their tuition increases. The only way we can respond to that pressure is to find other
Q: Personally, what do you enjoy most about being Acting President of Hendrix College?
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Forward Roll
campus news
Campus News Vincent Gammill ’14, a physics major from Little Rock, Ark.; and Konstantin Gruenwald ’15, a physics major from Little Rock, Ark. Hendrix was one of only four institutions (including Drexel University, Montana State University, and Rice University) to have all four applicants win; 15 had three scholars, 52 had two scholars. In the 25-year history of the program, 29 Hendrix students have been named Goldwater recipients.
Enrollment for the 2013-2014 academic year at Hendrix is 1,432 students, up three percent from 1,388 students last year. Two contributing factors to the increased student enrollment include a record new student class and strong freshman-to-sophomore retention. This fall, Hendrix welcomed 455 new students, the largest number in the College’s history. Fifty-five percent of new students are from out of state and 45 percent are from Arkansas. With 207 in-state students, the incoming class includes one of the largest groups of Arkansas students in a decade. Also included in the new student numbers are 212 studentathletes, including 52 football players and 11 women lacrosse players. This year’s freshman-to-sophomore retention rate is nearly 88 percent.
Elementary Ms. Watson Maia Yang ’13 was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Yang, a business economics major and philosophy minor from Hot Springs, Ark., will study microfinance in Bangladesh, Rwanda, Vietnam and Peru. This year, from more than 700 candidates, 148 finalists were nominated to compete on the national level from which 40 fellows were selected. Yang also received the President’s Medal at the 2013 Honors Day Convocation.
Leader of the Pack For the sixth consecutive year, Hendrix has been named one of the country’s top “Up and Coming” liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is listed at #2 among national liberal arts colleges that have recently made promising and innovative changes in the areas of academic life, faculty, student life, campus and facilities. The 2014 U.S. News Best Colleges guide also lists Hendrix as #11 in an elite group of liberal arts colleges that demonstrate “A Strong Commitment to Teaching.” Hendrix is the only institution in Arkansas to appear in the 2014 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking of the top 100 private national liberal arts colleges. Hendrix is listed among the top liberal arts colleges “based on their contribution to the public good” by Washington Monthly and is also included in the 2014 Fiske Guide to Colleges and The Princeton Review’s The Best 378 Colleges. Hendrix is among the country’s top 100 most financially fit private colleges, according to a list published by Forbes magazine, and is the top-ranked private college in Arkansas for affordability and return on investment, according to a recent ranking by Affordable Colleges Online.
Future’s so Fulbright Josephine Reece ’13, a philosophy major from St. Paul, Minn., received a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English in South Korea. Anna Broadwell-Gulde ’13, an English major from Memphis, Tenn., was selected for a Fulbright U.S. Student award for the Brazil English Teaching Assistantship Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by then-Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by
Acting President W. Ellis Arnold III ’79, left, is pictured with Maia Yang ’13, who received the 2013 Hendrix President’s Medal at the 2013 Honors Day Convocation in Staples Auditorium.
Four Hendrix students were awarded the 2013 Goldwater Scholarship from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program, widely considered the most prestigious undergraduate science honor in the U.S. The 2013 Goldwater Scholars from Hendrix are: Macrina Butler ’14, a biochemistry molecular biology major from Austin, Texas; Kaleigh Clary ’14, a mathematics and computer science major from Cabot, Ark.;
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Photo by Joshua Daugherty
Good as Goldwater
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 3
campus news
the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It was designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
Tapped for Phi Beta Kappa Thirty-two Hendrix students were elected into the Arkansas Beta chapter of Phi Beta Kappa this spring. Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and largest academic honor society, with more than half a million members. It has chapters at 270 of the finest colleges and universities. The Society’s mission is to promote the liberal arts and sciences, to recognize academic excellence, and to foster freedom of thought and expression.
Top Pick
David Allan ’14 from Missouri City, Texas, and Sreesh Reddy ’14 from Little Rock, Ark., were among the more than 80 entrepreneurs involved in Startup Weekend Little Rock at the Clinton School of Public Service. Startup Weekend, a grassroots movement to launch startups, involves entrepreneurs meeting up, networking and forming teams over the course of a weekend, from which the top ideas are pitched to a panel of judges. Allan and Reddy were members of the winning startup — Simple Service. The team built a service that provides an easy way for students, schools, and service sites to verify and communicate public service hours. The Simple Service team took home $1,000 in cash plus free startup consulting services.
Big Ideas Meredith Morrison ’15 from Greenfield, Mo., Jacob Porter ’13 from Austin, Texas, and Allison Hudgens ’13 from Hot Springs, Ark., wrote policy proposals for the 2013 Roosevelt Institute Campus Network 10 Ideas Journal. The 10 Ideas Journal represents unique ideas from 83 authors at 30 different institutions.
Adding Up For the eighth consecutive year, Hendrix math students won top honors at the 2013 Arkansas Undergraduate Mathematics Competition this spring at the University of the Ozarks. There were 13 teams representing seven colleges in Arkansas at the competition. Hendrix student
Photo by Joshua Daugherty
Thirty two Hendrix seniors were inducted this spring into the Arkansas Beta chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society.
Jeremy Williams ’14 of Overland Park, Kan., was selected as a Fellow in the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program. Funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, the fellowship award includes funding toward tuition, room, board, and mandatory fees during the senior year of college and the first year of graduate study. Fellows must commit to pursuing a graduate degree at one of the graduate schools participating in the program, in fields such as international studies, international affairs, public policy, administration, economics, political science or foreign languages. Participating graduate schools, fullmember Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA) schools, provide financial support in the second year of graduate study based on need.
Start Me Up
4 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
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Courtesy photo
Good Fellows
teams placed first, second, and seventh. The first place team, which had a perfect score on the exam, included Gary DeClerk ’15, Quan Nguyen ’15, and Trang Nguyen ’16. The second-place team included Jeremiah Bill ’14, Shuyin Hua ’16, and Xuanhua Wang ’15. The seventh-place team included Rene Nsanzineza ’14, Aline Umuhire-Juru ’15, and Rachel Zweig ’16.
Creative Collaboration
Six Hendrix students presented their research this spring at the American Physical Society’s national meeting in Denver, Colo. Those students include Dan Cargill ’14, Katie Coughran ’14, Vincent Gammill ’14, Didier Muvandimwe ’13, Grace Trees ’14, and Erik Urban ’13. Muvandimwe and Urban received outstanding undergraduate research presentation awards from the American Physical Society and the Society of Physics Students. Nine Hendrix students presented their undergraduate research this spring at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) in Fort Worth, Texas. The students include: Izzy Anderson ’13 from Durham, N.C.; Rebecca Cox ’13 from Hot Springs, Ark.; Katie Defrance ’13 from Camden, Ark.; Jenn Guenther ’13 from St. Louis, Mo.; Cole Johnston ’13 from Dallas, Texas; Nick Jordan ’13 from Memphis, Tenn.; Andre Leonard ’13 from Memphis, Tenn.; Anna Lennartson ’13 from Round Rock, Texas; and Amanda Spolec ’13 from Dallas, Texas. Two Hendrix science students gave oral presentations of their research this spring at the 97th annual Arkansas Academy of Science conference in Little Rock, Ark. Adam Bigott ’14 from Naperville, Ill., presented “Examining the Uniqueness of the Sky Island Pines.” Bigott was mentored by biology professor Dr. Ann Willyard. Emily Cariker ’14 from Rockwall, Texas, presented “Gene Expression in Bdelloid Rotifers during DNA Damage Repair.” Cariker was mentored by biology professor Dr. Andrew Schurko. The students tied for 2nd place in the
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Courtesy photo
Research Shows
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 5
campus news
Left: Hendrix math students won top honors for the eighth consecutive year at the 2013 Arkansas Undergraduate Mathematics Competition this spring at the University of the Ozarks. Hendrix teams placed first, second, and seventh. The first place Chris Akcali ’13 of Irving, Texas, was awarded a National team had a perfect Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow- score on the exam. ship this spring. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. NSF received more than 13,000 submitted applications for the 2013 competition, and made 2,000 award offers. Akcali, a biology major, will pursue evolutionary biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jill Nguyen ’14, an international relations major from Hanoi, Vietnam, was selected as a Young People For (YP4) fellow. YP4 is a strategic long-term leadership development program that identifies, engages and empowers the newest generation of progressive leaders to create lasting Six Hendrix students change in their communities. presented their research at the American Physical Society’s national meeting this spring in Hendrix College and its academic consortium the Asso- Denver, Colo., where ciated Colleges of the South (ACS) were recognized for Didier Muvandimwe ’13 fostering healthy, creative collaborations in higher educa- and Erik Urban ’13 tion between the United States and China. Hendrix reli- received outstanding gious studies professor Dr. Jay McDaniel accepted the undergraduate research honor on behalf of Hendrix and ACS this spring at the 7th presentation awards Annual Ecological Civilization Conference in Claremont, from the American Calif., sponsored by the China Project of the Center for Physical Society and Process Studies and the Central Bureau of Translation of the Society of Physics Students. the Chinese government. Undergraduate Life Science Oral Presentations category. Twenty five Hendrix students presented their undergraduate research this spring at the 45th annual American Chemical Society (ACS) national meeting in New Orleans, La. Approximately 12,000 professional chemists and students attended the meeting, where Hendrix had one of the largest cohorts of undergraduate attendees. Hendrix students were accompanied by seven faculty and staff members of the Department of Chemistry.
campus news
at a commune north of the 17th parallel. The students will complete a collaborative writing project on issues in Vietnam they are interested in and observed on the trip.
Courtesy photo
Shootin’ Pool
Nine Hendrix students participated in a 10-day mission trip to Alaska sponsored by the Hendrix Miller Center for Vocation, Ethics, and Calling. Students worked at various non-profit agencies in Fairbanks, in addition to clearing trails and preparing campgrounds for interdenominational summer camps programs.
Summer Service Nine Hendrix students participated in a 10-day mission trip to Alaska sponsored by the Hendrix Miller Center for Vocation, Ethics, and Calling. Student participants included: Brandon Cox ’16 from Rogers, Ark.; Charli Davis ’15 from McCrory, Ark.; Katherine Dennis ’13 from Nashville, Tenn.; Johnny English ’13 from Youngsville, La.; Olivia Goza ’14 from Little Rock, Ark.; Landon McGarry ’13 from Richardson, Texas; Robert Nshimiyimana ’15 from Rwanda; Dakota Pouncey ’15 from Holiday Island, Ark.; and Laura Price ’15 from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Students were accompanied by philosophy professor Dr. James Dow, biology professor Dr. Joyce Hardin, and Michaela Fraser ’11, former presidential fellow in the Miller Center. The group discovered some of the special challenges to the delivery of social services that such an environment presents. In addition to clearing trails and preparing campgrounds for interdenominational summer camps programs, the group completed service at various non-profit agencies in Fairbanks, Alaska, working alongside environmental conservationists, in food banks, and an agency providing services to disabled community members.
Good Morning Vietnam Eight Hendrix students spent two and a half weeks in Vietnam this summer studying contemporary Vietnam. Student participants included: Laura Klasek ’13, Anvesh Kompelli ’14, Giang “Gaby” Le ’14, Andrew LeMay ’15, Van Phung ’14, Kate Skorija ’14, Annie Slattery ’14, and Allison Tschiemer ’13. The students were accompanied by anthropology professor Dr. Anne Goldberg, photography professor Maxine Payne, and English professor Dr. Alex Vernon. Vernon holds the Bost Odyssey Professorship, which provides support for faculty development and projects that expand engaged learning opportunities in Asian studies for Hendrix students. The group spent a week in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, then toured Hue in central Vietnam, and stayed
6 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
Dan Lloyd was named the new head coach of the Hendrix men’s and women’s swimming and diving program. He replaces Hendrix Sports Hall of Honor member Jim Kelly, who retired after 31 seasons. Lloyd was formerly an assistant at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., for four seasons. In 2013, Wheaton finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships for the first time in 10 years. He also coached a three-time national champion at the 2013 Championships and helped guide the women’s team to their 16th consecutive College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin title. In 2013, Lloyd helped the Wheaton men to their first CCIW championship in six seasons. Prior to his time at Wheaton, Lloyd served as the interim head coach for Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., where he was named the Midwest Conference Women’s Coach of the Year. Lloyd also coached with Club Wolverine and the University of Michigan, where he worked with six Olympians while under legendary distance coach Jon Urbanchek. Lloyd is a 2002 graduate of Millikan University in Decatur, Ill., where he was a five-time All-American, the CCIW record holder in the 1,650 yard freestyle and one of only four swimmers ever in the CCIW history to win titles in two events for four consecutive years. In 2011, he was inducted into the Millikin Hall of Fame.
Sermon on the Mound Hendrix baseball players Collin Radack ’14 and Matt Simmons ’15 spent their summer playing for Athletes in Action (AIA), a global sports ministry with four baseball teams located in the Dominican Republic, Alaska, New York, and the Great Lakes. Teams are made up of students from colleges, universities, and junior colleges across the nation. Radack, a business and economics major from Austin, Texas, played in the Alaska Baseball League. He played for the Xenia Scouts on the Great Lakes team last year. Simmons, from Bedford, Texas, was an outfielder for the Rochester Ridgeman, a team in the New York Collegiate Baseball League. When not playing and practicing baseball, the teams joined in local service projects, including youth baseball clinics, spending time at the Ronald McDonald House, and assisting local churches with their needs. In addition to other service work, Simmons’ team worked with Inner City Ministry in Webster, N.Y., and the Webster Challenger baseball program, which gives physically and mentally disabled kids a chance to play baseball. Beginning their days with team discipleship and Bible studies at a local church both Radack and Simmons followed similar schedules set by the program, ultimately playing baseball six days a week or 40 games a summer season.
Teaching for America Four 2013 Hendrix graduates were accepted into Teach For America (TFA), a non-profit organization that works at every level of education, policy and other professions
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A Big Mellon Hendrix received a $250,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund a two-year Writing Across the Curriculum project. The grant supports a faculty committee charged with reviewing writing instruction and outcomes at Hendrix and elsewhere. The committee will make recommendations at the conclusion of the grant period. The Mellon-funded project will also include a pilot course on essay writing.
Belize If You Please Eighteen students at Hendrix explored marine environment in Belize as part of biology professor Dr. Jenn Dearolf’s marine biology course. Prior to the trip, students learned about rocky intertidal zones, estuaries, the epipelagic, the deep ocean, coral reefs, and mangroves. They also learned about some of the organisms that they would see on the coral reefs of Belize and studied to which taxonomic groups the different organisms belonged, their scientific names, and distinctive features of the taxonomic groups. The group, accompanied by Dr. Dearolf and Hendrix biology professor Dr. Joe Lombardi, visited the Belize Marine TREC (Tropical Research and Education Center) to observe marine organisms in their environment. They spent their days snorkeling in Tres Cocos, Mexico Rocks and Mexico Cave, Caye Caulker North Cut Back Reef and Caye Caulker Wreck, Tuffy and Mangrove Isles, and Turtle Rock Island, and Shark Ray Alley. Students also explored the Marine Protected Area (MPA), off the coast of San Pedro and explored caves and notable Mayan archaeological sites including Tikal in Guatemala. The land travels were designed to expose students to Mayan culture.
student residences on the upper two floors. The commercial tenants in the building will include the new Conway office of Delta Trust & Bank, a full-service financial institution with branches located across Arkansas; The Purple Cow, a popular ’50s-style diner with locations in Little Rock and Hot Springs, Ark., and Dallas, Plano, and Fairview, Texas; and Conway Management, Inc., a hotel management group. The project should be completed by the end of the year with the commercial tenants opening for business early in 2014. Student residences should be ready by the beginning of the fall 2014 semester.
Giving Opportunity Hendrix students will soon have unique hands-on field research opportunities with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Randy Wilbourn ’68, a member of the Hendrix Board of Trustees, and his wife Judy recently made a gift to the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation to establish the Henderson Research Fellows in honor of Scott Henderson, who led the agency until he retired October 2011. The Henderson Fellows initiative is an extension of Wilbourn’s interest in Arkansas’s natural resources and engaged learning at Hendrix. A founding partner of Little Rock-based marketing communications consultants Martin-Wilbourn Partners, Wilbourn and his wife
campus news
and whose mission is to eliminate educational inequity. Ieshea Goree ’13, a psychology major from Crossett, Ark., will teach sixth-grade math in St. Louis, Mo. Armeen Neshat ’13, a double major in history and politics from Jonesboro, Ark., will teach secondary-level social studies in Tulsa, Okla. Delaney Roberts ’13 a double major in English and Spanish from Nashville, Tenn., will teach high school Spanish in Atlanta, Ga. Lindsey Wiggin ’13, a philosophy major from New Boston, N.H., will teach elementary education in Philadelphia, Pa.
Kevin Spatz ’14 was one of 18 Hendrix students who explored marine environment in Belize as part of biology professor Dr. Jenn Dearolf’s marine biology course. Students visited the Belize Marine Tropical Research and Education Center, the Marine Protected Area off the San Pedro coast, and Mayan archaeological sites.
Hendrix and a group of investors have come together in a joint venture to develop Market Square South in The Village at Hendrix, a New Urbanist neighborhood adjacent to the Hendrix campus. The 30,000-sq.-ft. Market Square South building will include commercial tenants on the ground floor and
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Photo by Daniel Gallo
Purple Rain
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 7
campus news
Third Degree Physics lab manager John Steward ’94 and theatre professor Cheri DeVol ’90 received a grant, underwritten by the Hearst Foundation, to purchase a 3D printer. Devol, who teaches a course in computer-aided design (CAD), anticipates using it for set and prop design work, and Steward can envision making 3D models of campus and other creative student projects. The 3D printer is a cornerstone of what Steward hopes will be a dedicated “maker space” on campus. Maker spaces are innovative think spaces or incubators where students and faculty can put ideas into action.
Gaeng Em Style Photo by Joshua Daugherty
Assistant men’s basketball coach Drew Gaeng has been named the interim head women’s basketball coach for the 2013-14 season. Gaeng has served as the Warriors’ men’s assistant coach for the last four seasons. During that time he helped coach seven all-conference selections. A standout point guard for Roanoke College in Salem, Va., he served as team captain of the Maroons his senior year and led the team with 46 three-pointers, 74 assists and averaged 6.7 points per game.
Hendrix physics lab manager John Steward ’94 and theatre professor Cheri DeVol ’90 received a grant, underwritten by the Hearst Foundation, to purchase a 3D printer to be used in science classes as well as set and prop design for the theatre program.
8 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
Fore Play Jay Lester ’82 is the new men’s and women’s golf coach. Lester was an All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference and NAIA All-District 17 selection for the Warriors as a senior in 1982. He was ranked in the top 10 in Arkansas from 1989-98 and had five ASGA wins and eight runner-up finishes during his career. He won the City of Little Rock championship twice, the Hindman Golf Course Club championships nine times, and a Camden Country Club title. Renowned for his short game abilities in both chipping and putting, Lester has
Photo by Joshua Daugherty
Jay Lester ’82 is the new men’s and women’s golf coach.
Photo by Joshua Daugherty
Assistant men’s basketball coach Drew Gaeng, left, is the interim head women’s basketball coach for 2013-14 season.
previously established an Odyssey Professorship at Hendrix to support the work of Hendrix faculty who create or expand hands-on learning opportunities for students. The couple also made a gift to The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas that will give students access to Nature Conservancy properties for research projects. Two Henderson Research Fellows will be awarded each year for projects that focus on biology or enforcement. Hendrix biology and environmental studies professor Dr. Joyce Hardin, AGFC director Mike Knoedl, and AGFC biologist Brad Miller are working on logistics and identifying potential projects that meet AGFC and Hendrix students’ needs.
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Photo by Joshua Daugherty
registered 10 hole-in-ones and five double eagles during his career. Off the course, Lester worked as an accountant for Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield and as manager of the International Golf Store. He has also owned a mini-blind company and has spent the last 13 years as the owner of Little Rock Golf, a club repair company.
Completing the Complex Hendrix received a $1 million gift from the Roy and Christine Sturgis Trust of Dallas, Texas, to support the completion of the College’s athletics facilities master plan, including the new 1,500-seat YoungWise Memorial Stadium, an indoor tennis center, and a sports training facility at the north end zone of the stadium. The 18,000-sq.-ft. sports training facility bears the Sturgis name in recognition of the Sturgis Trust’s support. The $1 million gift is the largest award Hendrix has received from the Sturgis Trust. The stadium will be officially dedicated on Saturday, Nov. 9, when Hendrix plays fellow SAA conference member Rhodes College of Memphis, Tenn.
Pick Up Sticks The new NCAA Division III women’s lacrosse team at Hendrix will begin competition this spring. The team, led by head coach Peri West, will open its season on Feb. 7 against Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. The regular season will conclude on April 12 with a home game against Rhodes College.
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2014 Women’s Lacrosse Schedule Date
Opponent
Location
Time
Feb. 7, 2014
Southwestern (Texas)
Georgetown, Texas
7 p.m.
Feb. 9, 2014
Dallas
Irving, Texas
11 a.m.
Feb. 15, 2014
Oglethorpe*
Atlanta, Ga.
5:30 p.m.
Feb. 16, 2014
Agnes Scott
Decatur, Ga.
9 a.m.
Feb. 22, 2014
Berry*
Conway, Ark.
11 a.m.
Feb. 28, 2014
Sewanee*
Sewanee, Tenn.
6 p.m.
March 1, 2014
Carthage
Sewanee, Tenn.
2 p.m.
March 9, 2014
Saint Mary’s (Ind.)
Memphis, Tenn.
2 p.m.
March 13, 2014
Defiance
Conway, Ark.
7 p.m.
March 16, 2014
Fontbonne
Conway, Ark.
11 a.m.
March 22, 2014
Millsaps*
Jackson, Miss.
TBA
March 25, 2014
Oklahoma Baptist
Shawnee, Okla.
7 p.m.
March 29, 2014
Centre*
Conway, Ark.
11 a.m.
April 4, 2014
Birmingham-Southern*
Conway, Ark.
TBA
April 12, 2014
Rhodes*
Conway, Ark.
TBA
April 19, 2014
Southern Athletic Association Tournament
TBA
* Conference Games
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 9
campus news
Hendrix received a $1 million gift from the Roy and Christine Sturgis Trust of Dallas, Texas, to support the completion of the College’s athletics facilities master plan, which includes the new 1,500-seat Young-Wise Memorial Stadium, an indoor tennis center, and the Sturgis Athletics Center, an 18,000-sq.-ft. sports training facility at the north end zone of the stadium that will serve Hendrix students.
Courtesy photos
campus news
Five Hendrix alumni recently joined the Hendrix College Board of Trustees, including, left to right, Rev. David Fleming ’84, Dr. Hayden Franks ’89, Jan Nelson Hundley ’80, Rev. Mark McDonald ’88, and Rev. G. Mackey Yokem ’72.
Heavy Medal Trio
Get on Board
Three outstanding alumni will be awarded the Hendrix Odyssey Medal at Founders Day 2013 on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 11:10 a.m. in Staples Auditorium. The Odyssey Medal is awarded by the Hendrix College Board of Trustees to alumni whose personal and professional achievements exemplify the values of engaged liberal arts and sciences education. Liz Langston ’84, a film writer and producer, will receive the Odyssey Medal for Artistic Creativity. Langston is co-founder and executive director of the 48 Hour Film Project, the world’s oldest and largest timed filmmaking competition. In the 12 years of the 48 Hour Film Project’s existence, more than 21,000 films have been made by 330,000 people. Charles H. “Chuck” Chalfant ’81 will receive the Odyssey Medal for Professional and Leadership Development. As president and CEO of Space Photonics, Inc. (SPI), an Arkansas-based optical communications company and a leading innovator in optical communications technologies, Chalfant leads the company’s pursuit of commercial laser communications solutions for the wireless information and rural broadband infrastructure. The company’s patented laser communications systems were recently licensed and are now in production for military and government markets. Derek Lowe ’83 will receive the Odyssey Medal for Research. A research fellow at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Lowe writes the “In the Pipeline” weblog about drug discovery, chemistry, and other scientific news that is now the oldest continuously-running science blog on the Internet, garnering about 20,000 page views a day. He also writes a monthly column for Chemistry World, a magazine published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in Great Britain, and a monthly column for Contract Pharma, a U.S. trade publication. Lowe presents frequently at national and international conferences, and has an extensive list of scientific publications and more than 25 patents to his credit. The medal recipients and their guests will be honored that evening at a reception at the Clinton Library in Little Rock. Nominations for the 2014 Odyssey Medals are due Dec. 31, 2013 and may be emailed to president@hendrix.edu. For more information and a nomination form, visit www.hendrix.edu/odysseymedal.
The Hendrix College Board of Trustees recently welcomed six new members, including Rev. Pam Estes of Lakeside United Methodist Church in Pine Bluff, Ark., Dr. Hayden Franks ’89 of Little Rock, Ark.; Jan Nelson Hundley ’80, Chief Operating Officer, Arkansas Otolaryngology, Little Rock, Ark.; Rev. Mark McDonald ’88 of First United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Ark.; Rev. G. Mackey Yokem ’72, executive director of mission and ministry for the Arkansas Annual Conference; and Rev. David Fleming ’84 of the First United Methodist Church in Pine Bluff, Ark.
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to catch a chief The committee of Trustees, faculty, staff and students charged with identifying the 11th president of Hendrix College is currently reviewing candidates. In a July memo to the campus, search committee co-chairs David Knight ’71 and Randy Wilbourn ’68, who are chair and vice chair of the Hendrix Board of Trustees respectively, reported that the search firm working with the College has identified a strong pool of candidates for the position. “The candidate pool grows daily and includes highly qualified individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and from across the country,” Knight and Wilbourn wrote. “We feel optimistic about the progress of the search to date and are on track for an announcement of Hendrix’s 11th president before the end of the calendar year.” The search began in the spring semester after Dr. J. Timothy Cloyd, who became the College’s 10th president in 2001, announced his intention to step down at the end of 2013. President Cloyd is currently on sabbatical and W. Ellis Arnold III ’79 is serving as Acting President in addition to his duties as Executive Vice President & General Counsel and Dean of Advancement. The search committee includes four other Trustees in addition to Knight and Wilbourn, three faculty members, two staff members and two students. To learn more about the search process or to share your suggestions or comments with the search consultant visit www.hendrix.edu/presidentialsearch or click on the Presidential Search button on the right-hand side of the Hendrix homepage.
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Alumni Weekend A P R I L 4 - 6, 2 0 1 4
Enjoy these photos from Alumni Weekend 2013 and make plans now to be part of the fun in 2014. The Class of 1964 will join the Half-Century Club and reunion class parties will be planned for the classes of 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2013. Come build new memories with old friends. For updates, visit www.hendrix.edu/alumniweekend
Fred Ablondi, Morris and Ann Henry Odyssey Professor of Philosophy, serves as the Vice President of the North American Spinoza Society.
at the Jilin College of Science and Technology in Changchun, China, one of five presentations he made in China in June 2013.
Jenn Dearolf, Associate Professor of Biology, received a $641,840 grant from the National Institutes of Health, IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) to study the effects of prenatal steroids on the fatigue properties of breathing muscles.
Matt Moran, Professor of Biology, and Julia Mobley Odyssey Associate Professor of Psychology Jenn Penner co-authored “Are High Pilferage Rates Influenced by Experimental Design? The Effects of Food Provisioning on Foraging Behavior,” published in Southeastern Naturalist.
Andrea Duina, Associate Professor of Biology, received a $415,515 NSG grant for “RUI: Studies on the Interactions Between the yFACT and TORC1 Complexes and Chromatin during Transcription Elongation.”
Lyle Rupert, Professor of Economics and Business, was appointed as Secretary of the Executive Committee of the National Conference of Governor’s Schools.
Jay McDaniel, Willis T. Holmes Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, presented “Ecological Civilization” at the International Conference on Ecological Civilization
Andrew Schurko, Assistant Professor of Biology, received a $17,712 Summer INBRE Faculty Fellowship for “Identification of novel genes involved in DNA damage response and repair.” Damon Spayde, Dr. Brad P. Baltz and Rev. William B. Smith Odyssey Associate
Professor of Physics, presented “Qweak: Measuring the Proton’s Weak Charge with Parity-Violating Electron Scattering” at the International Conference on the Structure of Baryons at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Tom Stanley, Professor of Economics and Business, was a co-presenter of “What Research Reveals: Employment and the Minimum Wage,” at Policy Seminar at the Resolution Foundation in London. Alex Vernon, James and Emily Bost Odyssey Professor of English and Humanities Area Chair, was elected to the Board of Trustees for the Ernest Hemingway Foundation and Society. Robert Williamson, Margaret Berry Hutton Odyssey Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, wrote “Using Twitter to Teach Reader-Oriented Biblical Interpretation: ‘Tweading’ the Gospel of Mark,” published in Teaching Theology and Religion.
Sleeper Hit
Psych Profs Pair Up for Sleep Research Hendrix psychology professors Dr. Jennifer Penner and Dr. Jennifer Peszka received national and international press for a collaborative sleep study. The study was written about in Huffington Post and numerous other publications this summer. Penner and Peszka share the Julia Mobley Odyssey Professorship and also received support from The Charles Brewer Endowment for Undergraduate Research in Psychology, a fund established by Charles Brewer ’54 to support undergraduate research in psychology at Hendrix. Both Penner and Peszka teach courses in the area of biological psychology. Penner teaches courses in human sexuality, evolutionary psychology, and comparative animal behavior. Peszka teaches courses in neuroscience, sleep and dreaming, and sensation and perception. In response to the widespread media attention to their work, Penner and Peszka credit the inherent interest people have in both sleep and sex. “People can really relate to the work,” they said. “Most people in the United States are not getting enough sleep and finding out that one of the consequences of that might affect your interactions with other people is pretty interesting.” Drs. Penner and Peszka credit student researchers as critical components of the project. In total, Penner and Peszka had more than 50 students help in designing the study components, collecting the data, doing analysis work, and presenting various parts of the data
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Photos by Stuart Holt
faculty news
Faculty News
In addition to their work in the classroom, Hendrix faculty members engage in research and professional activities that expand their expertise and enrich their teaching. Here is a small sample of the professional activities of Hendrix faculty.
Dr. Jennifer Penner
Dr. Jennifer Peszka
at conferences. “The great thing about involving students in our research is that they bring a different perspective to the work,” said Penner and Peszka. “Students have ideas about the world and human behavior that are from a perspective that is different from ours as faculty. They have great ideas about how to collect the data and what to make of the findings.” “For us, the opportunity to do research with students is important for us, but for them as well,” they added. “They get an opportunity to develop their research skills and to work as part of a larger, collaborative group, which makes them more competitive for jobs and graduate and professional schools.”
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Courtesy photo
Photo by Joshua Daugherty
at home at hendrix:
Highlighting Alumni Faculty and Staff
John Steward ’94
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change in family routine and pace” but a nanny shared with a Hendrix classmate and colleague “brought sanity,” he said. As lab manager, Steward brings similar sanity and dutiful dad-like oversight to the physics program, organizing labs for general and modern physics courses, assisting faculty and students with research, and overseeing the lab program’s budget. He also teaches a general physics lab section. Research equipment is newer and much better than when he was an undergraduate, and there are multiple stations to accommodate growing classes, he says, adding that classrooms and labs are becoming increasingly digital with iPads and new Arduino microcontrollers. And, if he can’t procure it Steward will fabricate it. As the de facto machine shop manager, he often makes apparatus for demonstrations. He hopes to inspire such ingenuity in Hendrix students too. Last year, Hendrix purchased its first 3D printer [see Campus News p.8]. Steward collaborated with theatre professor Cheri DeVol ’90 on the grant proposal to fund the printer. Devol teaches a computer-aided design (CAD) course and anticipates using it for set and prop design work. Steward can envision making 3D models of campus and other creative student projects. The 3D printer is a cornerstone of what Steward hopes will be a dedicated “maker space” on campus. Maker spaces are innovative think spaces or incubators where students and faculty can put ideas into action. “We are always looking for ways to better engage students and move beyond just the blackboard,” he says, adding that such teaching and learning spaces are a natural extension of the College’s engaged learning ethos and Odyssey program. Photo by Joshua Daugherty
After hiking the Appalachian Trail, earning a master’s degree in engineering from Vanderbilt University, and working on the human genome project for a biotech company, the journey of John Steward ’94 would seemingly be complete. Fortunately for Hendrix faculty and students, his Odyssey brought him back to campus in 2010 as the lab manager for the physics department. “Coming back to Hendrix was like reconnecting with an old friend,” said Steward, a mathematics major. A Sherwood, Ark., native, Steward was already familiar with Hendrix by the time he was a freshman through his mother Dana Fowler Steward ’65 and from having attended United Methodist youth conferences on campus. Steward’s student experience started with a backpacking trip to Devil’s Den State Park for pre-orientation. He also decided to join the swim team. Like his pre-or trip, the swim team offered an instant new group of friends, including Dr. Jeff Marotte ’94, who was Steward’s roommate for three years in Martin Hall, where Steward was hall president his senior year. During his junior year, Steward led a group of new freshmen on a backpacking trip back to Devil’s Den, alongside his future wife Dr. Becky Keeter Steward ’94, a chemistry major, Hays Scholar, and President’s Medal winner. The couple married in August 1995. After graduation, Steward hiked the upper 1,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Harpers Ferry, W. Va., to Maine. Becky hiked with him the first month before she started medical school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., where they lived for nine years. They moved to Little Rock in June 2003 when their son Jack was born. Becky joined Arkansas Pathology Associates and began work as a pathologist at St. Vincent Infirmary. With little or no biotech market in central Arkansas, Steward decided to focus on being a stay-at-home father to Jack, now 10, and Violet, who is now 6. When he went back to work in summer 2010, it was “a
Left: Steward and fellow Martin Hall resident Dr. Jeff Marotte ’94 host a coffeehouse event in Hulen Hall. Middle: Steward works with physics major Claude Shyaka ’16 from Rwanda on a project using the College’s new 3D printer.
Story by Rob O’Connor ’95, Managing Editor
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odyssey spotlights
Robert Durante ’15, a theatre arts major and psychology minor from Kingwood, Texas
Photos by Peter Howard
Robert Durante’s Hendrix Odyssey took him to Accademia dell’Arte in Italy, where he studied improvisational theatre and made leather masks for performances. Robert’s Odyssey continued through acting internships with Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, where he appeared in Richard III and Twelfth Night.
Annie Vogt wanted to see how doctors communicate with families of extremely preterm infants born with serious impairments. As a neonatology intern at Columbia Presbyterian’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, Annie got an up-close look at situations where religion, ethics, and medicine intersect. Photos by Peter Howard
Annie Vogt ’15, a religious studies major and chemistry minor from Falmouth, Maine
Dr. Kristi McKim, Charles S. and Lucile Esmon Shively Odyssey Associate Professor of English/Film Studies
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Photos by Peter Howard
Film studies professor Dr. Kristi McKim creates undergraduate research opportunities for students in New York City’s Performing Arts Library and through the Hendrix-Rhodes Film Research Symposium, part of her Odyssey Professorship project “Motion Pictures, Active Learning: Festivals, Scholars, Artists, and Research.”
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Photos by Peter Howard
Dr. Matt Moran, Professor of Biology
Sami Kennedy ’15, a biochemistry and molecular biology major and medical humanities minor from Berkeley Heights, N.J.
Photos by Peter Howard
An inflammatory disease diagnosis inspired Sami Kennedy’s Hendrix Odyssey, which took her to the Biomedical Research Institute of New Jersey and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also founded diseaseonmysleeve.org, an online chronic illness resource for teens and young adults.
Asli Ahmed wanted to learn firsthand the struggles of Somali refugees in America and how they reconciled living in two very different cultures. Through Your Hendrix Odyssey, she lived among the Somali community in Minneapolis, Minn., and conducted ethnographic research. Photos by Peter Howard
Asli Ahmed ’15, a psychology major and religious studies minor from Little Rock, Ark.
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odyssey spotlights
Dr. Matt Moran and his students are bringing awareness to one of the best birding sites on the Mississippi River flyway by mapping a canoe trail and creating a nature field guide for one of the Delta’s last forested areas.
hendrix through time
1984 | Canoeing
1992 | Backpacking
2003 | Elephant Sanctuary
2013 | Dude Ranch
hendrix through time
Freshman Orientation From moving into residence halls and meeting new roommates to connecting with classmates on canoeing and other trips, Orientation is a rite of passage for Hendrix students. For generations of alumni, their adventures and misadventures during Orientation led to fond memories and life-long friendships ... even marriage. Orientation has grown considerably since the beginning. Trips were once optional, but now they’re universal and more diverse. There’s also Playfair, Pizza Wars, and Choices 101, a series of skits that offer a light-hearted but poignant look at what choices to make and not to make in your first year of college.
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Photo by Bob Handelman
A Message from the Editor The College’s motto says “Unto the Whole Person,” a phrase that is often invoked because it has always been true. Throughout its history, Hendrix has done more than simply offer students an outstanding academic program led by first-class faculty. With apologies to Jimi, Hendrix has always been an experience, not just an education. In this issue of Hendrix Magazine, we look at Hendrix alumni whose lives and livelihoods are closely connected to the sporting life. For example, theatre major Tommy Sanders ’76 fell in love with the stage at Hendrix, a passion he continues to pursue in a professional television career as host for ESPN and other national sports programs. Former baseball player Jason Browning ’95 keeps his love of baseball alive in a career as legal counsel to a big league sports agent. We also celebrate the student-athlete, one of the most visible expressions of our motto. On and off the field, nearly 400 student-athletes compete in 21 intercollegiate sports at Hendrix. They showcase character and competitive spirit; display discipline, focus and intensity; and model the highest standards of sportsmanship. If you were at the new Young-Wise Memorial Stadium on Sept. 7, 2013, you saw these qualities on full display. The Hendrix Warriors — mostly freshmen with barely three weeks of practice — scored a 46-44 victory in the first football game at Hendrix since 1960. With former players, cheerleaders, homecoming royalty, and students and alumni on hand to cheer on their alma mater, it was a reminder of traditions past and present, such as Shirttails Serenade, which celebrates a century this year after starting spontaneously in 1913 after Hendrix beat Ole Miss in football. As one of the country’s leading liberal arts colleges, Hendrix is proud
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that our student-athletes exhibit the combination of scholarship and sportsmanship that characterizes NCAA Division III. This summer, AllAmerican track and field athlete Elizabeth Krug ’14, a pre-med major from Heber Springs, Ark., became the national heptathlon champion. During the 2012-2013 season, 149 student-athletes were named to the Southern Athletic Association Academic Honor Roll, and 13 studentathletes were recognized regionally for academics. As a founding member of the NCAA Division III’s Southern Athletic Association, Hendrix proudly joins in intercollegiate athletic competition with peer institutions that share a common goal of supporting the academic, co-curricular, and extracurricular experience of every student. Hendrix was invited to join the NCAA Division III in fall 1990. Within a year of this invitation, the Associated Colleges of the South, our academic consortium, was formed. Both events helped to align Hendrix with institutions of similar mission and priority, creating a greater regional and national presence for Hendrix and reinforcing our relationship with these institutions in the classroom and on the field. In the last 20 years, we’ve enrolled more student-athletes, added new teams, and built new facilities to support our academic and athletic programs. Why? The vast majority of Hendrix students participate in outlets that develop leadership and teamwork skills and contribute to their personal health and wellness. Whether it’s intramural sports or intercollegiate athletics, these opportunities ultimately help us to better develop the whole person. The Hendrix Magazine team
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Seven Up!
Photo by Joshua Daugherty
Biology major becomes national champion Elizabeth Krug ’14 was in fourth place when she ran the 800-meter dash at this summer’s NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in La Crosse, Wis. After the race, she was so dehydrated that her body had no water for tears. But she felt like crying. It took two or three minutes for the results to be posted on the Jumbotron screen. “It felt like an hour,” said Krug. “I thought ‘It’s not going to happen’ ... it felt surreal.” When the results came in, she and her family members in attendance were shocked and wondered if it was an error. But make no mistake, she was the national champion — the first student-athlete at Hendrix to win a national championship since the college joined the NCAA Division III. The seven events of the heptathlon are 100-meter hurdles, shot put, 200-meter dash, 800-meter dash, high jump, long jump and javelin throw. Though strongest in the 200-meter dash, Krug is consistent across all the events. No stranger to national competition, Krug is a four-time AllAmerican track and field athlete. Krug placed high enough to be a Division III All-American in the heptathlon her freshman, sophomore and junior years, and an All-American in the pentathlon this year. A Heber Springs, Ark., native, Krug started competing in track and field in the seventh grade. She tried to quit the next year, but her basketball coach encouraged her to stay with it. She decided to continue track and field, as well as basketball, cross country and tennis. Krug also decided she wanted to be a pediatrician. Her father is a retired chiropractor and her mother is a speech pathologist. She came to Hendrix because of the pre-med program. She didn’t know Hendrix had a track and field program too. She never imagined herself as college athlete because of the academic dedication she knew she would need to
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become a doctor. While Krug could compete at a bigger school, she prefers running in D-III for the joy of it. “People are always friendly and aren’t concerned with going pro, they just enjoy the sport,” says Krug, In addition to the athletic opportunities, Krug attributes her Hendrix education to expanding her goals academically. With the support of Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning, she traveled to Austria and Poland last year to research the Holocaust. She also presented research for the kinesiology department. “I never imagined the opportunities I’ve been given before I came here,” says Krug, who volunteered at a pediatric clinic in Guatemala after the national championships this summer. A biology major, Krug plans to go on to graduate school, medical school, or osteopathy school after Hendrix — but not before she has the chance at another national title. The indoor track and field season begins in December. “I’d love to win indoors,” she says of this year’s pentathlon championships, which will be held in March in Nebraska. She placed fifth in last year’s pentathlon. “But I always just look to improve. That means more than a higher rank.” The national outdoor track and field championships will be in May in Ohio, on the same track she first competed on in nationals. Apart from another national title, her goal is “to get a sub 25 second time in the 200 and a sub 15 time in the 100 meter hurdles.” “Overall I am blessed to win the national title for a school that I’m so in love with,” Krug says. Story by Rob O’Connor ’95, Managing Editor and Julia Lee McGill ’14
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Major League
Former pitcher hits a home run at the bar
Photo by Mike Kemp
After Hendrix, Jason Browning ’95 wanted to stay in baseball. But when he tried to be a sports agent, he struck out and went to law school instead. As an attorney for a Chicagobased sports agent, he took on the New York Yankees. This time, it was a shut-out. As a high school senior, the Fort Smith, Ark., native knew NCAA Division III was his level. “I understood where I was from a skill set,” he says. “D-III was the best I was going to play.” Former Hendrix baseball coach Jim Holland approached Browning to join the Warriors’ newly re-launched baseball program after Hendrix joined the NCAA Division III. “It was a good opportunity to play immediately,” he says. “Then I visited campus and that was it. It definitely left an impression.” His freshman year was the College’s last year of competition in the NAIA so the baseball team practiced and played as a club sport. They also helped finish the new baseball field. Browning’s sophomore year, 1993, was the first year of competition in the NCAA D-III’s Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). “Being the first year was extremely exciting,” says Browning, who played second base during the club year and was a pitcher the remainder of his playing career. “Everybody on that team loved to play baseball,” he says, recalling the camaraderie of teammates like Jim Tate ’93, Brett Yates ’96, and Shawn Mathis ’96, friendships he keeps to this day. “That experience was second to none to me,” he says. “It was good ball. We played good teams and every now and then we’d beat a really good team.” Off the field, he was just as competitive. A political science major, his favorite professors were Dr. Ian King, Dr. John Ziegler, and Dr. David Larson, who awarded the Order of Lenin pin to students who made an A in his Russian history class. Browning proudly wore his Lenin pin at graduation. “Academics are at the forefront at Hendrix,” says Browning. “Everybody had that understanding and that will. Everybody had a career path in mind and the responsibility to achieve that as well.” “On campus, you knew when it was finals week,” he remembers. “But in the same vein, you could see when students had finished.” Hendrix life fosters tremendous lifelong friendships, says Browning, whose best friends are ones he met in college, including Joe Ghormley ’95, Todd Jeffery ’95, and Keith Schulterman ’95. During his senior year, Browning attended
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a sports conference in New York, where Michael Jordan’s agent David Falk “all but said go to law school.” So he went to the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville with the idea of embarking on a sports agency career. After graduating in 1998, he applied with the Major League Players Association and sent a letter to every registered agent. “Didn’t get a hit one,” he says. Instead, he was offered “a fantastic job” at a Fort Smith law firm. In his first year of practice, he met Chris Fanta of Chicago-based Pro Talent Sports Group. Fanta had a background similar to Browning but became an agent. Fanta was not, however, an attorney, and his company needed a general counsel. “I’m not the Jerry McGuire type ... I don’t have the personality to sell it to a kid and a kid’s family,” he says. “I’m more comfortable with my head down working behind the scenes on labor issues with clubs and players, the collective bargaining agreement, grievances, drafting international agreements with Japan and Korea, and salary arbitration cases.” In December 2002 at the winter Major League Baseball meeting in Nashville, Tenn., Browning met Gustav Ricalda of the Yucatan Lions, a Mexican league team and National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues member. Ricalda wanted to file a grievance against the New York Yankees for breach of contract and needed counsel. Ricalda had a development agreement with the Yankees, who had the right of first refusal on talent in Ricalda’s club. In 1996, Ricalda had discovered Michel Hernandez, a catcher who had defected from Cuba. Because of the U.S. embargo of Cuba, the agreement was not valid in this player’s case but, because of their relationship, Ricalda let the Yankees know about the player. The Yankees were on the first flight down to Mexico and gave the player a night tryout under lock and key with no media. They liked what they saw and entered into a contract with Ricalda, agreeing to pay him $500,000 if Hernandez made the Yankees’ 40-man roster. After Hernandez’s citizenship issues were resolved, Ricalda sent him off to New York to sign with the Yankees. After Hernandez made the 40-man roster, Ricalda called the Yankees, who said they were “not aware of the agreement.” After hearing Ricalda’s story, Browning was “taken aback” and agreed to represent him. The case, which started in 2003 and took four years to resolve, is chronicled in Pinstripe
Defection, a book written by Fort Smith writer Clay McKinney, a friend of Browning. Released in December 2010, the book was featured in USA Today in January 2011 with no comment from New York. “I never dreamed I’d be in Major League Baseball’s Park Avenue office deposing the New York Yankees brass or someday chronicle that event for a book,” says Browning, who has been interviewed all over the country by ESPN affiliates and other affiliates and discussed the book at the Arkansas Literary Festival. Using case documents to chronicle the grievance procedure, the book is told from Browning’s perspective. “There are lots of layers to the story, and it was difficult to convey it,” says Browning. “I did handcuff Clay. I hovered and took away any and all creative process because it was important to not deviate from the story. You didn’t need to make it up.” Despite seeing the dark side of America’s pastime, Browning remains an avid baseball fan. “From the field to front office, it did open my eyes. I’m not surprised because there’s so much money in it,” he says. “It didn’t turn me away, but it definitely opened my eyes and reinforced the business aspect of the game.” “From a baseball perspective — not the business, the actual playing of the game — it doesn’t change it a bit,” he says. “I still love it. It’s still a passion. I look at major league players on the field, the quality level, and skillset ... it’s still intriguing to me. Absolutely that will never ever die.” Now an attorney with the Mitchell Williams firm in Little Rock, Browning balances medical malpractice defense with baseball. “The only TV I watch is baseball,” says Browning, who reviews player statistics every morning. “It’s a presence in my life every single day.” These days, his favorite player to watch is his 9-year old son Colin, whose mother is Robin Pierce ’95. “He’s the greatest joy I have,” he says. “At 9, he’s better than I ever was. Watching him is indescribable. I’m very blessed.” The two watch games together and have gone to games at Wrigley Field and Busch Stadium. Browning looks forward to a father-son road trip. His itinerary includes Fenway, Baltimore, Wrigley and Busch again, Seattle and San Francisco and Arlington on the way home. “Avoiding Yankee Stadium, of course,” he says, grinning. Story by Rob O’Connor ’95, Managing Editor
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 21
The Art of
Sport Notes from the Teaching Team
Hendrix Magazine asked some faculty members in the humanities area to reflect on athletics from the perspective of their academic discipline. It’s not the typical editorial request, but our faculty members aren’t typical. Here are their creative and thoughtful responses to sports in the arts.
Cinematic Bodies in Motion a near-fatal drug overdose. As many interviews suggest, he gave the film all his heart, living at the edge of feeling and imagination, the aesthetic and cinematic corollary to reallife boxer Jake La Motta’s (Robert DeNiro) own stretching the limits of the boxing ring. To screen the film is to experience a sense of these limits and transgressions: how Jake pushes each conversation past the point of comfort; how he allows his jealousy to overcompensate for his insecurity, how violence within the ring trickles beyond the ropes, and how he destroys his family while pursuing the starry “entertainment” of both boxing and stage performance. What do we need in this world, but love, attention, glory? When and how do we ask too much? Instead of resolving such questions, Scorsese closes Raging Bull with a dedication that honors “with love and resolution” the memory of his recently-passed film teacher Haig Manoogian (“once I was blind and now I can see”). What seems to be a boxing film more subtly becomes an exemplar of how film can provide new sight and purpose. As many of my students know, I too have learned: In class, I often champion the film’s stylistic virtues — lingering on moments of formalist montage and long neorealist takes, for example — as illustrative of how film involves
style as much as plot. Raging Bull combines cinematic virtuoso — the operatic score, choreographed fights, rhythmic editing, Steadicam-enabled dynamic camera movement — with athletic performance. By foregrounding moments of triumph and despair within a rhapsodic film style, this boxing film comes to be about how perception can meaningfully transform movement, both athletic and existential. As Scorsese’s teacher taught him, so too does Raging Bull teach me, in ways Rocky IV could only have dreamed.
Raging Bull. Directed by Martin Scorsese. United Artists, 1980.
There will never be another Rocky IV — which is to say there will never be another season of fourth-grade sleepovers with my best friend Emily, her family’s VCR, and our limited repertoire of video favorites. Whether out of nostalgia for Emily and Rocky or discomfort with testosterone-fueled violent spectacle, my interest in boxing began and ended with that summer of Rocky IV: how we loved the “Living in America” high that precedes Apollo’s death, the against-the-odds inspirational training montage, the classically-vengeful and always-triumphant Rocky Balboa; and how I assumed that every boxing film thereafter would pale in comparison with my Stallone-created expectations. In my first academic position, I found myself preparing to teach an entire course on Martin Scorsese — a compromise between an Ingmar Bergman course (that I’d proposed) and a John Ford course (that my chair had suggested) — and I realized I’d finally have to give Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980) a chance. Upon screening this film one winter in my tiny Brooklyn apartment, I soon realized what I’d been missing; I felt at once cinematically pummeled and aswoon, and Raging Bull has since become one of my very favorites. Scorsese describes Raging Bull as his own redemptive tour-de-force, made soon after
Photo by Stuart Holt
By Dr. Kristi McKim, film studies
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Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 23
Hand in Glove
About the B’nai Bagels. Written by E. L. Konigsburg. Atheneum Books, 1969.
I grew up neither American nor Jewish, but now I am both, almost. To change such fundamental markers of identity is to become someone new. In this sense, the immigrant and the convert alike are afforded a chance to be a child again. No surprise, then, that my favorite book about sports is a children’s book that I only fell in love with as the adult I have come to be — E. L. Konigsburg’s About the B’nai Bagels. Konigsburg, who died this past April, is best known for her prize-winning first novel, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. About the B’nai Bagels, published in 1969, is about playing baseball and being Jewish and what each has to say to the other. Neither baseball nor Jews are unknown in Canada, my home country. But both in some profound way register as American. It’s always felt fitting to me that my Jewish-American in-laws, my adopted family in my adopted country, have been baseball-mad Cardinals fans for generations. At the old Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, my wife’s great-grandfather owned a parking lot on which her great-grandmother ran a hotdog stand. A famous family photo, a copy of which is on our fridge, shows Great-grandma Esther holding up one of those hot dogs, only, not in her hands. She’s wearing plastic gloves, so that she won’t inadvertently touch the treyf — non-kosher — product. In baseball, leather gloves allow the players to catch the ball more easily without hurting their hands; at the hotdog stand, plastic gloves allowed my wife’s great-grandmother to embrace more readily the great American traditions of baseball and entrepreneurship
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without breaking the basic tenets of her faith. Her gloves, in other words, allowed her and her family to assimilate into American culture by way of baseball. Indeed, baseball has historically been a way for Jews to assimilate into American life; that’s true on the field as well as off. Think of greats like Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax. Even Greenberg and Koufax, however, who seem so quintessentially all-American, had to subordinate American tradition to traditional observance. Where Grandma Esther put on gloves to protect her belief in Jewish law, Greenberg and Koufax had to take them off in order to participate in Jewish worship. Famously both men refused to play on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. In Konigsburg’s novel, The B’nai Bagels — the name alludes to B’nai Brith, Hebrew for “sons of the covenant” and the name of a noted Jewish service organization—are a Little League team in a largely Jewish suburb on Long Island. The players are no Greenbergs or Koufaxes, but they’re still an impressive bunch, not least our protagonist, Mark Setzer. Mark has a lot on his plate — he’s turning 13 and so is preparing for his bar mitzvah. His life gets more complicated when his mother and college-age older brother become the manager and coach of the team, respectively. The book covers the season, which comes down to a single game for first place. A dramatic victory for the Bagels is called into question when Mark learns of a plot to break the rules. Mark’s story has as much to do with Jewish law and tradition as with the rules of baseball. Mark’s mother says to his father, in the Yiddish-inflected English that is one of the book’s joys: “‘From the Bible you quote when I need from the baseball manual’.” But it’s the former, specifically the story of Jacob and Esau, that proves instrumental in resolving matters. The baseball manual and Genesis, the American and the Jewish texts: B’nai Bagels shows us how the two work together; the American tradition is more meaningful when read through the lens of immigrant experience. The best thing about the book is the way it offers these profound truths. It’s really, really funny. In fact, in a way that could only dimly have resonated for me had I read this book as a child, its humor might be the most Jewish thing about it. As a people of the diaspora, Jews have struggled with the ambivalences of assimilation more than most. Humor has been
Photo by Joshua Daugherty
By Dr. Dorian Stuber, English
one way to finesse their relation to mainstream culture. For example, here’s Mark describing his and his friends’ braces: “About seven of the ten kids in my Hebrew Class wore braces. When the class laughed, it looked like an open face mine with a silver lode one third of the way down. You could tell when someone got theirs tightened; their noses would be pink and their eyes watery: like before Dristan.” This is a miniature anecdote about class privilege and assimilationist desire. If the noses can’t be straight, at least the teeth can. The painfully earnest drive for an all-American smile is ironized by the self-effacing humor. The jokes here are like Grandma Esther’s gloves — they are the membrane between an immigrant and an established culture, the barrier that, paradoxically, separates in order to unite. I’ve always been drawn to the central role of humor in Judaism. It’s given me a model for how to handle my own bittersweet immigrant experience. After all, to be able to make a joke is to be in on the joke. That acceptance, that inclusiveness characterizes my favorite line in the book. Describing the team’s star twin players: “Simon and Sylvester giving out smiles and helpful hints to the others was like a gift from the Ford Foundation; there was still lots there, and they didn’t do it for profit.” This is pretty sophisticated stuff; I sure didn’t know what the Ford Foundation was when I was a kid. (Just as today’s kids probably don’t know what Dristan is.) Of course, this American institution didn’t figure into my Canadian existence. My life trajectory, we might say, has been to become the person who gets that joke. This children’s book helps me understand the adult I’ve become. About the B’nai Bagels fits me like a glove.
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The Sound of the Game Finding connections between athletics and musical performance is a simple task. To cite but two examples, conductors regularly refer to the players and singers in their ensembles as a team, and musicians have benefited greatly from recent developments in sports medicine and psychology. However, finding pieces in the classical repertoire with direct connections to athletic endeavors is a more difficult proposition. One such work is the Yale-Princeton Football Game for orchestra by the groundbreaking American composer Charles Ives (Yale, class of 1898). This is a brief descriptive or programmatic work that attempts to depict actual events from a game played on Nov. 20, 1897 where the Yale Bulldogs defeated the Princeton Tigers 6-0. In typical Ivesian fashion the piece combines snippets of popular tunes from the day with a high level of dissonance.
Ives left detailed annotations in his sketches to indicate the precise events the piece is supposed to describe. In terms of the game itself, the music depicts both a wedge formation and a 55-yard run that helped turn the game in Yale’s favor. However, Ives clearly reminds us that this game did not exist in isolation. It was also a social event, and the spectators were just as much a part of the game as the players. Much of the piece consists of fragments of college songs and cheers associated with the two contending schools. Ives even cites a Yale cheer that took its words from the amphibian chorus in The Frogs by Aristophanes! So in just over two minutes Ives recreates specific events from a particular game while simultaneously alluding to the rich social and cultural context in which that game was played.
Photo by Joshua Daugherty
By Dr. John Krebs, music
The Place of Athletics One of the notable, but sometimes forgotten cultural aspects of organized athletics is the role of place. Organized sport must always take place on an organized area; for larger sport events, those areas include some kind of architectural elements. Now, these structures have taken on lives of their own, related to the events held in them, but somehow enjoying added meaning. Who can imagine the Cubs playing anywhere but Wrigley Field? There was near rioting in the streets of New York when it was announced that Yankee Stadium would be coming down. And the 1965 groundbreaking Houston Astrodome, the largest interior space built since the Pantheon in Rome, is now facing demolition (as well as much opposition to demolition). What is it about these buildings that demands such passion and endearment? Like all monumental architecture, stadiums and arenas shape the space around us, both literally and figuratively. Boundaries
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designate “something happens here” which does not happen over there, or in some cases, often the most significant, nowhere else. Remembered clearly are always lofty victory and profound failure on the field or in the court. No doubt generations of Hendrix alumni will glance back, with great and warm regard, at the athletic events they attended, those fields and courts, the smells and sounds. But surrounding and shaping those moments, like the distant aunt who never forgets a birthday, are the stadiums, the courts, the seats, even the particular vistas from those high bleachers. And just like the aunt, we don’t think about those places until years later, perhaps after a return visit, and then we remember with gratitude. Along with those memories is always that strangely piercing pain of recall to glorious times past. Where are those friends, those sports stars, those moments that seemed so critically significant? While they exist only in the golden glow of
Photo by Joshua Daugherty
By Dr. Rod Miller, art history
history, the place remains. We cannot go back, but we can, at least, sit in those bleachers, in that stadium, hear the echoes of the court, and flirt with history.
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Though he was an accomplished high school athlete, particularly in baseball, Dr. Al Gordon ’80 admits he’s a little slow. It took him more than 30 years to marry his Hendrix girlfriend, Debby Eubanks Gordon ’79. The couple, who dated as Hendrix students, reconnected after Debby relocated to northwest Arkansas for an information technology position with a Wal-Mart vendor after a 25-year career with Dillard’s, Inc. in the DallasFort Worth area. She noticed an update on Gordon in Hendrix Magazine and emailed him. They later met in person at an alumni event in Fayetteville, and the rest is history. They married in December 2012 in Greene Chapel. Hendrix friend and former Board of Trustees member Rev. Bud Reeves ’79 officiated. But for Gordon, who is the head team primary care physician for the University of Arkansas, his professional timing was perfect. When Gordon finished his residency at a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Area Health Education Center in Fayetteville in 1994, the UA sports department wanted to develop a primary care system to treat student athletes in response to rapidly growing preventative care and head injury research. During his residency, Gordon spent a lot of time with orthopedists who worked closely with UA athletes. “I was asked to come on board and develop the system,” says Gordon. “The timing was perfect.” As the head team physician, Gordon and three other primary care physicians — including fellow Hendrix grad Dr. David Clay ’85 — and a physician’s assistant oversee primary care for the UA’s nearly 450 student athletes in all sports. Gordon is the only one of the original physicians who developed the UA’s primary care program for athletes currently in the system. In addition to his affiliation with UA, Gordon practices with First Care Family Doctors, which
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is part of Medical Associates of Northwest Arkansas (MANA), a multi-specialty group that Gordon was instrumental in forming and currently serves as vice president of the board. Though a proud Hendrix alumnus, he readily admits, “I’ve been a Razorback fan all of my life.” He chose Hendrix for a combination of personal and professional reasons. “I grew up in the United Methodist Church, so I was familiar with Hendrix because of that. I knew its foundation,” he says. He was also aware of the school’s academic reputation. “When I was a senior in high school I thought dentistry was what I wanted to do,” he says. A family friend arranged a meeting with an admission dean at the University of Tennessee Memphis dental school program. The dean told him if he went to college in Arkansas, his best chance to go to dental school was go to Hendrix and get a 3.5 grade point average or better or get a 4.0 somewhere else. Gordon’s parents and sister are all UA graduates, so he “decided to go a little bit different path.” Though different from his parents, his path wasn’t a straight one. “When I first came, I was a chemistry major, and my advisor was [chemistry professor] Dr. John Stuckey,” he says. “But I ended up changing my mind at the end of my sophomore year.” He also changed his mind about dentistry after shadowing a general dentist in his hometown of Helena. “Let’s just say I didn’t get excited at all,” he says. “And I immediately changed my mind about where I was headed.” Though he became a biology major, Dr. Stuckey continued to be Gordon’s advisor. “He always put on the act of the grumpy professor, but he was really a big-hearted guy,” Gordon recalls, adding that the two remain
friends and stay in contact. Medicine was not Gordon’s first calling at Hendrix. “While I was there several things began to enter my mind,” says Gordon, noting that he considered physical therapy and psychology as potential career areas. College teaching was his primary interest after graduation. “That’s what I thought I would do,” he says. “That was the plan.” But the early seeds of his medical career were sown as a Hendrix student. “When I was a senior, two friends [Dr. Randy Dotson ’80 and Dr. Brad Reeves ’82] talked me into going to an EMT [emergency medical technician] program at Baptist hospital in Little Rock,” says Gordon, who became certified as an EMT. After he graduated from Hendrix, Gordon worked for a year as an EMT at Conway Regional Health System before starting graduate school in biology at the University of Central Arkansas. While completing his master’s degree, he supported himself and paid for his degree by working as an EMT. After his master’s degree was finished, he was accepted into a Ph.D. program at UAMS in human physiology, but he deferred his acceptance when he got a teaching job in the biology department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. “I loved it,” says Gordon, who taught general biology, human anatomy, and human physiology. “Even when I was teaching at UALR, I still did EMT work because I enjoyed it, and that’s when I changed,” said Gordon, who started medical school at UAMS at the age of 27. Even if Gordon wasn’t affiliated with Razorback athletes, his love of sports would still be obvious. He is an avid sports memorabilia collector who has amassed an impressive collection of professional sports memorabilia
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Photo by Stephen Ironside
over a 25-year period. His trove includes a baseball bat signed by the 1969 New York “Miracle” Mets, who won the World Series despite being considered a fairly modest team. The bat bears the autograph of Nolan Ryan, a rookie at the time. Former UA quarterback Joe Ferguson became a close friend and patient of Gordon’s. Ferguson played professionally for 19 years in the National Football League and was starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. Ferguson gave Gordon a football signed by a who’s who of retired NFL quarterbacks, including George Blanda, Jim Hart, Roman Gabrial, Otto Graham, Sonny Jergenson, Archie Manning, Dan Pastorini, Jim Plunkett, Bart Starr, Fran Tarkington, Joe Theisman, Y.A. Tittle, Johnny Unitas, Jim Zorn and Ferguson himself. “It’s unbelievable what I’ve been offered for it,” Gordon says. “But I wouldn’t sell it for the world.” The Razorbacks are more than adequately
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represented at his clinic office in Fayetteville and at his man cave at home, including a football signed by every UA head coach since Frank Broyles. Gordon views former faculty members in the same way players view legendary coaches. “John Stuckey was a difference maker for me,” Gordon admits. “He was almost like a parent to me. I didn’t have any trouble socializing at Hendrix. Even with that, Stuckey always believed in me. He would chew me out when I wasn’t dedicating myself to academics, he literally would. When things would go well, he’d pat me on the back and celebrate with me. He was a major influence when I was in school there.” The relationship between coaches and players is the same as that of teachers and students, Gordon says. “Even though the professors at Hendrix were all different, something that was very consistent is that they forced students to think,” he says. “It wasn’t just a rote memory process.
They were good at making a student think past his or her nose and have an open mind. That’s something that stood out.” “It really didn’t matter what anybody’s major was,” he says. “When I took a music or psychology class or political science class, it didn’t matter to those professors that I was a biology major; those professors were just as dedicated to me.” For Gordon, the liberal arts offer the best background for a career in medicine. “I’m a primary care physician. I see things from every specialty. I think that the art of medicine is still important in the world of primary care medicine,” he says. “There are times when one has to use gut feeling, so to speak, and be aware of the patients’ affect. The art versus the science of medicine is vitally, vitally important to be good at, and I think that’s what my liberal arts education helped me to be good at.” Story by Rob O’Connor ’95, Managing Editor
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We are sitting on the bench outside the SLTC in the warm sunny weather. Kerry Moon ’15 is wearing a red tank top and workout pants. Her brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail. The 20-yearold native of Searcy, Ark., is a sophomore chemistry major in the pre-dental program. She played for the Hendrix College women’s soccer team her freshman year. As I place the tape recorder between us, she begins to tell her story. Almost immediately I am struck by her refreshing candor. Her speech is honest and frank rather than rehearsed and her voice has an open, conversational quality to it. A little over a year ago, her life changed forever. Last spring, Moon was riding a four-wheeler when she was hit by an SUV. The accident left her badly injured and she was airlifted to the medical center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). The decision was made to amputate the lower part of her left leg. “I’d cried a lot, of course, right after the accident and the amputation. I was worried that nobody was ever going to marry me, that I was some horrendous monster now,” Moon recalled. “I guess I don’t really believe that now.” All told, she spent about one month in the hospital and two and a half months in recovery. “Being in the hospital made me grow up and realize that I’m not the center of the world. Other people have bad stuff happen to them,” said Moon. “The fact that I can still walk and do everything that I want to do now, I’m so lucky. Everyone is dramatic sometimes, but in reality I go to a great school and I have a lot of good things going for me. It made me thankful for what I do have rather than focusing on what I don’t have.” Although now she appears to have, for the most part, a remarkably positive attitude about the accident, developing that outlook took time. She had to come to terms with losing a part of herself and accept her situation. “There was a time earlier this year when I actually cried for several hours because I felt like I hadn’t really confronted the issue. I’d looked at old pictures of myself and I realized how ungrateful I was for my body when I actually had it. When I was healthy, when I could run and walk and do absolutely anything that I wanted to, I really took it for granted,” said Moon. “The only thing I focused on was I didn’t like how my stomach looked or how my thighs are too fat or something like that. I know that everyone does that, which is sad because really your body is so perfect the way it is. You’re so blessed you have a whole body.” She was fitted with a prosthesis right before school started in 2012. The prosthesis was an exciting improvement, but it also came with its own set of challenges.
“I do worry about what people think about me, I mean everybody does, so I don’t think it’s any more than what I used to worry about, but now I have something more to focus on — what are they thinking about my prosthesis?” said Moon. Although there are still times she feels self-conscious, like when she’s working out in the gym, with determination and the support of her peers she’s built up her confidence. “People who do know me don’t see my prosthesis — they see me. Which is really encouraging because my personality is enough for people to appreciate me for who I am and they don’t just see me as ‘the amputee,’” said Moon. She’s “pretty satisfied” with her life, perhaps because she is comfortable with herself and secure in her beliefs. “I’m not worried so much about saying what I want to say because life is too short to worry about what others think about your opinions or your ideas. Say what you want to say, do what you want to do because life’s too short. If you want to do something, you should do it. Nobody’s opinion should ever keep you from that,” said Moon. She is glad to be back at Hendrix, but she’s had to make some adjustments. In order to make up for the time she missed, Moon has taken on a heavy course load of six classes — various science courses and psychology in addition to the art and calculus left over from last year. She no longer plays for the soccer team. For someone who has been playing since the age of five, that is one of the biggest changes as well as one of the hardest to accept. “It is hard sometimes to think about not playing anymore. It’s what I was good at, it’s what I’d done all my life, and it was kind of unsettling to just be taken away from that,” said Moon. Without the commitment of being a college athlete, she has more free time to spend focusing on academics and improving her social life. “I had a lot more time just to do other stuff. I definitely met a lot more people and made friends with people outside of the sports group. That was interesting because I think I learned more about people in general and how to interact with them. I like hanging out more often,” said Moon. One day she would like to play soccer again, recreationally or perhaps even competitively. First she would need to raise the funds to purchase a running prosthesis. “I know that being able to run again, like really run, like go sprinting down the field, would be probably be the best feeling of my life. It would just feel so natural to do that again.”
still walk and “ Idocaneverything that
Photo by Michael Tarne ’14
I want to do now, I’m so lucky ... It made me thankful for what I do have rather than focusing on what I don’t have.
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”
Story by Alyssa Curry, Staff Writer for The Profile Reprinted with permission from the May 2013 edition of The Profile
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 29
Sports Casting Tommy Sanders ’76 grew up fishing but had never seen live theatre until his first year at Hendrix. After seeing his first play, he was hooked. That first play, As You Like It, made quite an impression on the Magnolia, Ark., native, who quickly found his way into the theatre program. Sanders now combines his Natural State roots and theatrical training as host of ESPN Outdoors and other award-winning outdoor television programs. Sanders first heard of Hendrix as a high school senior working at Talbot’s department store. His co-worker Ross Atkinson ’75 went to Hendrix and advised Sanders to do the same. “If I had gone to some place with 13,000 students, Greek culture and too many ways to get lost, I might not have ever gone to that play,” says Sanders. “That play changed me.” Sanders was first encouraged by instructor Gordon Bolar ’70 to try out for The Playboy of the Western World during his freshman year. The experience gave him “a strong sense of direction” about where he wanted his college experience to take him. “Everything just fell into place after that,” he says. “Dr. Rosemary Henenberg assumed the chair of the Theatre department the next year. She was brilliant and inspiring on so many levels.” “And the teachers in related courses made a huge difference as well,” Sanders says. “Dr. Ken Story could teach you more about what makes writing readable than anyone I’ve ever known.” After graduating from Hendrix, Sanders went to work for Arkansas Educational
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Television Network (AETN). “I was really interested in television, the production side of it. So I got a job in television,” says Sanders, who built sets and worked as a cameraman, technical director, editor, producer, and on-air talent. Sanders left AETN and moved to New York, working for a video production company and taking graduate classes at New York University. After a year in the Big Apple, he returned to Arkansas. He worked for Little Rock advertising agency Smith and Jennings as a writer and creative director until he joined Ed Nicholson ’75 and Steve Patrick ’74 in opening a recording studio, while also working with freelance clients such as Federal Express and John Deere. In 1989, based on his voice-over experience, Sanders was hired to host ESPN Outdoors, the national sports network’s first foray into outdoor television programming. As Sanders spanned the continent from Alaska to Mexico, the popularity of outdoor television grew. ESPN expanded from Saturday morning to Sunday morning and later daily afternoon blocks. In 2000, Sanders was asked to be one of the hosts of the ESPN Great Outdoor Games, a joint venture between ESPN and ABC. “That’s something I was really proud of,” says Sanders. Inspired by the X Games, the Great Outdoor Games debuted in Lake Placid, N.Y., and even beat out the X Games in ratings one year. But after a hurricane wiped out the games’ fifth
season, the project became fraught with problems and the show’s producers called it quits. Sanders says one day he’d like to revisit some of his former project sites and “get a little grittier, a little deeper.” “There are so many places,” he says, recalling the Big Bend area in south Texas and Key West, Fla. “Extreme northern California is so rural and devoid of people, and Nome, Alaska, is not like any other place.” As a host, writer, and producer for JM Associates in Little Rock, Sanders can be seen and heard on the Outdoor Channel, National Geographic Channel, ESPN and ESPN2 in productions such as Bassmaster, the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series, The Stihl Timbersports Series and many other projects in all media. In 2009, he was elected to the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame. Two years later, he received the Hendrix Odyssey Medal. Sanders’ on-air longevity is a matter of fundamentals, something he credits his liberal arts background for helping him develop. “My work is so tied to the fundamentals,” he says. “Biology, writing, the humanities — the essence of liberal arts education.” “At Hendrix, there was discipline demanded of you. It was competitive but deliberate and deep enough that you could see the value of it,” he recalls. “You had to find out what you were good at or really wanted to do. You had to commit.” Oddly, those fundamentals didn’t include a radio and television broadcasting curriculum, Sanders notes. “If I had majored in television, I don’t know if I’d have stuck with it,” he admits. “It’s much better learned on the job.” Story by Rob O’Connor ’95, Managing Editor
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Photo by Mike Kemp
Getting hooked on theatre lands outdoor lover on ESPN
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Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 31
LEGACY Three years ago, my new white tennis shoes bounced across the bricks as I ran to my position in Galloway’s formation. I waited for the music to cue, and my heart pounded in my chest as I squinted from the glare of floodlights to survey the wall of upperclassmen squished into the steps of the Brick Pit across from me. The Austin Powers theme music suddenly echoed across the heart of campus and my body took over, working its way through the moves I had been practicing all week with my roommates. With each stunt or hip shake, the crowd erupted with cheers. As I hit my last pose, I couldn’t help but smile. Only at Hendrix. When we think of school traditions, boxers and button-downs aren’t usually the focus of conversation. But at Hendrix, they elicit smiles, symbols of the greatest tradition of them all: Shirttails. From the exhausting evening practices to the mid-week serenades leading up to the big night, many students make lifelong friends. Hall council members, RAs, and neighbors gather around to support our firstyear students and to welcome them to the Hendrix family.
100 YEARS STRONG Although every Shirttails leaves lasting impressions on Hendrix students, this year is a little special since it marks the the 100th anniversary of our tradition. On November 7, 1913, the Hendrix football team (known as the Bulldogs at the time) beat Ole Miss 8-6. A spontaneous celebration erupted as over 200 male students paraded through downtown Conway in their pajamas. With community members crowding the streets to watch, the group traveled to what is now Central Baptist College and UCA, seeking praise from administrators and professors for their victory. By the 1920’s, the parade had been reenacted a few times and morphed into a “Pajama Parade,” where male students traveled to the all-female Central College to serenade their lady friends. The serenades stayed on campus after Galloway Hall, the first women’s dorm at Hendrix, was constructed in 1933. Over the years, the tradition grew, and a fierce competition developed as more men’s dorms were built by the mid-1950s. With men bringing props, instruments, and dance moves to enhance their elaborate Side photos by Joshua Daugherty; Photos below courtesy of the Hendrix College Archives and by Will Chandler ’14
It’s more than just a dance Story by
Neelam Vyas ’14
serenading routines, the ladies felt they should return the favor. Thus, in 1984 the female version of Shirttails was born: Long Shirts/Short Shorts. For the next two decades, the tradition continued to evolve, little by little, until it took the shape of the dance competition we celebrate today. While the dancing has become the focus of our modern-day festivities, the Wednesday night Serenades are a nod to Shirttails’ earliest beginnings. Over these last 100 years, the events of Shirttails have slowly changed but the uniform of boxers and button-downs and the spirit of camaraderie remains the same.
A SHARED EXPERIENCE Maintaining a tradition for a century is quite a feat, and students are committed to protecting Shirttails because of the positive role it plays on campus. There’s no better bonding experience than 14 hours of sweaty dance practices with roommates and neighbors. It’s in those practices that we first get a taste of our dorm’s personality and wear our Shirttails costumes with pride. It’s where we first meet our neighbor down the hall who will become our partner in crime for the next four years. It’s where we finally start to feel at home. At Hendrix, we are fiercely loyal to our culture, which is flavored by generations of students and staff. Shirttails creates a natural conversation piece between members of the Hendrix community, inspiring us to exchange stories of our shared experiences and creating a common thread that links current students with each other and with alumni. For many of us, traditions like Shirttails are the best reminder of the community we share — one built on values of hard work, close ties, and a healthy dose of fun. When I first hit the bricks as a freshman competing in Shirttails, I saw it as an exciting introduction to college life. But after helping to orchestrate the event for the last three years, I realize that it is so much bigger than me or my dorm. Molded by generations before me and ready to take on the next 100 years, Shirttails is a legacy. Neelam Vyas ’14 is a senior business and economics major from Little Rock, Ark. She is the current president of the Hendrix Student Senate.
Photo by Joshua Daugherty
Photo by Nelson Chenault
Young-Wise Memorial Stadium and Plaza A space to celebrate sport, honor sacrifice Young-Wise Memorial Stadium is the answer to two critical questions asked when Hendrix decided to return to the gridiron in 2008: Where will the new Warrior football team play its home games? How can we build links between the traditions associated with football in the past and today’s team? A variety of proposals were brought forth to answer the “where” question. The college’s leadership decided the best idea was to develop an athletics facilities master plan that considered the needs of all Hendrix sports,
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rather than to build something to meet the immediate needs of one sport. As a result, the College decided to build a stadium alongside an existing field. The College also began a fund-raising campaign to support the master plan’s completion and has received a $1 million gift from the Roy and Christine Sturgis Trust of Dallas, Texas, for this purpose. The gift was given as a challenge grant and will help Hendrix raise additional money needed for the 1,500-seat stadium, an indoor tennis center, and a sports training facility at the north end zone of the stadium. The 18,000-sq.-ft. sports training facility bears the Sturgis name in recognition of the Sturgis Trust’s support. The $1 million
gift is the largest award Hendrix has received from the Sturgis Trust. In addition to providing space for football, the stadium will also host men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s track and field, intramurals and ultimate Frisbee games, and more. The stadium includes a modern press box, coaches’ space, and two hospitality suites with small indoor and outdoor seating areas on the second floor, and public restrooms and concession space on the ground floor. The name of the stadium provided one answer to the question of how to link tradition to today. The new stadium, like the one that stood at the northwest corner of the campus for more than 50 years, is named in memory of Robert W. Young ’15 from Okolona, Ark., baseball team captain and tackle on the football team, who volunteered for service in World War I. Lt. Young was killed fighting in the Argonne Forest in France. The stadium also honors the memory of two South Arkansas brothers who died in the ongoing war against terror. Jeremy Wise ’98, a former Navy SEAL, was killed in December 2009 while working at a CIA base in Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Wise ’99, a Green Beret, died in January 2012 from wounds received while fighting in northern Afghanistan. A Memorial Plaza outside the stadium will display the World War I Doughboy, a memorial erected in 1920 to Young and others who gave their lives in World War I, and new artwork created to honor the Wise brothers and all other Hendrix alumni who have given their lives in service to their country. Young-Wise Memorial Stadium and Plaza will be officially dedicated on Saturday, Nov. 9, when Hendrix plays fellow SAA conference-member Rhodes College of Memphis, Tenn. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. in the stadium before the game begins at 1 p.m.
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Photo by Frank Cox ’76
THE MEMORIAL Hendrix commissioned artwork that would incorporate the Hendrix Veterans’ Memorial, commonly referred to as The Doughboy, with a new piece of artwork that would honor the sacrifice of the Wise brothers and represent all those Hendrix alumni who have given their lives in service to their country. The College described its goals when it solicited proposals from artists: “We plan not to glorify war or the tragedy of lives taken from loved ones and from our Hendrix family, but to celebrate those lives as examples to our students of the high price that freedom can require.” A committee of faculty, staff, students and alumni reviewed the submissions and recommended the selection of a concept submitted by Ken Hruby, a sculptor, designer and Vietnam veteran who is on the sculpture faculty of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In his proposal, Hruby said his intent was to let the viewers participate in the interpretation of the memorial “to ponder the void left in the families, the community and in the nation by those whose silenced souls are remembered here.” The memorial includes three components: the Doughboy placed on the west side of the plaza, facing east toward the stadium and the World War I conflict, and two large bronze negative silhouettes of military helmets positioned on the eastern portion of the site at oblique angles from the center of the Doughboy so that they frame the older memorial when viewed from certain positions. “The negative silhouettes represent the loss, or absence, of the Wise brothers in a clear, visible form,” Hruby said. “The distance between the silhouettes and the Doughboy represents the time span of ninety-odd years between the first and the latter two combat
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Rendering courtesy of Open Air Architecture
deaths. The siting of the three elements unifies the plaza as a collective memorial rather than individual homages to these three fallen warriors.” Hruby hopes that people who view the sculpture find an element of discovery in his work. “I would like to have them understand that whether it occurred in World War I or in Afghanistan, the sacrifice is the same. The linear distance between the Doughboy and the helmets represents the line between them — and the other lives that have been sacrificed in that time,” he said.
THE RESTORATION Hendrix alumni Elizabeth Ragsdale Norton ’75 and Wendel Norton ’73 of Norton Arts, Inc. handled restoration of the Doughboy. The five-month process began with removing the statue from its base, which was placed behind Staples Auditorium and the Cabe Theatre in recent years. The process included removing organic material such as moss and mildew from the statue, as well as removing previous restoration materials such as Portland cement, epoxy and ferrous materials. The Nortons rebuilt missing parts of the Doughboy’s helmet, gun and other areas, restored chips, scratches and gouges, rebuilt degraded surface areas, matched the color and texture of the surface and matched the mortar of the base to the limestone surface, then reset the Doughboy onto its base and treated it to preserve their work. Elizabeth said the Doughboy was something she saw almost every day on her way to classes in Trieschman Fine Arts Building. “It was easy to forget that it had been placed there to honor Hendrix’s own young men from another generation, young men who had been as hopeful about their futures as we were generations later,” she said.
Facing page, from left: Students and fans congregate at the concession stand just inside the entrance to Young- Wise memorial stadium on Sept. 7. The stands are a sea of orange for the first Hendrix football game in 53 years. This page, from left: Norton Arts removes the Hendrix Doughboy to begin the restoration process. An artist’s rendering shows the completed Memorial Plaza featuring the refurbished Doughboy and new artwork honoring all Hendrix alumni who have given their lives for their country.
Wendel said he was elated to be asked to restore the Hendrix Doughboy. He recalled gathering near the statue to play games and picnic “wearing our green Hendrix beanies” during his freshman orientation in 1969. He also shared memories of a previous restoration done by Bill Hawes, professor of Fine Arts during Wendel’s student days. “Throughout the project, I watched him intently, recognizing for the first time, the artist’s role in our preservation of fine historic works of art,” Wendel said. “Time has not been kind to the Doughboy Memorial. To my mind it is in a way fitting that the memorial commemorating ‘the war to end all war’ has been broken, repaired and restored too many times since it was carved after World War I.” “It is a reminder that the memorial to those fallen young men from Hendrix College of that day and time was indeed a peace memorial,” he added. “Now we pray that this World War I Era monument endures, symbolizing humanity’s ending of all war.” Elizabeth, noting that three generations of their family have attended Hendrix, said “We are honored and proud to have played a role in preserving its history. And yet it seems quite natural that we would want to take care of ‘our own.’” Story by Helen Plotkin, Editor
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 35
36 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
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Timeline of Intercollegiate Athletics at Hendrix
1900s
Women’s Lacrosse Men’s Lacrosse Field Hockey Softball Women’s Golf Men’s Soccer Women’s Cross Country Volleyball Men’s Cross Country Women’s Swimming & Diving Women’s Tennis Women’s Soccer Men’s Golf Women’s Track Men’s Swimming Men’s Tennis Women’s Basketball Men’s Track and Field Men’s Basketball Football Baseball
1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
If you’re inclined to immerse yourself in the culture of collegiate athletics to any degree, you know that Saturdays in autumn carry an almost sacrosanct status. In these parts, folks just know better than to schedule a fancy wedding on game day, and if you breach that social contract ... well, you’d best prepare for some empty pews and leftover box wine. College football’s sublime governance over a sizable chunk of America is enthralling to many but, in fairness, repels its fair share as well. We’ve all got our tastes, after all. Hendrix College has been a curious case study of this dichotomy in many ways. How many institutions can cheekily sell T-shirts and other swag that boast of an “undefeated” status since the year JFK was inaugurated? Football at Hendrix was administratively discontinued in 1961 for reasons that needn’t be dredged up by anyone, least of all this author (a 1977 hatchling). The ensuing decades brought about discussions on and off campus about the value of a football-free campus life relative to one where the sport lords over the college experience. I use the word “discussions” as a bit of an understated catch-all here: some might employ “diatribes” or “invective” instead, and there’s no question that the issue has stayed squarely, if uncomfortably, in the vicinity of the hot button. The program is back at the northeast corner of Siebenmorgen and Harkrider this fall after a half-century-plus hiatus, and of course, whether you welcome or resist this development depends on which hand you use to grip the lightning rod. Thankfully, Warrior (née Bulldog) sports have never been defined by the absence or presence of a gridiron component. In an era where an Ivan Grove or a Morton Hutto became iconic, the simple truth was that these field generals were asked to do so much more than just oversee the helmets and pads, and players didn’t typically just letter in a single sport. In my capacity as a longtime member of the Hendrix Warrior Booster Club, I’ve had the unique blessing of being a captive audience while others tell about these departed souls who earned letters in football, basketball, tennis, track, backgammon, swing dancing, et al., and then still had hours in the day to delve back into their course work unfettered. That’s the beauty of the small-college sporting life: one form of gaming cannot be the sole locus to transfix the community at large. And if you spent time in or around the old Axley Gymnasium, Grove Gymnasium, the new Wellness and Athletics Center, or any of the many outdoor fields that have come and gone over the decades, you appreciate the unique niche that athletics has carved out at Hendrix College even while the only semblance of football was being played on intramural fields, by average guys in gym shorts with nylon flags waving from their waistlines. You didn’t pound your Chuck Taylors on Grove’s squealing wooden bleachers, flanked by throaty humanity, lustily pulling for Cliff Garrison’s Warriors to take down Pippen’s bunch of Bears on a sunny February afternoon, and think to
1970s 1980s 2000s
Photo courtesy of the Hendrix College Archives
1990s 2010s
Coach Ivan Grove with Co-captains Frank “Mac” Jenkins ’56 (right) and Joe McDaniel ’55
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Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 37
1960 Team Photo courtesy of the Hendrix College Archives
yourself, “Man, I wish Hendrix would start playing some damned football again!” When the baseball Warriors of 2009 surged from their .500 league record and No. 3 divisional seed in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament in Jackson, Miss., winning four games in four days against teams that had dominated the field for years to take the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, you didn’t moan and lament that chinstraps and body armor would sure add a needed spark. In 1997, when the Hendrix women’s basketball team blitzed through a conference schedule unblemished (14-0) and landed a home game in the national tourney’s opening round, a worldly achievement in only the fourth full season of the sport, you didn’t begrudge the administration for keeping the pigskin squarely in cold storage. I’m reminded of that classic scene from Office Space where the affable protagonist, Peter Gibbons, fresh from his extended selfimposed sabbatical from corporate America, is advised by some visiting consultants that he’s been “missing a lot of work.” The laconic everyman quips back, “I wouldn’t say I’ve been missing it, Bob.” In a way, Hendrix has not truly missed football, but that isn’t to say that its rebirth isn’t being roundly embraced. At the time of this writing, with the first game of a 10-game slate looming, there’s a circus-like atmosphere enveloping the school in the form of newfound regional publicity and a genuine buildup over the pregame pageantry. While varsity football has been away, Hendrix has never languished or left wanting for something to galvanize its students, faculty, administrators and alumni. The college transitioned from its proud roots as a vital cog in the former Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) to a 20-year competitor in the nonscholarship NCAA Division III, with now 21
38 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
2013 Team Photo by Joshua Daugherty
varsity sports offered (the athletic department proudly and accurately boasts that Hendrix gives its students the largest array of varsity sports offered in Arkansas). The past two decades have borne out the evolution of the school’s athletic philosophy, with an emphasis on participation — an estimated 30 percent of the current student population engages in one or more varsity sports — but not at the expense of team and individual success. Some sports have struggled more than others, but this new epoch of Warrior athletics in the fledgling Southern Athletic Association offers ample optimism. And, love it, leave it, or otherwise, the renaissance of college football here in Conway is going to be the de facto centerpiece of that movement. Head coach Justin “Buck” Buchanan, young enough to have the measure of gusto to command the attention of jaded teens but experienced enough at this level to understand the finer machinations of a well-engineered Division III program, has already corralled an inaugural roster that is well over 50 players deep. All but a handful of these young men are incoming freshmen who will have only a fleeting notion of the trailblazer standing they hold. With that degree of early involvement, it’s not hard to fathom why former President J. Timothy Cloyd zealously championed football coming back even in the face of some disagreement. The disagreement, as it were, should not have been cause for outright schism, and thankfully it was not. As far as anyone knows, the restoration of varsity football did not trigger a wave of defections from campus or riot scenes thereon. Sweeping boycotts seem altogether laughable. Hendrix is a place known for its passion, manifest in many ways, but do not mistake this for a paucity of reason. To wit, consider that the administration, though not necessarily at risk under Title IX due to women’s programs actually
outnumbering men’s offerings, added a varsity women’s lacrosse program that also takes its first plunge into competition this spring, and head coach Peri West (herself seasoned in the area of constructing a program from the roots up) has reeled in 20 players who range from Rhode Island and Maryland all the way to California and New Mexico. In the final analysis, the upshot of football taking up residence at Hendrix again is very real and very symbolic in the same stroke. What sporting life was there was far beyond adequate by any objective measure, but putting football and women’s lacrosse on an already-robust menu expands this reach wider and deeper, into pockets of this nation (and likely others) that haven’t been deeply mined. Hendrix has forever abided by the belief that enriching its campus culture will in turn enrich the student body, and the imagery of a sea of black helmets huddling or lacrosse sticks furiously swinging about on the turf at Young-Wise Memorial Stadium this autumn and beyond is an extension of that. Warrior athletics continues to evolve, but not solely for evolution’s sake. Beau Wilcox ’99 is a lifelong Conway resident and supporter of Warrior athletics. His grandfather, Bill Nutter ’57, was a four-sport athlete at Hendrix in the 1950s and was inducted into the college’s Sports Hall of Honor in 2001. While at Hendrix, Beau wrote sports columns for The Profile and covered Warrior athletics for the Log Cabin Democrat from 1996 to 2007, his last story for the newspaper being a piece on the last basketball game at the old Grove Gymnasium. He has served on the Hendrix Warrior Athletic Booster Club since 2005 and has served as master of ceremonies for the last two Hall of Honor banquets. Beau is an attorney in Conway, and is married to Shannon Skaggs of Corning, and has two boys, Graham (7) and Hayes (4).
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hendrix football:
Like many of my friends, I was not excited by the announcement of the return of the football team. While I love football, I was worried that the school atmosphere would change and that the “Hendrix experience” would alter drastically. As the game against Westminster came closer, I still remained indifferent toward Hendrix football; then, I attended the Warrior Pep Rally in mid-August. As the various sports teams were introduced, I felt a sense of pride and enthusiasm that I had thought I only experienced by “Callin’ the Hogs” at War Memorial or Reynolds Stadium. As the students cheered for the athletes, I realized that the atmosphere on campus had changed; however, it was a positive change, a change toward a more united student body. The Pep Rally had served to reiterate that while the football players were athletes they were students first, just like my friends and I. So, I finally decided to attend the game. Being a Little Rock native, I understand the importance of tailgating — many autumn Saturdays have been spent in day-long preparations for Razorback football. However, I was surprised by how many tailgaters descended on the campus. Temperatures upward of 100 degrees Fahrenheit did not inhibit currentstudents and alumni from sharing the same Warrior fervor. Inside the stadium, the excitement level matched the level set by Shirttails or Miss Hendrix, and kickoff could not come soon enough. Hendrix received the ball to start the game; however, things did not go as planned. After a sack, an interception, and a Westminster touchdown — all in the first two minutes — my excitement turned to worry. The teams battled in the grueling heat and with 3:52 remaining in the game, Hendrix was down 44-43 — after over half a century there had to be a little drama. After 15 excruciatingly long plays, the Warriors kicked a 28-yard field goal as time expired, making the final score Hendrix 46, Westminster 44. I was merely one of the nearly 3,000 fans cheering as my fellow classmates made history. And the best part? I don’t have to wait 53 years to cheer again. Story by Reed Brewer ’15
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Photos by Nelson Chenault and Michael Tarne ’14
An Unexpected Joy
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 39
student perspective
Cooler Heads Prevailed Photo by Michael Tarne ’14
A capacity crowd of students, faculty, staff and alumni, including former players, cheerleaders and homecoming royalty, packed the new Young-Wise Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7, to see the first football game at Hendrix since 1960. The Warriors won 46-44, defeating Westminster College after a thrilling 75-yard drive in the final minutes of the game and last-second field goal. The team, including mostly freshmen who just met and began practice on Aug. 14, is coached by Justin “Buck” Buchanan, who won his first game as a head college football coach.
Why Attend a Hendrix Event?
Reconnect with friends,
hear Hendrix updates
and have fun! Spring and summer 2013 have been fun-filled, busy times in the Alumni and Constituent Engagement Office. In April, we caught up with friends during Alumni Weekend 2013. In May, we hosted 75 guests for a reception prior to the production of War Horse at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. In June, we celebrated the Kenwood House exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock with 275 alumni and friends. At the end of June, we traveled to Lenox, Mass., for an evening at Tanglewood with more than 50 attendees. In August, we had an incredible evening at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas, with nearly 400 current students, incoming freshman, parents, and alumni. Each event was distinct, fun, and exciting. We look forward to seeing you at a future Hendrix event! Each month we host an alumni birthday celebration with lunch in the Dining Hall and birthday cake presented to our alumni by the singing cafeteria staff. If you have not received these email invitations, please send us your birthday at alumni@hendrix.edu. Last year, we gave 151 Hendrix coffee mugs to alumni who visited our offices. If you’re on campus when the Alumni Office is open, stop in for your Hendrix “mug shot” to receive your free Hendrix coffee mug. Speaking of mugs, have you recently tied the knot? Send us the details of your marriage and we’ll send Hendrix mugs for two! Don’t forget to update us on new addition(s) to the family so we can send a Hendrix baby shirt(s) your way. What else is new in your life? Please send us all your honors, awards, graduation, and new job information so we can mail you a package to let you know how proud we are of our Hendrix “peeps.” Share what’s new with you in an email to alumni@hendrix.edu. Stay current on all events by visiting www.hendrix.edu/alumnievents or find us on Facebook at the Hendrix College Alumni and Friends page.
42 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
A1
A2
A3
B1
B3
A4
B2
B4
B5
B6
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Alumni Weekend 2013 Reunion Parties April 19-21, 2013 A1 Class of 1988 Reunion Party: Roby Brock ’88, Traci Mattingly Braunfisch ’88, Carla Jurgensmeyer ’88 and James Hayes ’88 A2 Class of 1963 Reunion Party A3 Class of 1973 Reunion Party
C1
C2
A4 Class of 1998 Reunion Party: Jenna Hughes Carll ’00, Tim Chappell ’98, Shawn Johnson ’98 and Shawn Mathis ’96
Hendrix at the Arkansas Arts Center June 7, 2013, Little Rock, Ark. B1 W. Ellis Arnold ’79, Hank Godwin ’76, Liza Thorn Godwin ’76 and Kim Speak Arnold ’82 B2 Dennis Mills ’67, Barbara Mills, Linda Buzbee and Dick Buzbee ’67
C3
B3 Laura Spradley, Lucy Richardson, Ples Spradley ’15 and Mark Spradley ’64 B4 Rebecca Rahn ’13, Corey Nesbit ’11 and Katie Kilpatrick ’13 B5 Edward Maglione ’90, Kate Parsley ’13 and Kathleen Combs ’13 B6 Gael Sammartino ’77 and Jim Hathaway
Hendrix at Tanglewood with Garrison Keilor June 29, 2013, Lenox, Mass.
C4
C5
C1 Mona Haynes Odegard ’98, Odie Odegard ’99, Jude Odegard, Kathleen Young ’01, Colter McCorkindale ’98 and Majo Tinoco C2 Jenny Vancura ’02 and Dave Aubin ’01 C3 Hendrix Night at Tanglewood Group C4 Ashley Cabrera ’07, Ines Hernandez Cabrera, Fermin Cabrera, Kitoh Grey, Jennifer Cabrera ’06 and Rip Weaver ’06 C5 Donna Davis ’62, Mary Ruth Price Brown ’61, Nancy Garner Wood ’62 and Paula Crabtree Bookout ’62
D1
D2
Hendrix Night at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science Aug. 6, 2013, Dallas, Texas D1 Kristen McMenamy ’10, Catherine Curtis ’10, Robert Hill ’08 and Emily Kueny Hill ’10 D2 Linda Baker Farish ’67, Roger Farish ’66, Jeannie Hosley Botts ’67 and Nancy Lites Gidcomb ’67 D3 Phil Brown ’83, Annette Brown, Drew Brown and Hayden Brown ’14
D3
www.hendrix.edu
D4
D4 George Ayers, Jane Ayers, Meghan Ayers ’17, Holyn Duyck ’17 and Mary Duyck
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 43
alumnotes
Alumnotes
connecting with classmates 1949
Lawrence E. Mobley of Little Rock is an associate broker with Rector Phillips Morris in the commercial area.
1959
Harvey Couch has retired after 45 years on the faculty of Tulane Law School. Dr. Alton E. Loveless has just released his newest book, The Ministry, The Memory, The Memorial. The book is a handbook of the burial places of over 900 prominent and pioneer Freewill Baptist ministers.
1962
Dr. Bruce Molholt was chronicled in Toms River, a new book by Dan Fagin, an award-winning environmental journalist. The book chronicles the tragic case of 68 children who contracted cancer from exposure to carcinogenic chemicals in a New Jersey town. Bruce was the main expert witness for plaintiff families in their successful lawsuit. See Marriages.
1963
Gates Williams retired in 2003 after a 40-year career as a commercial banker, serving as president of banks in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Since retirement he and his wife have become gypsies and live in Long Island, the Bahamas and Little Rock near their sons.
1964
W. Christopher Barrier co-authored an article in the Winter 2013 issue of the U.A.L.R. Law Review, titled “Still Fugacious After All These Years,” updating a 2007 primer on oil and gas law in Arkansas. He practices real estate law in the Little Rock office of Mitchell Williams and publishes a monthly column on real estate law in Arkansas in a law and business newspaper.
1965
Carol Carpenter Moseley retired in 2009 after 50 years as organist at First United Methodist Church in Harrison. She is volunteering at nursing homes and senior centers, playing popular piano music. She is also serving North Arkansas Regional Medical Center as a hospital volunteer.
1967
Jeannie Hosley Botts has retired and is moving to Virginia Beach to be near her children. She will be working part time at a pre-school.
1974
Glenn L. Dalton received Washington University School of Law’s Distinguished Alumni Award. See Marriages.
44 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
1975
Bob Compton had his music photography inducted into The Hogan Jazz Archives at Tulane University in October. In April and May, he did a show with original Rolling Stone Magazine photographer Baron Wolman at Scott Edwards Gallery in New Orleans.
1977
Louis Lee Cyphers sold his veterinary hospital in Hot Springs after 25 years and will continue his job as track veterinarian for Oaklawn Park, a position he has held for 22 years.
1979
Nancy Shilling has begun a master’s program in theological studies with a concentration in the Bible at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
1980
Jenifer K. Ward has been named Dean of the College for Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Wash.
1986
Jeff Aulgur earned his Ed.D. in workforce development from the University of Arkansas in August 2013 and serves as an assistant professor and department head of professional studies at Arkansas Tech University. In his 25th year of service in
Share your news with other alumni by visiting www.hendrix.edu/alumni and using the online form. Information received after Sept. 1 will appear in the spring edition. Photos smaller than 1440 x 960 pixels cannot be accepted for publication.
the Army Reserve, Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Aulgur was appointed the Command Sergeant Major of the 1st Brigade (Engineer) 102nd Division (Maneuver Support).
1987
Audrey Kane graduated from Virginia Commonweath University with a Ph.D. in health related sciences with an emphasis in occupational therapy. She is currently employed at Virginia Commonweath University and is teaching at VCU school of occupational therapy. Michael D. Kyzer, M.D., was elected as chairman of the Board of Directors of St. Alexius Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. He continues to serve as chairman of the Emergency Medicine Department and chairman of the Peer Review Committee, and remains active in patient care and the clinical instruction of resident physicians and paramedics.
1988
Paul Ledbetter is celebrating 10 years with Microsoft, beginning as a founding member of Microsoft’s CRM v1 product team in Charlotte, N.C., including a successful stint in Dallas, and now is in the Dynamics division in Atlanta where has recently received the “East Region Rainmaker Award” and “US VP Award of Partner Satisfaction.”
1990
Greg Thompson owner of Greg Thompson Fine Art in Little Rock has opened a second location in Dallas.
1991
Glen Hooks celebrated his 10th anniversary with the Sierra Club, where he is a senior campaign representative for the Club’s “Beyond Coal Campaign.” In addition, Glen was recently named to the board of Planned Parenthood Voters of Arkansas.
1993
Marisa Turner Johnson, M.D., published a book titled Yes I Am Talking to You: Answering the Call of Christian Discipleship. It is based on the fifth chapter of the gospel of Matthew, also known as the Beatitudes.
1994
Tracy Kartye was promoted to Director of Social Investments at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private charitable organization whose principle mission is to help build better futures for disadvantaged children and families. Col. Kevin R. Koehler, M.D., was recently appointed as the State Surgeon for the Arkansas National Guard. Sharp Malak, M.D., M.P.H., has completed a fellowship in breast imaging from Memorial
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1995
Norma King Walker was awarded a Master of Science in education with an emphasis in school business leadership in January 2013.
1996
Matt House was recently listed as one of the “Top 40 under 40” by Arkansas Business. Toni Gocke Wyre was recently listed by Arkansas Business as one of its “Top 40 under 40.” See New Children.
1997
Adam Mitchell was named Little Rock Community President of Simmons First National Bank.
1998
Kenneth Mason has been chosen to serve on a national task force. The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) selected Kenneth, a member of the Georgia State Board of Education, to serve on a year-long NASBE study group examining the expanding role of digital technology in K-12 education. Brad Phelps, Arkansas Chief Deputy Attorney General, has received an award from the National Association of Attorneys General for his exemplary work to negotiate a landmark agreement with major tobacco companies. Phelps was presented with the award at NAAG’s summer meeting in Boston, Mass. He is the first Arkansan to receive such recognition.
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Kyle Wilson’s play, The Butcher of Bumblebee, was named a semi-finalist for the 2013 O’Neill Playwrights Conference. In June, Kyle went to Omaha, Neb., with his play, After School Special, which was a PlayLabs selection at the 2013 Great Plains Theatre Conference. In July, Kyle produced the world premiere of The Miss Julie Dream Project at the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival. He wrote the play in collaboration with eight fellow members of his writer’s collective, Fell Swoop Playwrights.
1999
Beth Wiedower has been named Senior Field Director for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In her new capacity, she leads the Houston, Texas, office of the National Trust, focusing on efforts to preserve and protect significant national treasures around the country.
2000
Fred Baker received a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Nebraska at Kearney on July 26, 2013. He is the Director of Admission at Hendrix. Major Shane McEntire, M.D., F.A.C.S. deployed with the U.S. Army as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Major McEntire is a general surgeon stationed with the 759th Forward Surgical Team at Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. See New Children. Susan Johnson-Mumford created an exhibition, Crossing Borders, which was featured in the gallery space at the Oxford American in Little Rock, Ark., in early August.
2001
Angela Disch Gray has accepted a new position as a senior clinical business solutions analyst for Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith, Ark.
2002
Sarah A. Bates has accepted a position as a public affairs specialist with the National Science Foundation, acting as communications liaison for engineering research and communications lead for the BRAIN Initiative. Ian Beard has opened Stone’s Throw, a nanobrewery in Little Rock, Ark. Elizabeth Fite of Kutak Rock LLP in Atlanta was re-elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the 45,000-member State Bar of Georgia and was installed June 22 during the organization’s Annual Meeting. Hope Gaither Geiger was promoted to Assistant Director of Enrollment and Student Services at the University of Tulsa Graduate School.
2003
Casey Carder is the Deputy Director/ Supervising Attorney for Arkansas Tobacco Control. See Marriages. Laura Leigh Hampton Oyler has recently been promoted to the role of Director of Policy and Advocacy in the Public Affairs department for Reynolds American, Inc. In this new role, she will work with legislators and policy makers to promote the company’s youth tobacco prevention programs. Ian Manire has joined Union Studio Architecture in Providence, R.I., as an architectural designer working on high-end residential projects. Ian received the Henry Adams Medal and the Ferguson & Shamamian
Graduate Prize at the University of Notre Dame where he earned his Master of Architecture degree. Jen Mathews recently took a position as a financial analyst in the Planning Department of Perkins & Marie Callender’s LLC. She was also just elected to the Board of Directors of the Memphis Chapter of the Tennessee Society of CPAs for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. Dixon Parnell completed a master of science degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tenn.
at the VA Eastern Kansas Healthcare System in Leavenworth, Kan.
2006
Brad Howard has moved back to Arkansas from Washington, D.C., to be the Communications Director & Spokesperson for the Mike Ross for Governor campaign. Brad was Ross’s communications director when he was in Congress.
2007
Jeremy Crosmer earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan.
2004
Russ Montgomery is a policy advisor at the state health department in Maryland. He plays a major role in health care reform implementation in the state. He is also a Ph.D. candidate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Sarah Jacobson presented “Heroes Abandoned: Parent-Child Relationships from Homer to Riordan,” as part of the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language 2012-2013 event series on the Hendrix campus.
2008
Brooke Ivy recently became the Chief Development Officer for the Arkansas Museum of Discovery, which was ranked by MENSA as number six in the top 10 science museums in the U.S.
Grant Morshedi, M.D., has finished residency and fellowship training in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has accepted a position as an assistant professor in the UAMS Department of Ophthalmology.
2005
Leighanne Hillman Alford was recently promoted to Chief Development Officer at the Arkansas Foodbank. Meghan Murphy graduated with her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in August of 2013. She accepted a position as Health Behavior Coordinator
Nick Barnes was selected as a Rolf C. Syvertsen Scholar for the 2012-2013 year at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. McKinzie S. Fruchtl has graduated with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. Rosemary Hallmark is the editor of At Home in Arkansas magazine. Samuel Kauffman accepted a position as program director for the Arkansas Courts and Community Initiative at the Arkansas Supreme Court. Ryan Williams graduated from the Clinton School of Public Service in May 2012 with her Master of Public Service degree and graduated this year with a Master of Public Health from University of Arkansas Medical School.
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alumnotes
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, N.Y. and has since joined the College of Medicine Department of Radiology and College of Public Health Department of Epidemiology as an assistant professor at UAMS.
alumnotes
2009
Becca Mayeux Foster is the head golf coach at Texas A&M. Recently her men’s team won second place at the 27th PGA Minority Collegiate Championship in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Matthew Reid has graduated from the University of Louisiana at Monroe with a Master of Science in Biology and will be entering the Ph.D. program at the University of Louisville this fall on a university fellowship. See Marriages. Sarah Rhoads has graduated with an M.D. from UAMS College of Medicine and started an internal medicine residency in Louisville, Ky., in July. See Marriages. Kelly Zalocusky is a member of a neuroscience research team at Stanford University that has developed a process that renders a mouse brain transparent. The process could fundamentally change our scientific understanding of the brain and potentially other organs as well.
2010
Lauren Bartshe spent the 2012-2013 academic year studying in Krakow, Poland, as a Kosciuszko Foundation Fellow and received a graduate research assistantship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for summer 2013. Joseph Byram has graduated from UAMS College of Nursing and accepted a job at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., in the Nurse Residency Program, Critical Care Track. He has also received the Arkansas Nurses’ Association’s Dr. Cheryl Schmidt Senior Nursing Student of the Year Award for 2012.
Trey James Calvin (formerly Eerebout) is living in Madrid, Spain, for the 2013-2014 academic year, earning a master’s degree in Spanish literature and philology from Middlebury College. Sarah Dunaway has graduated cum laude from St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami, Fla. Alex Holmes is attending graduate school at Emory University working toward a Master of Medical Science degree (MMSc) in Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling. She expects to graduate in May 2014. Caitlin Murphy has received her Juris Doctorate with Honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law and will join the firm Barrow & Grimm, P.C. in Tulsa, Okla. Angela Bennett Poff is working on her Ph.D. in medical sciences at the University of South Florida and has recently received media attention for her scientific research regarding cancer. Her team’s study titled “The Ketogenic Diet and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Prolong Survival in Mice with Systemic Metastatic Cancer,” finds that nontoxic cancer therapy was proven effective against metastatic cancer. Katie Rice-Guter was selected as the University of Arkansas’ Outstanding Master’s Student in Counselor Education. Katie is now living in St. Louis and working as a freelance writer and editor. See Marriages. Shelia Kindsfather Rupert has joined the Hendrix College community as an adjunct professor, instructing classes in the kinesiology and health sciences department.
46 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
Ben Wadley is attending Emory Law School and expects to graduate in May 2014. Kat Wallace graduated with a master’s degree in social change from The Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, Calif. in May.
2011
Megan Andrews received the Eli Segal Bridge Builder Award at City Year’s national convention. Michelle Stiles Ashley of Chesham Bois, England, has joined the staff of Restore Hope in the role of hospitality and communications coordinator. She completed a one-year internship with the UK charity before being named to a full-time position in August 2013. Molly Miller of Little Rock was appointed by Gov. Mike Beebe to serve on the Arkansas Division of Volunteerism Advisory Council.
Marriages Bruce Molhot ’62 to Aleen O’Sullivan. Glenn L. Dalton ’74 to Brenda Cass. Debbie Becker ’75 to Deborah Moody, July 13, 2013. Lee Pucket ’81 to Sally Sacrey, June 14, 2013. Laura Castell ’82 to Joshua Chauvin, April 13, 2013. Roger Morse ’87 to Kevin Utter, August 2013. Stephanie Riggs ’97 to Mike Stephens, Nov. 17, 2012. Colter McCorkindale ’98 to Majo Tinoco, Aug. 31, 2013. Chelsey Bryant ’01 to Parker Krug, May 4, 2013.
Christopher Baguley ’03 to Sarah Starnes ’04, April 27, 2013, Greene Chapel. Jennifer Burkett ’03 to Matt Pittman, June 1, 2013. Becca Swearingen ’03 to J. Michael Hazelwood, June 1, 2013. Walker Dyer ’05 to Cassie Jackson ’06, Nov. 10, 2012. Mallory McCormick ’09 to Cody Lowe, June 1, 2013. Ashley Brewington ’09 to Kyle Loudermilk, May 29, 2013. Sam Ginsberg ’09 to Laura Owen ’10, Aug. 10, 2013, in the Hendrix gazebo. Winn Haynes ’11 to Farani Aryono, May 5, 2013. Janelle Bissell ’12 to Jordan Branscum, Aug. 10, 2012. Ethan Ake ’13 to Ashley Syr, June 29, 2013.
2012
Connor McMains is a candidate for a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting at the University of North Texas College of Music and expects to graduate in 2015.
Sarah Rhoads ’09 to Matthew Reid ’09, June 1, 2013. Also pictured are Amy Reynolds and Ketan Patel ’09
Kristin Witcher is finishing her first year teaching at Leilehua High school on Oahu, Hawaii.
2013
Blythe Cate has accepted a position with At Home in Arkansas, a Little Rockbased magazine. Katie Rice ’10 to Lev Guter, March 23, 2013. Pictured from left to right in back: Laura Langley ’10, Emily Lenard ’10, Emily Kueny Hill ’10, Catherine Curtis ’10, Ruanda McFerren ’11, Courtney Taylor ’10, Amanda Keifer ’10, Greg Cooper ’09, Harmony Hudson ’10, Brett Carr ’10, Robert Hill ’09, Matt Youngblood ’10, and Aaron Schneider ’10. Front row: Clare Walter ’10, Lara Assaf ’10, Katie Rice-Guter ’10, Lev Guter, Sarah Rosenkranz ’10, and Julia Maschmann ’10
www.hendrix.edu
Sara Gremillion ’01 to Bradley Sturz, Dec. 12, 2012. Pictured from left to right: Thomas Buford 01, Brooke-Augusta Owen Ware ’01, Lesley Gravenmier Black ’01, Chris Black ’00, Sara Gremillion ’01, Laura Skelton ’00, Kelly Osborn Khan ’01 and Adnan Khan ’98.
Cohen James, first son, first child to Scott Cooley ’04 and Christina Barnes Cooley ’05, Feb. 20, 2013.
Ryan Timothy, first son, first child to Rebecca McBrady Butts ’06 and Tim, July 15, 2013.
Coleman Bonner, first son, second child to Laura Beth Corless York ’01 and Alan, May 11, 2012.
Mary Eleanor, first daughter, first child to Paul Parnell ’04 and Nikki Russell Parnell ’06, April 24, 2013.
Laila Elizabeth, first daughter, first child to Ryan Fuchs ’02 and Saretta, born May 6, 2013.
Judson English, first son, first child to Ashley English Vickers ’04 and Matt, Jan. 6, 2013.
Connor Thomas, first son, first child to Maradyth Hopper McKenzie ’06 and Colin McKenzie ’08, May 20, 2013.
Rohan Navid, second child, second son and Darius Nazgul, first child, first son to Angela Stone ’02 and Matthew Adcock, May 7, 2013 and Aug. 26, 2010. Isaac Sebastiann, first son, second child to Traci Williams Terrahe ’02 and Albert, March 28, 2013.
Elijah Cunningham ’07 to Caitlin Stevens ’10, March 9, 2013. Pictured are: Matt Moore, Charlie Cunningham, Chris Stevens ’07, David Mitchell, Megan McCaghey ’10, Sally Cunningham ’09, Caitlin Stevens Cunningham ’10, Elijah Cunningham ’10, Rachel Floyd Stevens ’09, and Meagan Kreps ’10
Jacob Adam, first son, first child to Gina Curry Bergfeld ’03 and Adam, June 19, 2013.
Emma Catherine, first daughter, first child to Carol Nixon Ricketts ’05 and Brandon, Oct. 25, 2012. Benjamin Faulk first son, first child to Ben Rugg ’05 and Megan Faulk Rugg ’06, April 23, 2013. Madeline Jane, third daughter, third child to Laura Armstrong Shachmut ’05 and Kyle Shachmut ’06, June 12, 2013.
Harper Mae first daughter, first child to Katherine Stokes Rogers ’06 and Kevin, Aug. 31, 2012. Carter Thomas, first son, first child to Corey Villines Brookes ’08 and Charles, July 3, 2013. Robert Justin Thomas Hurston, first son, first child to Amanda Spolec ’13, July 22, 2013.
New Children Oliver Stanley Grant, second son, second child to Joyce Holaway Fletcher ’91, Nov. 7, 2008. Jackson Garrett to James Wyre ’91 and Toni Gocke Wyre ’96, April 29, 2013. Casey Carder ’03 to Rodney Rockwell, Feb. 17, 2013
Felix Joseph, first son, first child to Maureen McClung ’01 and Travis Peeples, March 8, 2013.
Charles Revel Porter II, first son, first child to Don Porter ’03 and Lindsay Baldwin Porter ’05, April 28, 2013.
Quinn Elise, first daughter, first child to Megan McMillan Smith ’05 and William, Aug. 6, 2011.
James Cameron McKenzie, first son, first child to Jennifer Merritt McKenzie ’06 and Trent, April 13, 2013.
Lucy Faith, second daughter, second child to Jennifer Burger Carter ’94 and Lorne, Nov. 21, 2012. Bennett David, second son, second child to Brett Worlow ’97 and Julie, June 21, 2013. Quinn Elise, second daughter, second child to Merideth Harness McEntire ’98 and Shane McEntire ’00, May 18, 2013.
David Kuykendall ’13 to Amy Morley ’13, June 11, 2013
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Andrew Stuart and Anna Charlotte, twins to Andrew Thompson ’98 and Emily, Feb. 5, 2013.
Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013 47
alumnotes
Isaac Henry, first son, first child to Mary Crouch Young ’00 and Bobby, Feb. 18, 2013.
alumnotes
In Memoriam Sidney Winfield Lancaster ’27 Martha Elizabeth Davidson Beck ’30 Virginia Evelyn Hawks Crenshaw ’30 Carleton Coppock Conrad ’32 Mary Lou Parker ’32 Pauline Matthews Garris ’34 Raymond Arthur Dorman ’35 Sarah Kathryn Rhodes Benton ’36 Frances Toney Hall ’37 Clara Elizabeth Hale Reaves ’37 June Cone Savadge ’37 Angie Ophelia Case Williamson ’37 Iva Lee Henry Sener ’40 Mary Jane Archer Wilkes ’40 William Moore Mitchell Jr. ’41 Dorothy Hogue Roebuck ’41 Margaret Ruth York Gerald ’42 Florrie Harton Marquette ’42 Mary Frances Campbell Boak ’43 James Thomas “Dock” McAllister ’43 Mary Stone Smith ’43 Harold Herman Spence ’43 Gene Barrett Turk ’43 Mary Patricia Ball Graydon ’44
Freda Ferguson McQueen ’44 Ellen Plunkett Akins Mosely ’44 Mary Mitchell Raber ’44 Priscilla Lou Smedley Wagnon ’44 Vera Elizabeth Goodrich Arnold ’45 Ralph Louis Cazer ’45 Betty Erwin Boswell ’46 Betty Sadler England ’46 David Allen Webb ’46 Mary Jane Wright Carder ’47 Wanella Kate McAllister Rippy ’47 Horace C. Vincent Jr. ’47 Robert H. Cole Jr. ’48 Pat Reeves Henry ’48 Walter Calvin Johnson ’48 Frank Ryland Atkins ’49 Sue Sullivan Honeycutt ’49 William Robert Nixon ’49 Alfred Earl Stabler ’49 James Andrew Wallace Sr. ’49 Robert Louis Jones ’50 Meredith Kendall ’50 James L. Moore Jr. ’50 Charles Dwight Carrens ’51 Robert Lee Newton Jr. ’51
Margaret Virginia Westfall Bogard ’52 William Nelson ’52 Stanley R. Reed ’52 Edwin Nulsen Strauss III ’52 Jo Claire Knoll English ’53 George Martin Rex ’53 Mary Jo Eaton Burks ’54 Saville Young Henry ’54 Patricia Ann Beck McKinney ’54 Billy Gene Reutz ’54 Bobby Leon Gosser ’55 George Richard Henry ’55 Harlan E. Murray Jr. ’55 Claud Lafayette Spence ’55 Nancy Grace Smith Eckelhoff ’56 Nolan Gerald LeVan ’56 Donald E. Bratton ’57 Charles Henry Dicken ’58 Marvin Dean Faith ’58 William Arthur Jones ’59 Ernest W. Martin ’60 Walter Thorn Murphy ’61 C. Dale Pope ’61 Loren Ashley Coffman ’62 Ivan Snell McMahon ’63
Howard Glenn Nichols ’63 Phillip Lee Phillips ’65 James Vernon Anderson ’66 Margaret Sanford Cox ’66 David Monroe Woodall ‘67 Ruth Russell Andrews ’68 Vicki Lyn Fleming Hall ’69 Rodney Fancher Berry ’72 Billy Allen Green ’72 Roger Godfrey Williams ’74 Steven Edwin Kane ’76 Ralph Chanes Hasken Jr. ’77 Dan J. Hawkins ’77 Chris E. James ’84 Heidi Lucette Giller Meadows ’84 Kevin Gene Stanfill ’89 Thomas Leland Murphy ’06 Adam Phillip Slinkard ’13
Faculty & Staff Maurice Lee Ayers Leonard Brenske Don H. Marr Ralph Lester Ruhlen Wendy Marie Williams
Leonard Brenske
Don Marr
Leonard Brenske, Director of Food Services at Hendrix from 1969 until his retirement in 1987, passed away Monday, July, 29, 2013. He was 88. Students in the ’70s and ’80s knew Mr. Brenske as someone who was always in charge, but also willing to listen to student concerns. He was well-known for catering events that included ice sculptures and fancy foods. David Sutherland ’81, Associate Provost and Professor of Mathematics, says today’s students wouldn’t be impressed by the choices in the cafeteria in those days. “Peanut butter and jelly was the only real option for those who didn’t want to eat ‘on the line,’” he said. “So you can imagine how excited students got when they saw a catered event in the ballroom. They knew all the fancy leftovers would be on the line that night! My first artichoke hearts, crab salad, hearts of palm, and caviar came from Mr. Brenske’s leftovers.” “Although it was a different time in terms of the actual food, the service was the same as today. All the older women on the line knew your name and what you liked. For me, those are my real memories of the cafeteria and Mr. Brenske made it happen,” he added. Mr. Brenske is survived by his son Charles Brenske ’75; four daughters: Diana Brenske, Donna Sue Brenske ’72, Deborah Brenske ’76, and Kristina Burford ’90; three grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. Kristina is now Director of Financial Aid at Hendrix.
The Hendrix community was saddened by the loss of longtime art professor Don Marr last spring. Born on Jan. 18, 1930, in St. Louis, Mo., he received a studio art degree in 1953 from the University of Tennessee. After two years of service as an Army lieutenant stationed in Germany, he returned to the U.S. to pursue graduate studies at the University of Arkansas, where he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1958. Don joined the Hendrix faculty in 1959. He taught art history, calligraphy, free-hand drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture to generations of students. In 1991, he was named the Louis and Charlotte Cabe Distinguished Professor of Art. After retiring in 2000, he continued to paint prolifically and exhibited works in “The Marrvellous,” his gallery in downtown Conway. “He was a dedicated and hard-working teacher, artist, and human being. With his passing, the world is suffering a great loss,” said Marr’s friend and colleague Hendrix Spanish professor Dr. Jon Arms. “He was also a great artist who shared his talents with many students over the time he taught at Hendrix. I was pleased when he graciously agreed to give me some instruction in calligraphy, even though I never became very good at it. He was always patient and caring in his instruction. He had a very nice sense of humor that always made encounters with him a joy. When he saw me, he would call out ‘Eh, Cisco,’ his nickname for me thanks to the discipline I taught.”
February 17, 1925 – July 29, 2013, 2013
48 Hendrix Magazine | Fall 2013
Jan. 18, 1930 – March 31, 2013
www.hendrix.edu
Robert Meriwether ’49, Professor of Political Science, Education and History, and Dean of Students (1959-1993) In 1980, Professor Meriwether hinted that, in Arkansas’ history, we’d never really know how many brothers-in-law were “accidentally kilt” by their kin who were holding their shotgun and stepping over a fence at the same time. If you cherish your memories of Hendrix, you can provide the same kind of memories for generations to come. A designated or planned gift provides life-changing experiences for students and it creates a legacy that will endure. Although the names and faces change over time, the memories remain. Share the gift of Hendrix memories. Support the Altus Bell Society.
please join us
For more information, contact Lori F. Jones ’81, CFP® Director of Planned Giving (501) 450-1476 or email JonesL@hendrix.edu www.hendrixaltusbell.org
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Historical photo courtesy of the Hendrix College Archives. Current photo and composition by Joshua Daugherty
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This composite photo depicts Greene Chapel after its completion in 1951 and today. The chapel is used for weekly services and weddings for Hendrix alumni and community members.