Photo by Joshua Daugherty
campus news Bill Fox ’60, William C. Temple ’73, Tommy Sanders ’76, Wendy R. Anderson ’93, William Ragsdale ’83, Benjamin Schumacher ’82 and Dr. Joe Thompson ’84 received the Hendrix Odyssey Medal at Founders Day 2011 in October.
Medal for Professional and Leadership Development and was unable to attend the awards ceremony, was presented his Odyssey Medal at this year’s convocation. Ragsdale told the audience how he followed his two older sisters to Hendrix but quickly found his own path. “I don’t know if I would have found that if I didn’t come to Hendrix,” said Ragsdale, an actor who has worked with everyone from Ellen DeGeneres to Stephen Sondheim in film, television, and theatre. Anderson is the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense at the U.S. Department of Defense. She thanked Hendrix for giving a once shy Southern woman the courage to travel to many countries to learn and serve. “It was here that my life path was formed,” said Anderson. Temple, a former FBI special agent, told students that Hendrix instilled in him the value of critical thinking and attention to detail. Schumacher is a physics professor at Kenyon College and a pioneer of quantum information theory. “Hendrix taught me to do research,” he said. “You should rejoice that there’s something that you don’t yet understand,” Schumacher said of the passion and curiosity required for scientific research. “You shouldn’t be alarmed at not understanding something, you ought to be familiar with this experience ... [but] you should never give up.” Arkansas Surgeon General Dr. Joe Thompson, a champion of public health in the state, said that institutions are challenged today by fast-paced technological change and frail economics. He challenged students and faculty to “make sure the future is the one we want.” ESPN outdoor sports producer Tommy Sanders admitted
6 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2012
that he had never seen a play performed before he was a student at Hendrix. “Hang on to what you’re given here, take it with you and it will sustain you,” said Sanders. “You never know where your Odyssey is going to take you.” Fox, a retired administrator at Emory University, thanked Hendrix for instilling in him the importance of higher education. “I found a passion for what higher education can do for an individual,” he said. “I knew I wanted to be in higher education and help people as I had been helped at Hendrix ... it started at Hendrix and it led to a very meaningful life.” The 2012-2013 Odyssey Medals will be presented during Founders Day on October 25, 2012.
2013 nominations due Dec. 31, 2012 Odyssey Medals are presented by the Board of Trustees to individuals whose life achievments exemplify the Hendrix Odyssey program and accomplishment in one of the six Odyssey categories. Nominations may be made by sending a letter outlining how your nominee meets the criteria to plemmons@hendrix.edu by Dec. 31, 2012. Address your letter to President J. Timothy Cloyd. The mailing address is Office of the President, Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Avenue, Conway, AR 72032. For more information visit www.hendrix.edu/odysseymedal.
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