By MARK SCOTT
Director of Media Relations 

Pierre Urisanga watched carefully as the student in front of him at the Hulen Cafeteria strategically put together a hamburger. The meat and cheese go inside the bun? And lettuce and tomatoes, too? Such a novel concept, he had to try one for himself, and with the first bite he became infatuated with the popular college cuisine.

A memorable first experience eating at Hendrix, it wasn’t long before he branched out and found his true fast-food love: The Big Mac. “That’s the best,” the Rwandan student responds when asked about his favorite American food.

Pierre’s first year at Hendrix was dotted with variety of firsts – his first baseball game, his first ice storm, his first trip to the beach – and a challenging course load that perhaps weighs more heavily on him than the typical Hendrix student. Pierre will use his degree to rebuild his country.

One of 20 students from Rwanda now attending Hendrix, Pierre is part of the Rwandan Presidential Scholars Program, a partnership that began in 2007 between Hendrix College and Rwandan President Paul Kagame as an effort to provide American college educations to future leaders of the central African country. An educated workforce, from doctors to engineers to research scientists, is needed in the central African country ravaged by a bloody genocide in 1994.

A Hendrix-led higher education consortium with Rwanda was the brainchild of David Knight ‘71, the chief legal council at Stephens Inc. and a member of the Hendrix College Board of Trustees. Knight worked with Hendrix President J. Timothy Cloyd to begin Hendrix’s relationship with Rwanda, and both men have been instrumental in recruiting new colleges to the consortium during the past two years.

Beginning at Hendrix College in 2007 with four Rwandan students, the program’s consortium grew in 2008 to include the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, Harding University in Searcy, Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia and Wofford College (S.C.). This year, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Lyon College in Batesville, Southwestern University (Texas), Birmingham Southern (Alabama) and Sewanee: The University of the South (Tennessee) joined the consortium.

In all, 81 students are now earning college degrees through the innovative program.

Rebuilding Rwanda

In addition to the loss of more than a million lives, one of the most devastating consequences of the genocide in Rwanda was the near-total destruction of the country’s government and private sector infrastructure.  Almost all of the senior government officials, educators and business leaders were killed or driven out of the country by the perpetrators of the genocide.  And while the Rwandan government has been successful in establishing a politically stable and secure environment over the last decade, the process of identifying, recruiting and training new leaders has proven to be an understandably slow and laborious process.  This program is a key response to this critical need, and its importance to the future development of the country is evidenced by the government’s major, long-term investment in this program.

The Rwandan government has initially chosen math, physics, chemistry and biology as the areas of primary focus for the program.  Pools of scholarship candidates are established based on national high school test scores, and representatives of the consortium colleges then travel to Rwanda each spring to interview prospective students. It’s an intriguing and thorough process, as students are selected based on their ability to succeed in such a rigorous educational pursuit.

Pierre and other Rwandan students were initially surprised by the breadth and depth of the liberal arts curriculum at Hendrix. In Rwanda, physics students only study physics; but here, students are exposed to electives and other educational requirements that expand their knowledge. Pierre chose to take a public speaking course during the college’s Maymester program, which he said enlightened him to a different communications dynamic. He put his newly-enhanced communications skills to quick work, interning in the college’s Office of Communications and Marketing and participating in feature interviews conducted by a National Public Radio affiliate and a Little Rock newspaper. He also volunteered to work with the college’s Alumni Office for the annual Hendrix Night at the Travelers event, which exposed him to his first professional baseball game. 

Campus Life

Peter Gess, Hendrix’s director of international programs and the facilitator of the Rwandan Presidential Scholars Program, knows what it’s like to be a stranger in a foreign country. As a Peace Corps volunteer just out of college, Gess flew to Poland for an assignment and initially stayed with a family that couldn’t speak English. Gess’s inability to speak Polish made communication quite interesting.

Through Gess’s leadership, the consortium has provided an intensive English summer program for the Rwandan students to help them enhance language skills and better prepare them for their classroom experiences. The program has allowed these students to “hit the ground running,” Gess said, which made for a much smoother transition to college life. This past summer, students also participated in the three-day Rwandan Presidential Scholars Program Academy, focusing on civic involvement and concluding with a tour and luncheon at the Clinton Presidential Library. Linda Poindexter Chesterfield ’69, the first African-American graduate of Hendrix, was the keynote speaker.

The Rwandans’ adaptation to the U.S. has been incredible, both socially and academically.  Given no preferential treatment in the classroom, the Rwandan students completed the spring semester with an average GPA of 3.67 – above the 3.49 average of non-Rwandan Hendrix students. Six of the 29 participants last year had perfect grades, and two were recognized with special academic awards during the college’s annual Honors Day festivities.  

The Rwandan students are also branching out socially. One student is working as a residential assistant in Hardin Hall, another does volunteer work at a local hospital. Pierre is active in a church youth group and was participated in an annual summer youth beach trip in Florida. The group as a whole organized a Genocide Remembrance Week on campus in the spring, including a candlelight vigil in the Hulen Sunporch and a documentary about the Rwandan genocide.

It would be easy to write the program off as a charitable effort to a developing country, but that wouldn’t be accurate.

“There is a service motivation to provide assistance to Rwanda, but we really think of this as a two-way bridge,” Gess said. “As we help them, they help us. They bring us their stories, views and examples of life in general to our campus, and that is a tremendous benefit to the diversity of Hendrix. It’s great to have students from California and Massachusetts, but it’s also great to have students from Rwanda and from around the world. They truly make life richer here at Hendrix.”

Arthur Thomason ’97 was presented a Silver Snoopy in October from Astronaut Robert Behnken and the STS-123 Crew that worked on the March 2008 Space Shuttle Mission. The award was given for his outstanding support of the U.S. space programs in his position as extra-vehicular activity — space walk — task manager for the crew.

Thomason is an engineer for Barrios at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. His job involves training and support for astronauts for space shuttle and space station missions.

Thomason was directly responsible for the development of all EVA procedures used during the first five EVA missions scheduled and executed at the International Space Station. He was critical in the re-planning associated with the addition of the mission's fifth EVA late in the training flow and the development of a plan to get the crew members trained for the tile repair simulation in time for its execution during the mission.

Thomason earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Hendrix College and a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M before taking a position with Barrios and NASA in 2002.

By Helen Plotkin
Editor

The Class of 2009 has earned a spot in Hendrix history as the first class for which Odyssey participation was a graduation requirement.

Students who entered in fall 2005 knew they would be part of a new program focusing on engaged learning, but the details were a bit sketchy. Many of them had already chosen Hendrix for other reasons.

“I was pretty sold on the college, so the talk of Odyssey was only a bonus for me at the time,” Jordan Kennedy ’09 said. “I was intrigued, but I had no idea how much it would impact my time in college before I got there.”

For many 2009 graduates, Odyssey defined their Hendrix experience – and that’s no accident. In 2003 when Hendrix President J. Timothy Cloyd challenged the faculty to create what became the Hendrix Odyssey he asked that it “be universal (required of all) and defining of the Hendrix experience.”

Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning has clearly met both goals.

“The Odyssey program is as cool as you want to make it,” said Justin Warren ’09. “It’s like a very efficient machine: the amount of work and imagination that you put into it is directly proportional to the amount of cool that you get out of it.”

Mallory Bader ’09 agreed. “The first thing that I explain to people when I tell them where I went to college is the Odyssey program,” she said.

 So, what is Odyssey?

 “Odyssey grew from the active learning environment that has long been cultivated at Hendrix,” President Cloyd said. “It has become the unifying ethic for how we approach liberal arts and sciences education.”

Your Hendrix Odyssey requires that all students complete at least three experiential learning projects chosen from six categories: artistic creativity, global awareness, professional and leadership development, service to the world, undergraduate research and special projects. Hendrix graduates receive an Odyssey transcript in addition to their academic transcript.

Students and faculty are eligible to apply for grant funding to support their Odyssey projects. More than $1 million in funding as been awarded since Odyssey began in 2005. At the end of the 2008-09 academic year nearly 5,000 Odyssey credits had been recorded and 240 projects involving 604 students and 83 faculty had shared $1.18 million in grant funding.

Dr. Mark Schantz, the first Odyssey director (who left Hendrix at the end of the spring semester to become provost of Birmingham Southern University in Birmingham, Ala.), said the Odyssey Program has “succeeded wildly. The evidence of success is in the projects that faculty and students develop and the incredible creativity of the students.”

Dr. Nancy Fleming, the current Odyssey director, said the way Odyssey functions as an umbrella to draw many facets of the Hendrix experience together is unique.

“Odyssey draws on so many different kinds of experiences and recognizes the value of them,” Dr. Fleming said. “It pulls together the components of a well-rounded education. It speaks to our motto of ‘unto the whole person.’ ”

In a relatively short period of time, Odyssey has grown from an intriguing concept to an integral part of the Hendrix experience.

“Odyssey is not an add-on. It’s not an extra little something we’ve added to our curriculum. It’s who we are,” President Cloyd emphasized.

 How has Odyssey changed Hendrix?

The idea of Odyssey has done more than transform the lives of individual students. It has also refined the way Hendrix thinks about itself and its mission.

 “Odyssey has made Hendrix better at being Hendrix,” said Dr. Robert E. Entzminger, Provost and Dean of the College.

“We have always had students and faculty who are creative and who work well together outside the classroom,” Provost Entzminger said. “The funding and the program have made it possible for more of our faculty and students to realize their dreams.”

Several Hendrix administrators identified Odyssey as a primary reason for the recent expansion of international programs and dramatic growth in the number of Hendrix students traveling abroad.

 “Odyssey has been a catalyst behind our impressive growth in international study and service projects,” President Cloyd said.

Another benefit of the Hendrix Odyssey has been a significant impact on the College’s ability to recruit students from across the country.

“Odyssey has put us on the radar screen in a way we really hadn’t been before,” Provost Entzminger said. “Without Odyssey we would not have as many students from as many places.”

Although he believed the Odyssey concept would be well received, Dr. Entzminger said he and others were surprised by the level of success.

“There is no way we could have seen that we would grow 40 percent in four years, that we’d be able to recruit as far as we have, or that our national visibility would be where it is now,” he said.

For example, Hendrix was recently listed in as the nation’s top “up-and-coming” liberal arts college by U.S. News & World Report. Innovation and a constant push to improve were the key criteria for inclusion on the list.

 So what is next for Your Hendrix Odyssey?

Hendrix is now widely seen as a model for engaged liberal arts and sciences education. As other institutions work to copy the College’s success, Hendrix must keep improving Odyssey  to maintain its leadership position. President Cloyd has responded by once again asking Hendrix faculty members to be creative and bold in their thinking as they develop Odyssey 2.0. The faculty has responded with an array of proposals with the potential to enrich the Odyssey concept as they are developed and unveiled.

Dr. Entzminger sums up the goal for Odyssey’s future: “We are looking to make it even more robust and more integral to the whole educational experience.”

 UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

Luke Erickson – Chesterfield, Mo.

Chemical Physics

 One of Luke Erickson’s Odyssey projects set him on his career path; another revealed his passion. Both might help him stave off climate change.

 As a chemical physics major, Erickson participated in undergraduate research with Dr. David Hales, professor of chemistry. The two explored the use of sulfur compounds as a short-term means of slowing global warming, testing the hypothesis of Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen.

 Erickson said the research gave him important lab experience, which will be useful to him this fall when he begins graduate studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado. Erickson hopes to do his Ph.D. research at the National Renewable Energy Lab. He sees research as his career path, if not his calling.

 “While I’ll pay the bills for awhile doing renewable energy research, I’m confident that the best way to mitigate the twin challenges that will define my generation – climate change and peak oil – is by growing our own food and supporting small, local agriculture,” he said.

 During his sophomore year, after volunteering at a community garden for a summer, Erickson decided to start a Hendrix community garden.

 “I loved the garden on every level,” he said. “Of my experiences at Hendrix, I am most proud of starting the community garden and watching it grow. It was extremely important to me to be able to eat some totally local food in an age when most of our food has traveled 1,500 miles to get to our plates, and in classes I was studying the terrible climatological effects of that system.”

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Mallory Bader – Memphis, Tenn.

Environmental Studies, Sociology/Anthropology

 For 12 days, Mallory Bader ran around England with some of the country’s best and wackiest cross country runners. As a longtime runner, Bader had a deep interest in exploring the country where cross country running originated as a sport. And as a sociology/anthropology major, she appreciated the unique culture of each running club she accompanied.

 “The trip allowed me to pursue an interest that could not have been explored within the classroom setting, as well as practice my cultural anthropological skills of interviewing and participant observation,” she said.

 Bader ran with three different Hash Harriers clubs in London. Portrayed as “a drinking club with a running problem,” the Hash Harriers appeal to a young crowd by starting and ending their group runs at a pub or bar. Bader also observed the annual relay race of the Thames Hares and Hounds, the oldest cross country running club in the world.

 While abroad, Bader carried a small notebook to jot down her observations and record interviews. She drew strongly on the skills she learned in her Ethnographic Methods class, but the trip was more than an academic exercise for her.

 “I’ll remember the trip forever in the sense that, being a competitive runner for so long, I was kind of burned out on it,” she said. “But then I saw 60- and 70-year-olds running with the Hash Harriers, just running because they enjoy it. It was nice to see that running can still be fun and it’s something that people can do for their entire lives.”

ARTISTIC CREATIVITY

Justin Warren – Little Rock

Theatre Arts

 Billed as “the play Shakespeare would write if he were from Arkansas,” Burn Out Macbeth: A Southern Gothic Tale was actually written by seven Hendrix students and their theatre arts professor, Ann Muse. They wrote and produced the play in three weeks and performed it on a seven-by-seven foot stage – in Scotland, at the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

 “For the first time, I was involved with the theatrical process from the very beginning,” said Justin Warren ’09. “This experience was unique in that our professors came in with merely an idea, and really gave us the freedom to take it in the direction that felt right to us.”

 The group ended up with a hillbilly version of the classic Macbeth: a bloody comedy set in the Ozark Mountains. After weeks of eight-hour practices, they packed up their costumes and props and flew to Edinburgh. That year the Fringe Festival, the world’s largest arts festival, attracted nearly 20,000 performers in 2,088 shows from 46 countries.

 Despite the tough competition, the Hendrix actors attracted a sizeable audience. The average attendance for a Fringe performance is seven people, but Burn Out Macbeth routinely received five times as many attendees. On the final night, they performed to a sold-out audience.

 “This project taught me how to be a performer on a grass-roots level, which strips away all of the glamour of being an actor in a traditional theatre with lights, a huge stage, and stage crews for assistance,” he said. “It ultimately made us much greater performers.”

 PROFESSIONAL AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Alex Graddy-Reed - Los Angeles, Calif.

Comparative Public Policy

 As chair of Campus Kitty, Alex Graddy-Reed helped the organization celebrate its 60^th birthday in style, by raising more than $62,000 for local charities. It was an astronomical achievement for the Hendrix organization, which sponsors a week of fundraising events each spring. The 2008 total, which itself had been a record-breaker for the club, was $42,025.

 “There’s no doubt this was the best thing I did at Hendrix,” Graddy-Reed said. “It was an amazing time when I was constantly busy planning and executing events all while staying focused on why we were trying to raise all this money.”

 By her senior year, Graddy-Reed was already an experienced fundraiser. She had spent the previous summer as an intern with the advancement office of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, planning events and working with high-level donors.

 Both the internship and the Campus Kitty chairmanship gave Graddy-Reed valuable job skills, and she earned a Professional and Leadership Development credit for each experience. The experiences also led to a career path: she plans to work in fundraising for several years, and then attend graduate school.

 “Both opportunities prepared me for this career and gave me a set of skills that most people don’t gain until entering the work force,” she said. “The Odyssey program gave me the opportunity to explore development work in different settings, which cemented my desire to work in the field after graduation.”

GLOBAL AWARENESS

Joe Muller – St. Louis, Mo.

International Relations

 Joe Muller’s path to law school passed through three continents. In 2007, Muller leapt at the opportunity to travel to Rwanda with a group of Hendrix students, faculty and administrators. The following year, he and Mary Flanigan ’09 received Odyssey funding for a service trip to Guatemala. This fall, he begins work on his law degree at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

 “My Odyssey proposals helped prepare me for the law school application process,” Muller said. “My experiences abroad have encouraged my interest in law in general, and international law in particular.”

 In Rwanda, Muller met with government officials like Rwandan President Paul Kagame. He and the other Hendrix students were able to ask questions about policy issues and governing in Rwanda. They also toured health clinics and microfinance projects, and stopped to see a Gacaca Court in action.

 “The Gacaca Courts are one of the remedies that Rwandans have developed to deal with overflowing prisons from the 1994 genocide,” he said. “The courts are many people’s only judicial remedy for crimes committed during the Genocide, and as foreigners we were really fortunate to see how they actually worked.”

 Muller also confronted injustice in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, where he volunteered at a shelter for women and children. He was awed by the resilience and tenacity of the children there.

 “I think my Odyssey trips have been an integral part of my experience at Hendrix,” he said. “My Odyssey experiences have been some of the most defining and memorable experiences that I’ve had in my undergraduate career.”

SERVICE TO THE WORLD

Jordan Kennedy – Bogalusa, La.

Studio Art, Art History minor

 Jordan Kennedy spent the spring break of her junior year on an island in the Bahamas, but not at a resort. She and other Hendrix students on a Hendrix-Lilly mission trip worked side-by-side with residents to repair homes destroyed by a hurricane. While re-shingling rooftops and mixing cement, she realigned her priorities in life.

 “The experience secured within me my desire to spend my life in service to others,” Kennedy said. “I believe you can’t fully get a grasp of who you are until you are granted the opportunity to completely abandon yourself and fully serve another individual.”

 Kennedy was granted two such opportunities during her time at Hendrix, thanks to the Hendrix-Lilly program (now called the Hendrix-Miller Center). A few months after her trip to the Bahamas, Kennedy received a Lilly Service Fellowship to travel to Ghana for seven weeks. She spent six weeks as a civil servant in the small village of Etordome, where she assisted with community development and taught at a secondary school.

 During her free time she organized a formal photo shoot for the community, particularly the schoolchildren, who had never seen photographs of themselves. An Odyssey grant funded the production of her senior art show, an on-campus exhibition of the photographs she took in Ghana.

 “I am particularly passionate about telling the stories of those who would otherwise not be heard,” Kennedy said. “It is my hope that my camera can be the microphone through which than can have freedom and comfort to speak.”

Jamie Fotioo, Admission Counselor and Enrollment Communications Manager, coordinated the interviews and Katie Rice ’10, student writer, drafted the text for this story.

By MARK SCOTT
Director of Media Relations

On the night of Iowa’s Democratic presidential caucuses, Hendrix College professor Jay Barth personally witnessed the intriguing electoral procedure at a small precinct called “Des Moines 9.” As delegates were being counted, the final holdout that night was an   older African-American woman who initially supported Christopher Dodd but found herself undecided during a subsequent round of balloting. 

The room was separated with Clinton supporters in one area, Obama supporters in another and Edwards supporters in another. As she stood up to walk to where she would caucus, the 60 Obama supporters started chanting, “O-bam-a! O-bam-a!” They all clapped excitedly as she joined them – and ultimately thousands of others who awarded the state to the future president.

“In some ways, this little precinct summed it all up: the enthusiastic support for Obama from a Bobby Kennedyesque coalition of voters, the homogeneity and passivity of the Clinton supporters, and the interest in the process of rank-and-file voters that led 236,000 of them to turn out,” Barth wrote at that time on the Arkansas Times blog where he posted regularly throughout his time in Iowa.

In Iowa a year ago Barth witnessed the emergence of thousands of “new” voters – people who had never voted before but were motivated by Obama to do so. It was also in Iowa that Barth was introduced to the future president and his connection with voters, an observation that only grew stronger for him throughout the historic presidential election.

“It was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done,” Barth said of his Iowa experience, lofty words for a man whose political experiences are vast. “There was a deep understanding or desire for change in the electorate there. Barack Obama had emphatic support that was very visible in Iowa. I came away from there seeing his strength as a candidate and the amazing connection he had with the voters there.”

Barth acknowledges that Obama won his vote there in Iowa. He remained officially neutral, however, due to his leadership position on the Pulaski County Democratic Committee.

For Barth, the M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor of Politics at Hendrix, such neutrality comes easily, however. While political scientists can fall into one of two extremes, he explains – either detaching from real politics and losing insight or completely engaging in partisan politics and losing objectivity – Barth has chosen a spot in between as his teaching philosophy. Despite his activity in the Democratic Party, many of his students – past and present – come out of his classroom without a hint of his partisanship. That is not accidental.

“There’s a time to be an activist and express your beliefs, and there’s a time to be more analytical,” Barth said. “I’m hesitant to ask students to get involved in something I’m involved in. I’m there to help provide opportunities to students rather than to be a cheerleader.”

It’s his role as the college’s Director of Civic Engagement Projects where his support of student opportunity regularly comes out. Students seeking opportunities and internships in public service can utilize his political expertise and have done so, participating in various political internships and activities throughout the country.

“There are all sorts of ways to be engaged, and I like to show students that public service can be a noble and honorable profession,” Barth said. “I certainly try to create as many opportunities as possible for students to find their calling in public service. That’s my primary responsibility – as a resource.”

A four-time recipient of Hendrix’s student-selected Faculty Appreciation Award and a noted expert in southern politics, Barth has an educational career beyond the classroom that combines a wide-ranging research agenda, an ongoing role as a public analyst on the politics of Arkansas and the South, and an active involvement in several advocacy groups. At Hendrix, Barth has taught nearly two dozen classroom courses ranging from American Political Thought to Gender, Sexuality, and American Politics to a two-course American Constitutional Law sequence. His courses increasingly link more traditional classroom content to pertinent real-world political practice.

Barth attended Hendrix College, graduating magna cum laude in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in American Studies. He received a master’s degree in 1989 and a doctorate degree in 1994 in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The focus of his graduate work was on the changing politics of the South. His post-graduate school training has included an NEH Summer Institute at Harvard University on “Teaching the Southern Civil Rights Movement” and The Ohio State University’s Summer Institute in Political Psychology. For 2000-01, Barth received the Steiger Congressional Fellowship from the American Political Science Foundation and served on the staff of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, working on education and civil rights policy.

The media seek him out as a political expert – he has been quoted in dozens of newspapers throughout the U.S. both before and after the election. Even locally, more than 200 Hendrix alumni turned out to hear his opinion in Little Rock and quiz him about election issues days before the November election.

Barth’s love for politics was developed well before he stepped foot on Hendrix’s campus as an undergraduate. His grandparents, heavily active in Democratic Party politics in Saline County, took him to various campaign events when he was a child. He grew up in Arkansas during the political primes of Clinton, Pryor and Bumpers, admiring their ideals of public service.

He entered Hendrix in 1983, finding a much different political atmosphere from today’s left-leaning student body. His college days were smack dab in the middle of the Reagan Era, and he recalls that the student mock vote on campus went heavily for Reagan in the 1984 election. He and his fellow Mondale Young Democrats were clearly outnumbered, he said.

In November 2008, Obama won Hendrix’s on-campus voting precinct with 83 percent of the vote. But more than the margin, it was the energy on campus that most impressed Barth. Hendrix College was not immune to the passionate political firestorm from new and young voters, he noted. More than 600 people turned out to the college’s election-night watch party, and on-campus pre-election forums were standing-room-only in The Burrow.

“I think 2008 should be celebrated as the revitalization of democracy because people genuinely supported the person who they felt closest to,” Barth said. “I’ve never seen students as engaged as they were in this election. You always have the Young Democrat-types involved, but this went much further. The type of student who normally doesn’t feel a calling to get involved in the political process really did this year. ”

Hendrix attracts largest incoming class in its history
Enrollment climbs above 1,300

By JAMIE FOTIOO
Enrollment Communications Manager

Hendrix College was full of energy and excitement as it welcomed a record-breaking 447 new students to its campus this August.

“You are making history today, as you are the largest class to enroll at Hendrix in the history of the College,” Karen Foust, vice president for enrollment, said during the opening convocation for new students on Aug. 19. “The Hendrix community is excited to welcome you to this wonderful place that you will call home for the next four years.”

The class of 2012, consisting of 433 first-year students and 14 transfer students, also represents one of the most geographically diverse classes to join the Hendrix community. Making the relatively short drive to Conway on Move-In Day were 178 Arkansas students. The rest of their new classmates traveled farther distances from 32 different states—from Maine to Washington—and eight countries, including Bangladesh, China, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Rwanda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. In all, 60 percent of Hendrix’s new students arrived from places other than Arkansas.

Hendrix’s newest class brought with it an outstanding academic profile. More than 75 percent of new students scored 26 or higher on the ACT, with more than a third scoring 30 or higher. In addition to Hendrix, members of the new class were accepted to other nationally ranked institutions such as Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.; Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.; Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa; Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.; and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

When choosing among colleges and universities each with an equally impressive list of academic and post-graduate statistics, many students selected Hendrix based on factors unique to the College.

“I spent a lot of time debating between Swarthmore College [in Swarthmore, Pa.], Johns Hopkins University [in Baltimore], University of Chicago and Millsaps College [in Jackson, Miss.], each a renowned institution and full of qualified students and teachers,” said Sarah Thompson, a freshman from Picayune, Miss. “In the end, I found a spirit and honest excitement on the Hendrix campus that couldn’t be encapsulated by ACT/SAT scores or graduate-school acceptance rates. Teachers and students were sincerely friendly, the opportunities available through the Odyssey program floored me, and the financial aid was phenomenal.”

In high school, Thompson founded Girls Excelling in Mathematics and Science (G.E.M.S.), a program that engages fifth- and sixth-grade girls in monthly experiments that aim to prevent the erosion of interest in mathematics and science that girls often experience during this transitional period in their lives. Currently trying to organize a G.E.M.S. chapter in Conway, she ultimately hopes to secure Odyssey funding to help establish chapters throughout Arkansas and her home state of Mississippi.

Expanding G.E.M.S. is only one of numerous projects Thompson plans to complete during her Hendrix Odyssey. A pre-med student who’s interested in studying chemical physics and bioethics, she also aspires to study abroad at the Regenerative Medicine Institute and the Centre of Bioethical Research and Analysis at the National University of Ireland in Galway.

“It is rare to find a college that not only encourages participation, but provides enormous financial support for these kinds of [Odyssey] experiences,” Thompson said. “And the opportunities available aren’t simply limited to a handful of prescribed programs—any passion can be explored and expanded.”

Freshman Adam Stewart of San Diego, Calif., was also impressed by Hendrix’s Odyssey program.

“The Odyssey program was one of the biggest factors that led me to choose Hendrix,” he said. “It provides so many opportunities for cultural immersion and academic growth, and Hendrix makes it unbelievably easy to participate in these opportunities.”

Interested in African aid and awareness activities, Stewart led the Invisible Children club at his high school. Invisible Children is a San Diego-based non-profit organization with the mission to improve the quality of life for the war-affected children of Uganda by providing access to quality education, enhanced learning environments, and innovative economic opportunities for the African community.

Stewart, who plans to create his own African Development major, intends to further pursue his passions through the Odyssey program. He hopes to study abroad at the University of Ghana, conducting in-field research on rural development, and is currently working on obtaining a summer internship at Justice Africa in London. A talented double bass player, Stewart is also already an active member of the Hendrix Chamber Orchestra and Hendrix Quartet.

“It amazes me that I have the ability to design my own major, study abroad in Africa, travel with the Hendrix Orchestra, and conduct my own research, all at the undergraduate level,” he said. “I cannot imagine doing all of this at any other college.”

The class of 2012 joins three returning classes to create the largest enrollment in the College’s history, with 1,342 undergraduate students enrolled.

May Hope McClurkin Moose ’28 grew up in Conway on the campus of Hendrix College where her father was the Business Manager. She graduated Hendrix, with honors, at age 19 and taught two years in Almyra. She and Charles Reid Moose, whom she met at Hendrix, married in 1930.

She returned to the classroom in 1955, teaching Latin and English (although her college major was Chemistry and Biology). In 1963 she was named Arkansas’ “Teacher of the Year.” Her last several years of formal teaching were as a freshman English professor at the University of Central Arkansas.

“Mother was notorious for her teaching skills and her insistence on oral and written correctness,” her son, Rev. David Nelson Moose ’63 recalls, “When she found errors in my church newsletters, she would circle them in red ink, returning them to me - in love, of course! And more than one Morrilton pastor has stopped in the middle of a sermon to look at her for a nod of approval on the grammar just used.”

Miss May Hope was a consistent supporter of the College and attended events on campus regularly. She was widowed in 1984 but maintained her independence and community service until three years ago.

“Even when she could not even feed herself, her mind remained sharp and, up until last month, could still converse with friends and family and quote, by memory, the entire Prologue to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales … in Old English!” David Moose says.

May Hope Moose died in her home in Morrilton on May 12. Her 100^th birthday would have been next November 20. “She will be greatly missed, ,” David Moose says, “Through her, God has blessed us with more and for longer than we expected or deserved!”

Dan Rizzie, Nature Morte (for D.S.), 2003-4

Dan Rizzie ’73 opened his show at the Spanierman Modern in New York on Oct. 16. The one-man show, Dan Rizzie, is an exhibition of Rizzie’s recent mixed media work. A catalogue accompanying the exhibition includes an essay by Robert Hughes, the art critic for Time Magazine and the author of numerous books on art, along with 12 full-page color illustrations. Rizzie received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Hendrix Alumni Association in 2005.

Dr. David Whillock ’76 of Grapevine, Texas, has been appointed dean of the College of Communication at Texas Christian University.

Whillock, who has been at the college since 1991, began his career there as an assistant professor and coordinator of the graduate program in the radio, television, and film (RTVF) department. He also has served as an associate professor and curator of the Tandy Film Library for RTVF; chair and associate professor for RTVF; and interim dean of the College of Communication. In addition, Whillock served as the director of assessment for the College and coordinated the College’s graduate programs and policies, faculty, financial aid, curriculum and operating budget.

“ ‘Learning a language is a lot like life.’ Those were the first words Hal Allen said to us as we entered German 100,” Kell recalls. “‘You have to be open to possibility, open to change, and to experiencing new things.’ We learned how to “dump our heads” (a tool I still use) and visualize words in German.”

Kell, a German major, sees his career as an extension of the Hendrix experience that he shared with his wife Emily Collins ’00. “Part of my journey at Hendrix was indeed spent conjugating verbs and wrapping my head around dependent clauses,” Kell says. “But another part, a more important part, was spent expanding my own idea of myself and what I wanted from life.”

“One of my motivations to start Verge Wine Cellars was the need to produce something natural and organic and then introduce it to people in a creative and evocative way,” Kell says. “Part of evaluating a wine is being open to how it will taste.”

“That openness also means being conscious that the wine comes from a particular place in the world, has been touched by many hands, has been a part of an idea and has traveled quite a journey to get to your glass,” Kell relates. “My journey began at Hendrix und gott sei dank dass ich Deutch gelernt.”*

The new winery’s first release is a 2006 Syrah from Dry Creek Valley. The inaugural vintage of Verge Syrah, harvested from the mountainous edge of Dry Creek Valley, had an initial production of 350 cases, only available via the company’s mailing list and in select Bay Area restaurants.

For more information, visit www.vergewine.com, created by alumna Janette Balleza ’00.

*rough translation: and thank god that I learned German

Hall previously served as NACDL's secretary, treasurer, second and first vice president and president-elect, as well as a member of the organization’s Board of Directors from 1989-1995 and 1997-2003. In addition, he was chair of the NACDL Ethics Advisory Committee from 1990-2005. Hall is a past president of the Arkansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, an NACDL affiliate.

Hall has tried approximately 250 jury trials, handled over 200 appeals, argued twice in the U.S. Supreme Court, and defended a military officer accused of war crimes in an international tribunal in Sierra Leone. He is a frequent speaker and expert witness on criminal defense ethics.

Since 1979, Hall has worked in private practice at his own firm, the Law Offices of John Wesley Hall, Jr., P.A. He is a member of the bars of Arkansas, Nevada, New York, Tennessee, the District of Columbia, and the International Criminal Court where he also is the only American lawyer elected by the list of counsel to the ICC’s Disciplinary Appeals Tribunal.

Last year, Maddie Earnest ’91 left the not-for-profit world to start a small grocery store called Local Harvest Grocery focusing on locally grown and produced foods. Local Harvest was named the best gourmet grocery in St Louis in the 2008 Sauce Magazine Readers' Poll.

The store focuses on organic and sustainably produced groceries, including dry goods, perishables, frozen and non-food items, with a goal of having 50 percent of their products from within 150 miles of the St. Louis area. Her nearby restaurant was recently rented to host a VIP event by leading Hollywood environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. because of the local produce and green ethos she employs.

While in dental school, Dr. Gilmore received honors for his leadership and academics. In addition, Dr. Gilmore also received an Academic Dental Careers Fellowship sponsored by the American Dental Education Association and was the recipient of the Summer Dental Student Research Award provided by the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research, a division of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

Before enrolling in dental school at age 37, Dr. Gilmore spent 15 years in education including serving as a French and theater arts teacher, an assistant director of Admission at Hendrix College, and a vice principal. Dr. Gilmore holds a master of education degree in education administration from the University of Texas at Arlington, earned in 2001. Dr. Gilmore credits the liberal arts education that he received at Hendrix for allowing him to navigate through such diverse professions.

Dr. Gilmore says he's not done yet and urges current and future Hendrix students to “whole-heartedly embrace every facet that the richness of a Hendrix education has to offer.”

Thelma Fish with her son-in-law Joe Guenter '60, granddaughter Alicia Burson ’91 and great-granddaughter Natasha Riding.

As a young teenager, Thelma Fish was looking forward to attending Hendrix. Her father had put away money for her education in a safe place: the local bank. Then came 1929 and the Great Depression. The bank closed, the money disappeared, and her plans for a Hendrix degree vanished almost overnight. She did manage to attend Hendrix for one summer and was proud to receive a Hendrix Medallion when she was inducted into the Half Century Club a few years ago. Even though she didn’t graduate from the College, Mrs. Fish’s Hendrix connections run deep and strong.

Thelma got her degree from another college near home then earned a master’s degree. She became a missionary to Japan before World War II forced her out. She then came back to the U.S. where she married Methodist minister Charles Giessen ’30.

Thelma’s brother Dudley Fish also married a Hendrix graduate, Louise Lambert ’50. Her nieces Susan ’85 and Martha ’77 are also Hendrix graduates. Martha married Scott Christie ’79, and their children who attended or are attending Hendrix include Tom ’06, John ’09 and Sarah ’11.

Some years later, her daughter, Helen, had Dr. Lee Morgan ’49 as her English professor, another Hendrix connection. Helen married Joe Martin Guenter ’60, great-nephew of Captain W.W. Martin, an early benefactor of the College for whom Martin Hall is named. Joe Guenter’s aunt, Ruth Martin Marshall ’41, and uncle, Don Martin ’31, were also Hendrix grads as well as Don’s son, Larry ’63 and his wife Sybil ’62.

Thelma’s two oldest granddaughters, Laura and Alicia Burson both ’91 also attended Hendrix. Only time will tell if Thelma Fish’s great-granddaughters Devon and Natasha take her family’s Hendrix tradition to the next generation.

Thelma Fish with her son-in-law Joe Guenter '60, granddaughter Laura Burson ’91 and great-granddaughter Devon Fernandes.

Tell us about your Hendrix Connections

Is attending Hendrix a family tradition? We’d like to know the details. Send your information to alumni@hendrix.edu and look for an invitation for your family to attend our Legacy Luncheon during Family Weekend ’09.

Feathers & Findings, an artist's book by Nancy Dunaway ’69 of Hot Springs, was included in a new book, 500 Handmade Books, released July 1, 2008, from Lark Books.

Nancy Dunaway has been making artist's books since she saw her first exhibition of them in a show at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. in the early ’90s. She says, "I was thrilled and honored to be included in Lark's book. I am excited even more now after having seen the book, by the amazing work by so many book artists I admire and am inspired by. It is a beautiful book I think anyone who appreciates art will enjoy."

Nancy graduated from Hendrix with a bachelor of arts degree in studio art, and taught art in grades 6-12 for 13 years before returning to school at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga., and receiving her master of fine arts degree in illustration in 1991. She retired in December of 2007 from Henderson State University where she had served as professor of art and chairperson of the art department since 1994.

Nancy also works in collage and mixed media and constructs altars and shrines. Her work is currently on exhibition at the Artchurch in Hot Springs, and she is represented by the Heights Gallery in Little Rock. She teaches workshops in book arts, journaling and mixed media at different venues around the country.

Dr. Dabbs Woodfin ’62

The Foundation works to preserve the 150-acre Newlin Mills Park in Glen Mills, Pa. The park includes a working 1704 grist mill, several historical buildings, and walking trails. A visit to the park offers visitors insights into the vanished life of the rural eighteenth century.

In honor of his retirement, the board of trustees named an early 19^th century granary located in the park The H. Dabbs Woodfin, Jr. Library and Archive.

For more information about the CD, please contact Dr. Fleming at fleming@hendrix.edu. To order one or more copies, please mail a check made out to Hendrix College to Dr. Fleming at the following address:

Dr. Charles “Bo” Brewer ’54 accepted the 2008 Raymond D. Fowler Award at the American Psychological Association’s 2008 Annual Convention in Boston in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the APA and psychology.

Nearly every nook of psychology education today bears his stamp, fellow educators say. Brewer has participated in almost every important conference concerning undergraduate education in psychology during the last 30 years, including a keynote address at the International Conference on Education in Psychology held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2002.

He edited the Div. 2 (Society for the Teaching of Psychology) journal Teaching of Psychology for 12 years, was the 1979-81 president of the Council of Undergraduate Psychology Departments and has served on the APA’s Board of Educational Affairs, Council of Representatives and Board of Directors.

Brewer is the coeditor of many books and the psychology editor for Encyclopaedia Britannica. He has published numerous book chapters, articles, and reviews and is an editorial consultant for 15 publishers of psychology textbooks.

Dr. Brewer has been an inspiration to the more than 200 former students who have gone on to get doctorates in psychology, a staggering number for a professor who only teaches undergraduates.

A book titled The Teaching of Psychology: Essays in Honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer, edited by Stephen F. Davis and William Buskist, was published in 2002. Brewer received the American Psychological Foundation’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1989, which was later renamed the Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award as a tribute to his eminent contribution to education in psychology, indicating that, “Charles Brewer epitomizes what this award stands for.”

Brewer established the Charles L. Brewer Endowed Fund at Hendrix College in 2002 in memory of Dr. John P. Anderson, former psychology professor at Hendrix, and in honor of his wife Marjorie Suhs Brewer and daughter Stephanie Brewer Foley. Dr. Brewer also received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Hendrix in 2004.

Becky Revoal ’07 takes 10-month ‘orientation trip’ with AmeriCorps

By RAE HAMAKER '10

Becky Revoal ’07 has chosen to dedicate the past ten months to national, team-based service work, through AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).

“When I graduated I felt sort of like the wind had been knocked out of me,” Revoal explains. “Hendrix had been all of life for me for quite a while, and I wasn't really sure what my next step would be like. I was sad to leave the classroom/out of classroom/Pecan Grove discussions, and experiences like orientation.”

The program gives members the opportunity to gain skills in many different areas including construction, education, unmet human needs, environmental work, leadership, and supervision.

“I joined Americorps NCCC without really knowing what to expect and what I got was one long, ridiculous, and wonderful orientation trip,” Revoal says.

During her time at Hendrix, Revoal was already interested in humanitarian problems. As a junior, she received Odyssey funding for a semester-long trip to Australia to learn more about disappearing Aboriginal culture. When asked about her future plans, the music major then said, “A big chunk of me is a performer, so a part of me just wants to do that all the time. A big part of me is also an activist. I wish I could be there, with Aboriginal people or whoever the downtrodden folk are, just learning and soaking in their culture.” It’s no surprise at Hendrix that her interest in helping others has shaped her plans after graduation.

Revoal’s team completed a total of four projects. On their first project, the team acted as supervisors of volunteers with the St. Bernard Project assisting with the rebuilding of homes in the lower 9^th Ward of New Orleans. They then traveled to North Hollywood, Calif., where they served alongside teachers at Larchmont Charter School. The team’s third project was in Mobile, Ala., where they assisted Habitat for Humanity and focused on Hurricanes Katrina and Irvine relief efforts.

“It has been the most gratifying experience of my life,” says Revoal. “My view and outlook on life and the world in which I live are a direct reflection of the service I have completed.”

The team’s most recent project took place in Pass Christian, Miss., where they rebuilt homes with The Grey Hut, a non-profit organization that connects homeowners who are working to rebuild after the hurricane with volunteers who can provide skilled labor at no charge. Pass Christian was one of the areas hit the hardest by Hurricane Katrina.

“My Hendrix experience has helped me to survive the tough times and appreciate the good. I am currently in training for another 10 months as a Team Leader managing 12 individuals as we journey toward making the country and ourselves better,” Revoal says.

Theatre major plays leading role in business and civic affairs

By HELEN PLOTKIN
Editor

Elizabeth Small has played many roles since graduating from Hendrix in 1981 with a degree in theatre arts. Most of her roles haven’t been on the stage, but they have won her rave reviews and kept her and the company that she leads in the spotlight.

Since 1998, Elizabeth has been the President and CEO of PDC Companies, a real estate development, property management and construction company in Little Rock. The company is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE). Elizabeth was the first employee hired by PDC and spent 14 years working her way to the top.

How do you make the jump from the college theatre stage to the board room? Elizabeth says it takes “being in the right place at the right time, having the drive, being able to see possibilities and feeling that things are limitless.”

“I’ve always believed that if someone else can do it, I can do it too,” she said. “You create or find the expertise you need … and you listen – a lot.”

Elizabeth credits her belief in herself and her commitment to her alma mater to her earliest role model – her mother.

“Mother was an influence for me. She never limited me. And I saw her love for her alma mater. She loved Millsaps (college in Jackson, Miss.). She gave her time and her concern and she believed in her school,” Elizabeth said. “It’s the same thing I feel for Hendrix.”

Elizabeth said she is intrigued by the Odyssey Program, the new component of the College’s curriculum that ties together critical thought and action.

“We each have our own Odyssey and we can keep having them,” she said, noting that the Odyssey experience was one of the best parts of attending Hendrix for her daughter, Cary ’08. “Odyssey is one reason we want to support the College – we really believe in what they’re doing,” she added.

Elizabeth said her Hendrix experience prepared her for success as a business leader.

“Theatre allowed me to use all my creativity all the time. The experience influenced my life and still does,” she said. “There are so many aspects in life where theatre comes into play.” The study of theatre, she explained, involves learning about good writing, understanding human emotions and motives, working with teams of actors and technicians, and developing organizational, communications and management skills necessary to direct a play or lead the technical team. Many of these skills translate directly to the world of business.

Two Hendrix professors had a profound effect on Elizabeth’s life: Dr. Rosemary Henenberg, Willis H. Holmes Distinguished Professor Emerita of Theatre Arts, who she describes as her first mentor, and the late Dr. Tom Clark, professor of biology, who inspired in her a lifelong love of botany – and left her with the ability to identify most of the plants on the Hendrix campus.

“She was such a friend to me as well as a teacher,” Elizabeth said of Dr. Henenberg. “She made me think beyond what I saw in front of me. Her love of Chekhov was a huge influence of those of us who had done nothing but musicals before coming to Hendrix. Her deep understanding of the authors added so much to her teaching. You learned from her and you didn’t even realize it at the time.”

Elizabeth said she had a hard time choosing a major; she enjoyed all the classes she took. She fully embraces the idea of a broad-based liberal arts education as the foundation for a well-lived life.

“I think the theatre arts degree is the best degree there is,” Elizabeth said. “I would recommend it for anyone who is thinking of going into business. I also think everyone should take a business course. It is good preparation for whatever you chose to do in life.”

Elizabeth took her own advice about taking business courses, when she enrolled in the Executive MBA program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“It was the first time that I studied and put into the context the things that I had taught myself over the years,” she said. A 2000 graduate of the MBA program, Elizabeth received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the UALR College of Business in October 2008.

Today she supervises more than 100 employees who have developed and manage 63 apartment complexes, operate a commercial real estate office in Hot Springs, develop unimproved land and housing in Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky and manage PDC Construction Inc., the company’s construction arm.

The company’s construction arm gave Elizabeth another chance to reconnect with Hendrix. PDC Construction Inc. was the general contractor on The Hendrix Corner, a student apartment complex at the corner of Front and Mill streets that opened for the Fall 2008 semester.

Elizabeth has maintained a close relationship with Hendrix since her graduation, serving on the Alumni Board of Governors, including a term as chair of the board. She has also stayed involved with the theatre department, including participating in staged readings of winning plays in the annual playwriting competition sponsored by the Hendrix-Murphy Programs in Literature and Language. She frequently attends events and lectures on campus and is actively involved with the Parents Council.

In the past 18 months, she has played an active role in civic leadership, serving as president of the Rotary Club of Little Rock, the largest chapter in the state, and as chairman of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. The two positions overlapped for the first six months of 2008.

“This has been the most exciting year of my life. I’ve volunteered for the chamber for a long time. Being chair this year has been a privilege. Leading the Rotary Club of Little Rock was also a highlight,” Elizabeth said. “It has just been marvelous. I wish everyone could have both of those experiences.”

So, what role will Elizabeth step into next? The options are limitless, but service is on her mind.

“I’m thinking of joining Peace Corps when I retire,” Elizabeth said. One thing is sure, she’ll keep active and stay involved. “I have to keep up with Mom and my sister, who is a Methodist minister in Memphis. Those two women are what I have to live up to.”

The Hendrix faculty is experiencing a changing of the guard. A cohort of faculty who came to Hendrix in 1970s is beginning to retire at the same time that the College is hiring additional faculty to meet the demands of growing enrollment. The Hendrix Board of Trustees has set an enrollment goal of 1,300 by 2013 and mandated that the College maintain a 12-to-1 student-faculty ratio.

To meet those goals and ensure that Hendrix can continue to boast of having a faculty that is among the nation’s best, Dr. Robert L. Entzminger, provost and dean of the College, invests a great deal of time and effort in recruiting faculty.

Over the last two years, Dr. Entzminger has overseen the hiring of 35 new faculty members. Eighteen new faculty joined the Hendrix ranks during the 2007-08 academic year, including eight in tenure-track positions. So far, the College has hired 17 new faculty for the 2008-09 year, eight of them in tenure-track positions.

Faculty are the heart of a liberal arts college dedicated to undergraduate education. As the College’s chief academic officer identifying top scholars who are right for Hendrix is a top priority for Provost Entzminger.

“I need to be confident that the person understands the kind of institution that Hendrix is and is willing to make a commitment to high-quality liberal arts education,” Dr. Entzminger said. “More than that, I want to find people who will bring something else to the table -- an interest in interdisciplinary work or a talent or specialty that will allow us to develop a new area of study that will bring real value for our students.”

The right faculty member for Hendrix is also someone who loves teaching and who puts students first.

“The faculty at Hendrix are unusually dedicated to their students,” Dr. Entzminger said.

Finding that right person involves faculty, staff and students from across campus. The search committee usually involves faculty members from inside and outside the hiring department. The Committee on Faculty, the provost and associate provosts, and the president are also part of the process. It is a time-consuming process, but a vital one, Dr. Entzminger said.

“The search process has helped us get great candidates,” he said. “In a tenure-track search, we just don’t let anybody settle. If it’s not the right person, we won’t offer them the position. Sometimes that means we have to close a search and then start it all over again until we can find someone who is right for Hendrix.”

Sometimes the right person can be found close to home

“Over the last two years, we have added four alumni to the faculty,” Dr. Entzminger said. “That speaks well of the education they received at Hendrix and of the esteem in which they hold this institution. They ‘get’ what we do here and are eager to return and help sustain that tradition.”

The new professors joining the Hendrix faculty in tenure-track positions this fall, include 2000 Hendrix graduate Courtney Mashburn Hatch as assistant professor of chemistry and 2002 graduate Megan Leonard as assistant professor of economics and business, Ph.D. from Texas A&M University

Other new tenure-track faculty for the 2008-09 year include:

• William Hacker, assistant professor of English, Ph.D. from Cornell University
• Brett Hill, assistant professor of sociology/anthropology, Ph.D. from Arizona State University.
• Kristi McKim, assistant professor of English/film studies, Ph.D. from Emory University.
• Aleksandra Pfau, assistant professor of history, A.B.D., University of Michigan.
• Andrew Scott, assistant professor of foreign languages, A.B.D., Rutgers University.
• Bobby Williamson, assistant professor of religion, A.B.D., Emory University. 

Examining the data by discipline, put Hendrix in the No. 1 position of percentage of graduates earning a Ph.D. in psychology - above Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore and Vassar. The College was eighth in chemistry; ninth in education, and 24^th in English and literature.

Analysis of the study showed that liberal arts colleges, overall, graduate a high percentage of students who earn doctoral degrees.

Learn more about recent Hendrix graduates, Dr. Lindsey C. Smith ’98 and Dr. Karen L. Steelman ’98, who earned Ph.D. degrees and returned to the classroom to teach others in our other blog entries.

Five long-time Hendrix faculty who are either retiring at the end of the spring semester or are currently in phased retirement recently took the time to answer a set of probing questions asked by student writer Katie Rice ’10. Here are their answers to her questions and your opportunity to add your comments and memories about these Hendrix faculty legends.

Dr. Keith Berry
Dr. A. Bland Crowder
Dr. Garrett McAinsh
Dr. Richard Rolleigh
Dr. Warfield Teague 

Dr. Karen Steelman ’98

“I started out as a history major.  I have always been passionate about history and archaeology, but I love science as well.  The faculty at Hendrix encouraged me to find areas of study that encompassed all of these interests,” Steelman said.  “One day Dr. Liz Gron handed me a book that she had ordered for the library.  It contained research papers on different aspects of archaeological chemistry.  I read the whole thing and was hooked.”

Her newly discovered interest also led to Steelman’s successful application for a Watson Fellowship. Winning the national award gave her the opportunity to travel the world for a year after graduation, studying “Conservation & Museum Display” in Great Britian, Australia and Costa Rica.

Steelman connects her later success in graduate studies to the variety of skills that a liberal arts education at Hendrix gave her.

“At Hendrix, I learned the value of life-long learning.  And, because of my liberal arts education, I was much more well-rounded than other students entering graduate school in chemistry,” she said. “Hendrix gave me a solid grounding in science, but also taught me how to be a better writer and researcher -- skills that are very important in a scientific career.”

Karen Steelman is a perfect example of the importance of interdisciplinary studies and the role a liberal arts institution like Hendrix can play in students’ lives. She now has a job that allows her to pursue all of her interests. “My favorite part of archaeological chemistry research is being able to explain chemistry to archaeologists and explain archaeology to chemists,” Steelman said.

Dr. Lindsey C. Smith ’98

She credits the academic atmosphere at Hendrix with helping her prepare for her career in academe.  

“The arc of my career has been rigorous, challenging, pressure-filled, though not overly competitive. That’s the way Hendrix was – and I think getting started early really helps,” she said.

Smith took the Hendrix idea of a supportive community and an open exchange of ideas with her into her graduate studies and professional career.

“I remember studying a lot – talking with my friends about ideas, working on papers together. My friends took ideas seriously,” she said. “We had a community of ideas and that’s the way it should be among faculty in a department. You need that fluid, rejuvenating community to nurture ideas and keep learning.”

Along with the Hendrix idea of community, Smith also took along the memories of the professors who served as role models for her.

“The professors here are rigorous and we – my fellow students and I – wanted to impress them and to be like them,” Smith said. “The experiences I had at Hendrix helped me see what a difference it made to approach teaching with professionalism – to present myself as a professional. That put me ahead of others in graduate school.”

Most of all, after completing her undergraduate studies at Hendrix, Smith had the confidence that she could succeed in her field.

“You do have to have confidence in yourself to go after a doctorate. The attention from professors in a small department helps give you that confidence. I feel like they actually care about what I’m doing,” Smith said.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry M. Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of service in the U.S. Senate. The purpose of the Foundation is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.

321 scholarships were awarded to undergraduate sophomores and juniors for the 2008-2009 academic year. Zalocusky was one of four in Arkansas to receive the award – and the only private college student to be named a Goldwater Scholar.

Hendrix students Adam Jacobs, Bethany Edwards and Luke Erickson, also juniors, received Honorable Mention as Goldwater Scholars.

The grant awards were the largest awarded in Odyssey Program’s thee-year history. In total, Hendrix has awarded more than $1 million to support student and faculty projects since the Odyssey Program was launched in 2005.

The Hendrix Odyssey Program requires Hendrix students to complete three Odyssey experiences during their undergraduate career in areas selected from six categories: Artistic creativity, global awareness, professional and leadership development, service to the world, undergraduate research and special projects. Students and faculty define what course of study they’d like to experience, and award decisions are ultimately made by the college’s Committee on Experiential Learning.

This summer, Hendrix students Lauren Bartshe and Julie Champlin will travel to Germany and Poland to visit concentration camps primarily used to house and kill prisoners during World War II. At each site, they will record the camp’s current state and eventually pair each image with writings by Holocaust survivors, American soldiers and prison guards. The images and writings will be used in a book they will design and produce.

Hendrix student Aditya Oza will travel to India where he will experience the country’s filmmaking industry behind the scenes as an assistant to the production crew for a movie scheduled to begin filming in June. The popular film industry based in Mumbai, India – often referred to as “Bollywood” – produces approximately 40 percent more films each year than its American counterpart and grosses more than $100 million a year at the U.S. box office alone.

Closer to home, Hendrix students Ben Samuelson, James Depper and Emily Nichols will continue the development of the Hendrix Community Garden, a produce garden adjacent to campus that was originally created as an Odyssey project in 2005. The garden has seen several harvests of significant amounts of produce, and the new phase will create additional plots and enrich soil with mulch and fertilizer.

“Our society is structured in a way that demands instant gratification, but gardening is a patient activity in which steady working and waiting make results more deeply satisfying,” Samuelson said.

In all, students will travel to numerous countries around the globe this summer -- from Little Rock to Kansas to Australia to the Republic of Georgia.

For more information about this summer’s Odyssey Projects and other projects funded since 2005, visit www.hendrix.edu/Odyssey.

Jennifer Tate ’08, an English major from Germantown, Tenn., will receive up to $50,000 to fund a year of graduate study as an American Graduate Fellow. To receive the grant, she must be admitted to one of 23 prestigious institutions in the United States, Great Britain or Ireland. The grant is renewable for a second year.

She plans to earn a Ph.D. in English Literature at Washington University in St. Louis.

In addition to her English studies at Hendrix, Jennifer pursued her interest in music and singing. She was among the members of the Hendrix College Choir who performed at Carnegie Hall in May 2007.

Other institutions whose students were among the 12 finalists for the fellowships are Wellesley, Kenyon, Furman and the University of Richmond.

The award is sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges, an association of independent colleges and universities (including Hendrix) working together to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance private higher education’s contributions to society.

The American Graduate Fellowships are funded by a generous grant from the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The “Think Pink” campaign, an initiative through the National Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, encourages women’s collegiate basketball coaches to wear pink during games during a specified week to create awareness for breast cancer and encourage support of cancer research programs. Referees throughout the country joined forces with the WBCA this year, volunteering to utilize pink whistles through the “Calling for a Cure” program.

Hendrix coach Chris Hitchcock wore a pink dress shirt and assistant coach Amber Gean wore a pink shirt under a suit jacket. All three officials for the game utilized the special pink whistles.

“It’s a great opportunity to show support for a great cause,” Hitchcock said. “Amber and I are both active members of the WBCA and wanted to show our support for the ‘Think Pink’ program. It was an especially nice tribute with the referees participating this year.”

Hendrix alumna and filmmaker Sheri Bylander ’85 presented her documentary Homestretch, a film that tells the story of progressive politicians and prisons in New York, Oregon and Kentucky that have established prison programs to care for former racehorses. Instead of being sent to slaughterhouses or ending careers in punishing two-bit racing circuits, these poor-earning and end-of-career racehorses are instead sent to prison-owned farms where end-of-term prisoners earn the privilege of caring for the animals.

Bylander’s film also delves into the effects of human incarceration and ultimately shows how the peaceful surroundings of the prison farms help both the inmates and horses to let go of the past and discover new sides of themselves.

The film’s tagline is: “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” It is due to be released publicly later this year.

Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, directors of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Jesus Camp, also highlighted the conference. Their film follows a group of young children to Pastor Becky Fischer’s "Kids on Fire" summer camp, where kids are taught to become dedicated Christians in God’s army and are schooled to take back America for Christ. The film is a first-ever look into a camp that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America’s political future.

Ewing and Grady then led a discussion and answered questions following the film. Additionally, a panel discussion about the film titled “Jesus Camp and the Vocation of Faith Communities” included Hendrix professors Aaron Simmons (philosophy), Rod Miller (art) and Elizabeth Bridges (German), and University of Central Arkansas professor Lori Isom (chemistry).

Noted author and Asia/North America business expert Dr. Charles Lee talks with guests during a reception in his honor March 19.  Arthur W. “Bub” Epley ’63 (right), a member of the Hendrix Board of Trustees, arranged the visit which included classroom visits, a noon-time public forum and dinner at the President’s home with local business leaders. Dr. Lee is the author of the book Cowboys and Dragons: Shattering Cultural Myths to Advance Chinese/American Business.

Dr. Carney-Hall, currently the Dean of Students at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, earned a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in student affairs administration and research, a master’s degree from Florida State University in higher education administration and a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University. She has previously worked in student affairs at Miami (Ohio) University and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

“Karla made a positive impression from the moment she stepped on our campus, and our students will benefit greatly with her in this position,” Cloyd said. “We are excited about the wealth of experience and the passion she will bring to Hendrix College.”

As Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Carney-Hall will be responsible for overseeing all elements of student life on Hendrix’s campus, including student activities, residence life, student organizations, counseling services, athletics, career services, student disciplinary issues, and health services.

“I’m tremendously excited to be working with Hendrix students, the faculty and staff, and being a part of the momentum that has been created at Hendrix,” Dr. Carney-Hall said. “I’m looking forward to this opportunity. I am committed to building relationships and understanding the Hendrix culture as critical first steps in my new role.”

Dr. Carney-Hall is married to Eric Hall, and they have a family dog, Oreo. She will replace Dr. Joyce Hardin, professor of biology, who has served in the position since 2002. Dr. Hardin, who says she misses her students, requested to return to the classroom last year, which initiated a national search for a new vice president.

The Walker Odyssey Fellowships were established in 2006 to encourage Hendrix students to apply for Watson Fellowships, a national award that funds a year of study outside the United States. Hendrix is the only college in Arkansas that is eligible to nominate its students to be Watson Fellows. Hendrix students who apply for Watson grants but are not successful become eligible for Walker Odyssey Fellowships to fund their proposed projects on a limited basis.

Walker Fellows spend a portion of the year after they graduate on their journeys under guidelines and expectations similar to those of Watson Fellows.  When they return, Walker Fellows are invited to campus to present the results of their projects.

During an assembly at Ida Burns Elementary School, Hines read from the book Gooney Bird and the Room Mother by Lois Lowry and had students locate words they didn't know and look them up. Hines told Log Cabin Democrat education reporter Jessica Bauer the dictionary project is an important one for her club to undertake because of its many benefits.

"I can't imagine what would happen to a group of students who do not have their own dictionaries throughout the course of their education," Hines was quoted as saying, "because a dictionary is certainly a book that can open up such a world of learning."

Hines told Bauer one of the best things to watch is students writing their names in the dictionary and seeing how proud they are to own one.

Harper, an evolutionary biologist, studied mimicry whereby non-poisonous snakes take on the colorful characteristics of poisonous snakes in attempt to avoid predators that typically don’t harm poisonous snakes. His research focused on non-venomous scarlet king snakes that closely resemble highly venomous eastern coral snakes – both possess brightly colored rings of red, yellow and black encircling the body. Predators avoid such tri-colored ring patterns, possibly without previous experience, but Harper found the non-poisonous mimics were more likely to be attractive to predators because they reside outside an area where the poisonous snakes they mimic reside.

Harper’s results provide an evolutionary explanation for why the mimics he studied often occur in areas outside of where the poisonous snakes they mimic are located.

A snake enthusiast – Harper’s pet snake Ed, a costal plains milk snake, resides in his Hendrix College office – Harper said his research has already caught the attention of several of his undergraduate students who plan to continue the research.

David Bailin, adjunct professor of art, exhibited his work at a one person show titled “Confessions of A Conformist,” at the Koplin Del Rio Gallery at Culver City, Calif., from June through July.

Dr. Jay Barth, associate professor of politics, published “Mobilizing the Seldom Voter: Campaign Contact and Effects in High-Profile Elections” in Political Behavior Vol. 30, pp. 97-113 with Janine Parry, E. Terrence Jones, and Martha Kropf.                              

Dr. Eric Binnie, professor of theatre arts, published an essay titled “Getting Richard Down: The Descent into the Base Court of Richard II: Reflections on a Lesson Plan for a Shakespeare, Theater, or Research Methods Class,” in Staging Shakespeare: Essays in Honor of Alan C. Dessen edited by Lena Cowen Orlin and Miranda Johnson-Haddad (University of Delaware Press).

Dr. Stella Capek, professor of sociology, traveled to India as part of a sociology delegation through the organization People To People in November 2007.

Hope Coulter, adjunct professor of English, was named runner-up for the Matt Clark Prize given by New Delta Review for her poem "Speed." Her poem "Giving Music" was runner-up in Spoon River Poetry Review's 2007 Editor's Prize contest.

Dr. Ashby Bland Crowder, M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Professor of English, American Literature, and the Humanities, is the editor of Far From Home: Selected Letters of William Humphrey (Louisiana State University Press).

Dr. Bob Dunn, professor of physics, received a grant of $114,358 over three years from NASA EPSCoR for "Noninvasive Prospecting for Lunar Ores and Minerals,” with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Dr. Tom Goodwin, Elbert L. Fausett Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, was chair of a plenary session at the International Congress on Heterocyclic Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Sydney and presented a talk on mammalian chemical signaling research in elephants, two species of lemur, polar bears, and maned wolves in July 2007. He also made research presentations at the Australian National University, the University of Queensland, the Auckland Zoo, and the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, Australia.

Danny Grace, professor of theatre arts, and his band The Rockin’ Guys released their album Performance Art Miscreants in September 2007.

Dr. Karen Griebling, professor of music, released a CD titled Alan Hovhaness: Music for Horn, Voice and Strings on Centaur Label in September. She was conductor, viola soloist and producer.

Dr. Liz Gron, associate professor of chemistry, and Dr. Warfield Teague, Willis H. Holmes Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, received $149,640 in funding from the National Science Foundation  for “Educating Green Citizens and Scientists for a Sustainable Future.”

Dr. J. Brett Hill, visiting assistant professor of anthropology, published an article titled “Zuñi in the Puebloan and Southwestern Worlds,” with David R. Wilcox and David A. Gregory in Zuni Origins: Toward a New Synthesis of Southwestern Archaeology, edited by D.A. Gregory and D.R. Wilcox (University of Arizona Press).

Dr. Alice Hines, C. Louis and Charlotte Cabe Distinguished Professor of English, participated in a Conway Morning Rotary Club dictionary distribution project at Ida Burns Elementary School in March. Hines read from the book Gooney Bird and the Room Mother by Lois Lowry and encouraged children to look up words they didn’t know in their new dictionaries.

Dr. James Jennings, associate professor of education and history, was named a National PTA Fellow and given $5,000 to research student achievement and parent involvement and achievement gaps in American education.

Dr. Erik Maakestad, associate professor of art, exhibited his work at a group show titled “A Sense of Place,” in  Memphis, Tenn., hosted by the Crittenden  County Arts Council and Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects.

Dr. Kim Maslin-Wicks, associate professor of politics, published an article titled “Forsaking Transformational Leadership: Roscoe Conkling, The great Senator from New York,” in Leadership Quarterly Vol. 18, No. 5, pp. 463-76.

Dr. Rod Miller, associate professor of art, presented "The Religion of Modernism and the Problem of Beauty" at the Association for Cultural Exchange Conference at Trinity Hall College in Cambridge.

Dr. Karen Oxner, assistant professor of economics and business, published an article titled “Internal Auditors in the Energy Industry” with Thomas Oxner in Oil, Gas, and Energy Quarterly Vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 397-413.

Dr. Jennifer Peszka, associate professor of psychology, presented “Does One Week of Sleep Extension Impact Eating Behavior in Healthy Young Adults?” with J. Harsh and D. Mastin at the 21st Annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (SLEEP) in Minneapolis, Minn.

Dr. John Sanders, visiting professor of religion, published “An Introduction to Open Theism,” in Reformed Review, Vol. 60, No. 2.  He also presented the opening paper titled “The History and Current Status of Open Theism” at the seminar on “Open Theology and Science” held in Boston June 17-July 7, 2007.

Dr. Lawrence Schmidt, professor of philosophy, gave a National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar on “Pragmatism: A Living Tradition,” directed by Russell B. Goodman of the University of New Mexico from June 18 through July 20, 2007.

Dr. Aaron Simmons, assistant professor of philosophy, and John Simmons presented “Joy and Desire in Post modernity,” at the C.S. Lewis Foundation Southeastern Regional Conference.

Dr. Damon Spayde, assistant professor of physics, collaborated with D. S. Armstrong and a group of scientists on “Transverse Beam Spin Asymmetries in Forward-Angle Elastic Electron-Proton Scattering” published in Physical Review Letters 99, 092301 (2007).

Dr. Tom Stanley, professor of economics and business, published “Meta-Regression Methods for Detecting and Estimating Empirical Effect in the Presence of Publication Selection,” in the Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, available online at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/obes/0/0. He also co-organized the Aarhus Colloquium of Meta-Analysis in Economics in Sønderborg, Denmark, in September 2007.

Dr. John Toth, associate professor of sociology, presented “Community in a liminal landscape,”  at The American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in New York.

Dr. Alex Vernon, associate professor of English, published “Fiction from the First Gulf War” in EnterText 6.2, winter 2006-2007.

By HELEN PLOTKIN, Editor

The Hendrix faculty is experiencing a changing of the guard. A cohort of faculty who came to Hendrix in 1970s is beginning to retire at the same time that the College is hiring additional faculty to meet the demands of growing enrollment. The Hendrix Board of Trustees has set of an enrollment goal of 1,300 by 2013 and mandated that the College maintain a 12-to-1 student-faculty ratio.

To meet those goals and ensure that Hendrix can continue to boast of having a faculty that is among the nation’s best, Dr. Robert L. Entzminger, provost and dean of the College, invests a great deal of time in effort in recruiting faculty.

Over the last two years, Dr. Entzminger has overseen the hiring of 35 new faculty members. Eighteen new faculty joined the Hendrix ranks during the 2007-08 academic year, including eight in tenure-track positions. So far, the College has hired 17 new faculty for the 2008-09 year, eight of them in tenure-track positions.

Faculty are the heart of a liberal arts college dedicated to undergraduate education. As the College’s chief academic officer identifying top scholars who are right for Hendrix is a top priority for Provost Entzminger.

“I need to be confident that the person understands the kind of institution that Hendrix is and is willing to make a commitment to high-quality liberal arts education,” Dr. Entzminger said. “More than that, I want to find people who will bring something else to the table -- an interest in interdisciplinary work or a talent or specialty that will allow us to develop a new area of study that will bring real value for our students.”

The right faculty member for Hendrix is also someone who loves teaching and who puts students first.

“The faculty at Hendrix are unusually dedicated to their students,” Dr. Entzminger said.

Finding that right person involves faculty, staff and students from across campus. The search committee usually involves faculty members from inside and outside the hiring department. The Committee on Faculty, the provost and associate provosts, and the president are also part of the process. It is a time-consuming process, but a vital one, Dr. Entzminger said.

“The search process has helped us get great candidates,” he said. “In a tenure-track search, we just don’t let anybody settle. If it’s not the right person, we won’t offer them the position. Sometimes that means we have to close a search and then start it all over again until we can find someone who is right for Hendrix.”

Sometimes the right person can be found close to home.

“Over the last two years, we have added four alumni to the faculty,” Dr. Entzminger said. “That speaks well of the education they received at Hendrix and of the esteem with which they hold this institution. They ‘get’ what we do here and are eager to return and help sustain that tradition.”

The new professors joining the Hendrix faculty in tenure-track positions this fall, include 2000 Hendrix graduate Courtney Mashburn Hatch as assistant professor of chemistry. She earned a Ph.D. at the University Colorado. Other new tenure-track faculty for the 2008-09 year include:

• William Hacker, assistant professor of English, Ph.D. from Cornell University
• Brett Hill, assistant professor of sociology/anthropology, Ph.D. from Arizona State University.
• Megan Leonard, assistant professor of economics and business, Ph.D. from Texas A&M University
• Kristi McKim, assistant professor of English/film studies, Ph.D. from Emory University.
• Aleksandra Pfau, assistant professor of history, A.B.D., University of Michigan.
• Andrew Scott, assistant professor of foreign languages, A.B.D., Rutgers University.
• Bobby Williamson, assistant professor of religion, A.B.D., Emory University. 

Non-tenure track faculty are often hired to fill in while full-time faculty are on sabbatical or leave. Others are hired to fill short-term needs.

“The one-to-three year contracts are designed to address enrollment stress,” Dr. Entzminger said. “Some will convert to tenure-track positions as soon as we are confident that there is a continuing need for the positions.”

Professor of Chemistry Tom Goodwin has been named to the Julia Mobley Odyssey Professorship.  Goodwin, the 2003 Carnegie U. S. Professor of the Year for Baccalaureate Institutions, will involve Hendrix students, as well as local high school students and science faculty, in pursuing research on chemical communication among mammals.

Professor Joyce Hardin, Associate Professor Matt Moran, and Assistant Professor George Harper, all of the Biology Department, will jointly hold the Judy and Randy Wilbourn Odyssey Professorship, developing research and internship opportunities for Hendrix students in partnership with the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation and the Nature Conservancy.

Professor of Politics and International Relations Ian King is the recipient of the Morriss and Ann Henry Odyssey Professorship.  He will pursue his research interest in Latin American politics, culminating in a study trip to Latin America with several Hendrix students.

Professor of Religion Jay McDaniel has been named to the Nancy and Craig Wood Odyssey Professorship, combining his interest in sustainability with research, service, and internship opportunities for students in partnership with Heifer International.

Professor of Economics Tom Stanley has been named to the Bill and Connie Bowen Odyssey Professorship.  Stanley’s project will involve students in international research projects in economics, will fund their participation in international conferences, and will allow them to be involved in the hosting of an international colloquium at Hendrix in 2010.

Each Odyssey Professorship is backed by a $500,000 endowment. A $3 million challenge grant from R. Madison and Suzanne Nodini Murphy, both ’80, and the Murphy Foundation was the catalyst that ignited the Odyssey Professorship program. Their grant matches gifts of $250,000 dollar for dollar to establish the first 12 professorships.

The award recognizes faculty members who exemplify excellence in teaching, civility and concern for students and colleagues, commitment to value-centered education, and service to students, the institution and the community.

In addition to a certificate of appreciation, she was presented a $500 cash award.

Dr. West, who joined the Hendrix faculty in 1977, earned a bachelor’s degree at Franconia College, a master of arts degree, a master of philosophy degree and a doctorate at Yale University.

She has a particular interest in Africa and has led several trips there. Last summer she and Dr. Allison Shutt, associate professor of history, led 10 students from their “African Film” and “History of Southern Africa” classes to South Africa to experience the country’s literature, writers, films, history and geography first-hand. 

She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Arkansas Humanities Council, and Fulbright-Hays funding to present summer workshops in Africa for Arkansas teachers.

The three new Distinguished Professors, who will be formally installed during a convocation on Sept. 18, include Dr. Jay Barth, Dr. Ian King and Dr. Jay McDaniel.

Jay Barth ’87 has been named the M. E. and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor of Politics.  An associate professor of politics, Barth received a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a specialization in Southern politics in the 20^th century.  He was a recipient in 2000-2001 of the Steiger Congressional Fellowship awarded by the American Political Science Association, and in 1998 was presented the American Political Science Foundation and Pi Sigma Alpha Award for Outstanding Teaching in Political Science.  He has received the Faculty Appreciation Award, presented by the Senior Class of Hendrix College, four times, and in 2007 was named the Arkansas Teacher of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation.  Among his extensive publications is Arkansas Politics and Government:  Do the People Rule? (2^nd edition 2005, U. of Nebraska Press), co-authored with the late Diane D. Blair of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.  He joined the Hendrix faculty in 1994.  Barth succeeds Professor of English Bland Crowder, who entered phased retirement in 2007, as the holder of the Peace Professorship.

The new Harold and Lucy Cabe Distinguished Professor of Politics and International Relations is Ian King. King received his B.A. from the University of Hull (England) and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, joining the Hendrix faculty in 1985 and has served twice as department chair.  A Fulbright-Hays Fellow to Egypt in 1997, he is the author of four books, most recently The Political Theory of Darwinism:  Zoon Politikon and the Evolutionary Case for Social Democracy (Edwin Mellen Press, 2008).  He received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1989 and the Exemplary Teachers Award from the Council on Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church in 1989.  The previous holder of the Cabe Professorship was Professor of History Garrett McAinsh, who is retiring at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year.

Jay McDaniel, who holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University, is the new Willis T. Holmes Professor of Religion.  A member of the Hendrix faculty since 1979, McDaniel is currently chair of the Department of Religion and Director of the Steel Center for the Study of Religion and Philosophy.  With a specialty in Process or Whiteheadian thought, McDaniel has authored or edited eight books, including With Roots and Wings:  Christianity in an Age of Ecology and Dialogue, Living from the Center:  Spirituality in an Age of Consumerism, and Gandhi’s Hope:  Learning from Other Religions as a Path to Peace.  He has been instrumental in establishing an exchange program between Hendrix and Heilongjiang University in Harbin, China. As holder of the Holmes Professorship, McDaniel succeeds Professor of Chemistry Warfield Teague, who is retiring at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year.

These three join three continuing holders of distinguished professorships at Hendrix:  Dr. Tom Goodwin, Elbert E. Fausett Distinguished Professor of Chemistry; Dr. Bruce Haggard, Virginia A. McCormick Pittman Distinguished Professor of Biology; and Dr. Alice Hines, C. Louis and Charlotte Cabe Professor of English. 

A. Sadly, yes.

Five long-time Hendrix faculty who are either retiring at the end of the spring semester or are currently in phased retirement recently took the time to answer a set of probing questions asked by student writer Katie Rice ’10.

Here are a few of their responses to her questions, along with photos of the professors in their favorite spots on campus. You’ll find more questions and answers in the online version of Hendrix magazine at www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmagazine, where you’ll have an opportunity to share your memories of Professors Berry, Crowder, McAinsh, Rolleigh and Teague.

Dr. Richard Rolleigh ’67, professor of physics, has been a member of the Hendrix faculty since 1974. 

Q. What’s next for you?

A. I have many plans.  I own four acres in the country, so there’s a lot of landscaping for me to do.  I also plan to travel with my wife; we have already planned an African safari.

Aside from that, I’ll be conducting research that I couldn’t do while I was at Hendrix.  I really only need myself and a good library to research general relativity and the theory of gravitation and quantum field theory: the standard model.  Those projects weren’t amenable to undergraduate research, so I put them off.

I’ll also be a physics consultant for weapons development at UT Austin, working on smart missiles, for example. I investigate the physical theory behind their ideas, to see if the application is physically feasible.  They deal with all the grant proposals and paperwork, and I do the physics.  It’s very liberating.

Q. Describe the most memorable moment of your time at Hendrix?

A. I can’t choose a particular one, but nearly all have occurred in the classroom, or with a small group of students working in the physics study room.  Physics is like art or music: the way you learn relies on having quick access to an expert, to critique you or help you when you’re stumped.  In many of those instances, students have given me a new idea or a new insight.

Q. What is something that others would be surprised to find out about you?

A. I coached youth soccer for 20 years and really enjoyed it.

Q. What is your favorite place on campus and why?

A. The physics study room, because that’s where most of my memorable moments have happened, and where new ideas originated.  The soccer field is also a favorite, because I started the women’s soccer team here in 1985 and coached it for several years.

Dr. Keith Berry ’73, professor of economics and business, a member of the Hendrix faculty since 1989.

Q. What’s next for you?

A. I’m taking a phased retirement, so I’ll spend more of my time consulting for the Arkansas Public Service Commission about the regulation of utilities.

Q. Describe the most memorable moment of your time at Hendrix?

A. The campus is so enjoyable in spring.  It’s very comfortable.  I enjoy walking around campus in April and early May.

Q. What is something that others would be surprised to find out about you?

A. My favorite type of literature is science fiction.  I read one or two sci-fi books each week.  My favorite author is Robert Heinlein, who wrote Stranger in a Strange Land.

Q. What is your favorite place on campus and why?

A. I enjoy the turtle pond area by the gazebo.  When I was a student it had lots of landscaping and vegetation, and it’s still a very nice place to walk.

Q. Why did you choose to teach at Hendrix?

A. I went to school here, and I felt comfortable with the small college, liberal arts atmosphere.  The intellectual quality is high, so I don’t have to worry about offering remedial work.  I also appreciated the opportunities for meeting students outside of class.  For example, I led a group of students on the third Odyssey to China last summer.

Dr. A. Bland Crowder, M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Emeritus Professor of English, has been a member of the Hendrix faculty since 1974. 

Q. What’s next for you?

A. I’m in the midst of a phased retirement; I teach during the spring semesters.  Last fall I tried to fix up my old house I’ve been neglecting, refinishing my front door and creating a new flower bed in the front.  I did manual labor for three or four hours each day, and then read on my front porch for the rest of the day. Next fall, I’ll be visiting my hometown of Richmond, Va.  I’m also considering writing a biography of William Styron, who was a writer for the Newport News who died this year.

Q. Describe the most memorable moment of your time at Hendrix?

A. In one of my classes, we read a Robert Browning play called Pippa Passes.  Browning misused a word, thinking it referred to a nun’s headgear, rather than an intimate anatomical part.  That’s how innocent the Victorians were.  We later read a Browning poem called “Count Gismond,” and we were discussing critical views of the poem.  One critic considered the poem very sexual, and my student Emily Parker blurted out, “That’s ridiculous!  Browning doesn’t even know what a _____ is!”  We laughed for almost fifteen minutes.

Q. What is something that others would be surprised to find out about you?

A. I’m a card-carrying member of the A.C.L.U.

Q. What is your favorite place on campus and why?

A. I can tell you my least favorite place is the brick patio, where we used to hold graduation while it was 100 degrees in the sun.  We were sitting there in our hot, black robes, with no shade at all.  My favorite place, though, is the Wallyball court.

Dr. Garrett McAinsh, Harold and Lucy Cabe Distinguished Professor of History, has been a member of the Hendrix faculty since 1970.

Q. What’s next for you?

A. I’ll be doing volunteer work at the Butler Center, and other places.  I’ve found a second career lecturing on cruise ships, talking about the history of the places we’re about to visit.  It’s not a paid position, but the trips are free for myself and my wife.  My retired life will be “academic lite” – I don’t have plans to write a book or anything.

Q. Describe the most memorable moment of your time at Hendrix?

A. I’ll always remember my time as the head of the Social Sciences, in the late ’80s.  It was my opportunity to really contribute to the life of the College.

Q. What is something that others would be surprised to find out about you?

A. What you see is what you get, I’m afraid.  But my biggest disappointment about myself is that I really tried to learn French and just couldn’t get it.

Q. What is your favorite place on campus and why?

A. I love the Wallyball court in the Mabee Center, because I love Wallyball.

Dr. Warfield Teague, Willis H. Holmes Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, has been a member of the Hendrix faculty since 1970.

Q. What’s next for you?

A. I have two grandchildren and family in Missouri and Delaware.  I plan on travelling to see them with my wife and dogs.  Other than that, fishing and golf.  I’ll be working part time, two weeks a month, as a consultant for the Office of Education at NASA in D.C.  I’ll run the university research grants program.

Q. Describe the most memorable moment of your time at Hendrix?

A. When I was in college, I was invited to a ballgame in Little Rock by a friend who went to Hendrix.  He assured me that most Hendrix students went home for the weekend, and that there would be an extra bed available.  It turned out that everyone else on campus must have brought a friend that weekend, because I ended up sleeping on couch cushions on the pool table in Martin.

Q. What is something that others would be surprised to find out about you?

A. I like to think I’m fairly up-front, but people might be surprised by my domestic skills.  I use biscuits as the coin of the realm.  I bake them in the teacher’s lounge of MC Reynolds and give them as presents to butter people up.  I also know how to sew.  When my daughter was younger, I made her jeans in every color.  I could clear the table off after dinner, get out the sewing machine, and she’d have a new pair to wear the next day.

Q. What is your favorite place on campus and why?

A. It’s the lab, because of the work I do with students.  Especially the Advanced Technology and Experimental Chemistry lab.  The students come up with the most interesting research initiatives.  It’s very fun.

Students, faculty, staff and alumni packed The Burrow March 18 for the project launch of the Student Life and Technology Center. Dr. Joyce Hardin played an Oprah-style emcee for the event with her special guests: President J. Timothy Cloyd, Trustee Dan Peregrin ’80, Dr. Mark Schantz, professor of history and director of the Odyssey Program; B.J. Fogelman ’09, Student Senate president-elect, and Dr. Aubrey Hough ’66, speaking on behalf of Hendrix alumni. Congressman Vic Snyder even made an impromptu appearance during the event. 

The Student Life and Technology Center is under construction on the former site of Grove Gymnasium, and is expected to open in Spring 2010.

The Center will include a state of the art “Educational Technology Center” designed for interactive group work, offices and work space for student organizations, programming areas for the Hendrix community, a café, game and recreation space, and a post office on the first floor of the building. The second floor will house a new dining hall, kitchen, servery, and small dining rooms, as well as offices for Student Affairs and the Odyssey Program.

The Educational Technology Center or ETC will be a vibrant, open computer center for both work and play.  The plan includes computer workstations with space for several individuals to work together.  The stations will be configured in various ways from soft, comfortable seating with large flat panel displays mounted on the wall to more traditional desktop computers with widescreen monitors.  The software available will include creative suites for creating presentations and videos, and the workstations can also be used for electronic gaming. 

Technology will also be distributed throughout the building, so that small groups of students may gather for work or games in various locations on both floors.

The ETC will include a small seminar room housing the latest technology in a classroom designed so that students can create and practice presentations. The ETC Video conference room will be equipped with technology for video conferencing that will be used to link Hendrix faculty and students with their counterparts around the globe.

In addition, conference rooms and seminar rooms will be scattered throughout the building. Offices will be located on both floors and will include spaces for Academic Support Services, Career Services, Religious Life, and more.

Click here to see photos or listen to a podcast of the event.

This year’s inductees included:

Everett Eason ’33 was a standout athlete in football and basketball.  He received All-State honors in basketball during the 1930 and ’32 seasons before earning All-State honors at end in football during the 1932 and ’33 seasons.  The Emery native was captain of the football team in 1933 and was a member of a Warrior basketball team that lost just seven games during his four-year career (1929-33).  After graduating, he played semi-pro basketball for Myers Bakery before pursuing a career in education.

Phil Guthrie ’57 came to Hendrix in 1953 and was a four-year letterman in basketball.  The Marshall native led the Warriors in scoring as a sophomore and junior and was named to the All-AIC First Team in 1956 and Second Team in 1955 and ’57. 

Ernie Martin ’60 was a four-sport athlete at Hendrix.  He lettered four years in basketball, three years in track and field, two years in football and two years in tennis.  Martin received All-AIC Honorable Mention as a center on the basketball team and as an end on the football team during his senior year.  He was also named to the All-AIC Second Team in basketball as a junior.  He led the Warriors in rebounding during his last two seasons.  As a senior member of the Hendrix tennis team, Martin won the AIC Doubles Championship to help lead the Warriors to a Men’s Tennis Championship. 

Carl Babcock ’61 was a three-year letterman and served as team captain of the last football team fielded by Hendrix in 1960.  The Paragould native also lettered in track and field three times and won the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference Championships in the 880-yard run once and finished second twice.

Babcock began his coaching career at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1963.  On April 12, 1973, in his second year as head track and field coach at North Texas State University, Babcock was killed in an automobile accident, ending what would have been a legendary coaching and teaching career.

In his memory, the Carl Babcock Award for Leadership in Athletics is awarded annually by the Hendrix Athletic Advisory Committee to the varsity athlete who has exemplified the ideals of clean and vigorous competition, the pursuit of excellence and dedication to physical health and well-being.  One of this year’s inductees, Katie Levins Freeman, was the recipient of this award in 1995.

Jerry J. Jeffries ’61 was a four-sport athlete at Hendrix.  He lettered three years in tennis, two years in track and field and basketball, and one year in football.  The Fort Smith native earned the AIC singles championship twice and doubles championship once.  Jeffries helped the Warriors to their first AIC Track and Field Championship in 15 years by placing second in the high and low hurdles event in 1959.  As a basketball player, Jeffries led the team in scoring his senior year.

Katie Levins Freeman ’95 was a four-year letterman in track and field and received All-SCAC honors in 1993, ’94 and ’95.  The North Little Rock native was named the Hendrix NCAA Division III Woman of the Year as a senior and holds Hendrix records in the high jump, 100-meter dash and 100-meter high hurdles.  Freeman was also a member of the Warrior Cheer Squad for three years.

The Hendrix Sports Hall of Honor was created by the Hendrix College Booster Club in 1994 to preserve the history of the college’s great athletes, coaches, fans, friends and supporters. Memorabilia highlighting the achievements of Hall of Honor members are displayed in the Hall of Honor room overlooking the atrium of the new Wellness and Athletics Center. For more information about the Sports Hall of Honor, contact the Hendrix College Athletics Department, (501) 450-1391 or visit www.hendrixwarriors.com.

Intermixed within three days of basketball action, Hendrix and the SCAC collected hundreds of pounds of canned food for the First United Methodist Church Food Pantry in Conway. Canned food was collected from fans in lieu of an admission charge.

The women’s team lost a heartbreaking, overtime game to Oglethorpe in the opening round, and the men narrowly fell to eventual tournament champions Millsaps in the semifinals, but the mood at the WAC wasn’t all gloomy.  Both teams will return all of their players next season – including some of the conference’s top performers – and Hendrix will again host the SCAC tournament in February of ’09.                                                                                                                   

Hendrix College junior Andrew King from Granbury, Texas (Jesuit College Preparatory), was selected to the SCAC’s first team as voted by conference coaches. Sophomore Christina Byler of Little Rock (Pulaski Academy) was selected by women’s coaches as the Newcomer of the Year in the conference and to the SCAC’s second team.

Sophomore guard Cal Rose of Blytheville was an honorable mention selection and was voted to the SCAC All-Tournament team following the conference tournament. Samantha Clark of Little Rock (Lutheran High School) was also selected as an honorable mention.

King led the SCAC in both scoring (18.6 ppg) and rebounding (10.8 rpg) becoming just the third player in SCAC history to accomplish the feat and first since Oglethorpe’s Russ Churchwell in 2003-04. King cracked the league’s top 10 list for career rebounds during the SCAC Tournament. A two-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week selection this season, King is the first Hendrix men’s player to earn back-to-back All-SCAC First Team honors since Jason Rhodes (1994-95 and 1995-96).

Rose was the 13^th highest scorer in the league with 13.6 points per game. He was the third-best free throw shooter in the conference based on percentage (83.9 percent) and finished third in three-point field goals made per game at 2.6.

“Andrew and Cal were both instrumental in the success of our team this year, and we’re looking forward to what we can accomplish next year with our entire team returning,” Hendrix Coach Dan Priest said. “Andrew was unstoppable at times inside for us and Cal always seemed to come up with a clutch three-pointer when we needed it. The awards they received represent a total team effort, however – Andrew and Cal would be the first to acknowledge that they would not have received these honors without the hard work of their teammates.”

Byler, a sophomore academically but a first-year player on the court, led all SCAC newcomers in both scoring (19.1 points per game) and rebounding (7.0 rebounds per game) during the regular season, and her scoring average was tops for the entire conference. It marks the first time a first-year player has led the league in scoring since Jennifer Warren averaged 22.9 points a game for Trinity in 1994-95. She also leads the league in free throw percentage (88.0 percent) and her 168 made free throws is already the third-most free throws made in a single SCAC season.

“Christina had a tremendously successful first season as a Hendrix Warrior,” Hendrix women’s Coach Chris Hitchcock said. “We are proud of her accomplishments on the floor and hope that her continued work will help our team toward more success.  Her offensive capabilities and her strong work ethic will make her one of the best players in the nation as her career at Hendrix continues.”

Clark, a junior, started all 26 of Hendrix’s games this season, averaging a team-high 33.3 minutes and collecting nearly 10 points per game.  

“Samantha’s honor is well deserved,” Hitchcock said. “She worked hard to improve her game in the off-season last summer and it certainly paid off as she consistently gave us great effort and positive contributions.  Sam is not the most talented basketball player but her athleticism and determination along with her desire to improve and win shined on the court during the season.  Sam is a model student-athlete and we are proud that she is representing Hendrix.”

The honorees include:

2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Allen D. McGee ‘62 

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hendrix college, McGee went on to work in the healthcare industry. He is a co-founder of the Radiology Corporation of America (RCOA) where he has been chief executive officer since 1998 and chairman since January 20, 2006. Before joining RCOA as CEO, McGee was chief executive officer and co-founder of Dialysis Centers of America, the largest dialysis treatment company in Chicago. He also served as senior vice president responsible for marketing, sales and business development at Damon Corporation, a clinical laboratory services company that was acquired by Corning in 1993.

His 39 years in the health care industry also include the positions of senior executive vice president of Specialty Laboratories in Los Angeles, vice president of marketing at International Clinical Laboratories (acquired by SmithKline) and national marketing director of American Biomedical Corporation (acquired by National Health Laboratories).

McGee is a member of the Science Advisory Board at Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Science where he is a member of the finance committee. McGee serves on the Board of Directors of Hendrix College. In addition, Mr. McGee is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at General Electric’s Medical Imaging Division.

2008 Humanitarian Award
Walter J. Levy ‘43 

A native of Ortelsburg Germany, Levy moved to Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia) when he was ten. Six years later, his family immigrated to the United States, settling in Fort Smith. He received his bachelor’s degree in philosophic studies: education, psychology, philosophy, and religion, from Hendrix. He then went on to the University of Chicago for a master’s degree in education and to do graduate studies in social work and psychology at Wayne State University and the University of Minnesota. He got a master of social work degree from Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work.

Levy began his career as a Forrest City high school teacher and spent two years as a public assistance social worker in Detroit, Mich. He went on to work for ten years in vocational services with an emphasis on World War II veterans, the handicapped, and holocaust survivors in St. Louis, Mo., and Minneapolis, Minn. He spent 20 years in community organization with the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and the Council of Jewish Federations. He spent 1978 through 2000 in independent social work practice with an emphasis on the psychosocial problems of aging, illness and widowhood. His lifetime of work earned him the distinction of being named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Work.

2008 James E. Major Service Award
Loyd Ryan

Ryan is a graduate of Conway High School and received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Central Arkansas. He worked at the Arkansas Democrat and as city, editor, general assignment reporter, sports editor, and managing editor at the Log Cabin Democrat.

Ryan began work at Hendrix in 1990 and has served as director of business affairs, associate vice president for business affairs and director of facilities at the College. During that span, Ryan played key roles in the building and planning of Bailey Library, Acxiom Hall, Reynolds Life Sciences, new student residence houses, the Art Facility, the Wellness and Athletics Center, new track/lacrosse, soccer, baseball and softball fields, and the Murphy Building.

Aside from making the physical plant run smoothly, Loyd is also very involved in the Hendrix community and often serves as a representative for the college in the Conway community.

2008 Outstanding Young Alumna Award
Dr. Amanda Moore McBride ‘93 

McBride hails from Batesville, Arkansas, where she graduated from Batesville High School in 1989. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Hendrix then went on to earn her M.S.W. and doctorate. at Washington University in 1995 and 2003 respectively. 

McBride is an assistant professor in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. She is also director of Washington University’s Richard A. Gephardt Institute for Public Service, where she is responsible for promoting community service and service-learning across campus, and research director of the School of Social Work’s Center for Social Development, where she leads research on civic engagement and service. McBrideteaches graduate service-learning courses on social justice, community practice, and program evaluation.
Professor McBride was lead editor of a 2004 special issue of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, entitled “Toward a Global Research Agenda on Civic Service,” a 2005 issue of Voluntary Action, entitled “International Service in the Context of Globalization,” a 2007 book with ME Sharpe, entitled Civic Service Worldwide: Impacts and Inquiry, and a forthcoming special issue of the International Journal of Social Welfare, entitled “Youth Service in Comparative Perspective.” Professor McBride also directs an international civic service research fellows program funded by the Ford Foundation, which currently supports 20 fellows with research spanning 32 countries.

Her opinion is regularly sought by congressional leaders, international organizations, and think tanks worldwide. In 2007, she gave testimony at a congressional briefing on international service legislation, and served on an expert panel addressing civic engagement and inclusion convened by the United Nations. Mcbridehas been an active volunteer in the St. Louis community through the United Way of Greater St. Louis, where she also worked as a research associate from 1995 to 1998.

She proudly lives in a century year old home with her husband, Mark McBride, and son, Liam. 

2008 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award
Kenneth A. Gunderman ‘93 

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics from Hendrix, Gunderman earned a master’s degree in public and private management from the Yale University School of Management. Since then, he has held various positions in the financial industry rising to Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers Inc. – Global Communications Group in New York City.

Currently, he is Executive Vice President and Co-Head of Investment Banking for Stephens Inc., which has more than 70 investment bankers and six offices across the United States and London. Stephens is privately held and is one of the largest and oldest investment banks off Wall Street. Gunderson and his wife Stephanie Anderson Gunderman ’93 live in Little Rock.

Hendrix College’s five newest Odyssey Medalists took time to thank former professors, classmates, family members and others as they accepted their awards during the annual Founders’ Day convocation on Feb. 8.

Walter O. Pryor ’87 received the Odyssey Medal for Professional and Leadership Development. He is a principal with the government relations and public affairs firm The Podesta Group. He was the legislative director for U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, worked for the National Association of Attorneys General, and held other prestigious positions with the U.S. Department of Justice.

"To whatever degree my own Odyssey inspires or gives foundation to my own children, to students here at Hendrix, to any fellow human being, please consider it as partial repayment for what has been given to me,” Pryor said. “In honoring me you honor yourselves and all that is so wonderful about Hendrix College.”

Dr. Jack L. Blackshear Jr. ’64 of Little Rock was the recipient of the Odyssey Medal for Service to the World.  A physician with the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Dr. Blackshear was honored for the numerous mission trips he has led to Honduras. He has taken more than 100 medical students with him over the years to help serve those without regular access to physicians.

“Of all the things that you have taught me- the Christian ideas and service to other people, to always hold the high standards that your faculty has always portrayed- I’ve always remembered that and I always will.“

Kenneth R. Nixon ’65 was awarded the Odyssey Medal for Special Projects. Nixon was lauded for his development of a distance care giving system that enables informal care to be provided to elderly family members over the Internet, allowing older adults to stay independent in their homes longer. The system, which has been featured by NBC’s Today Show and in major news publications throughout the world, was originally created by Nixon and his two brothers Vic ’62 and Wade ’81 so their mother, who had Alzheimer’s, could remain independent on their family farm in Lavaca. Nixon used the technology to create Caregiver Technologies, Inc.

“We were just doing what we knew how to do,” Nixon told the audience. “Now we’re in the business of changing people’s lives for the better.”

Bracken P. Darrell ’85 received the Odyssey Medal for Global Awareness. Since graduating from Hendrix, Darrell has held leadership positions in a variety of multi-national companies including Proctor & Gamble, General Electric and Gillette. As the current president of Braun, Darrell leads a $1.6 billion small appliance company based in Frankfurt, Germany. Eighty-five percent of the company’s sales are outside of North America.

“At a liberal arts college like Hendrix you get a diversity of interests, and part of the outcome of diversity of interests is a diversity of friends.” Darrell said. “I’m very blessed with a mind and a heart that will always be filled with Hendrix.”

Natalie Canerday ’85 was awarded the Odyssey Medal for Artistic Creativity. Since earning a degree in theatre at Hendrix, Canerday has given stand-out performances in a number of films, including One False Move, Sling Blade, and October Sky. She and others in Billy Bob Thornton’s Sling Blade were collectively nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in the Motion Picture.

“I want to commend Hendrix on having such an incredible, inspiring faculty,” she said. “Any time I’m on a stage – any time I’m wearing make-up and pantyhose – Dr. Henenberg [my Hendrix drama professor] is with me.”

Throughout her life Mrs. Buthman was an active member of the community. She was involved in Hendrix Dames, First United Methodist Church, Chapter CA of PEO and Jr. Shakespeare Club.

In an article in the Log Cabin Democrat about her 100th birthday, Mrs. Buthman recalled Conway back in the “good old days.” She said that young people in her day complained about the lack of things to do, just as they do today and that the face of Conway hasn’t changed as much as one might think. "Our county was dry then, like it is now. But folks went to Morgan for their whiskey like they do now," she said, illustrating her point.

In the same article Mrs. Buthman recalled meeting her husband during her junior year at Hendrix: "On campus he looked like another student," she said of the young professor.

Mrs. Buthman graduated magna cum laude from Hendrix College in 1924 and taught high school for several years before marrying Dr. Buthman. "When he looked my way one day, we started dating and decided to get married when summer came. We took our marriage vows on Aug. 23, 1928. I resigned my job as a public school teacher and became Erma Guice Buthman, housewife," Mrs. Buthman told the Log Cabin Democrat reporter. Professor Buthman taught history at Hendrix until he died in 1979.

In spite of increasing difficulty getting around, Mrs. Buthman continued to be heavily involved in the Hendrix community during her final years. “Mrs. Buthman faithfully attended all alumni events on campus in recent years whenever she could,” said Pamela Owen, associate vice president for Alumni Relations.

Especially memorable was Mrs. Buthman’s presence at the Half Century Club Luncheon where she was recognized as the most senior alumna for over 15 years.

“Everyone at the luncheons enjoyed honoring her and sharing his or her fond memories of Dr. and Mrs. Buthman.” Owen said, “She will be greatly missed.”

On her 100th birthday the Log Cabin Democrat described her as being “lighthearted as ever and attuned to the times. She is amiable and conversant and sharp as a tack.” Mrs. Buthman will be remembered by those whose lives she has touched as an avid conversationalist whose quick wit and kindness made her a joy to be around.

Memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church, Conway or to the Buthman Scholarship or Lectureship Memorials at Hendrix College.

When Mark Jacob graduated from Hendrix College in 1976, he had two job prospects: a sports writer at a Pine Bluff newspaper or a manager at a local Taco Bell.  The latter paid better, but after much hand-wringing Jacob took the writing job.

Now an editor at the Chicago Tribune, he wonders how he ever considered a career other than journalism.  He returned to his alma mater in March to discuss the Tribune’s coverage of Barack Obama, who is a hometown hero to most Chicagoans.

His talk, titled “Covering a Sensation: Chicago Journalists and Barack Obama” referenced the unique responsibilities a candidate’s hometown news outlets have during a presidential election year.  Specifically, how do mainstream news reporters avoid rooting for the “home team” when it’s the biggest story in town? “It’s difficult to describe how well liked this man was, and still is, in Chicago,” Jacob said in his speech.

In his 2004 bid to be a U.S. senator for Illinois, Obama won 70 percent of the vote – an accomplishment Obama himself attributed in part to “spooky good luck.” When the race began, Obama had been little more than a “little-known state senator with a funny name, running after 9/11,” Jacob said.  He was running in a crowded field: six other Democrats and eight Republicans.  Moreover, seven of those other candidates were millionaires.

Obama became a sensation when he won, which complicated the press coverage of the politician, Jacob said.

“It was dangerous, then, because our customers felt it wasn’t necessary to question too hard,” he explained. “No one wants to find anything bad about the guy.”

With Obama back in the spotlight, the Tribune and other Chicago papers are facing the same problems.  Jacob, who serves as the Foreign/National News Editor and helps direct the newspaper’s coverage of the election, has to keep a vigilant eye for fairness.

Steps to ensure fairness include tallying the number of times each candidate is referenced or pictured, as well as the number of times each is mentioned in the lede of a story. To avoid accusations of bias, journalists are also forbidden from displaying political bumper stickers or yard signs.

“We have a saying, ‘No cheering in the press box,’” Jacob said. “Ideally your coworkers shouldn’t know who you vote for.”
He also focused on the role of the hometown newspaper as the one most able to fully vet a candidate. For example, the Tribune wrote about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s controversial pastor, a year ago.

In that way, the career interests of journalists line up with the goals of democracy, Jacob said.

“Everyone wants to get the scoop no one else has,” he said. “No one is going to get a free pass.”

Jacob was brought to Hendrix as part of the Hendrix Alumni Doing Democracy program. During his two days on campus, he also visited classes and spoke with students at an informal coffee hour and luncheon.

Spatz is the author of Basic Statistics: Tales of Distributions, now in its ninth edition, and is a co-author of Research Methods in Psychology: Ideas, Techniques, and Reports, which was published recently by McGraw-Hill. Spatz was also a section editor for the John Wiley publication, Encyclopedia of Statistics in Behavioral Science.

Vietnamese college courses have historically been largely lecture-based with the professor rarely questioned by students. This new method focuses on problem-solving techniques and in-class discussion, allowing students to find the answers while the professors serve as guides. This program hopes to give students the skills to stay on top of advances in the medical field and to creatively solve problems. The visit was part of a multi-year project conducted by Pathfinder International in collaboration with UCSF’s Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research & Policy.

Dr. Sawaya was awarded the Odyssey Medal for research in 2004.

By RAE HAMAKER ’10

Returning to Hendrix 11 years after she graduated, Jessica Pettitt ’96 came bearing a message of change. She emphasized that change begins with the individual and flows outward, tweaking an idea from Gandhi to help explain her personal philosophy to current Hendrix students – “Be the Change You Want to Be.”

Pettitt was the featured speaker of a Hendrix Alumni Doing Democracy (HADD) program titled “The State of Our Nation” that took place in November. She began the program by describing her call to do social justice work, explaining her disagreement with what she called “drive-by diversity training,” which she saw as a feel-good approach that failed to affect any real change. “Social Justice, on the other hand, is recognition of differences over the long term and affecting change individually within ourselves,” she said.

Pettitt, a sociology major at Hendrix, said her major allowed her to receive an academic sense of how people interact but that social justice work was what helped her to really understand those interactions.

“You need to be uncomfortable to change,” Pettitt told the room of students, further emphasizing the individual’s role in changing the world by encouraging her audience to change themselves. This, she said, would slowly change things within their realm of influence. Even small changes count, she told the group.

As part of her message of change and activism, Pettitt also spoke of “adultism” and the silencing or subordination of the voice of young people as one of the biggest obstacles students face today. Additionally, she described a pressure on the “Millennials” to fix and change things, saying that older generations blamed the current one for not doing enough to fix things and for being apathetic. Pettitt, however, asserted that apathy doesn’t just happen but is reinforced by previous generations.

Pettitt said that young people do have a voice and something important to contribute to the world and that if you want something to change you have to work to cause change on an individual basis, to truly “Be the Change You Want to Be.”

Sam R. Adkisson of Missouri City, Texas, retired from the University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston having been on the faculty for 29 years. He has won the McGovern Teaching Award four times and has been in dental practice for 56 years.

’48

Marge Gilliam Garrett and Dr. A.G. Garrett ’49 of Fleetwood, N.C., now have three great-granddaughters. Dr Garrett is still happily teaching chemistry at Appalachia State University at the age of 81.

’60

Dr. F. Gladwin Connell of Little Rock has been appointed by Governor Mike Beebe to a four-year term on the Arkansas State Board of Nursing.

’62

David D. Colvert appeared in the movie Harsh Times with Christian Bale and Eva Longoria. He “even had lines.”

Caroline Crenshaw Strubbe of Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., retired in 2003 after teaching elementary school for 38 years in the Brevard County “Space Coast” school system.

’63

Fr. Bob Allen retired as the twelfth rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in El Dorado after sixteen and a half years in that position.

Dent Gitchel of Little Rock is teaching as a visiting professor at the University of Memphis School of Law, then plans to return home to try to resume retirement.

George Wayne Upton Jr. of Washington, D.C., gave 10 Little Rock Central High School yearbooks to the NAACP Washington Bureau on Oct. 1, 2007. One was for the school year 1957-58. His father, Wayne Upton, was on the Little Rock School Board from March 1957 to Nov. 12, 1958. Upton has been an active member of the NAACP since April 1977.

’68

Dr. Mary Louise Corbitt of Little Rock, co-founder and neurologist at Arkansas Headache Clinic, was named one of Arkansas’ Best Doctors in 2007.  Mary Louise reports visiting with Dr. Mary Ann Williams Morris ’68 (her roommate during medical school) in North Carolina over the summer and enjoying her five wonderful grandchildren, who call her May May.

David Newbold was appointed the information commons manager of the biomedical library at the University of California at San Diego.

Dr. Joe D. Waldrum of Little Rock received the Outstanding Leader Award from the International Association of Programs of Agricultural Leadership at the association’s annual meeting in Miami in October. Joe is professor of leadership and development for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. He is the director of LeadAR, a two-year statewide adult leadership development program. In July he completed 31 years with the extension service.

’70

Kim Sudderth Ford of Memphis, Tenn., has been appointed chair of the OrbisPictus Award Committee. The OrbisPictus Award is given each year to the most outstanding non-fiction book published for children and is sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English. She is the first middle-school librarian to be named chair of the committee.

’71

Gary L. Ingram of Ft. Worth, Texas, was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2008. He was named to the list in the field of labor and employment law.

’72

James F. Barnett Jr. of Natchez, Miss., published a book titled The Natchez Indians: A History to 1735 printed by University Press of Mississippi. In the book, Barnett uses archaeological data along with accounts of explorers, missionaries and colonists to investigate the Natchez Indians’ plight during a time of European encroachment and change. Barnett is the director of the Division of Historic Properties, Mississippi Department of Archives and History and has published articles in The Journal of Mississippi History, Mississippi Archaeology, The Southern Quarterly, and other journals.

James O. Cox of Greenwood was appointed the Sebastian County Circuit Judge by Gov. Mike Beebe in February 2007.

Debra Roberts of North Little Rock passed the 9th Architecture Registration Exam in October 2007 and became a licensed architect. See Marriages.

Dr. Robert B. White of Paragould was elected to fellowship in the American College of Physicians.

’73

Dr. Samuel Welch of Little Rock was promoted to associate professor of otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) at the University of Arkansas School for Medical Sciences. He is also the assistant chief of the surgical service of Central Arkansas Veteran’s Healthcare System.

’75

Patti Shields Cox of Greenwood is a development director at the Fulbright College at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Walker Dale Garrett, a partner in the Bassett Law Firm in Fayetteville, has become a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an honor bestowed on less than one percent of attorneys.

’76

Mike Mathes of Conway is president of the National Bank of Arkansas.

Beverly Mitchell of Columbia, Tenn., is an associate professor of English at Columbia State Community College where she is the director of the honors program. She is active in local and college theatre; she recently directed Sophocles' Antigone and will direct The Taming of the Shrew in the spring.

’82

Michele Belmont Halsell of Fayetteville recently accepted the managing director position for the Applied Sustainability Center at the University of Arkansas.

’84

Joe Thompson of Little Rock was appointed surgeon general by Gov. Mike Beebe and now serves on the governor’s cabinet providing development and guidance of health policy for the state. He continues to work as associate professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement.

’85

Scott Schallhorn of Little Rock was named “Mid-South Super Lawyer” in real estate for 2007. Candidates were evaluated by a panel of their peers in their primary area of practice. Only 5 percent of the total lawyers in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi were selected for inclusion. Scott is vice president and general counsel at Hendrix.

Michelle Staggs of Little Rock is employed as an advanced practice nurse with Dr. Christopher John of Southwest Pulmonary Associates, specializing in pulmonary, critical care, and internal medicine.

’86

Martha Carolyn Ellis of San Diego, Calif., was named chief financial officer of Sysview Technology in November 2007.

’88

Kelly Haggard Olson of Suwanee, Ga., is working as operations manager of the Gwinnett Philharmonic.

’90

David Hawkins is senior pastor at Greenwood United Methodist Church and conference chair of ministerial assessment for the Arkansas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. He is an instructor for the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University and will teach an extension course at Hendrix in 2008.

’91

Duke Marr of New York accepted the position of vice-president of e-commerce product management with 1-800-FLOWERS.com

’93

Elise Allee Hoffine is a project coordinator for the department of psychiatry's division of health services research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Alyson Low joined the Fayetteville Public Library as a youth librarian in March 2007. She develops the juvenile nonfiction collection and creates programming for toddlers through teens. She will begin work on a master's degree in library science in 2008.

Robert Thompson of Paragould serves in the Arkansas State Senate representing District II, which includes Greene, Clay and Lawrence counties as well as part of Craighead County.

’94

Brad Spear of Columbia, Md., is a consultant at Energetics Incorporated in Washington, D.C., and specializes in studies and partnership building activities to assist federal and state clients in the research, development, technology transfer, and commercialization of advanced energy technologies and speeding the movement of technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace.

'95

Eric Dyer began a new job as a staff editor on the national copy desk at The New York Times in early October 2007 after nine years as a reporter and editor at the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C. He and his partner now live in Peekskill, N.Y., about an hour north of New York City. Dyer was editor of Hendrix’s The Profile 1993-94 and 1994-95.

’96

Josh Holt recently moved from Austin, Texas, to New Orleans, La., where he is teaching high school social studies at Edna Karr High School.

’97

Sarah King of Fayetteville earned a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2007 and now works as director of community programs at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks.

’98

Erin R. Gibbs of Van Buren is in the Peace Corps in Macedonia doing small business development work. She is due back in December 2009.

Jean-Marie Findley Williams of Ponchatoula, La., completed her first year as program manager for the Hammond office of Louisiana MENTOR, a therapeutic foster care agency for youth involved in the juvenile justice system and individuals of all ages with developmental disabilities.

’99

Kevin Brannon of Jersey City, N.J., is working towards a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University in New York.

Seth and Melanie Oubre Harder live in Conway with their three daughters. Seth is a software engineer at Cognitive Data in Little Rock.

’00

Tanya Breedlove is now the assistant controller at Altivity Packaging, LLC, moving from corporate accounting back into cost accounting.

Kelle Franklin of St. Louis, Mo., is executive director for the St. Louis affiliate of Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN), a national nonprofit organization that provides recreational sports programs for youth with developmental and physical disabilities.

Colin Gorman is a certified public accountant in Little Rock and recently started a financial services firm.

Ashley Pryor Meins of Maize, Kan., is employed with Bombardier Aerospace as a relocation specialist. See Marriages and New Children.

Chrystal D. White of Camden recently obtained her service coordination certification and is currently employed as a service coordinator/case manager at Ouachita Child Enrichment Center Annex (OCECA) in Camden. OCECA serves developmentally delayed and typically developing 3-5-year-old children.

’01

Dr. Scott Koenig and Dr. Laura Musolf Koenig ’02 of Hot Springs opened their own veterinary hospital, Animal Family Practice, in Bryant in October 2007.

Heidi Novotny accepted a position as a librarian with the City of San Antonio in September 2007. She is in charge of collection development and programming for young adults at the Las Palmas Branch Library.

Mary Beth Woodson received her master degree in film studies from the University of Kansas after completing her thesis about the presentation of history and creation of memory in recent Irish cinema. She is working toward a doctorate in film studies at the University of Kansas.

’02

Tanya Corbin Holmes of Memphis, Tenn., began working as an in-house employment attorney with AutoZone, Inc., at corporate headquarters in September 2007.

Juliana K. Leding completed her doctorate in experimental psychology in May and is now an assistant professor at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. See Marriages.

’03

Katherine Sims Roberts was promoted to controller of Integrated Security Systems, Inc., in Carrollton, Texas, including their Intelli-Site and DoorTek subsidiaries.

’04

Erin Rowe of Siloam Springs will soon move to the island of Sifnos, Greece, to consult as a travel agent for Aegean Thesaurus. Post-Hendrix, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer on the island of Dominica, a fine art consultant for Lahaina Galleries on Maui, and an advertising account executive for Saatchi & Saatchi X. She will continue to write for Parker County Today magazine of Texas and working on her first book, an untitled collection of travel memoirs.

’06

Paul Gregory and Lori Ann Holt Gregory ’07 moved to China on Jan. 17, 2008, where Paul will work at Elim Western Cafe as business manager and Lori Ann will teach English.

’07

Clair Spivey is attending the University of Tennessee Dental College where she enrolled in August 2007.
 

Carson and Grayson, 1-year-old twin boys, of Lori Yancey Lee ’85 and her husband Jeff.

Miles James, first son, to Tanya Corbin Holmes ’02 and her husband Rodrick, June 11, 2007.

Abigayle Lynn, first daughter, to Robyn Ambler-Wertz ’01 and her husband Barry, March 30, 2007.

Correction: Unfortunately, these babies were mislabeled in the previous issue. We apologize for the mistake.

Maren Elizabeth Stewart-Tanner, first child, to Tracie Stewart '89 and her husband Brian Tanner, Feb. 9, 2006.

Ruthie Grace, daughter of Lari Daily Moix ’95 and her husband Michael.

Correction: Trevor Westyn is the second son, fourth child, to Mary Elizabeth Farrah Jones ’89 and her husband Terry, Sept. 12, 2006.

Betty Cleaver Davis '46
David S. LeVine ’47
Mattie Mae Ball Rice '47
Vallette Longstreth Thomas '48
Charlene Toll Jeffcoat '49
Alfred Thompson Kelley, Jr. '49
R. Eric Wade '49
Louise Lambert Fish Church '50
Danny B. Daniel '50
Patrick Sims Honeycutt '50
Thomas C. Sain '50
Nolan L. Simmons '50
William Leslie Yates '50
Mary Lou Brinker Stahl '51
Marilyn Louise Bandy Williams '51
John Clarence Trice '52
Eugene Shaneyfelt '53
Melvin Bottorff '57
Ben Hogan '58
Leonard R. Ellis '62
Beverly Burroughs Huddleston '63
Richard Simpson Vaughan '65
Jan Elaine Gordon Mendoza ’71
Don Armstrong '75
Jennifer Davis Ford '90
Richard Wayne Smith '98

Cyril Wolak
Army Specialized Training Program 1943-44

Faculty/Staff
Johnny Koster
Director of Grounds

David Curry
Wellness and Athletics Center

The leadership of the campaign cabinet, chaired by R. Madison and Suzanne Nodini Murphy, both ’80, and Dan ’80 and Jennifer Jacuzzi Peregrin ’81, has been critical to the current success of the campaign, as has the support of the Hendrix Trustees.

For the rest of 2008, efforts will focus on raising the remaining funds necessary to complete the Student Life and Technology Center. This goal must be reached by the end of the year to qualify for a $1.5 million challenge grant from the Mabee Foundation.

Your support for the Hendrix Campaign will guarantee our success in establishing Hendrix as a national leader for engaged learning in the liberal arts.  For more information about how you can be part of the future of Hendrix, contact the Office of Advancement at 501-450-1223 or 877-208-8777, or visit www.hendrix.edu/giving.

The grant marks the continuation of a long-standing relationship between the Mabee Foundation and Hendrix College, beginning in 1972 when Hendrix received $300,000 from the foundation to help construct the Wilbur D. Mills Center for Social Sciences. Since then, The Mabee Foundation has contributed more than $5 million to five additional building projects at Hendrix, including a $2 million grant in 2004 to help fund the college’s recently-constructed $23 million Wellness and Athletics Center.

“For more than 25 years, the Mabee Foundation has played a vital role in the development of facilities at Hendrix College that enhance the academic and co-curricular programs, and student life on our campus,” Hendrix president J. Timothy Cloyd said. “Their gifts have helped Hendrix develop into a national leader in the engaged liberal arts.”

The new 80,000 square-foot Student Life and Technology Center will be constructed on the former site of Hendrix’s Grove Gymnasium, adjacent to Harkrider Avenue on the east side of the college’s campus. President Cloyd said the new facility will be “designed to reflect our students’ keen enthusiasm for engaging in active learning and life experiences outside of class.” 

The Mabee Foundation, a Delaware non-profit corporation, was formed in 1948 by Mr. John E. Mabee and his wife, Lottie E. Mabee, with its office in Tulsa, Okla.  As stated in its charter, the purposes of the foundation are to aid Christian religious organizations, charitable organizations, institutions of higher learning, hospitals and other organizations of a general charitable nature.

I hope that you will give serious consideration to contributing to the Alumni Loyalty Fund.  It is a great way to show your appreciation to this school, which means so much to so many of us.  Your contributions can do a lot to support Hendrix’s academic programs and students, and help to show foundations and other prospective donors the depth of your commitment to the College. Even a small amount, as a one-time gift or given over a matter of months through bank or credit card draft, can make a difference.  Please make your gift by May 31 to help Hendrix. On behalf of all of us that benefit from alumni gifts, thank you.

- Dr. Garrett L. McAinsh
  Harold and Lucy Cabe
  Distinguished Professor of History

This spring, the Walker Foundation awarded a $2 million challenge grant to support the College’s efforts to endow the Hendrix Odyssey Program in perpetuity.

Recent funds created in response to the Walker Odyssey Challenge include:

• The Carol Downs Sharp and Bob Sharp Endowed Scholarship Fund established by the couple for students with demonstrated academic ability and financial need.

• The Oran J. Vaughan Endowed Scholarship Fund established by James W. Bost in memory Oran J. Vaughan for students with an interest or major in history.

• The G.L. Bahner Odyssey Endowment established by LeRoy and Frances Hendricks with matching funds from IBM in honor of Mr. Gustavus L. Bahner and the Hendricks family.

• The Dr. Darren and Julia McGuire Odyssey Endowment for students with an interest in the medical or health sciences.

• The Telos Endowed Scholarship Fund established with a gift from the Arkansas Community Foundation, Inc. for seniors graduating from high school in Arkansas.

• The Al and Beverlyn Eckert Odyssey Endowment to benefit students’ experiential opportunities to enhance their understanding of environmental studies.

To find out more about how you can help meet the Walker Challenge, contact the Office of Advancement at 501-450-1223.

A surprise for the teacher

Dr. Richard Rolleigh ’67 reacts to the news that Dr. R. Edward Hendrick ’68 has given a generous gift to establish the Richard Rolleigh Odyssey Endowment Fund for Undergraduate Research at Hendrix. Dr. Rolleigh, who is retiring after teaching physics at Hendrix for 34 years, has just concluded his Last Lecture during Alumni Weekend. The drawing in the background is part of his illustration of the theory of relativity.

The Gills, members of First United Methodist Church of Little Rock, were instrumental in starting the workshop in 1984. Since then, more than 380 ministers – including more than 60 percent of the current active United Methodist clergy in Arkansas – have attended. Their recent $50,000 donation has created the John and Marjem Gill Annual Preaching Workshop and Lectures Endowment, which will allow the two-day workshop to become a permanent, annual resource for Methodist ministers and Hendrix students alike.

The endowment will provide resources to bring to campus each year a national leading preacher or professor with expertise in homiletics. The workshop leader will present a lecture that is open to the public, lead a workshop for clergy, and, when appropriate, preach in the chapel, meet with pre-theological students, and visit classes of Hendrix students.

"I have been very blessed during my time at Hendrix to have an opportunity to work with John and Marjem on bringing some of the best preachers to Hendrix College,” Clark said. “Their love for the United Methodist Church is seen in so many ways.  Their gracious gift will continue to provide an excellent workshop for Arkansas preachers and current Hendrix students."

Twenty-five clergy from the United Methodist Church of Arkansas will be invited to attend, free of charge, each year. Additional ministers may also choose to participate for a small fee. All interested Hendrix College students are also welcome to the Gill Preaching Workshop, which will be a tremendous resource for them in their own vocational discernment, Clark said.

While on campus for the workshop, participants will engage in activities and discussions that will translate directly into improved sermons and preaching skills. The workshop also will serve to reinforce the historic relationship that exists between Hendrix College and local United Methodist churches in Arkansas, Clark said.

Former leaders include Tom Long, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Gene Lowry. Walter Brueggemann, a preacher and Old Testament scholar, will lead the 2008-09 workshop.

During his 29 years as a member of the Hendrix faculty, Dr. Moffatt had a strong presence in the Hendrix community. Current Hendrix professor Chuck Chappell said of his former professor “He was dapper ... and always a gentleman. He’d tip his hat, say 'hello' when he met you.”

In the classroom, Dr. Moffatt was tough but well-liked. As professor of English, chair of the English Department and Area Head for the Humanities, Dr. Moffatt helped the college become the nationally recognized institution it is today and strengthened the English department.

After retiring to his childhood home in Monticello in 1977, Dr. Moffat remained involved in the life of the College and with Hendrix alumni. He continued his strong love of music and traveling, supporting local music programs and leading tours all around the globe for 25 years.
With his broad interests and strong commitment to excellence, Dr. Moffatt lived the Hendrix motto of “unto the whole person.”

“He personified the ‘Hendrix way’,” Dr. Chappell said.  “He was a giant in the history of Hendrix, in my opinion. He was an inspiring teacher. Beloved would be a good word to describe him.”

With his gift to the new Students Life and Technology Center, the impact of his long and well-lived life will be felt by generations of Hendrix students who did not have the privilege of calling him “Professor.”

The 160-page book, Gandhi’s Hope: Learning from World Religions as a Path to Peace, is published by Orbis Press and is available at most bookstores and at Amazon.com for $15.          

“Whether we are Christians or Jews, Muslims or Hindus, Buddhists or Sikh, we face five serious challenges,” said McDaniel, author of several books on religion and ecology. “These challenges are to live compassionately, to live self-critically, to live simply, to live ecologically and to welcome religious diversity.”  

Gandhi’s Hope treats all of the challenges, but is aimed specifically at helping spiritually interested readers respond to the last challenge of welcoming religious diversity. Guided by a form of philosophy called process philosophy, McDaniel shows how people from different religions can cultivate a culture of peace by learning from the various world religions, even as they remain rooted in their own.       

“Each religion contains truth relevant to a flourishing of life,” McDaniel said, “while no religion contains all the truth, which is always more than any individuals or communities experience.” In this sense, McDaniel said, the book follows Gandhi who believed that the heart of religion lies in seeking truth in companionship with others, not in claiming to have all the truth.   

McDaniel, who holds a doctorate degree from Claremont School of Theology, said the book emerged out of his 20 years of teaching world religions at Hendrix.                  

The professor hopes that the book is helpful to individual readers and also to groups of readers who are engaged in a study of the religions in the context of a college classroom or a community of faith.     

A member of the First United Methodist Church in Conway and an oblate at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Erie, Pa., McDaniel is involved in inter-religious dialogue, especially Christian-Buddhist dialogue. His other books have included With Roots and Wings: Christianity in an Age of Ecology and Dialogue; Living from the Center; Spirituality in an Age of Consumerism; Of God and Pelicans: A Theology of Reverence for Life; and Earth, Sky, Gods, and Mortals: Developing an Ecological Spirituality.         

 A loyal supporter of Hendrix College since 1950, Mrs. Shivley is known for the engaging
spirit of her philanthropy. She looks at her donations to Hendrix as an investment in the future – a point she made again on May 17 when she accepted the Stanley S. Kresge Award at a banquet in her honor on the Hendrix campus.

The Kresge Award is given annually by the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation. The Foundation established the award in 1987 to honor “a United Methodist who embodies two important characteristics of the late Staley S. Kresge: dedicated membership in The United Methodist Church and unselfish support of United Methodist Higher Education.”

President J. Timothy Cloyd nominated Mrs. Shivley for the honor, noting that “She has supported her alma mater with not just her financial gifts, but also with her enthusiasm and joyful presence. She has used her gifts to help build a culture of philanthropy at Hendrix.”

About 100 of her admirers gathered in Hulen Ballroom for the tribute to Mrs. Shivley. Dr. Thomas Sidney Yow III, president and CEO of the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation, traveled to Hendrix to present the award. The award includes a medallion, a framed certificate and a $10,000 gift to the College’s endowment to establish a scholarship in Mrs. Shivley’s honor.

“I knew we’d made the right decision,” Dr. Yow said, “when we signed the scholarship agreement and Mrs. Shivley said, ‘That’s one more we can help.’

Her belief in the life-changing power of a liberal arts education is what drives Mrs. Shivley’s philanthropy. She sees her gifts not only changing the lives of those individuals who receive scholarships and grants with the dollars she has given, but also benefiting all those who come in contact with future Hendrix graduates. This ripple effect multiplies the impact of every gift.

Over the years, she and her late husband Charles have given Hendrix more than $1 million, most of it in the form of challenge grants encouraging others to join her in giving. Most recently, she has established the Lucile Esmon Shivley Fund for Global Service in support of the Odyssey program. Her gift will provide funding for student projects that incorporate service learning into international travel or study aboard experiences.

In addition to her support of Hendrix. Mrs. Shivley has been a lifelong Methodist. At 93, she still occasionally teaches Sunday School at Highland Valley United Methodist Church in Little Rock, where she has been a member for nearly 20 years, and volunteers at Camp Aldersgate, a United Methodist campus near Little Rock. Her pastor, Dr. Kurt Boggan, gave the invocation at the Kresge Award banquet.

Other speakers included Bishop Charles N. Crutchfield, bishop of the Arkansas Area of the United Methodist Church; Mitchell Boone ’07, a Rockwall, Texas, a United Methodist Youth Fellowship Scholar and student pastor of Springfield United Methodist Church; Kelly Simon ’97 of Little Rock who responded to Mrs. Shivley’s most recent challenge grant to increase membership in the Young President’s Club; and President Cloyd. Rock Jones ’80, executive vice president for Advancement, was master of ceremonies for the evening.

Hendrix President J. Timothy Cloyd detailed the plans at a groundbreaking ceremony on the site of the future Wellness and Athletics Center, which is on the north corner of Harkrider and Siebenmorgen streets.

The center and the athletic fields will span the length of Siebenmorgen from Harkrider almost to I-40.  Kirchner Architecture of Little Rock is project architect, and SportsPLAN Studio of Kansas City, Mo., is facility designer.

“The focus of all fitness and athletic programs at Hendrix, as well as other liberal arts colleges, is to cultivate the student as a whole person,” said Cloyd.  “This state-of-the-art center will offer students and the campus community more space and better facilities for their total development.”

Cloyd said he is grateful to those who have already provided financial support for the Wellness and Athletics Center, including the Mabee Foundation which issued a $2 million challenge grant last November for the project.

Hendrix Board of Trustees Chair R. Madison Murphy ’80 said the center is an investment in the future for the college. “Hendrix has already claimed a national leadership position in higher education, and the new Wellness and Athletics Center marks a further commitment by the college to enhancing the value of academics and campus life for our students.”

The Wellness and Athletics Center will include a competition gymnasium for basketball and volleyball; a recreational gymnasium with two full courts for intramural programs; an aquatic center for competitive and recreational swimming and diving; a fitness center; an exercise studio; a kinesiology lab and classrooms; a rock-climbing wall; locker rooms, and staff offices.

The center will be built on the property currently occupied by the soccer field, which is being relocated east of the center off Siebenmorgen Street. Construction of the soccer field has begun and will be completed in time for this fall’s soccer season.

The Wellness and Athletics Center, which will replace Grove Gymnasium built in 1961 when student enrollment was about half of what it is today, will be positioned facing the campus on the center line to Hendrix’s main campus entrance on Harkrider Street. The property site for the center will need to be raised about six feet to align with the campus entrance.

The college currently has 17 athletic teams that include men’s and women’s programs.  More than 20 percent of Hendrix students participate in non-scholarship NCAA Division III sports, and more than 60 percent of the students participate in one or more intramural sports programs.

It comes as no big surprise that Jay Barth ’87 includes Hendrix students in the acknowledgments of his latest book, Arkansas Politics and Government.

A winner of four different Hendrix senior classes’ Faculty Appreciation Award, the politics professor is a master at weaving students into all aspects of his work.

“I cannot thank enough the students at Hendrix College who have brought such joy to my professional and personal life through their enthusiasm for the study of politics and for their deep civility and kindness to me,” writes Dr. Barth. “The academic skill of the students with whom I have had the opportunity to work in my life as a professor is evidenced by the fact that several works written by them are cited in this book.”

Arkansas Politics and Government is the second edition of a book written by the late Diane D. Blair, a prominent professor of political science at the University of Arkansas who died of cancer in 2000 soon after beginning the revision. The newest edition, co-authored by Barth and released in April, discusses the shifts in Arkansas politics and government.

Barth also credits Grant Cox ’02 with providing important research assistance on the book, which is available most Arkansas bookstores, the Hendrix bookstore and from the publisher, University of Nebraska Press, www.nebraskapress.unl.edu.

Numerous book signings, including a reception on June 13 in the Georgetown home of Jonathan Rhodes ’98, the Hendrix alumni representative for Washington, D.C., have connected Dr. Barth with Hendrix alumni, colleagues and friends and have given him a platform to talk about his passion, Arkansas and Southern politics.

The book’s publication has also attracted media attention to Barth and Hendrix, including the cover article of the May 22 High Profile section in The Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Barth used the book as a textbook this past semester for an Arkansas Politics Seminar. In addition to the class work, the 15 seminar students got practical experience working at a variety of political and governmental jobs, including the attorney general’s office, the American Civil Liberties Union, Arkansas Advocates and the Democratic House.

“A lot of political scientists tell themselves they shouldn’t get involved outside the academic arena because it threatens their objectivity,” said Barth in the High Profile article. “I think I’ve been able to achieve engagement in things I care about without losing my objectivity. What I hope to show my students is that you learn a lot from being in the public arena, but that you also have the responsibility to maintain that objective distance.”

The newest edition builds on Blair’s work which highlighted both the decades of failure by Arkansas’ government to live up to the state’s motto of Regnat Populus (“The People Rule”) and the positive trends of democracy. The book chronicles the development over the past 15 years – the two-term U.S. presidency of native son Bill Clinton, the retirement of players who defined the state’s politics in the nation’s most extreme legislative term limits, the complete overhaul of the state’s court system and the declaration that the state’s public education system was unconstitutionally inadequate and inequitable.

Barth, a central Arkansas native and a leading analyst, author and academic authority on the politics of Arkansas and the South, is a magna cum laude Hendrix graduate in American studies. He received a master’s degree in 1989 and a doctorate degree in 1994 in political science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

His public affairs interest led him to a 1989 internship for Clinton in the governor’s office and to paid work in Clinton’s 1990 gubernatorial campaign. In 1992, he was a precinct captain in Orange County, N.C., for Clinton’s first White House race.

Barth has been a member of the Hendrix faculty since 1994 and is a member of the Inaugural Faculty of the University of Arkansas’ Clinton School of Public Service. He chairs the Hendrix Odyssey Task Force which has helped developed the new curricular program, Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning.

He currently serves on the board of directors for the National Council on Community and Justice and is a national board representative for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Ten students from Hendrix are forging new territory while on a study tour this summer in East Asia.This is the first time Hendrix has sponsored a student tour to East Asia, and it is the first time American students have studied at Heilongjiang University in Harbin, an industrial city that has historical ties to former Eastern Bloc nations.

The entourage left Little Rock July 3 for a 15-day tour known as "The China Odyssey." Hendrix Professor Jay McDaniel is leading the tour, which begins in Beijing. For their first four days, students will tour the Great Wall and visit the Forbidden City, a Taoist temple and a Buddhist monastery.  They will also meet with students from Beijing Normal University, which is a teaching college. 

From Beijing, they will take an overnight train ride to Harbin where they will stay in apartments provided by Heilongjiang University.  Hendrix and Chinese students will participate in a four-day morning course, "Process Thought and Chinese Thought in an Age of Globalization," which Dr. McDaniel will teach at the university.  In class, students will study and discuss process thought, higher education and globalization.  Dr. McDaniel expects 200 Chinese students to participate in the class, which will use four common texts, each of which is in English and Chinese.

During the rest of their 10-day stay in Harbin, students will visit with religious and cultural leaders, learn about sports and music in China, meet with local entrepreneurs, and take a two-day tour of Inner Mongolia. Their Harbin hosts will be Professor Li, a faculty member at Heilongjian and editor of the well-known journal Qui Shi (Seeking Truth), and Guo Sheng Tie, one of Li's assistants.

The trip is sponsored by the Steel Center for the Study of Religion and Philosophy and the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Hendrix.

Student participants include three Arkansans, Zach Beal of Conway, Emily Morgan of Cabot, and Josh Wilson of El Dorado; four Texans, Mitchell Boone of Rockwall, Ingrid Geisler of Dallas, Katie Howard of Denton and Laura McKain of Pleasanton; Robin Bischol of Bloomfield, Mo.; Dana DeMilt of Bartlett, Tenn.; and Elise Stangle of Athens, Ga.

The China Odyssey is the brainchild of McDaniel, who has taught world religions for the past 20 years at Hendrix and is a process theologian. Last year, he was invited to Harbin to participate in a conference on Process Thought and Cultural Thought in China. McDaniel gave a public lecture on ecology and process thought and met the president of the Heilongjan University. The seed was planted for the summer tour.

The China Odyssey title refers to the fact that China, the oldest living civilization, is on a journey or odyssey into the future, which now involves an intensive dialogue with the West. It also refers to the journey the students are taking.

McDaniel said the study tour is an important experience for Hendrix students because China is becoming a key player in world history and in world economy.

"Increasingly we realize that China, the world's oldest and most enduring civilization, is ascending to the position of a world power. The 21^st century will be, in many ways, the China century," he said. "I am taking students from Hendrix to see the future."

Still, the primary purpose for the trip involves friendships, the professor said. "Our aim is to make friends and meet people," he said. "Most importantly, we want to take students to meet other students, to see how they think, and to return with possibilities for continued interchange vis-à-vis discussions that transpire with help from the Internet.  Meanwhile, each student also has much to learn in terms of personal interests."

Ingrid Geisler, a Hendrix biology major who plans to become a veterinarian, said she hopes to explore traditional Chinese medicine while on the trip, along with learning about the culture and religion.

"I am particularly interested in Taoism and Taoist healing," she said. "Continuing my study of the Chinese language will also be an important part of being in China."

Hendrix senior Emily Morgan said she is interested in learning about what it's like to be a college student in China and how that is different from America. "And I would love to visit a zoo!" she said.

Hendrix students have created a Web site for The China Odyssey www.chinaodyssey.org with more details about the tour, including a full course description, a profile of each student, a page published in Chinese for Chinese-speaking friends in China and other parts of the world and a forum for discussion.

Julie doesn't seem to have wasted any time during her four years at Hendrix. The Conway native recently received Odyssey Program funding to work with physics professor Robert Dunn on a ring laser gyroscope that measures the earth's rotation as a way of gathering information about geophysical effects such as polar motion and seismic waves.

Julie has been experimenting with the ring laser in the basement of Acxiom Hall at Hendrix, as well as making seismic wave measurements using the largest ring laser in the world, which is located between Conway and Greenbrier.

"The best way to learn physics is by doing physics," said Dunn. "And original research is the most exciting way to do it."

"I learned about optics, geology, engineering, and I even dug a ditch or two," Julie said of her Odyssey experience. She also recently traveled to Los Angeles to present a paper on her research at the annual American Physical Society conference.

Julie has also made significant strides in her athletic career. She holds all the Hendrix track records from 1500-5k, the 4x400, and the XC 5k and 6k record. She was an All American in both the 3000 meter steeplechase in 2005 and in cross country this past fall. At the 2005 South/Southeast Region she was honored as the Female Athlete of the Year.

"Julie is a terrific example of a student-athlete who has really applied herself both academically and athletically, and succeeded marvelously in both areas," said Hendrix Athletic Director Danny Powell. "She has a tremendous work ethic, enjoys what she does and competes fiercely." He added, "It has been a true privilege to watch her develop over four years as a student and as an athlete, and I have all the confidence in the world that she'll keep doing great things after she leaves Hendrix."

Julie's main focus in track now is the steeplechase. Having already run the best time by a Division III athlete last year, she now wants to take the national record.

"I never would have dreamed that I would have had the success in running that I have had here," Julie said. "I think I have learned that sometimes you have to redefine the image you have of yourself as an athlete to see what you are truly capable of."

Julie has also had to redefine herself as a student. "Four years ago I would never have thought that I would end up majoring in physics," she said. "Somehow, I learned to find a sense of satisfaction on working on one problem for five hours and finally figuring out what I did wrong in the second step. It's neat to know the principles behind how everything works!"

Julie spends her time balancing equally impressive careers in both track and physics. She begins every morning with some stretches and a "light run" of 40 to 60 minutes. She then spends nearly seven hours in class, studying or working in the physics lab as a teacher's assistant. From there she goes to a three-hour team practice and finishes the night with five hours of studying in the math lab.

"Sure, I've run somewhere around 4,000 miles in the past 12 months," Julie said. "But all the hard work in the world won't get you anywhere without the people that you lean on when things get hard."

Despite her numerous accomplishments, Julie is quick to praise her friends and teammates. Though she easily won the South/Southeast Regional Championship, for her the best part of the race was having her teammate, Laura Broederdorf, qualify for nationals with her.

She is also surprisingly humble. "In a lot of ways, I think I've just gotten lucky," she said. "I'm lucky to have a great coach, great teammates, and a supportive athletic department ... I feel pretty blessed to be part of the Hendrix community."

Connie Jia Yue is a graduate of Central High School in Little Rock

Experience shapes every individual.  It is the most effective way to gain knowledge.  Even at my relative young age, I have obtained knowledge that I could never gain from the written word alone.  There is not just one experience that has created the diversity I take to college.  My single-most formative experience has been extensive travel to very different places.

When asked where I come from, I simply say, "China."  After all, I look Asian and my parents are native Chinese.  Although this is the truth, the answer is somehow inadequate.  In fact, I have been shaped, literally, by travels beyond China.  Most Asians think I appear to be a Japanese girl, which is an oddity because Asians can distinguish among Orientals.  However, as a young child, I lived in Hokkaido, where I was dramatically influenced by the culture.  Anime and Manga, typical Japanese Art, inspired me to draw and design, which have became my passions.

Japan and anime influenced my earliest years, but I returned to China during junior high, spending two years at a boarding school.  At first, speaking Chinese was a challenge.  Incomprehensible words and gestures swirled around me, followed by embarrassing laughter.  To compensate for my language problem, I sank into piles of textbooks.  Soon, I was able to speak and write Chinese fluently.  In the process, the "Japanese girl" was absorbing Chinese traits.

Fate had even greater plans for me when my family moved to Stockholm, Sweden.  The beauty of the drastic differences between the Occidental and Oriental worlds fascinated me, and I could not get enough of the openness of Europe and the Europeans.  For one thing, my life in Sweden introduced me to a new passion - sports.  There were swimming, skiing and soccer.  I did not become a pro-athlete, but I definitely reached pro-amateur status.  For another thing, traveling around Europe, I met a host of new friends.

The destiny of this Oriental-European gal was not finished.  Three years ago, I came to America.  Influenced strongly by a new community, I was able to think like an American.  I went public with my drawings, which were no longer hidden in sketchbooks.  My artwork was in demand!  Much of my work has been permanently hung in classrooms, competition halls, and even on club T-shirts.  Best of all, the more people liked my work, the more confidence I gained, and the better my work became.

Where am I from? I am form Japan, China, Sweden and America.  I am the global society's poster child, multi-cultures to the extreme, representing diversity at its best.  Flexibility in accepting new environments and cultures is the natural for me.  Possessing an open mind, I've gained international values from four cultures and four languages.  My travel experience prepared me for the global society awaiting me.  I'm artistic, diligent, and vigorous.  Confident and articulate, I meet no strangers.  I come from worldwide destinations, and the path to my next formative stage clearly points to Hendrix College!

Corey Jones of Jonesboro, Ark. is a graduate of the Arkansas School of Math and Science.

Life.  It's made of everything from the dew on the hay in your uncle's yard to those truck rides in the hills on holidays to see the cousins.  It has to include the noise of family gatherings and the soft humidity of the scents from ham and turkey and biscuit-made dumplings.  It's filled with the heys and yays and darns that fly around every quiet morning and rumbling lively conversation and blazing argument.  It is nothing without the golden autumns with some colored leaves in dense populations everywhere that the wind touches and many that it hasn't.  It is full of muddy driveways after the damp sweet inhale of a summer rain.  It's everything from the dusty pickup with the broken air conditioner that you drove at seven to the hotrod your dad handed off to his brother a couple months ago.  The smoke from the believers and the dry lukewarm of the outside all swirling in the spring breeze while the air is still free of the clouds from burnt fields.  It is the nights of the lulling drone of countless insects and frogs stabbing a bit before drawing out the assurance, as well as the calm twitters and caws of hawks and jays and morning birds aplenty.  Life is somewhere in that.  Somewhere under the snow on the steps of that old trailer is the life, the feeling, the meaning.  The meaning is somewhere inside, at the center of it all…

Board Chair Madison Murphy announces the Trustees' decision at a news conference. 

Ground-breaking for the first of five possible neighborhoods is expected to begin in spring 2007. The first neighborhood will include the following elements:

• 68 single family detached houses
• 23 townhouses and live/work homes
• 75 apartments
• 69,683 square-feet of retail/office space

The Board selected Traditional Neighborhood Development Partners, LLC, of Durham, N.C., as project developers. The company specializes in the creation of compact, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods that feature excellent architecture and high-quality buildings. Among TND Partners’ projects is Trinity Heights, an award-winning project adjacent to Duke University’s East Campus, which has become one of Durham’s most popular neighborhoods.

Hendrix President J. Timothy Cloyd said The Village at Hendrix will be the first fully developed neighborhood in Arkansas to adopt New Urbanist principles that promote the revival of traditional neighborhoods.

Cloyd anticipates that The Village at Hendrix will be developed in five phases over the next 10 years. The goal of commercial offerings will be to enhance the community by adding amenities and services such as a corner grocery, a coffeehouse, a bookstore and an ice cream shop, a charter school and a hotel.

For more details about The Village at Hendrix and other new projects and programs, visit our Hendrix on the move site.

A.C. Millar had a determined look about him even at age 3.

Editor’s note: A.C. Millar was president of Hendrix College from 1887 to 1902 and again, from 1910 to 1913. He was president when Central Collegiate Institute was renamed Hendrix College in 1889 and when the College moved from Altus to Conway in 1890.

About the Author

President's Gallery

WEB EXTRA:
Memories of Alexander Copeland Millar, My Grandfather 
by George D. Millar, Jr. '49

I first encountered my great-grandfather in a series of albums that sat on a slanted shelf in my parents’ living room.  The books traced the history of the Millar clan from eighteenth-century Ireland to twentieth-century America, but at the heart of every volume was the family patriarch, A. C. Millar. I pored over those musty books, spellbound and envious. Who was this bearded man? Why were people willing to do whatever he said, even when he was little more than a pimply teenager?  And more to the point, how could I ever compete with someone who became president of a college when he was only 25?
 
When I graduated from Hendrix at the age of 21, I compared my achievements with A. C.’s and found them paltry. To an English major with no idea what to do next, A. C. Millar’s charisma and precocity seemed almost as daunting as the fact that Carson McCullers published The Heart is a Lonely Hunter when she was only 23.

There was a lot I didn’t know back then—the books that still sit on my parents’ living room shelf tell only part of the story. Sometime in the late sixties, my grandfather and my great uncle divided the family papers between A. C.’s three grandchildren.  Aunt Boots, Elizabeth Millar Rush, who lives in Los Altos Hills, Calif., got one part of the collection. My father, Paul Harwood Millar Jr., got another. And their cousin, George Dana Millar Jr., who lives in Conway, got the rest.  Together, these letters and diaries reveal the evolution of Hendrix College and how it fits into the history of higher education in America.  
 

About Alex

Slang, and How it is Slung

Missouri and the ministry

Alex arrives in Altus

The move to Conway

The first hard winter

The loss of George

Alex's departure and return

Tomorrow’s business leaders must be equipped to operate effectively in a global society. Competing in a global marketplace requires language skills and cultural dexterity.

To prepare our graduates to compete globally, Hendrix is enhancing offerings in International Business, International Relations, and Global Studies. We are also providing opportunities for students to experience other cultures and other ways of thinking.

International education makes you good at conceptually reading cross-cultural maps and solving puzzles. These are important skills in a global environment.

The eight students who travel to China this summer with economics and business professors Dr. Keith Berry ’73 and Stephen Kerr ’76 will be developing such skills as they study the impact of Chinese culture on business and entrepreneurship practices. Guided by Shane Nunn ’87, a successful businessman in China, they will visit corporations, factories and markets in Beijing, Shanghai, and elsewhere. During the trip, they will evaluate the feasibility of China-related business plans they are developing now, comparing their business assumptions with the reality they encounter in China.

International travel and service projects, study abroad and cross-cultural experiences all fit neatly under the umbrella of Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning, the component of the Hendrix curriculum that gives students transcript recognition for completing experiential learning projects. With the Odyssey Program as catalyst, interest in international education is expanding on the Hendrix campus.

Experiencing cultures different from our own is important beyond its impact on business success.

Cross-cultural experiences jar you out of complacency; forcing you to think in different patterns and to be more aware of things that you take for granted – everything from the way you shop to what is polite or impolite. These experiences make you think about your values. If you are never immersed in that “sea of otherness” you experience in another culture then you begin to believe that the world that we create culturally is the way the world is absolutely. By giving students chances to be immersed in other cultures, we help them to create full lives for themselves and to fulfill their own personal odysseys.

International study is also important because our world needs leaders who can reach across cultural divides to solve problems that affect all of us.

Right now, our greatest humanitarian and security challenges are in Africa, where 25 million AIDS orphans are living today. African nations don’t have the resources to deal with this pandemic. We can’t allow conditions to deteriorate and create more failed states like Somalia and Afghanistan, where the government can’t provide security and violence spirals.

Addressing this global problem begins with understanding the cultural and economic forces that brought us to this point.

Three groups of Hendrix students and faculty will be traveling and learning on the African continent this summer. With funding from the Hendrix-Lilly Vocations Initiative, Dr. Anne Goldberg is leading a group of students who will volunteer at an orphanage for AIDS babies in Tanzania. Dr. Carol West and Dr. Allison Shutt are leading another group of students to South Africa, to visit sites they’ve learned about in African history, literature and film classes, and to develop an understanding of the culture and people.

At the end of June, 11 students will travel to Rwanda with me, Provost Robert Entzminger and Dr. Daniel Whelan. We are being lead by David Knight ’73, a member of the Board of Trustees. We will learn how a nation recovering from genocide that claimed more than 1 million lives is rebuilding itself through a process of reconciliation and forgiveness. The students are reading The Bishop of Rwanda by Bishop John Rucyahana in preparation for the trip, which will include a visit to his Sonrise Academy, where Hutu and Tutsi orphans live together. Bishop John will visit Hendrix on April 11 to lead a chapel service on reconciliation and forgiveness; giving students who can’t travel to Africa a chance to expand their worldview.

Every opportunity to connect with other cultures is a chance to build trust and create understanding, which are vital to our success as human beings and to our survival as a species.

Odyssey grants help make international travel and study possible for our students and faculty. Call the Office of Advancement (501-450-1223) to learn more about how your gift to fund the Odyssey Program can help build bridges between cultures. 

By Ashby Bland Crowder

When my wife Lynn and I arrived in Poland in early September of 2005, it was almost as warm as Arkansas—and the days much longer. But how things changed in the next few months. Poland’s latitude substantially dispenses with daylight by mid-December; at 3:30 in the afternoon (so-called) it was as dark as the inside of a cow. It is hard to say when full-daylight emerged in the winter morning because the ubiquitous coal-burning stoves set a haze that made the whole day crepuscular. Once June came round, there was almost no darkness. It did not get quite all the way dark at night, and by 4 a.m. the sun, blazing in one’s curtainless bedroom window, urged one’s face to the ruelle in the hope of just one more hour’s sleep. Winter was very much better for sleeping. Time in Poland is as out of joint as Hamlet says it was in Denmark.

For about fifty percent of my year in Poland I was, in effect, deaf, dumb, and illiterate. The Polish language to me was a cacophany of meaningless noises, I was unable to say words that people could understand, and everywhere I saw signs, newspapers, schedules, and menus that I could not read. I did not advance much beyond “dzien dobry” (hello) and “do widzenia” (good bye) in the extremely difficult Polish language.

You might think this a terrible fix to find myself in, but not so. I rather entered into a fresh relationship with my surroundings: I became hyper-visually orientated. I became an inveterate gawker at everything--the carved fox coming round the tree on the facade of Leopold Kindermann’s art nouveau villa; the carved statues of mill-workers standing right there with the Greek gods atop Palac Poznanski (which was the residence of the owner of the next-door and now closed weaving and spinning factory, one of the largest in nineteenth-century Lodz); the evening silhouette of the Julian Tuwim park-bench statue and the long shadow it cast down ulica Piotrkowska; and the peeling stucco of the secondary streets, the brick exposed like raw flesh, the city and the people too poor to heal these sick buildings.

Observation of people and other creatures is another aspect of my experience as an illiterate. In Park Staroczieiski one morning in early spring I saw two young women greet each other with the traditional Polish cheek-kisses; then they put their bags down on the park bench and ran off on their morning jog around the park together. In what American city of 850,000, I wondered, would two women leave their belongings unattended on a park bench? As I walked on I cast my eyes back on a gathering of casual teen-agers near the bench, but they seemed no threat to the girls’ belongings.

Read the full account of Dr. Crowder's time in Poland:

Snow transforms the landscape
Except for a few pigeons, communists long gone
The small wounds of poverty
Progress also brings loss
No time to stop for death
Holocaust horrors penetrate language barrier
English creeps into Polish vernacular

Plus, check out Dr. Crowder's Poland Fun Facts.

By ROB O’CONNOR ’95

In January, Dr. Ian King, professor of politics, Dr. Deb Skok, assistant professor of history, and Dr. Alex Vernon, assistant professor of English, traveled to Vietnam, where they spent two weeks investigating opportunities for future collaboration between Hendrix students and faculty and their peers in Vietnam, as well as possibilities for engaged learning experiences in Vietnam for Hendrix students.

During their stay in Vietnam, the Hendrix professors visited with faculty and administrators from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Institute for Educational Research in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), as well as Can Tho University and the Hoa An Biodiversity Application Research Center in Can Tho City.  In the capital city of Hanoi, the group met with representatives of Hanoi University of Education, the Vietnamese Women’s Union, and the College of Social Sciences and the Humanities at Hanoi National University. 

For each of the three Hendrix faculty members, the trip was an opportunity to experience firsthand a country that has been a subject in their courses, including Dr. King’s Asian Politics course, Dr. Skok’s Vietnam and the 60s social history course, and Dr. Vernon’s Vietnam in the Literary Imagination course.

“For a long time, I think we tended to treat Vietnam as a war, not a country, and I am interested in the country,” said Dr. Skok. “For me, that’s what drew me to the country initially.”

“I study war literature, particularly American war literature of the 20th century. And the American war in Vietnam is the war, and the war generation, that most immediately influenced our generation,” said Dr. Vernon. 

Dr. Vernon is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy.  He is the coauthor of The Eyes of Orion: Five Tank Lieutenants in the Persian Gulf War and editor of Arms and the Self: War, the Military, and Autobiographical Writing.  Last Spring, Dr. Vernon published most succinctly bred, a memoir of his childhood, his education at West Point, his service as a tank commander during the first Persian Gulf War, and his perspective as an academic viewing the coming of the second Gulf War. 

“It’s only natural that, the old soldier that I am, I would want to walk the same ground and breathe the same air,” he said.

It is an ideal moment for students and faculty from the West to study in Vietnam, said Dr. Skok.  In 1986, the country instituted a policy called doi moi, or economic restructuring.

Educators are particularly interested in revitalizing the centrally-controlled education system to encourage more creative teaching methods, such as hands-on learning.

“That goes along with their economic restructuring,” Skok explained.  “You need creative thinkers in the economy, and that requires a different pedagogy.”

Most universities in Vietnam are eager to establish relations with foreign universities, and many schools already have established exchange programs for foreign students, Skok said.

Vietnam should appeal to students and faculty with a wide variety of interests, from language and cultural history to service projects and biodiversity issues, Skok said.

“There are tons of opportunities in Vietnam,” she said. 

Dr. Vernon agreed.

“The opportunities for individuals are plentiful … doing service work in orphanages, studying mangrove ecosystems as they recover from the war, exploring one of the Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups, witnessing the economic transformation currently underway, or immersing oneself in a native art form or craft,” he explained.

“Our society warehouses convicts, often in subhuman living conditions. On a parallel track, the world of thoroughbred racing routinely sends over-the-hill horses to the slaughterhouse,” Sheri says.

The film pairs inmates with end-of-career horses and records the changes the inmates experience as a result of this relationship.

Lile said her decision to retire ties to recent milestones reached by the Foundation – surpassing $100 million in assets in its 30th anniversary year, moving to office space in the train station with room for future growth and the achievement of significant sustainability and credibility.

 “It is a great feeling to go out at the top of my game,” she said.  “Also, I’m turning 70 next year and I want to spend more time with my husband, children and grandchildren.” A native of Hope, she and her husband, John ’59, a Little Rock attorney, have four children and five grandchildren.

A native of Charleston, Eason graduated from Hendrix College with distinction in Economics and Business. She uses her law and accounting background to work with donors, professional advisors and affiliate community foundations to build philanthropic funds for the benefit of Arkansas. In 2001, she was named a Hull Fellow and attended the Hull Leadership Program, a program to nurture and inspire the Southeast’s next generation of philanthropic leaders. In 2005, she was selected as one of five Americans to be a Transatlantic Community Foundation Fellow.  

Patterson is currently the president of Ring 308 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians where he performs a free annual Holiday of Lights magic show for White County residents. In his acceptance speech, he used the ATLA president’s gavel as a magic wand to levitate a glass of water as he spoke of the magic of ATLA before toasting the members.

Patterson has many years of experience as a leader of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association. He has served on the board of governors since 2000 and has been a member of the executive committee since 2004, serving as secretary-treasurer and then vice president in 2005.

Patterson is also a member of the American Association for Justice, the Arkansas Bar Association, and is a past president of the White County Bar Association. Patterson has led numerous legal education seminars around the state instructing other lawyers on how to represent injured clients.

A former Arkansas State Golf Champion, Patterson was elected to the Sports Hall of Honor at Hendrix College in 2002. He is married to Cara Walker Patterson '77 and has two daughters, Anna Patterson Strong '04, an analyst with Acxiom Corporation in Conway, and Amy W. Patterson, the director of weekday child ministries at St. James United Methodist Church in Little Rock. His son-in-law, Aaron C. Strong ’03, is a third-year medical student at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Hendrix is charting progress. We’re moving ahead quickly. We’re looking back to note how far we’ve come. We’re looking forward, scanning the horizon and turning our sextant toward the stars to make sure we stay on course.

So, what is the result of all this reconnaissance? How are we doing?

Great! Your college is making progress on every front. The progress we have made so far is impressive and inspiring. Some examples:

• By the time you read this message, I am confident we will have met our original $70 million campaign goal more than a year ahead of schedule. We stand at $69 million today, with more gifts and pledges expected to arrive before the end of the year.
• We have raised our campaign goal to $100 million and extended the end date to 2010.
• We have received two challenge grants that, when met, will generate $12 million in endowed funds to support the Odyssey program and embed it in the Hendrix culture.
• We have built an endowment of more than $10 million to support scholarships and financial aid.
• We opened a new $23 million Wellness and Athletics Center with a dinner and a convocation attended by more than 700 people where former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley was the featured speaker.
• We have awarded close to $1 million in grants to support 1,747 Odyssey projects involving Hendrix students and faculty on campus, throughout the United States and on six continents. Odyssey projects have life-changing impact on students like Lynn Christenson ’09 whose work feeding children at an orphanage in Tanzania helped her discover how she can make a difference in the world.
• We have selected Hendrix alumni to receive honors, among them the 2007-08 Odyssey Medals, which will be presented on Thursday, Feb. 7.
• We have seen close friends of the College honored. On Nov. 14, Lucile Shivley ’32, a long-time supporter of Hendrix, was named 2007 Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year by the Arkansas chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). Hendrix nominated Lucile for the well-deserved honor. Her youthful joy in giving is an inspiration to all of us.

We have accomplished much and we have many reasons to celebrate. Yet Hendrix’s odyssey toward national leadership in engaged liberal arts education is just beginning. There is so much more ahead – so many more moments of triumph to savor, so many more challenges to overcome – before this journey ends.

The first challenges on our horizon are housing a growing student population, endowing the Odyssey Program to ensure that this vital component of the College’s curriculum remains a part of our culture and building a new Student Life and Technology Center to meet the needs of Hendrix students now and in the future.

We are addressing the need for housing by beginning construction on townhouses at the intersection of Mills and Front streets (adjacent to the Art buildings) that will provide space for 70 students in the fall of 2008. We are also, with guidance from the campus master plan, evaluating sites for new on-campus housing, and are considering several options for student housing in The Village at Hendrix, the retail and residential neighborhood being developed east of Harkrider.

Keeping Hendrix at the forefront of American higher education is the unifying goal of The Campaign for Hendrix and is at the center of our discussions about the College’s future. To establish and maintain Hendrix as a national leader in engaged liberal arts is the reason we are raising $100 million by 2010. When we reach this goal, we should have the funds to support the Odyssey Program in perpetuity and to construct the kind of Student Life and Technology Center that will meet the needs of Hendrix students in the 21^st century.

We can’t reach our goal without your continued support. I encourage you to become involved with Hendrix and discover how your support can make a difference in the lives of today’s students. I believe we really are changing the lives of those who can change the world.

H.E.L.P.

Hendrix College’s Early Literacy Program – a partnership between Hendrix College and Sallie Cone Elementary School in Conway – was created in 2004 by Dr. Susan Perry as an intervention program at the elementary school, allowing Hendrix students to work with children who need extra help reading or writing. The program began in grades K-2 but quickly expanded into third and forth grades soon after it was first implemented.

The program has continued and remains an interactive learning tool for education students enrolled at Hendrix College. Through HELP, Hendrix students begin working with small groups of children on a weekly basis throughout the spring semester of their sophomore year when they enroll in a course titled “Children's Literature.” During the experience, Hendrix students are expected to incorporate children's literature into all of their weekly lessons which include a variety of instructional techniques, including readers' theatre, interactive reading aloud, storytelling, puppetry, and other innovative lessons. Students continue working in the program during their junior years as they enroll in the upper-level education courses at Hendrix.

As Hendrix students work with their small groups of children, they are coached by the instructor of the course. Lessons are video-taped and critiqued by classmates and instructors on a weekly basis so Hendrix students can improve their teaching techniques, skills, and strategies. Hendrix students guide all of their instruction using a variety of assessments they administer to their children at the beginning and middle of the semester. All assessment information is shared with each child's teacher. 

The program has been so successful it is used as a model by other institution and recently received the Innovation in Teacher Education Award from the Southeastern Regional Association of Teacher Educators (SRATE). 

Above the Line

The Above the Line Project, funded by Hendrix College Odyssey program and designed by Dr. James Jennings, an associate professor of education and history at Hendrix, studied 22 third graders in the Forrest City School District who previously scored “below” or “below basic” on the Arkansas Benchmark Exam, a state-sponsored testing program designed to grade the educational aptitude of public school students. Following three weeks of intensive remedial studies utilizing the Above the Line Project curriculum, a majority of students improved their test scores in a number of subject areas.

The Above the Line Project also aims to use strategies to improve parental attitudes toward education and involvement by providing parental support skills, as measured by pre- and post-attitudinal surveys and periodic implementation surveys. All 20 parents surveyed as a part of the recent Above the Line Project at Forrest City answered “Yes” when asked “If the Above the Line Project could be offered as an after-school program at your school, would you be interested in enrolling your child?”, while only one of the parents said they would not be interested in attending a special monthly class for parents designed to provide parenting skills associated with learning at home.

Feedback from the Forrest City parents was wholly positive.

“During this project it allowed me to really evaluate myself as a parent,” one parent wrote on the anonymous survey. “I thought I was active with my child because I was present with him. But I can see that if I slack off of him any he will slack off also. So it’s my responsibility to make sure that he’s performing at a level where he needs to be by any means necessary.”

Ridin’ Dirty with Science

Science was made fun this past summer for a group of public school students in Conway. A team of Hendrix College students, led by Hendrix associate chemistry professor Dr. Liz Gron, hosted “Ridin’ Dirty with Science,” a free two-day camp for students in grades 4-7. The Hendrix students teamed with the Faulkner County Boys and Girls Club for the project in attempt to foster an interest in science in elementary and middle school students.

The camp included three main lab experiments. The first was “The Invisible: What grows on water fountains, doorknobs, and telephones?” The second experiment was “Caught Dirty Handed: Are your hands clean after washing them?” The final experiment was “Cleaning with Oranges: How to make cleaning products from orange peels and dry ice.”

Faulkner County Boys and Girls Club program director, Marie Abrams, believes this is a great opportunity for the kids to learn. “Most of the children now want to be scientists after ‘Ridin’ Dirty with Science.’”

Camp participants aren’t the only ones who learned from this project. “The Hendrix students organizing this activity learned about translating science to other students, how to organize and manage a large project and how to network with the larger Conway community,” said Gron.

Hendrix trustee David Knight ’71 led 11 Hendrix students, President J. Timothy Cloyd, Provost Robert L. Entzminger and Dr. Daniel Whelan, assistant professor of politics and international relations, on an Odyssey to Rwanda. Through visits to sites such as the Sonrise Academy, where Hutu and Tutsi orphans live in harmony, and meetings with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his ministers, the group learned first-hand how Rwandans are recovering from the genocidal war that almost destroyed their country.

The Republic of Rwanda in east-central Africa is a primarily agrarian country of 9.9 million people, the most densely populated country in Africa. Per capita income is $1,300. * “It is beautiful, friendly and small – about the size of Maryland,” Knight said, as he spoke to a group of Hendrix alumni and friends attending a Rwanda-focused “Hendrix Huddle” in Little Rock in September. Knight said his involvement in Rwanda began about five years ago when friends recruited him to take photos at Sonrise Academy, a boarding school in Rwanda. He had also been involved with a micro-finance operation that opened in Rwanda.
“What I knew before I went to Rwanda was that tremendous progress has been made in rebuilding the country. But, there is still great need,” he said.

Knight explained the three purposes of the journey to Rwanda:
• An educational experience for our group
• Indentifying internship opportunities for the Odyssey program
• Meeting with the Ministry of Education to finalize arrangements for four students to come to Hendrix for four years on full scholarship.

The travelers met all three goals, learning about Rwanda’s history, culture and people and identifying several opportunities for internships, including one working with President Kagame, and completing arrangements for four Rwandan students who are currently enrolled at Hendrix. “Our trip to Rwanda provided us an opportunity to see and understand how the rest of the world lives,” Knight said. “It allowed us to get involved with meaningful projects and let us see what one person can do.”

“It also gave us practical information on dealing with real and complex problems such as AIDS and poverty,” he added. “And it helped us develop a real personal perspective on our values and our role in life. I believe it helped us answer the question: What do you intend to do in the world and when do you expect to get started?”

“I feel fortunate to have been on this Odyssey and to have spent time with our students,” Knight said.
Dr. Whelan said he welcomed the opportunity to learn more about a country that he believes is misunderstood.

“I appreciated, as a scholar, the opportunity to be a student,” Dr. Whelan said. “The students who went with us were all different,” he added. “They had interests in law, medicine, environment, economics, and accounting. Their differences made the journey more interesting.”

For example, Hendrix senior Jacob Williams of Alma was most interested in the opportunity to learn more about microfinance in Rwanda. He was skeptical about the power of small loans to dramatically transform individual lives.
“But, I got to meet these people and see how their lives have been changed by $50,” Jacob said. “I met a sorghum wholesaler who grew her business from a $300 loan. There was a certain look of pride in her eyes – the look of success. That stuck with me,” he said. “I discovered that microfinance is real and it has a chance to do something real in the world.”
President Cloyd said the impact of the 1994 genocide, when more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were slaughtered over 100 days, is seen all over Rwanda.
 
“The U.S. bears responsibility for not intervening when 10,000 a day were dying,” he said.  “We saw first-hand the cost of that non-intervention.”  “But amidst great tragedy, there is hope,” President Cloyd said. “Rwanda has problems, but the Rwandan people also have solutions.”

One solution for the Rwandan people is to help educate their young people. The Rwandan government is committed to improving schools across the nation and to helping young people study abroad and bring their knowledge back to Rwanda. The government is seeking help from colleges like Hendrix to provide higher education for its young people.

*"Rwanda: History, Geography, Government, and Culture." Infoplease.
© 2000–2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease.
25 Nov. 2007 <http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107926.html>.

Student participants included Ryan Burwinkle ’10 of Bellaire, Texas; Anna Bush ’10 of Hot Springs; Afton Cooper ’10 of Little Rock; Rachel DeCuir ’09 of Lafayette, La.; Mary Flanigan ’09 of Webster Groves, Mo.; Leah Horton ’09 of Austin, Texas; Amanda Keifer ’10 of Cookeville, Tenn..; Leslie Levy ’09 of Austin, Texas; Joe Muller ‘09 of Chesterfield, Mo.; Rosie Valdez ’10 of Little Rock; Jacob Williams ’08 of Alma; and Kelly Zalocusky ’09 of Belleville, Ill.

Their 14-day stay included visits to:
- Kigali Memorial Centre genocide museum
- Cornerstone Leadership Academy
- Kigali School of Finance and Banking
- Kigali Institute for Science and Technology
- Millenium Village and Access Health Care Project
- Living Water well drilling site
- Kigali International Community School
- Opportunity International micro finance bank
- Opportunity International Trust Bank meeting in Ruhengeri
- Sonrise School
- the local Heifer project
- Shyria Hospital
- Bigogwe refugee community
- Imbabzi Orphanage
- Lake Kivu
- the National Museum
- the National University and Medical School
- Paul Farmer’s Partners in Health Project
- a night performance by Intore, a traditional Rwandan dance troupe
- Parc Nacional de L’Akagera

Garth ’52 and Joann Martin ’55 are making a difference at Hendrix, because they believe Hendrix is making a difference in the world.

The Martins, who met on campus and just celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary, still have an affinity for Hendrix after all these years. They recently used planned giving as a means to contribute to the college’s Wellness and Athletics Center. The gift garnered them naming rights for the Hall of Honor.

For Garth, who played football, basketball and ran track at Hendrix, the Wellness and Athletics Center was a perfect fit. Joann, however, is more interested in the upcoming Student Life and Technology Center, which she believes will be a benefit to the Hendrix community.

The Martins believe planned giving is a win-win situation for everyone involved. “Through charitable gift annuities, we were able to make a gift to Hendrix,” said Garth, who added his motives weren’t completely altruistic. “The gift also provided us with an additional income.”

The couple, who served on the Alumni Board of Directors for six years, still find time in their busy volunteer schedule to visit campus regularly for special events such as Alumni Weekend and the Candlelight Carol Service.  Joann says they don’t collect “things” and instead choose to use what money they have to help others through planned giving.

“Hendrix has made tremendous strides in the last few years,” said Garth. “This means we may make some strides in the world,” Joann added.

The Martins are making a difference. Will you?

For more information about giving to Hendrix, contact the Office of Advancement at 501-450-1223 or visit www.hendrix.edu/giving.