Odyssey Medalists

CONWAY, Ark. (Feb. 4, 2008) – The Hendrix College Board of Trustees has approved the awarding Odyssey Medals to five alumni whose life achievements exemplify the Hendrix Odyssey program. The medals will be presented on Thursday during a convocation beginning at 11:10 a.m. in Staples Auditorium. 

The 2007-08 Odyssey Medal recipients include:

• Dr. Jack L. Blackshear Jr. ’64 of Little Rock, who will receive the Odyssey Medal for Service to the World.  A physician with the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Blackshear has made numerous mission trips to Honduras, taking more than 100 medical students with him over the years to help serve those without regular access to physicians.
• Natalie S. Canerday ’85 of Russellville, who will receive 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.
• Bracken P. Darrell ’85 of Frankfurt, Germany, who will receive the Odyssey Medal for Global Awareness. As 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. Darrell has held leadership positions in a variety of multi-national companies including Proctor & Gamble, General Electric and Gillette.
• Kenneth R. Nixon ’65 of Overland Park, Kan., who will receive the Odyssey Medal for Special Projects. As founder and president of Caregiver Technologies, Inc., Nixon developed a distance caregiving system that enables informal care to be provided remotely over the Internet, allowing older adults to stay independent and in their homes longer. The system evolved out of a prototype developed by Nixon and his brothers Vic ’62 and Wade ’81 - all long-distance caregivers - to keep their mother, who had Alzheimer’s, independent on the family farm in Lavaca, Arkansas.
• Walter O. Pryor ’87 of Washington, D.C., who will receive the Odyssey Medal for Professional and Leadership Development. Pryor is a principal with the government relations and public affairs firm The Podesta Group and serves as a policy and legislative strategist.  He has served as legislative director for U.S. Senator Mark Pryor and deputy director and managing attorney for the National Association of Attorneys General.  Pryor also held several positions at the U.S. Department of Justice and practiced law with the firms Jones Day and Metzger, Hollis, Gordon & Mortimer. 

Hendrix College’s Odyssey program, established in 2004, requires Hendrix students to complete three hands-on liberal arts 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. The program developed the concept of “engaged learning” at Hendrix, allowing students to experience liberal arts and sciences “hands-on” educational opportunities outside of the classroom.

Many Hendrix students utilize their personal Odyssey journeys to complete projects around the world – from studying economics in China to emerging economies in Africa – while others compete their projects closer to home – from performing at New York City’s Carnegie Hall to developing a summer hands-on science program for public school children in Conway.

The program has been extremely popular with students and faculty. Since the Odyssey program was implemented, Hendrix College has set new records for applications and for entering students, successes directly attributable to the uniqueness and popularity of the Odyssey program. More than $1 million has already been awarded to fund approximately 1,750 student engaged-learning projects during the past three years.

Hendrix’s Odyssey program has been featured by Time magazine, on NBC’s Today show, in the New York Times, and in other national media.

Hendrix College, founded in 1876, is an undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is among 150 colleges featured in the 2007 edition of the Princeton Review America’s Best Value Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.