Hendrix Alumni Blogazine

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.”

Community gathers to celebrate launch of the project

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.

Hendrix College has been awarded a $1.5 million challenge grant from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla., to help fund the college’s new $22.8 million Student Life and Technology Center, proposed to be one of the most interactive and tech-savvy college facilities in the country. To apply for the $1.5 million grant, Hendrix raised approximately half of the construction cost of the building. To receive the money, the College must raise an additional $11 million by January 1, 2009.

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.

Total cost for the new center and for surrounding playing fields will be approximately $18 million. New fields for competitive and intramural sports will be built for sports including baseball, softball, track and field, soccer, tennis, lacrosse and field hockey.

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.