Hendrix faculty members have been closely connected
to students’ engaged learning experiences since the launch of Your Hendrix Odyssey.
Each Odyssey project includes a faculty mentor. Many Odyssey experiences are collaborative
projects between faculty and students.
Your Hendrix Odyssey has also provided a source of
financial support for activities that allow faculty to continue to grow as teachers
and scholars.
In 2007, Hendrix introduced the Odyssey Professorships
program to acknowledge the vital role that faculty members play in the success of
Your Hendrix Odyssey, its effect on academic life at the College, and the
impact of engaged learning experiences on students.
Hendrix received a challenge grant from the Murphy
Foundation to endow 12 Odyssey Professorships that provide resources for faculty
development and encourage faculty members to develop courses and co-curricular projects
that create additional engaged learning opportunities for Hendrix students.
"The Odyssey Program and the Odyssey Professorships
have had a profound impact on the academic culture at Hendrix," said Dr. Robert
L. Entzminger, Provost, Dean of the College, and Professor of English. "They have
provided the means to weave together formal classroom teaching with out-of-classroom
learning opportunities in a way that is unique in higher education. In so doing,
they have shifted the relationship between faculty and student to something closer
to a partnership."
"The Odyssey Professorships carry sufficient funding for a large number of students
to be involved, and they are sustained over a three-year period, so projects that
require a longer period for gestation can be pursued," added Entzminger. "They also
allow for faculty professional development."