CONWAY, Ark. (Oct. 7, 2010) – Hendrix College will expand its Environmental Studies curriculum courtesy of a new grant awarded by the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
As a direct result of growing student interest in environmental issues, Hendrix implemented a multidisciplinary Environmental Studies program in 1998 and began offering a major in 2002.
“With the recent growth in faculty and students in the Environmental Studies program, there has been an increasing interest in how the arts reflect and connect with the environment,” explained Dr. Joyce Hardin, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies. “The ACS post-doctoral fellow program will provide us with a new professional who will add to our curricular offerings in this area and help us to strengthen the program.”
The grant enables Hendrix to fund a two-year post-doctoral fellowship. The new position would be responsible for teaching courses related to the arts (e.g. creative writing, film, literature and theatre) and the environment, presenting public lectures, research, supervising student engaged learning projects related to Environmental Studies and senior capstone projects for Environmental Studies majors and advising students interested in graduate programs. Additionally he or she will also assist the college in reviewing courses currently offered, adapting those courses and developing new ones to strengthen Environmental Studies course offerings in the humanities.
In 2008, Hendrix received a grant from the ACS, which was funded by the Mellon Foundation, to fund a post-doctoral fellowship in Environmental Policy.
“The awarding of our second post-doctoral fellow by ACS represents a tremendous affirmation of the quality of our Environmental Studies Program, and it will allow us to extend the reach of that program even more broadly across our curriculum,” said Dr. Robert L. Entzminger, Provost and Dean of the College.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is featured in the 2010 edition of the Princeton Review as one of the country’s best 371 colleges, was identified as the nation’s top “Up and Coming” liberal arts college for 2011 by U.S. News and World Report, and is ranked among 45 “Best Buy” colleges by the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.