• Academics

    The Liberal Arts

    Hendrix is proudly committed to liberal arts education, a tradition that began in ancient Greece and continues to prepare young people for engaged citizenship and to succeed in a global world. 

  • What Is It?

    Liberal arts education began in ancient Greece with teachers like Plato, who emphasized the teaching of skills and capacities necessary for a successful democracy. Later in Europe, the liberal arts included the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the quadriviium of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.

    Today, liberal arts colleges encourage a broad command of the sciences and humanities to prepare young people for engaged citizenship and to succeed in a global world.

  • What Is It Good for?

    It's good for just about anything …

    Our alumni have directed space walks, rescued children from poverty, led multi-national corporations, run organic farms, and performed ground-breaking medical research.

    More than 50 percent of Hendrix graduates enroll in graduate or professional school within two years of graduation (many of them are awarded scholarships).

    Our graduates include:

    • 6 Rhodes Scholars
    • 24 Fulbright Scholars
    • 32 Watson Fellows
    • 29 Goldwater Scholars
    • 3 Truman Scholars
    • 2 Jack Kent Cooke Scholars
    • 1 Marshall Scholar

    Nationally, Hendrix ranks among the top 30 colleges and universities for the percentage of graduates who earn Ph.D.s, ahead of schools including Duke, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, and Berkeley; in the physical sciences Hendrix is number 23, in the natural sciences number 35, and in psychology number nine, besting the likes of Harvard, Yale, and Stanford.

    Hendrix graduates who jump right into the job market report being employed within six months of graduation.

    The law school acceptance rate of Hendrix graduates is 87 percent, and our medical school acceptance rate, 89 percent, is more than double the national average.

  • Thoughts from Our Leaders

    Here are a few more thoughts on liberal arts education from former Hendrix College leaders:

    "The course of study in Hendrix College is intended to give thorough education adapted to the needs of our age … we do not pander to that depraved, money-born cry, 'Nothing but the practical.' That education … is not practical or beneficial, but injurious in the extreme. The education founded upon comparison of what is best in science and literature, giving development to mind and heart, building strong by building deep and broad, is truly practical."

    A.C. Millar , Hendrix President (1887-1902, 1910-1913)

    "Liberal arts colleges excel at providing students with the foundational skills - effective writing, strong oral communications, and experience in research, analysis, and synthesis - that corporate America finds so lacking in today's workforce. These skills are more relevant and valuable than ever in the globally connected, innovation-driven 21st century economy."

    Dr. William M. Tsutsui, Hendrix President

    "Life is unpredictable, and the arts and sciences prepare you for the unexpected, for all of life … training is preparation for the predictable; liberal education is preparation for the unpredictable. It is education for all of life. And that scope leads to deeper, richer conceptions of opportunity, of ingenuity and innovation, and of investment."

    Dr. John Churchill, Dean Emeritus of the College & Professor Emeritus of Philosophy

    "The most valuable results of scholastic training are not the simple truths of science and art, learned from a few textbooks … but the formation of such a solid character as will stand the test of the trials of life."

    Isham Lafayette Burrow , founder of Central Collegiate Institute (Hendrix College version 1.0, established 1876)