CONWAY, Ark. (April 8, 2005) - Seven Hendrix College alumni will be honored during the college's Alumni Weekend scheduled in Conway April 15 through 17. The annual Alumni Association Awards Convocation begins on campus at 10:30 a.m. in Reves Recital Hall in Trieschmann Fine Arts Building.
Larry E. Graddy of Conway, a 1968 Hendrix graduate, will receive the James E. Major Service Award. A past inductee into the Hendrix Athletic Hall of Honor, Graddy has been an integral part of Hendrix College, especially the athletics program, for more than 30 years. He served as a volunteer coach at different times during the years in the sports of basketball and golf and is a founding member of the Warrior Booster Club, a support group which has raised more than $200,000 for Warrior athletics.
He also spearheaded fund raising for the Cliff Garrison Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships annually to students with financial need. While at Hendrix, Graddy was an outstanding intramural athlete who was named Intramural Athlete of the Year.
Graddy earned a law degree at Vanderbilt University and has had a private law practice in Conway since 1971.
James T. Clemons, a 1951 alumnus who will receive the Humanitarian Award, is founder and president of OASSIS (The Organization for Attempters and Survivors of Suicide in Interfaith Services). Following graduation from Hendrix, he earned a B.D. degree at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, and a Ph.D. at Duke University.
From 1963 to 1995, Dr. Clemons was a professor at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. He was named Professor Emeritus of New Testament. Through teaching and research, Dr. Clemons became interested in suicide from biblical and religious perspectives. This led to his founding of OASSIS in 1996. He is a charter member of the National Council of Suicide Prevention and a member of the International Association of Suicide Prevention.
Virginia Hickman Gray, a 1967 alumna, will receive a Distinguished Alumna Award. After graduating from Hendrix with honors, Dr. Gray earned a masters and a doctorate degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis. She is the Robert Watson Winston Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Dr. Gray has received numerous awards for her research, including the Pi Sigma Alpha award for the best paper presented at the 1993 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association. She spent two years on the faculty of the University of Kentucky and 27 years at the University of Minnesota where she received the President's Award for Outstanding Service in 1998 and the Zwach-Eddy Crystal Dome Award for dedicated service to youth leadership development in 2000. Her applied research and service have led to changes in the Minnesota legislative process.
John A Griffin, a 1968 alumnus, will receive a Distinguished Alumnus Award. After graduating from Hendrix with a degree in mathematics, Dr. Griffin earned a B.S. degree from Columbia University, a Ph.D. degree from Princeton University, and an M.B.A. degree from Wharton Graduate School, University of Pennsylvania. He currently is director of McKinsey and Co. and is senior partner in the New York/Stamford office of Global Management Consulting Firm.
Dr. Griffin has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and worked for Texas Instruments. He has published 29 articles in scientific and business journals and is a recipient of a Sloan Fellowship.
Steve M. Patterson, a 1972 alumnus of Naples, Fla., will receive a Distinguished Alumnus Award. He graduated from Hendrix with a degree in mathematics, then completed the engineering program and earned an M.B.A. at Columbia University. He is former president, chief executive officer and major shareholder of Leisure Arts, a Little Rock publishing and direct mail company. He bought the company and became CEO in 1982 and sold the company in 1992.
Patterson is a trustee and avid supporter of Hendrix, where he established the Iva May Clemmer Robbins and Joe G. Robbins endowed scholarship.
Dan C. Rizzie, a 1973 alumnus, will receive a Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is a diverse artist who began to paint and support himself as an artist after receiving an M.F.A. degree from Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He taught art at Eastfield and Richland College.
Rizzie had an art show at Hendrix in 2004 and donated 10 large works on paper to the College in May of 2004. He was invited to the White House by the First Lady and to the Department of State by Colin Powell to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Arts in Embassy Program.
His work is in the collection of the U.S. Department of State, The Museum of Modern Art, the New York Public Library, Metropolitan Museum, Guild Hall Museum and the Dallas Museum. His work also hangs in the Ambassador's residence in Switzerland and Liechtenstein and the U.S. Ambassador's residence for the U. S. Embassy to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.
Inis Claude, a 1942 Hendrix alumnus who was one of seven alumni selected to receive the first-ever Odyssey Awards last October, will receive his award for distinction in the global awareness category. Dr. Claude, who was unable to attend the Founders Day ceremony, is a Stettinius Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the University of Virginia. A leading scholar in international relations and international organizations, he has held academic positions at Harvard University, the University of Delaware and the University of Michigan. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Arkansas, the University of Colorado, Columbia University, and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, the University College of Wales in Aberystwyth and Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He currently serves as an associate trustee at Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college that emphasizes experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college, the recipient of the 2005 Arthur Vining Davis Foundations' Award for Excellence, has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information about Hendrix, visit www.hendrix.edu.
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Contact: Judy Williams, 501/450-1462, williamsj@hendrix.edu