For Hendrix College, 2009 was a year marked with a record enrollment and exciting new infrastructure to support the growing student population.
In August, new students from throughout the U.S. – 426 students representing 35 states (and six countries) – moved into their residence halls at Hendrix College. The students represented the second-largest freshmen class in the college’s history and were part of the largest student body ever at Hendrix. Boasting an average ACT score of 29, an average GPA of 3.82 and with 62 of the 193 incoming Arkansas students qualifying as Governor’s Distinguished Scholars, the group was among the most academically talented as well.
Greeting students as they returned in August was the completion of two buildings in The Village at Hendrix, a New Urbanist neighborhood that mixes commercial and residential elements in a walkable community. The two buildings, which will incorporate restaurants and retail on the first floor, houses students in deluxe apartments in the top three floors. In October, it was announced Panera Bread would be The Village’s first commercial tenant. The college hosted a public reception during the summer.
And 2009 ended with the completion of the new $26 million Student Life and Technology Center, which will officially be opened to students when they return in January. The SLTC includes 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, café, game room, and post office on the first floor of the building. The second floor houses a new dining hall, kitchen, servery, and small dining rooms.
Other highlights in 2009 for Hendrix included:
- In January, more than 400 Hendrix students, faculty, and staff members, along with others from the Conway community, crowded into two venues on campus to watch the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama. “The Burrow,” a common gathering area for students inside of the college’s student center, was overflowing for the new president’s inauguration, with the event being projected on a large screen. Several students wore pro-Obama t-shirts and cheered throughout the event.
- In February, the Hendrix Players continued their tradition of excellence with a hot performance of Hot Mikado, a musical comedy set in the 40’s Big Band era, telling the story of love, greed, and tap dancing.
- In March, James Jennings, a professor of Education and History at Hendrix College and chair of the college’s Education Department, received the college’s Cynthia Cook Sandefur Odyssey Professorship, becoming one of eight Hendrix professors to obtain the distinguished honor. Jennings is utilizing the Sandefur Odyssey Professorship to continue his work with the “Above the Line” research project, a program he developed to enhance standardized test scores in high-poverty, low-performing school districts in Arkansas.
- In April, hundreds of Hendrix College alumni returned to campus for the college’s annual Alumni Weekend festivities, which celebrated the 60th anniversary of Campus Kitty, a student-led organization that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Faulkner County charities. Also in April, two students were selected as Goldwater Scholars and two students were selected as Fulbright Scholars. The month closed with the college’s baseball team winning their first-ever Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship and a berth into the NCAA national baseball tournament.
- In May, Hendrix College conferred degrees upon 232 of its students during the college’s 125th commencement ceremony. Dr. Benjamin B. Dunlap, the President of Wofford College, was the commencement speaker. The exercises took place inside the college’s Wellness and Athletics Center with more than 1,500 people in attendance. The Class of 2009 was the first Hendrix College class required to complete projects in the college’s Odyssey Program, an experiential learning program that encourages outside-the-classroom educational experiences that in many cases are designed by the students themselves. The Hendrix Odyssey Program, established in 2004, gives students transcript credit for the projects and requires Hendrix students to complete three Odyssey experiences during their undergraduate career in areas selected from six categories: Artistic creativity, global awareness, professional and leadership development, service to the world, undergraduate research and special projects.
- During the summer, Amelia Wildenborg, a Hendrix College student from Rogers, was featured by The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas for her participation in a unique, cross-country bicycle journey. Wildenborg, the daughter of John and Jan Wildenborg, helped construct houses along her journey as one of 35 people participating in the 2009 Bike and Build summer ride. Bike and Build is a nonprofit organization formed to educate Americans about the need for low-income housing. Also during the summer, Hendrix hosted its third Ridin’ Dirty with Science program, a popular interactive science camp for elementary school children. More accolades came for Hendrix in July when the Princeton Review released its newest rankings.
- In August, Hendrix was identified as the nation’s top “Up-and-Coming” liberal arts college by U.S. News & World Report. Over the last five years, Hendrix has garnered increasing attention as it launched the Odyssey Program and made significant progress toward its $100 million goal in A Commitment to National Leadership: The Hendrix Campaign.
- In September, Lucile Esmon Shively of Little Rock was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Hendrix College for her years of service to the college. Mrs. Shively, who is 97, was attending Hendrix College in 1930 when she had to drop out due to the Great Depression – the drastic fall of cotton prices at the time (to 2 ½ cents per pound) meant she could no longer afford to attend college and, sadly, she was not able to graduate with the Hendrix Class of 1932. Also in September, the Tulsa, Okla.-based J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation was awarded the Spirit of Hendrix Award for their dedicated commitment to Hendrix College.
- In October, Hendrix honored six exceptional alumni with Odyssey Medals, one of the top awards attainable by Hendrix alumni. Also in October, Hendrix College’s sustainability efforts received high grades in several categories in a report released today by the Sustainable Endowments Institute. More than 300 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. were surveyed and graded, with the results released as the “2010 College Sustainability Report Card.”
- In November, Hendrix announced the implementation of a $600,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund an innovative approach to interdisciplinary study at the college. The program, called “Crossings,” will simultaneously link courses from different departments and blend classroom educational opportunities with hands-on experiences. Crossings ties into the college’s engaged-learning "Your Hendrix Odyssey" – specifically combining professors and courses from a variety of subject areas to create a unique, broad-reaching sequence. Also in November, Hendrix College’s Model United Nations team garnered one of six national “Best Delegation” awards at the American Model United Nations Conference, establishing Hendrix as one of the elite Model UN teams in the country. The Best Delegation award, presented by the Secretariat of the 2009 American Model United Nations Conference, was presented at the final session of the four-day conference in Chicago. More than 80 colleges and universities and 1,400 student delegates attended this year’s AMUN Conference. The Hendrix team won its award for its representation of the U.N. delegation of the United Kingdom.
- In December, Hendrix College presented its 45th year of the Hendrix Candlelight Carol Service. The service, a traditional favorite to begin the Christmas season, presents the Christmas story through Scripture lessons and music. Music included choral works by Felix Mendelssohn, Thomas Weelkes, John Tavener, Bob Chilcott, Michael Praetorius, Peter Aston, and others, as well as the traditional processional, “Once in Royal David’s City.”