CONWAY, Ark. (May 13, 2014) – Hendrix students will soon
have even more international study opportunities.
The College has entered into a new educational partnership
with the University of Roehampton, a collection of London colleges stretching
back more than 170 years. The program will officially begin in fall 2015.
Roehampton identified Hendrix through common Methodist
connections and expressed interest in hosting Hendrix students, said Dr. Peter
Gess, director of the Odyssey and international programs at Hendrix, who
visited Roehampton this spring and met with school officials prior to
developing the agreement.
“It’s a great residential university, very liberal
arts-focused and very international,” Gess said. “We felt it would be a great
opportunity for students to study in the U.K. with a residential experience and
to have a more comprehensive course selection.”
The Roehampton University program replaces Hendrix-in-London,
a longstanding international program for Hendrix students. Through
Hendrix-in-London, students took four courses, including three with British
professors and one course related to British life taught by a Hendrix faculty
member, who served as the program’s director and leader for a semester.
Interest and participation in the Hendrix-in-London program
has declined in recent years, Gess said.
“Hendrix students now are hesitant to join an island
program. They want to be immersed,” he said, adding that course selection was
very limited. “The Roehampton program is a more holistic and culturally-immersive
experience.”
The Roehampton program is also scalable and not dependent
on a minimum number of student participants, Gess added.
The longstanding Hendrix-in-Oxford program is also
evolving, as Dr. Frances Warner, who oversaw the program with his wife,
Penelope, is retiring.
Hendrix has now joined the Oxford Programme for
Undergraduate Students (OPUS).
OPUS operates nearly identically to the Hendrix-in-Oxford
model, preserving the tutorial method of teaching but also offering more
scheduling flexibility.
And through Dr. Warner, an Emeritus Fellow at Oxford University’s
St. Peter’s College, Hendrix students are now eligible to participate in the
Oxford Honors Program. The program is academically rigorous, requiring a 3.7
GPA, and is a true immersion experience, allowing students to become St.
Peter’s students for a full year, Gess said.
Private donors have endowed two scholarships in the name of
Frances and Penelope Warner to support Hendrix students in the Oxford Honors
Program and the OPUS program, Gess added.
Also new in international study opportunities is a new
summer arts program at Accademia dell’Arte (ADA) in Arezzo, Italy.
Hendrix has been the institutional accrediting partner for
ADA for a decade and is now deepening that partnership, Gess said.
This summer, Hendrix creative writing professor Dr. Tyrone
Jaeger and art professor Matthew Lopas will teach summer courses in the new
program, and seven students are enrolled, Gess said. ADA has always provided
exceptional, place-based education in the performing arts, and now with the
addition of courses taught by Hendrix professors, students from Hendrix and
throughout the US will be able to more broadly access the importance of Tuscany
and the Renaissance, he added.
“Nearly 40 percent of
Hendrix students study abroad, and we are constantly striving to increase that
number. As trite as it sounds, the cross-cultural competencies, vocational
discoveries, and unique academic opportunities that come from time abroad can
be truly transformational,” Gess concluded.
Read more about the new English Language and Culture
Institute at Hendrix and partnership with the University of Arkansas Clinton
School for Public Service here.
Founded in
1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences
education. For the sixth consecutive year, Hendrix was named one of the
country’s “Up and Coming” liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix
is featured in the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools
That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges, as well as the 2014 Princeton Review’s The Best 378 Colleges, Forbes magazine's
list of America's Top Colleges, and
the 2014 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United
Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.